DNFed at 25%

The part of this book that I made it through was not good. I don’t know if the MC gets better as the book progresses, but she was absolutely awful in this first quarter. She thinks she’s better than everyone else, is disparaging towards mental health, cancer, children, deli workers, etc. Like, it makes a point of saying what she talked to her sisters about, both of whom are apparently hypochondriacs, and it was basically that she got them all riled up and freaking out and then she hung up. But she’s also a hypochondriac, because she always thinks about death. Sorry, what???

She is just a very unlikeable character, despite folks in her new small town being nice and friendly, she was constantly thinking mean things about them. I tried really hard to keep going, as I thought maybe she would have a redemption arc, but it was just too much, I couldn’t go on.

Also, the author uses the word thug a lot, which isn’t okay. Overall, the book had a very un-self aware sort of vibe. I don’t even quite know how to describe it? It was all rather cringey…

I was not sure what to expect from this story but I ended up really liking it. It was refreshing reading about a women in her 50s who still has goals and dreams for her life. It was also great to see all the goals being very grounded and realistic for her knowledge and skills and seeing her grow to appreciate the life a small town can give her.

I found this book to be a lot of fun. As a librarian I was excited to read a book about a small town NJ librarian and this book didn't disappoint. There were so many relatable moments and so many times, when I was like oh if only!

Pros:
I loved the premise and setting of this book. It was all very relatable and fun.
I liked the honest depiction of how librarianship can be so rewarding and draining at the same time and how a lot of components of being a librarian are things that we're never taught in library school. So many times when Nan was saying how she just wanted to be around books and didn't sign on to have to estimate the cost of building repairs, I was like yes, that's so relatable and true.
I liked Nan's inner struggle with feeling like she settled and never pushed herself and then feeling she was possibly settling with her new position too. It's really relatable especially, I think, in library world where once you get to the director spot you don't have many other places for professional growth.
I think the ending and Chuck's offer for Nan, while too good to be true for real life, led to a very real struggle for Nan that I like to think many librarians might have at some point in their careers.
Nan was a very creative problem-solver and I wish some of her methods could actually be implemented.

Cons:
I was very confused by the pay scale being used at this library. Nan kept saying that she was barely making enough to survive and I genuinely don't understand. Even in a small library, a library director should be make a somewhat average middle class salary. I was so confused by this since for a single person an average middle class salary should be enough if you don't spend exorbitantly.
I wish there had been some sort of timeframe for how long Nan was at this library by the time the end of the book came around. It's very strange to get into a position like library director and then seem to move on after barely a year and think you will be hirable when you don't have any other experience other than being a Librarian I for 25 years. I was a bit baffled by this and a bit confused.
I so wish Immaculata and Joe had adopted Jeremy. I feel like it was a massive set up by the author that didn't pan out.
A big part of me really wanted Pip to get booted off the board. Not only is being the superintendent of the schools and board president a major conflict of interest, but everyone said he was a big bully who also wasn't that good at his job.

I think this book is a lot of fun for anyone part of library world. If you're not in library world you might not find a lot of the book relatable, but I still think it's a good time. I'd highly recommend.

I found this book extremely enjoyable. I liked Nan the main character and enjoyed her journey. I wanted her to succeed and find her place in life. It is a good fun book with laughter and tears from beginning to end. We follow Nan along in her new job in a new town where she will learn about herself as well as many others.
This book was a delight and well worth reading.
Nan encounters a large cast of characters and all are well developed, the writing is consistent and flows well.

Just a fun purely enjoyable read.

Thank you so much NetGalley and Ninestarr Press for the advanced E-book copy of this title in exchange for my review consideration. All opinions are my own

I am always attracted to books that have a bookish theme to them. Whether it be about a bookstore, Author, Authors retreats, etc. so naturally, 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙏𝙤𝙬𝙣 𝙇𝙞𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙣 peaked my interest!

It was a slow start for me, I had a difficult time vibing with the main character, Nan. She just is so unhappy and judgmental of EVERYONE. I felt at 50 years old she should have acted more mature…I mean what adult throws tomatoes at kids? I feel as a librarian, she should be more willing to come out of her comfort zone in regards to genres of books too - to be more knowledgeable of the different areas in the library. As a fantasy reader, I was a little put off by her distaste of the genre.

There were several times in the beginning that I had thoughts of DNF but what really kept me going were all of the side characters. The second half of the book was much better for me. I did enjoy her landlords and her book club members. I even really liked her sisters when they came to visit.

I am not sure that there is enough romance in this book to be classified as a romance novel. Overall, this book is good. The writing is good and the side characters are great. It was amazing how the community came together to improve their library! Even though I couldn’t find it in myself to like Nan, I commend her on her self development.

After reading this, I can’t help but wonder if the librarians at my local library have the same negative views as Nan?

𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝔹𝕠𝕠𝕜 𝕙𝕒𝕤:
Small town
Found family
Grumpy (Nan) vs Sunshine (everyone else)
LGBTQIA+ characters
Book about books

Thank you to NetGalley, Ninestar Press and Kathy Anderson for the Advanced Readers Copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!

I laughed and cried. This is a heartwarming story. It almost feels like it’s a story about nothing in particular (not in a bad way) but is still somehow so gripping and makes you want to keep reading.

The New Town Librarian is about Nan, an older very queer woman who takes over as the new town librarian in a small town called Pinetree in New Jersey. Nan has spent most of her life kind of as an underachiever. Never really looking to move up in her career because she was fine with where she was. When Nan decides to apply for the librarian position for Pinetree’s local library and actually gets the job, she moves from the big city of Philly to the small town of Pinetree. What she doesn’t realize is how much work being the actual librarian is. The budgets she has to make, the meetings she has to speak in, the solutions to all of the crazy problems that have never been addressed at this former jail-now library.

I enjoyed this read. It was a short read and honestly? Not extremely eventful. It kind of gave me Schitts Creek vibes because Nan goes from not knowing a soul in town, to loving the town and its people. She grows into herself even more and learns so much about what she wants and how to get it. My main problems in this book were that *spoiler alert*, she doesn’t adopt Jeremy (I really thought she would and I was sad when he was gone) and that she honestly felt more like a 20 something year old than a 50 year old. But I really loved how much Nan loved books and being a librarian. She’s so passionate about having books accessible and about the library and its resources and I loved that a lot. This book felt like it was written by someone passionate about books (I know most authors are obviously, but they don’t praise books and writing as much as this book does.

I had a fun time reading this and would recommend as a quick sweet read.

This story was so much more than I was expecting. I’m a reader, I love getting books from the library, I expected the book to be pleasant, enjoyable.

Instead, it was great! I sat down to start it - and had to be almost physically pulled away only about 40 pages from the end to go to an appointment.

The protagonist, Nan, drew me in from the start and the story very quickly moved to the new town, the characters, the living situation, the job situation, the colleagues, the challenges, the growth, the empathy, the growing bonds among so many people . . . .

The characters were well drawn with enough specific details to easily remember them as they reappeared, and their backstory came in small doses as it was needed in the story.

I enjoyed learning bits and pieces of librarianship / administration. Mostly I appreciated how Nan used both her knowledge and experience – and her caring heart - to guide the other characters toward the right choices and actions – and toward other characters. The story progressed effortlessly, with new plotlines arising organically and weaving in among the others. Most of all, Nan’s character arc was a joy to behold, and her role in helping people in various meaningful ways really was heartwarming.

I’ll close by reiterating: this book was so much more, and better, and deeper, and richer, than I had anticipated from the blurb. Highly recommend. And I hope the author writes more books.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I'd not read any of Kathy Anderson's work before and was delighted with this read. The New Town Librarian was an utter joy. Hilarious, warm, inviting. I read this in a day and laughed aloud through most of it.

I totally loved this book! I always enjoy books that take place in the library, this one had so many colorful characters but the Nan was the one who i really liked. She definitely had very strong ideas about everything, especially for all her plans once she started her new job in the small town library, she met all kinds of people, stayed overwhelmed for a while and was always talking to herself about how things should be. She ended up learning alot of things about herself along the way and about the people she was around daily and her life changed for the better.

There were alot of interesting things happening in this book and quiet a few surprises as well. I thought that it had the best ending and everything got wrapped up nicely, it was a very heartwarming story which made me laugh out loud through the entire book! Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC!

⭐️Rating: 2/5
✍🏼Author: Kathy Anderson
📖Genre: Romance

My Thoughts::

Cute book about Nan, a middle-aged librarian that makes a move to New Jersey to start fresh. Along the way she finds purpose and makes wonderful new friends, and even develops a new romance. Overall, this was not my favorite book. It started off strong and I think there will definitely be an audience who really enjoys this, it just wasn't for me. It is a quick read, and the writing was light.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to receive this ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are that of my own.

Aside from some immoral behaviour (lying to get a job far above her skills, having sex in the library after hours), I found the main character Nan to be fun and likeable. I wanted her to succeed. This is a pleasant LGBTQIA+ novel about building community while building confidence and learning about herself.

This book was absolutely adorable. It took me a while to get through because I’m not a fan of third person point of view, but it was worth it. An ode to all small town stories, it had everything from pages filled to the brim with unexpected characters, to finding yourself where you least expect it.

If you like books about small towns and the people in them, then this book is for you. However, as much as I wanted to like it, I struggled with it a bit. There were some chapters that I loved and couldn’t help but smile at, but it felt like the next second everything discussed there was done. I couldn’t figure out what the main plot was and it was as if we were going from one idea to the next. This is not me saying it wasn’t a good book, but it wasn’t necessarily a book for me. It definitely has an appeal for those who love small towns and the characters associated with them, but it is very character driven without much of a central plot.

I ultimately liked it because it was cute and the characters were all quite lovely, but the writing was stilted at times and I was often thinking what is the point of this book. If you focus on the small town it’s lovely, but there’s not a ton of plot to pull you along.

As someone who is an avid library user, this was a fun whimsical book and I even learned what it's like to work a library. The MC Nan was an instant favorite character. She has these inner monologues that were my favorite part to read about. Overall, a great debut from this author and will be adding this author to my TBR lists. This book was a quick read and I will be recommending it to my friends when it comes out to the general public.

Thank you to NetGalley and NineStar Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550975

A fun and quirky book with whimsical characters. Nan was a hoot. You will glean what librarians deal with on a daily basis and hopefully treat them and your local libraries better .

This was a quick, fun read. I know a little about libraries so it was neat getting an insider view.

The cast of characters was vibrant and quirky, and easy to fall in love with. In fact I didn’t realize how attached I’d become to some of the characters until close to the end of the novel, and then it was hard to let go.

However, at points I was lost on the main character’s motivation. I wasn’t sure what changed between the first 25 years of her career, in which she’s described as a mediocre employee who doesn’t care about her career, and this year, in which she passionately fights for her library and is exceedingly good at her job. Maybe she just needed the small town independence? Regardless, I enjoyed watching her battle for her library’s sake.

The book club scenes were some of my favorite. I also wholeheartedly shared Nan’s anxiety about whether or not anyone would show up to her events (I’m coming from a bookstore perspective).

Thanks to Netgalley and Ninestar Press for the digital ARC,

Slightly unusual writing style but I enjoyed it! Queer stories are so important and I loved all the library details. So good!

Four stars! I'm so happy to have read this book. It's quirky and fun and a great story. I loved all the book references and the main character was funny and I was invested in her story!

Thanks so much to NetGalley for the ARC.