"The New Town Librarian" by Kathy Anderson is a charming and engaging novel that explores the challenges faced by queer middle-aged librarian Nan Nethercott as she tries to turn her life around. The story is set in a small town in southern New Jersey, and the author does an excellent job of capturing the idyllic and quirky nature of the place.

The character of Nan is the heart and soul of the book. She is a wisecracking hypochondriac with a lackluster career and a nonexistent love life. When she lands a job as a librarian in the small town, she sees it as an opportunity to start anew. However, unforeseen challenges await her, including a demanding landlady, unruly middle-schoolers, and a mysterious reader who leaves distressing messages in the book stacks.

As Nan navigates these challenges, she discovers her own unorthodox solutions to the problems that confront her. Along the way, she develops surprising friendships, finds a meaningful career, and even meets a promising new love interest in the form of the irresistible butch deli owner, Thomasina.

The book is filled with delightful and quirky characters, and the author does an excellent job of capturing the small-town atmosphere. The story is well-paced and engaging, with plenty of humor and heart. Overall, "The New Town Librarian" is a delightful and uplifting novel that is sure to appeal to anyone who loves books, libraries, and small-town life.

✨✨✨ARC REVIEW✨✨✨
New Town Librarian
By: Kathy Anderson
Pages: 365
Release Date: February 1st, 2023

This was not my favorite book. I do not think I was the right audience for this book. While it was written well I did not connect with the characters the want I have in the past.

Synopsis:
Queer middle-aged librarian Nan Nethercott, a wisecracking hypochondriac with a lackluster career and a nonexistent love life, needs to make a drastic life change before it’s too late. When she lands a job as librarian in a seemingly idyllic small town in southern New Jersey, Nan quickly discovers unforeseen challenges.
Nan’s landlady, Immaculata, launches daily intrusions from below. The library, housed in the former town jail, is overrun by marauding middle-schoolers. A mysterious reader leaves distressing messages in book stacks all over the library. Thomasina, the irresistible butch deli owner, is clearly a delicious affair and not the relationship Nan craves.
There’s no turning back though. Nan must come up with her own wildly unorthodox solutions to what the town and its people throw at her and fight for what she wants until she makes a shiny new life—one with her first true home, surprising friends, a meaningful career, and a promising new love.

I loved this book! It was so fun and cute! I think anyone would enjoy this but especially a fun read for any library students or professionals.

This is a lighthearted book about a librarian starting over again in a new town. Our main character is looking for something new. She is a middle aged lesbian with opinions and ideas that lead her to apply for a small town librarian position.
I liked most of this book. it was an easy read, and I liked the hijinks that our main characters gets up to. She makes some poor decisions, and makes some good ones as well. I liked seeing how everything unfolded, and the family that she finds in her new town.
However, there were just a few things that prevented me from fully enjoying this. Our main character has a few too many judgemental attitudes that I couldn't get behind and seemed almost out of charater for her. She seems to hate a lot on fantasy readers, making fun of a fantasy group that starts at the library and how a lot of them get dressed up. I'm personally here for those in the bookish community that are welcoming to everyone. I shouldn't be considered less of a reader in her eyes because I enjoy fantasy and count it as my top genre. She also makes a lot of bad decisions and doesn't always seem to get consequences for it, and then the ending, where she has a big choice to make, was predictable and didn't seem all that realistic (for a main character that doesn't like fantasy anyways).
Overall, it's a good book filled with lots of bookish references and some memorable characters. There were just a few things about the main character and plot that rubbed me the wrong way and prevented me from fully enjoying this book. However, if you're looking for some lighthearted bookish fun and can ignore these points, I do recommend this book!

I did not finish this, I dnf'ed at 50%. I was confused about the plot, and the romance (or lack thereof). It felt very stream-of-consciousness and more of a collection of vignettes about Nan's life as the new town librarian. Her motivations felt disjointed and a lot of the chapters didn't feel connected. Her feelings about T and that romance also made no sense- T was an overly sexual depiction of a butch lesbian who is successful as a deli owner. Why does Nan insist she's bad news? It's like we were clued out of why Nan thought they wouldn't be good together and that relationship wasn't making a lot of sense. I normally am fine without plots but this episodic approach to the story wasn't for me.

I loved the LGBTQ rep in this story!! It kept me engaged throughout. It brought nostalgic feelings with the library setting. Feel good book for sure!

𝗠𝘆 𝗧𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲: Changes of Heart & Circumstance
𝗙𝗮𝘃 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿: Nan (😊)
𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: Normal
𝗧𝘆𝗽𝗲: Book
𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗲: Slice of Life/Librarian
5/𝟱

🌱THE EXCELLENT
~ Excellently paced
~ Meaningful & touching
~ A story of love, of living, of changing, of loss, pain & of finding oneself
~ Learning that not everything has to be figured out in the bustle of the 20s/30s/40s, but that even in your 50’s there is hope to find your path.

🦖
This was what I needed. I needed to read about a childless woman in her 50’s who had been moving from place to place & was finally able to find home. About the power of found family AND reconnecting with family who had fallen out. I needed to read about FINALLY being able to make your dreams come to life, even when you weren’t too sure they could be achieved. I needed to see Nan change, focus & shed baggage she no longer needed. I needed to read about the losses that brought tears to my eyes, but that showed me how important these changes are to us re-orienting ourselves.
🪷
It was a fabulous read & definitely a story that will sit with me this year. A story that feels as good as a hug.

✨𝗚𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱.

🌱THE MEH
~ Nada

♡🌱 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗲 ;)

I could not finish this book. I loved the premise and the idea of Nan, but I was put off by Nan herself and her attitude toward several things. Nan comes off as pretentious and very close-minded. While some of her experiences resonated with me, they weren’t enough to keep me in. I was bothered by the generalizations made in her rooftop conversation with Immaculata. Having Nan rant about how unqualified not having a Master’s degree makes a librarian was the nail in the coffin for me. Librarians are more than a piece of paper and that felt very elitist to me. A degree does not a librarian make! Does Nan’s worldview change? Does this book get better? It might, but I personally can’t sit through more of Nan’s judgmental thinking to find out.

Spend a pleasant time with Nan the queer librarian in Pinetree in this incredibly lovely (and sometimes heart-aching) slice-of-life story of a 50 year old who finally learns to grow into herself. Having just finished this book, I feel like I've been basking under a warm comforter being cared for by others.

Nan has been living a dead-end low level librarian life in Philly and randomly applies to a position in Pinetree, NJ, that she is barely qualified for. By chapter 3, you're starting to become intrigued by the characters of the small town, but filled with a bit of distrust of them. However, they barge into your heart in much the same way that they barge into Nan's life, some pushy, some gently, some out of trying to be a decent person. And suddenly life just feels more full with their presence.

I will definitely be recommending this book to many folks who are just wanting a calm, cozy read.


Note: I received a free pdf via the publisher and NetGalley, but my opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and Kathy Anderson for this ARC!

I absolutely loved this one. Loved the LGBT+ representation. Had a hard time putting it down! Romance and such funny sweet moments! Awesome!

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC of this book. This was phenomenally fun. The characters were all so intriguing, Nan was brilliant and relatable. This book was so funny and so heartbreaking and it wasn’t even trying to hard! 5/5 stars this was wonderful.

summary in a few statements:
Nan is a queer librarian in her 50s who has waited and applied for head librarian jobs for years. She lands a job in a small town where she makes wonderful complex friendships and relationships with people of all types and she makes the community better for being there and makes the library something for all.

What a lovely read. It is not often that I enjoy a book with a middle-aged MC. As someone nearing middle age myself it was nice to read about someone starting life over. Obsessed with becoming a librarian myself, this book hit at just the right time. The journey was not focused on romance completely or made a big deal about our MC being queer. Would have loved more plot and character development.

The New Town Librarian is one of those small town, quirky main character who finds themselves along the way story... Similar to books by Fredrick Backman, and I LOVED IT. I don't know if it's because I could relate so much to the different library stories, or because of Nan's character development over the story, but I fell in love with her home, her life, her library. I highly recommend for anyone who loves stories where middle age characters find their way to themselves, small town hijinx, or communities coming together. Or, if you love libraries.

This was such a cute book. I absolutely adored it!! Thank you netgalley for allowing me to read this early copy in exchange for a review!!

I absolutely loved this one. From the library setting to the LGBT+ representation, I just couldn’t put it down. I just loved reading about books, and who doesn’t enjoy a romance? This book is sweet, fun and full of brilliantly written characters.

It is so refreshing when  you stumble upon a book about an older woman starting over in a new town and trying to make a life of her own. Instead she finds a mismanaged bureaucracy, some hooligans and a found family she didn't ask for. Over time that found family became her people and she tamed the political beast into helping her make the library into a useful part of the community. Also, finding small romances where she could. Loved how her being queer wasn't an issue in this small town it just was what it was and they just let her be and it was more about the books. As it should be, the focus should always be on minding your business and providing books to your community (all the books, not just some).

Thank you ninestarpress and netgalley for the e-aRC for my honest and voluntary review on pridebooktours.

I have always been pretty vocal about my love of books that have older main characters who find their place in the world and this book just hit all of my buttons. If you were to ask me what I like to read about in a book, this book could easily be used as a description for most of those things. This book just had everything I want to be reading about.

I just adored Nan so much and I loved reading about her so much. She was such an adorable and super endearing character and I would love to have her as a friend, she just seems like a lovely human being. I had the best of time reading about her life and seeing her go through everything. I loved all of the friendships she formed, and the new love she found, which was super adorable and really sweet too.

I was super invested in this book, and I loved everything it had to offer me, I had a wonderful time reading this one.

thank you, netgalley, for providing me with this arc! unfortunately, i didn't love this one. while i have a special place in my heart for libraries, I thought the main character was a bit boring and she came off as thinking she was better than everyone else. this might be for some people, but not for me!

Charming tale!

Not totally my kind of book but it was a nice story. I didn't totally liked Nan, she moves to this small town to start over but at the same time it feels like she wants to convert this new place to something she's comfortable with, no much character grow there.

Through the end of the book like at 80% you start to see a change where she is willing and accepting of the changes she wants and needs to make. Loved that!

All and all nice read!

I thought a book about a queer 50 year old librarian would be an instant favourite but I unfortunately found this one difficult to get into. The style of writing isn't what I expected and it never really clicked for me. I didn't like Nan as a character, she felt pretentious, immature, overwhelming for most of it in a way I didn't find funny. It almost read more like a middle school book with one simple moral lesson than a novel and I spent most of it wishing it was over.