Witty and charming. Enjoyed the main character’s search for belonging at a new librarian and coming into her own.

A fun read that had me falling in love with the small town Nan lives in. Thank you for this eGalley!

This was a cute and fast read. More like "adventures in being a Librarian", I loved learning all the antics and wild things that she experienced day to day. Her little quips, however, that felt judgmental about what made a real reader and what didn't (read: classics, not fantasy) definitely made me pause. It was cute and I chuckled a few times.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book! The title and this beautiful cover drew me in and i was excited to read this book! I will be recommending this book to others for readers advisory.

The New Town Librarian was a sweet read that I enjoyed! The characters were vibrant, and I love a read that focuses on a community or place for a lot of the narrative.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I became unsurprisingly a lil obsessed with this book; so often a fictional librarian is a meek mouse with traditional clothes who is too aware of the sexy stereotype fantasy to do much more than shelve things and pine after some dude, but this sapphic sarcastic witty librarian quickly became a new favorite in my pantheon of fictional librarians.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

Absolutely loved this story. I laughed so much, but it was a touching story that I really, really enjoyed.

Very self-insert/wish-fulfillment type story, and I'm honestly not sure what audience this was written for.

Maybe this is the case of right book, wrong time, but I could not for the life of me get into this. And I have not wanted to try again.

I received this book for free for an honest unbiased review from Netgalley.

I wish more books were this well written. Characters were witty and the setting fantastic.

I requested this as a "read now" and the title, cover, and description had me interested. However, I just wasn't into it and gave up about 40% of the way through. I found it difficult to get through. I would not consider this a romance. Lots about it was confusing.

The New Town Librarian by Kathy Anderson is a humorous and heartwarming story about Nan Nethercott, a middle-aged librarian who decides to take a chance on a new job in a small town in New Jersey. The book follows Nan's journey as she adjusts to her new life, faces unexpected challenges, and navigates her way through the ups and downs of love and career.

Nan is a relatable character, a hypochondriac with a sarcastic sense of humor and a lackluster career. As she settles into her new job, she encounters a number of obstacles, from overbearing landlords to rowdy middle-schoolers. But through it all, Nan remains determined to succeed and find happiness.

The book also explores Nan's journey towards self-discovery and acceptance. As a queer woman, Nan has struggled with her identity and relationships in the past. Her new life in the small town forces her to confront these issues head-on, leading to some surprising and touching moments.

Overall, The New Town Librarian is a delightful read that will make you laugh, cry, and cheer for Nan as she navigates the challenges of life and love. Kathy Anderson has crafted a charming and relatable story that is sure to resonate with readers of all ages.

As soon as I saw this I knew I had to request it. It was so my taste that I'm definitely buying my own copy. This is such a cute queer romance surrounded around something I love: books and libraries! I currently work at a library and the in depth thoughts of the processes especially that of weeding books... Blew my mind. I related to this book and loved every inch of it.

As someone who is a NJ librarian, I was very excited to read this book. Throughout the book, I felt that I could relate to many of Nan's library experiences, especially the need for more space, the need to constantly move around collections, and the need to protect our youngest patrons at all costs. There were many chapters that I found intriguing and hoped that the author would expand more on the topic. These chapters typically ended up cutting short and not flowing well into the next chapter. I had the most love for Nan's landlord, Immaculata, because honestly who doesn't want to be brought amazing, mouth-watering food on a whim?!

There were so many characters to keep track of that I had to keep scrolling back to remember who was who. The characters that ended up having "larger roles", such as the mysterious patron who left books around the library, didn't have much detail written about them...just what the reader "needed to know". This made these characters almost seem insignificant, even when they played "larger roles".

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and review the e-ARC of this book!

The New Town Librarian is queer, slice of life, women's fiction. The book focuses more on the vibes than having a very structured plot, which threw me a bit. As I read, I kept searching for the plot, but it turns out this is a more character-driven book. It was different from most of the books I enjoy, but overall, it was worth the read. The last part of the book really picks up, but the first part was unfortunately a bit of a slog for me to get through. The bulk of my motivation to finish was to be able to review the ARC I received, but I am glad I finished.

Nan is a fifty-year-old librarian who has not advanced in the library hierarchy since her first job. She has a comfortably uncomfortable life, and she self-soothes by applying to jobs based upon location and imagining a future there. She ignores the qualifications for the jobs to which she's applying, so she's unsurprised when she doesn't get called in for interviews. The book kicks off with her applying to a job for which she is qualified (by virtue of the Board searching for young blood to shake up the small town library). She then proceeds through life, constantly wanting change but unsure how to really make it happen. The remainder of the plot is Nan floating through the trials and tribulations of being a librarian and finding ways to thrive in a small town.

Joe and Immaculata, her landlords, are probably my favorites among a fun cast of characters. Immaculata doesn't take no for an answer, barging into Nan's life like a wrecking ball. The town cast is absolutely great. I had some trouble connecting with Nan, especially her more acerbic thoughts, but I enjoyed her character growth.

Some spoilers in the content warnings below.

Content Warnings: some self-medication with alcohol (although not to the level of abuse/dependency), character death, hypochondria, and for some reason the I & + were excluded in LGBTQIA+ (but the rest was there - it stuck out to me for some reason).

While I will say this book picked up a lot in the second half, so much of this just felt cringey and awkward. The entire storyline with T, while I understand it's purpose for character arc, was so uncomfortable I had to stop reading at some points. There were plotlines that were started and dropped, barely revisited 100 pages later with an unsatisfying conclusion. I feel like this book needed to be streamlined or focused in a little better.
All that being said I really like a lot of the plotlines and in general liked Nan as a character, even if I didn't always agree with her. Even still, as a traditionally published book I was surprised by a lot of the things that were allowed to remain through editing.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

Rounded from 3.5 stars. This book has a solid foundation but needs some editing to fight it up. There are a lot of different storylines that started and then just died. Way too many. The main character is relatable and I love her honesty.

I don't know, I really wanted to like this book more than I did but I just had so much trouble getting into it. As someone in the library field I enjoyed all the accurate ins and outs of working in a public library but I think it got a little too stuck in the details of some of it. It said a lot without actually moving any plot forward for a long time. Overall I was just left with a meh feeling. I enjoyed reading it but found myself without any really strong feelings towards any of the characters or the plot.