Naomi Winters will be forty—soon-ish—and she’s only been with one man. One night. One time. Long ago. She believes everything happens for a reason, and the universe spoke about Nathan Ryder.Nathan Ryder isn’t the same man who hightailed his bike out of Green Valley eighteen years ago. As a rule breaker, women are one area he acts a fool. Case in point…the local librarian. He can’t get a read on … a read on her, but she’s one risk he’s willing to take. Again.
What do an eccentric librarian and a sexy silver biker have in common? More than you think.
The due date on their love might not be expired after all.
‘Love in Due Time’ is a full-length, contemporary romantic comedy, can be read as a standalone, and is book #1 in the Green Valley Library series.
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Love the idea of a whole series of books based on the Green Valley Library. I don’t think libraries are written enough about these days. I mean come on, the smell, the touch, the stacks. It’s all so glorious. Oh but wait, this is a book review…
LOVE IN DUE TIME is a second chance romance that has all the feels and at times tore my heart out and other times had me laughing out loud. It is the perfect balance and was an great read that I devoured in one sitting.
This is an author who I one-click and this is certainly a click I wasn’t disappointed in.
I loved it from the first page. The characters and their history kept me glued to the page. I think this is my favorite of her books.
I am STUCK on Naomi and Nathan!!
Naomi is a librarian. She had run off to Green Valley after her twenty first birthday and never looked back. Rumors swirl around town that she is a witch, but despite the way she dresses and her Wiccan beliefs she is just a woman who will not forget a day that changed her life.
“I’m still waiting for the man I’ll never have.”
Nathan is a construction worker and single dad. He is back in Green Valley to raise his daughters and be near his mother.
“I don’t want to want you like I do.” Like a sucker punch to the gut, the comment hurts. Then she looks up me, intense silver eyes gleaming. “But I think about you all the time. I don’t want to get caught up in you again and yet I’m already caught. I don’t understand why you want to date me, but I very much like you.”
I just adored this story of second chances, redemption, and reconnection. Naomi is a heroine like no other and so easy to love. The story is funny, sweet, at times heartbreaking and has a bit of suspense. It is well written and everything I could ask for in a romance.
-5 Stars!-
This is a great well-written story with amazing characters I love it. I loved Naomi the town librarian that has lived her life differently. I learned a lot from this book about the Wiccan Religion, Naomi’s beliefs and practices, the way she looked at life. Nathan is a memory from Naomi’s past, good bad and sad. Nathan is just trying to get by working, raising two daughters as a single father, and staying out of the clutches of his former motorcycle club. These two get a second chance to really get to know each other and act on their attraction. Lots of drama surrounds them with MC gang members (and want to be) and the belief that she is a witch. I loved the way the story found the path that was right for this couple in the power of three….Do you get me?
Love in Due Time is the latest book by LB Dunbar and the first book in the Green Valley Library series. I loved this story. It was a story with second chance, single dad tropes all in one. I loved that the main characters are mature adults. I loved seeing Nathan and Naomi’s relationship blossom. I loved both characters. Naomi was quirky and I enjoyed reading about her wiccan lifestyle and Nathan was charming and refreshing and had me hooked until the very end. Another fantastic read from LB Dunbar, I would highly recommend this novel to all lovers of contemporary romance.
This is my first L.B. Dunbar book and I was impressed with her writing style and ability to build an interesting character.
Naomi and Nathan’s story is unique and I appreciated that it was different from anything I have read before. The premise definitely intrigued me, but I found it difficult to connect with the characters. The story is told in first person narrative, but sometimes Naomi’s inner monologue kind of took me out of the story a bit.
I enjoyed the introduction to the library and the characters there I hope we get to see more of in future books in the series. The characters and story also fit pretty well into the established Green Valley/Winston Brothers world.
Thank you to the author for providing an ARC for an honest review.
Love in Due Time is a true example of a second chance romance. Naomi and Nathan have such chemistry, even after 18 years! They were brought together and torn apart in one night. I loved Naomi’s humor, with her signs and different ‘types’ of humor, I was laughing out loud at some of them. The way that Naomi describes kissing Nathan was amazing, comparing it to different baked good, cause who doesn’t love baked goods! Stuck on you was such a wonderful theme and word choice that they used to describe their feelings. Like the fates were determined to help them see it.
My absolute favorite part of the book was the chapter headings. It was genius. Make sure you read the authors note at the end for additional information. (I loved it!!).
Sigh…..what a great romantic read. A quirky librarian and the biker male. Two complete opposites but they have a past.
First of all the characters were so awesome in this book. Quirky, unsure, alpha, sexiness, they had it all.
This second chance romance is beautifully written and gives you hope that two people can find themselves and rediscover their feelings for each other. The story pulls you in and covers every emotion that you can think of while reading.
I am absolutely “stuck” on this book!! When I finished it, I was able to release the breath I didn’t realize I had been holding while waiting to see how it was gonna end and when it did I just felt my body sigh and release all the tension. It was a total “ahhhhh” moment of relaxation.
This was such a sweet story for me but it definitely wasn’t just a lovey dovey romance read! There were a ton of emotions with these characters: love, hurt, anger, confusion, lust, adoration, humor…they were all there! I loved learning about the Wicca ways with Nathan. I loved watching Naomi’s inner goddess open up. I adored cute lil Dandelion and ached for Dahlia. I hated the Henderson boys.
One of my favorite parts was the poetry!
“His voice trembles as he begins:
Tis the time of year for changing leaves
And howling winds in the shifting air.
Wolves bay at the round moon.
Ghosts roam the circular earth,
And witches rule the dark woods.
I met one such ruler among the trees.
She whispered my name like a kiss.
I responded with one of my own,
And so I am bewitched.
Onto her lips, she adds my name to her spells
And find I’m stuck on the thought of her.”
Naomi, Naomi, Naomi…I just could not warm up to you.
I wanted her to have been looking for the kind of connection she originally had with Nathan through the time they were apart.
I hated that she turned inward and closed off. But it also made sense for the circumstances of the story.
It was hard to hear so much about the Wiccan religion, when I wanted the meat of the story.
I think if there had been a prologue of the original get together between Naomi and Nathan I would have understood Naomi’s motives and decisions on a much more interesting level.
Now Nathan was great!! A Dad to two daughters, he loved and supported when he could have walked away. Living with his Mom, and being a reformed tough guy made him spark in my imagination.
Once they were together I felt better about Naomi, but she was somewhat of a flat character to me. Definitely not the typical female lead in this author’s books.
This is not L.B.Dunbar’s norm. She is my favorite author. I love her work. It grabs you and pulls you in keeping you awake all night to finish a book. Instead this one took me a couple of days to read.
So I’ll say this one I didn’t stay up all night to finish, but I had to know what happened. That’s why I gave it 3 stars.
At her age, Naomi did not expect for love to coming at her door. After eighteen years, Nathan shows up back in town. He is willing to give it a try again, but she is adamant that catastrophe happens when they get together. Case in point, the one night they had together so long ago resulted in him leaving her and her brother was in a deadly accident.
These two characters do not have any idea as to how much their lives are intertwined. As Nathan proceeds to woo Naomi and make her fall in love for him, he does not realize they have more in common than one night of passion.
Two misfits in love and seeking their place becomes an endearing and thrilling novel full of adventure and surprises.
I am voluntarily reviewing this book. Thanks to the author for sharing a copy with me.
3.25 stars. This was a pretty good book, but it was not my favorite in the Smartypants universe. Love in Due Time by LB Dunbar is the first book in the Green Valley library series, which is a spin off of the Winston Brothers series by Penny Reid and part of the Smartypants Romance world. This book is Nathan and Naomi’s story. Eighteen years ago, Naomi was a young adult with a free spirit. One fateful night she meets Nathan and they have a wild evening together, but the night ends in tragedy and forever changes both of their lives. Nathan leaves town and doesn’t return for eighteen years. Now he is back in town as a single dad with two daughters, working as contractor. Now, Naomi is a Wiccan and a spinster librarian. She is picked on by many of the townspeople for being a witch and seems to have a lonely life. Nathan doesn’t even recognize Naomi when he sees her again. But she recognizes him and he feels an attraction to her anyway. They begin a slow burn romance but have to deal with some issues with family, the town, the Iron Wraiths, the library and that fateful night they met.
I enjoyed this story. It was interesting and original. The writing was good, but I found the book too slow in parts. I didn’t totally love Naomi and Nathan. I liked the idea of a witchy, quirky librarian, but she turned out to be pretty boring. Nathan was okay, but nothing special either. Together they had very little chemistry. I also did not love that Naomi was a near-virgin 40 year old (only having done it one time with Nathan only eighteen years ago). She was celibate, when he was definitely not, having had two kids at least two long-term relationships, being married and numerous one night stands. Also, he has a current f-buddy that he is involved with in town who is mentioned a lot on page, although he has no feelings for her. Naomi was pretty innocent about sexual stuff too, which I didn’t really find cute at her age and intelligence. While she didn’t immediately cave to him when he came back, she eventually did. I just didn’t find it realistic or fair to have only been with one person, one time at her age. Naomi hasn’t dated or kissed or done anything with a man in eighteen years. Nathan had a sense of pride that Naomi waited all those years for him and I found that a huge turn off. I did like the small town romance aspect, but I didn’t think the town in the book felt like Penny Reid’s version of town of Green Valley. It felt a little darker and more depressing. Still, I did like story in general. I also liked the librarian/library aspect and the glimpses of characters from the Winston brothers series.
Overall, I liked this book in general, while I didn’t completely love it. Still, I was happy to that Naomi and Nathan were able to find happiness with each other. I like the idea for this series and I look forward to more from the librarians in the future!
LB Dunbar is a magician with ‘later-in-life’ romances. As a 40-something myself, it’s nice to see an author focus on romance for those of us that are no longer spring chickens!
This is the first novel in the Green Valley Library series from Smartypants Romance, and it features two characters that were not introduced in the Winston Brothers books, but they fit right into Green Valley as far as I’m concerned.
Our male lead is Nathan Ryder, who left town years ago, and returns now with his two daughters. Our female lead is Naomi Winters, small-town librarian that rumor has is a witch. Nathan and Naomi met 18 years ago, but lost touch when Nathan left town. Now that he’s back, they find that they have chemistry that can’t really be denied.
As older characters, Nathan and Naomi have established lives, set priorities, and a lot to work around to start a relationship, so this is a slow-burn for sure.
As is typical in the Pennyverse, there are funny moments, sweet moments, you learn a lot (here about Wiccans), and you experience a little bit of angst and A LOT of joy and humor.
Overall Rating:
I’ve been drawn to L.B. Dunbar with her sexy silver fox series. As a more mature female reader, I’m drawn to hunky romance heroes who might be someone in my age group. I’ll tell you that if I ever met one of these guys I would probably swoon. When I heard that Dunbar joined Penny Reid’s SmartyPants Romance universe, I was ecstatic. What would she bring to Green Valley? Would she craft a silver fox for this community? Dunbar did not disappoint with her newest story, Love in Due Time. Not only did she offer us a sexy silver fox with a penchant for riding motorcycles and talking dirty, she also broke the mold with her heroine, a type that I have yet to see in contemporary romance. Even more, through Dunbar’s story, she challenges readers to open our minds to people with different lives and beliefs from our own.
If you haven’t read Penny Reid’s Winston Brothers books, and you don’t have an understanding of Green Valley, Tennessee, then you might not understand the significance of Love in Due Time. Green Valley is the epitome of southern Christian living. People look southern, talk southern, and act southern. Some of them judge people within their own community who are different. If it doesn’t fit the Green Valley type, then it doesn’t belong.
Enter Naomi, Dunbar’s heroine. She is one of the local librarians in Green Valley. She didn’t grow up there, but she arrived in Green Valley in her late teens, leaving behind a life of pain. Growing up in a strict religious household made her feel stifled. When tragedy strikes her life, and her parents blame her choices for the tragedy, she can no longer ascribe to her parents’ religion. Instead, she searches for something to believe in and becomes a Wiccan where she finally feels a sense of peace in its beliefs. Unfortunately, living in a traditionally Christian community makes it difficult for her to “fit in.” Instead, she’s seen as the town witch, leaving her planted on the outside of popular society. She’s seen as odd, as different by those in the community who fail to understand her.
Through Dunbar’s characterization of Naomi, you can’t help but be challenged. What do you believe? Would you readily accept someone with a belief system different from your own? Are you able to “see” and accept the true essence of that person, or do you prejudge them because they are simply different from you? These questions run through your mind as Naomi’s romance plays out on the page. I loved Naomi because, while she is judged, she shows compassion for people. This is evidenced in her favoritism for the children of her library who are different. She pours wisdom into them wrought through her own experiences. Her compassion and kindness never falter, even when she’s taunted and assaulted. Dunbar uses Naomi to challenge our own assumptions, and you can’t help but love the depth of Naomi’s characterization without ever considering her chemistry with Nathan.
On the night of her family tragedy, Naomi meets a swarthy young man in a bar. They spend an impassioned night together with the promise of a phone call. When the phone call never happens, and Naomi’s family endures tragedy, Naomi moves forward with her life, even though her passion grows dormant. One night, while at the local Piggly Wiggly, Naomi encounters Nathan. Eighteen years after they last saw each other, Nathan and Naomi reconnect, albeit Nathan doesn’t quite see the Naomi of the past. After seeing each other for the first time, Nathan and Naomi happen upon each other again. It’s then that Nathan realizes the woman who has never left his thoughts since their one night together is the woman he engaged at the Piggly Wiggly. Their chemistry still pulls them together, and they begin a journey of romance and learning their older selves. Unfortunately, a story twist in this journey seeks to derail their future.
Like Naomi, Nathan struggles against a different kind of community. The Iron Wraiths, the MC group of Green Valley, want Nathan to join their ranks He fled them in the past, and they want his present and future. Unfortunately, Nathan has no interest in them as he’s a father of two, and he’s more interested in developing a future with Naomi. At first, I was leery of Nathan. When he meets Naomi in the Piggly Wiggly, I wanted him to recognize her immediately and fall to his knees for her. It’s clear her pain over his leaving and never contacting her changed a part of her. I wanted him to reconcile that. Dunbar is wise though. She lets us feel Naomi’s pain instead. Her pain over the past creates the tension of their reconnection, and it’s important that Nathan works to court Naomi because it offers a depth of healing for Naomi. Nathan’s purpose in Love in Due Time is offering love and acceptance to Naomi as a way to allow her to grow. After his departure in her life, Naomi took the requisite steps to live, but her life is small. It’s protected because she’s endured the judgment of others. Through loving her, Nathan makes Naomi’s life bigger, and it’s my favorite part of this story.
This book also holds truths about forgiveness and family dynamics. But above anything else, Love in Due Time reminds us that difference doesn’t mean bad; it simply means different, and acceptance is an opportunity to pour love into someone else. Nathan and Naomi’s romance is powerful. In fact, their epilogue is probably one of my favorites. That moment is spiritual and sensual wrapped up together. Dunbar’s book is a must-read. It is more than a romance; it’s a message of acceptance and belief in what makes us human: connection. As usual, L.B. Dunbar offers us this message brilliantly.
I loved every single page of this story and it became one of my favourite books of the year. I’m always looking forward to read second chance romance and this story just ticked every single box for me. They’re perfect together and their banter and intimate moments are so hot, I could feel the chemistry between them from the first page and I just couldn’t stop reading. Love it and can’t recommend it enough.
“If you don’t have anything nice to say, come to the library where you aren’t allowed to speak.”
I love that quote, but I ONLY have nice things to say about “Love in Due Time” by L.B. Dunbar. This is the story of Naomi Winters and Nathan Ryder, the only man she’s ever been with. That was 18 years ago, the night her world changed and the universe sent a clear signal that they were not meant to be.
The plot of this book blew me away. “Second chance romance” seems so simple, but there was nothing simple about Nathan and Naomi’s path to each other. Throwing in a good deal of mystery, new and returning villains (hello Iron Wraiths), and information about an often-misunderstood religion, Dunbar has delivered a heck of story, balancing it with a nice dash of wit and humor.
First of all there are so many things to love about this book. I really loved that both main characters are older (39/40). I love the idea that love can come at anytime in your life, not just when you’re in your early 20s. Naomi is my favorite! I loved how she learned to move on after her night with Nathan at 21. I’ve never read a character quite like her. Naomi & Nathan are absolutely adorable. I loved that they have such a complicated history together, and that the attraction is still as strong as when they first met. I really enjoyed watching them help each other figure out how to work through their guilt from the past. I feel like they’re soul mates and the universe just wanted them to be together.
This book is a fabulous addition to the SmartyPants world! And I can’t wait to see what happens next with this amazing group of librarians!!
When I heard that one of my new favorite authors was going to write in the world created by another favorite author I was more than excited. Even though this book is related to the Green Valley world of Penny Reid, LD Dunbar has created a book that is genuinely hers but has given it just enough sense of coming home to an old favorite place. The character Naomi and Nathan are such a contradiction that at first you wonder how will they ever find common ground? Well we get a brilliant slow burn love story of a woman changed by event of her past that the hero inadvertently created. Naomi is a strong, independent woman who follows her own life desires and choices and her character represents a woman we all strive to be. Nathan is a single parent who is strong and is trying to rebuild his life. Both of them alone of perfect but together, perfection is not a strong enough word to describe them.
As always, L.B. has given us realistic characters with relatable insecurities and challenges and helped us love them both! This is a second chance romance worth waiting on!
Naomi is approaching 40 but she still has no one special in her life, a partner to share the road or help her write their story. She is holding on to the hope that the mysterious young man from her youth would still return so they can start their story over again. Nathan has returned to Green Valley to start over again but at what cost. There are those in this town who wish to dictate his life and decisions but he answers to no one but his family. They are his priority. He had one love in his life but that was 18 years ago and one hasty decision has taken that possible future from him. When Nathan meets Naomi, the quirky librarian in Green Valley, things in their lives and future begin to fall into place but is it all for good or all for naught? A unique and delightful story of second chances.