Series: Librarian and Spy, Escapade 1
Publisher: Zebra Shout
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: April 25, 2017
Source: Publisher
Buy it here: Amazon | B&N
Shelve under: Libraries, Spies, Falling in Love, London.
Adventure-hungry Quinn Ellington solves mundane mysteries for library patrons while indulging her taste for intrigue with her favorite spy novels. But her latest research project entangles her in a mission to decode the whereabouts of a weapons cache from a priceless work of art before arms dealers beat her to it. Her adventure is filled with fast cars, stolen treasures, international intrigue, and a budding romance with suave, handsome “insurance” agent James Lockwood. Daring rescues and intense covert flirting ensue.
The Librarian and the Spy is a cute story with a fun premise that didn’t quite meet its potential. It’s a book I desperately wanted to like, mostly because author Susan Mann includes enough detail about Quinn’s job as a librarian to delight my bibliophile self. But while there’s a wonderful amount of trivia in this story, the actual plot dragged, the romance was missing spark, and the characters never came alive on the page. It took me a long time to get into this story, mostly because the plot took some time to find its footing. And while Quinn and James are certainly likeable, they never felt three-dimensional to me. Their romance is sweet, but again, was missing something. I felt a lot of the romance was a case of tell rather than show, which could have been part of the problem. As for the action, there was no real sense of danger or excitement when it came to the espionage work, and overall I was just left wanting more.
The Librarian and the Spy isn’t a bad book, only disappointing in that it could have been so much better had the characters and the world come to life. It had the potential to do so, for Ms. Mann’s writing definitely shines in any scene involving research. I absolutely loved those bits because I could feel Quinn’s excitement come through the page and I loved the way her mind worked. There’s also a fun twist at the end of the story that left me smiling and feeling optimistic about Quinn’s future. So while The Librarian and the Spy wasn’t quite my cup of tea, there is enough potential to the series that I’d like to read A Covert Affair.
FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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