Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by rosehillmb
Crime and Periodicals by Smartypants Romance, Nora Everly
3.0
Hmmmm...I think this will end up being somewhat of a ramble. I'd give this book more then 3 stars if I could, but not much more.
I'll say some nice things first! I enjoyed this one. It made me laugh and smile quite a bit. All of the secondary characters (friends and family) were perfect. They felt natural in the the story and added a lot. This book felt nicely integrated into the Pennyverse of Green Valley...nothing felt shoehorned in. As for the main characters...I loved what a good father Wyatt was! All the scenes with his girls felt real and definitely made me think highly of him. As for Sabrina...I appreciated her gumption. Due to therapy and time, she was able to understand that her natural shyness and the grief over losing both her mother and then surrogate mother (sister) pushed her into a life of seclusion. Once she could put that into words, I think she was able to finally start pushing herself out of her comfort zone and with each new push, she went further and further.
Some things that bothered me and pushed the grade down. These aren't bad per se, I think it's more of a YMMV. As I was reading this book I kept thinking, "this feels like it was written in the 90's". I can't pinpoint why! There was just something about the flow? While I loved Wyatt as a father/co-worker/brother...there was just something about him in the initial interactions with Sabrina that put me off. This is the 90's part....he meets her for the first time and she can't even speak (from nerves) and yet he's decided she's the one and asks her out. Based on what? She's pretty? And then when she didn't respond, his response is to say that he'll just come to her place of work and ask her again. Stalker much??? Now WE all know Wyatt isn't a stalkery murderer but really dude?! Then he proceeds to come to the library day after day, even though he doesn't see her. Maybe she was hiding out from you?? Which she was because of nerves...BUT I guess what I'm getting at is the optics of the whole thing. The immediate interest in a women who literally said ZERO words to you followed by him calling her darlin' and sweetheart all over the place. To be fair, I'm focusing on certain parts of these initial scenes. When he mentioned coming to the library to try asking her out again, she nodded her head yes that she wanted him to. And as the story progressed, they actually interacted and had conversations and that took the squick factor way down for me. I just couldn't seem to erase my initial issues with his behavior in regard to Sabrina. It all felt too 90's power discrepancy for me.
Something else that didn't make sense me was her clothes. Again with the clothes in a Green Valley Library story! The red lipstick and winged eyeliner get explained, cat eye glasses make sense because she needs glasses...but the waved hair, the cardigans and heels and circle skirts?? Her clothing gets described by her niece as 'nerd wear' but none of that is nerdy. If she was into rockabilly or just loved the 50's/60's ok, but none of that is explained. Same as Naomi, it felt like her clothes were chosen more as a quick way to lean into the librarian stereotypes. Also, with both women, as soon as a man was in their life they started to change the way they dressed. Another relatively small thing but it annoyed me.
Her sister died when Sabrina was 17...it's not really discussed what Sabrina did during the years after her sisters death up to Sabrina starting to help at the library. There is reference to her taking care of her niece and nephews, especially Harry who was a newborn. Did she graduate high school and then essentially become a stay at home mother? All her family's money and her dad couldn't hire a nanny or something? There just wasn't much time spent on what Sabrina had been doing and then ultimately what lead her to finally get the job at the library.
This was overall a sweet story and had a lot that I liked, but enough that annoyed or baffled me that I couldn't love it. So far the Donner Bakery books are working the best for me in the Smartypants world. If Nora Everly comes back with stories about Wyatt's brothers, I'll probably still pick them up. Like I said....all the side characters were winners!
I'll say some nice things first! I enjoyed this one. It made me laugh and smile quite a bit. All of the secondary characters (friends and family) were perfect. They felt natural in the the story and added a lot. This book felt nicely integrated into the Pennyverse of Green Valley...nothing felt shoehorned in. As for the main characters...I loved what a good father Wyatt was! All the scenes with his girls felt real and definitely made me think highly of him. As for Sabrina...I appreciated her gumption. Due to therapy and time, she was able to understand that her natural shyness and the grief over losing both her mother and then surrogate mother (sister) pushed her into a life of seclusion. Once she could put that into words, I think she was able to finally start pushing herself out of her comfort zone and with each new push, she went further and further.
Some things that bothered me and pushed the grade down. These aren't bad per se, I think it's more of a YMMV. As I was reading this book I kept thinking, "this feels like it was written in the 90's". I can't pinpoint why! There was just something about the flow? While I loved Wyatt as a father/co-worker/brother...there was just something about him in the initial interactions with Sabrina that put me off. This is the 90's part....he meets her for the first time and she can't even speak (from nerves) and yet he's decided she's the one and asks her out. Based on what? She's pretty? And then when she didn't respond, his response is to say that he'll just come to her place of work and ask her again. Stalker much??? Now WE all know Wyatt isn't a stalkery murderer but really dude?! Then he proceeds to come to the library day after day, even though he doesn't see her. Maybe she was hiding out from you?? Which she was because of nerves...BUT I guess what I'm getting at is the optics of the whole thing. The immediate interest in a women who literally said ZERO words to you followed by him calling her darlin' and sweetheart all over the place. To be fair, I'm focusing on certain parts of these initial scenes. When he mentioned coming to the library to try asking her out again, she nodded her head yes that she wanted him to. And as the story progressed, they actually interacted and had conversations and that took the squick factor way down for me. I just couldn't seem to erase my initial issues with his behavior in regard to Sabrina. It all felt too 90's power discrepancy for me.
Something else that didn't make sense me was her clothes. Again with the clothes in a Green Valley Library story! The red lipstick and winged eyeliner get explained, cat eye glasses make sense because she needs glasses...but the waved hair, the cardigans and heels and circle skirts?? Her clothing gets described by her niece as 'nerd wear' but none of that is nerdy. If she was into rockabilly or just loved the 50's/60's ok, but none of that is explained. Same as Naomi, it felt like her clothes were chosen more as a quick way to lean into the librarian stereotypes. Also, with both women, as soon as a man was in their life they started to change the way they dressed. Another relatively small thing but it annoyed me.
Her sister died when Sabrina was 17...it's not really discussed what Sabrina did during the years after her sisters death up to Sabrina starting to help at the library. There is reference to her taking care of her niece and nephews, especially Harry who was a newborn. Did she graduate high school and then essentially become a stay at home mother? All her family's money and her dad couldn't hire a nanny or something? There just wasn't much time spent on what Sabrina had been doing and then ultimately what lead her to finally get the job at the library.
This was overall a sweet story and had a lot that I liked, but enough that annoyed or baffled me that I couldn't love it. So far the Donner Bakery books are working the best for me in the Smartypants world. If Nora Everly comes back with stories about Wyatt's brothers, I'll probably still pick them up. Like I said....all the side characters were winners!