Librarian Piper Belmont’s world turns topsy turvy when new football coach Nash Wilde joins the staff at her school. Tall, dark and handsome, he’s every girl’s dream…until Piper realizes he only speaks in grunts and nods. Determined not to judge a book by its cover, Piper agrees to go out with him. Just as they are getting to know each other, a family emergency forces Piper to leave town. Will … town. Will she ever get the chance learn the secrets behind Nash’s silence? Or will the staff’s reigning beauty queen catch Nash’s interest before Piper gets back?
Welcome to Middleton Prep, a place where fairy tales and modern day collide. Where fair maidens spend their time developing lesson plans and valiant knights do battle with unreliable wifi signals; all in the hopes of finding True Love.
The Librarian and Her Beast is the first book in the Middleton Prep series. Each book is a stand alone story, but the series is best read in order. Every installment is a loosely based, contemporary retelling of a favorite fairy tale, full of swoon worthy kisses and, of course, a Happily Ever After.
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This is a super cute, clean story. The main characters are adorable and the writer has you cheering them on. You know “the beast” must be special no matter how quiet he is! The librarian is quaint and refreshing. And how many of us have that one co-worker that drives you batty! The hero’s big secret, is not so big and the heroine’s response leaves you smiling the rest of the book. A nice start to what seems to be a sweet series.
Sweet fairy tale!
A very interesting story about a librarian and a new teacher at her school – a man who rarely speaks. They are immediately drawn to one another, but the situation is hard to understand – at least for her. The story has some very funny parts, and some very serious parts. I really enjoyed it. I hope you do, too!
A delightful, wonderful, unexpected take on “Beauty and the Beast”. I enjoyed the entire story from beginning to end. I’m not a reader of ” clean/sweet” romances but I’m very happy I decided to see what this book had to say. I don’t do spoilers so I hope I’m relating my feelings enough to encourage other readers to take a stab at this book.
Sometimes after reading a book, I just have to set my Kindle aside and shake my head in defeat, muttering, “Jesus, what the hell did I do to deserve that,” a few times. That’s what happened with this book.
I should have liked it. I mean, I love a good fairy tale retelling, and I love grumpy loner heroes who don’t talk much. All signs pointed to this being a book I could add to my keeper shelf, but noooooooo. It had to go and suck the life right out of me. Here’s what I didn’t love:
The heroine:
She’s a stereotypical nerdy librarian who doesn’t know her own worth or beauty. (I can’t even remember her name. That’s how typical and average she was.) Authors everywhere: can you please write self-confident, outspoken librarian heroines for me? Or how about a sexy librarian hero? Please and thank you. The days of the pocket-sized, glasses-wearing, super-shy librarian who dresses like a schoolmarm on Little House on the Prairie need to end.
And also, this particular cliche heroine has a nasty habit of spewing nerdy literary exclamations for no good reason. I’m sorry, but the chick who mutters crap like, “Hairy Heathcliff” and “Dancing Darcy” is never, ever going to land the hot guy. It’s just not possible, and frankly, I don’t want to live in a world where it is possible. It’s just weird and wrong and…weird. (It’s weird enough that I thought it should be repeated)
The hero:
I enjoy romance heroes who are men of few words. There’s nothing at all wrong with that. But Nash took this concept to the extreme. He didn’t say anything but one syllable words to the heroine throughout the whole book (because reasons), and he only gave her a handful of those. When he first met her, he grunted at her and said, “Small.” (Because she’s short, I have to assume. It was never explained further.) The next time he saw her was to grunt at her and say, “Dinner.” Which was his way of asking her out on a date. He made no other attempts at communication. I mean, sign language, writing on a dry erase board, texting…he did none of that. I’m sorry, but no matter how hot the guy was, if he came up to me and grunted, saying only, “Dinner”, I would NOT go out with him. I’m not something that can be ordered off a menu like a steak, and it bummed me out that the heroine just went along this kind of asshattery.
Instalove:
All Nash has to do is grunt at the heroine a few times and she’s in love with him. She knows nothing about him, he hasn’t uttered more than 100 words to her throughout the entire book, but she loves him. I’m calling bullshit. And I’m rolling my eyes. Lots and lots of eye rolling.
The villain:
The villain is another stereotype: the other woman who is jealous of the heroine and wants the hero for herself. Why can’t other women in romance be supportive of one another?
There’s also a scene where the villain kindly explains her subterfuge to a bystander who explains it to our intrepid heroine. Otherwise, the dimwit wouldn’t have had a clue what was going on.
Stupid misunderstanding:
A couple of unanswered texts and the heroine goes from loving the hero to being ready to write him off altogether. Emotional whiplash much?
There’s no sex:
Anyone who starts reading this book thinking that maybe, based on the cover, there are some sexy times would be sadly mistaken. This one is super clean. (I don’t mind clean romance, but I wouldn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea about this one. It’s tame enough to be lumped in with the Christian and Amish romances out there, in my opinion.) I think the cover is a little misleading in that respect, as it hints at intimacy.
So, long-story-short, this one irked the crap out of me. I won’t be continuing with the series. But if you like cliches and monosyllabic heroes, this one will be your next 5-star read.
And don’t forget to follow the Romance Rehab blog for more rants, raves, and other fun romance-y stuff: http://www.romancerehab.com/
Loved ‘The Librarian and her Beast’!!! Thoroughly enjoyed reading it!!
I fell in love with Piper and Nash. Although Nash doesn’t speak much, the author helped him to convey so much meaning and emotion through his eyes… and his grunts! Piper and Nash are a beautiful couple together, and they just make me smile whenever they’re together in the story. Also, loved how this book was based on “Beauty and the Beast’. It has incorporated lots of the themes from the fairytale really well, and the overall story flows smoothly. I also really liked some of the secondary characters and can’t wait to read their stories!
I would recommend this book to all lovers of sweet romance. 5 out of 5 stars!!
P.S. I love the cover!! Nash looks so incredibly handsome~sigh ^^