This was such a cute, bookish romcom! It was so fun to read a book that takes place in Ireland while I’m in Ireland, and with our long drives through the Irish countryside, I managed to read this book in just 2 days. Love at First Book features a spunky librarian, a grumpy yet sweet Irish bookstore owner, and a wonderful cast of secondary characters in a quaint little village. I loved all the bookish elements and literary quotes, and some parts of this book reminded me of The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer (another book that I loved). This was a really sweet romance story, and I hope to read more from Jenn McKinlay!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for sending me an eARC of this book! All thoughts and opinions above are my own.

"When a librarian moves to a quaint Irish village where her favorite novelist lives, the last thing she expects is to fall for the author's prickly son...until their story becomes one for the books, from the New York Times bestselling author of Summer Reading.

Emily Allen, a librarian on Martha's Vineyard, has always dreamed of a life of travel and adventure. So when her favorite author, Siobhan Riordan, offers her a job in the Emerald Isle, Emily jumps at the opportunity. After all, Siobhan's novels got Em through some of the darkest days of her existence.

Helping Siobhan write the final book in her acclaimed series - after a ten-year hiatus due to a scorching case of writer's block - is a dream come true for Emily. If only she didn't have to deal with Siobhan's son, Kieran Murphy. He manages Siobhan's bookstore, and the grouchy bookworm clearly doesn't want Em around.

Emily persists, and spending her days bantering with the annoyingly handsome mercurial Irishman only makes her fall more deeply in love with the new life she's built - and for the man who seems to soften toward her with every quip she throws at him. But when she discovers the reason for Kieran's initial resistance, Em finds herself torn between helping Siobhan find closure with her series and her now undeniable feelings for Kier. As Siobhan's novel progresses, Emily will have to decide if she's truly ready to turn a new page and figure out what lies in the next chapter."

There's two ways it can go when helping a famous author, murder or romance. This is definitely romance.

This book needs to be a movie! For one, it’s set in Ireland? What more could you ask for. The book lover in me loved all of the literary references and book quotes between the characters! The female main character describes the male main character as a modern day, Irish Jamie Fraser and I agree! He’s like a cross between Jamie and Darcy! Swoon! The female main character gets to help her favorite childhood author finish her last book, 10 years in the making. I do not cry easily and I bawled at the end of this book! More than once! It is so good!

⭐️ 5/5

“𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘙𝘦𝘥, 𝘐’𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵. 𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨.”

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for this great ARC. This was such a cozy, swoon worthy rom-com! Emily and Kier are the perfect grumpy x sunshine duo. If you love a small town, cozy, charming bookstore romance this one is for you. Emily’s character was a breath of fresh air and I loved how unapologetic she was. Though Kiernan is overprotective of the bookstore and his mother, I enjoyed how he was warming up to Emily.

The end of the book made me an absolute wreck, and I still loved it even through the tears. It hit close to home for me with Siobhan but it was a heartwarming ending. All the characters are lovable (except for Emily’s mother), but I’m glad Jenn McKinlay portrayed how toxic and dependent some mothers can be. I think she brought light to issues like anxiety and toxic family relationships properly. I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait to read more from McKinlay!

Love at First Book

Thanks so much to @berkleyromance for the free book! #BerkleyPartner #Berkley

This was a sweet story set in Ireland and is full of characters who love books.
The main character is a librarian in the United States and she takes on a new job across the globe. I love books about books!
I did struggle a bit with the pacing of this book, it was a touch slow for my preference. My attention span isn’t always fabulous so I was a bit bored at some points. I would have loved to see something crazier happen plot-wise.
Here is what worked for me. The MMC Kier. He was so wonderful and caring throughout the entire story. Him and his use of nicknames was perfect.
I also adored the banter. Both main characters were super witty and sarcastic, which made their conversations and banter quite funny.
I also love any book with mental health representation! This book delivered in that department! The FMC struggles with hypochondria, and both characters have their own mental health situations.
There is also an emotional punch in this book as well. I can’t say specifics because it’s a spoiler but be prepared- it gets sad.
This book would make a short and sweet read though! It’s a good choice when you want a hallmark-vibes, adorable romance!
This book is available super soon! You can read it on May 14th.

Read If You Like:
📚books about books
📚sarcastic banter
📚grumpy + sunshine
📚books set in Ireland
📚mental health/hypochondria rep

This was a fun and moving read. While it was hard to get into at first, it really picked up and became a great read by the end. I recommend it for any book lover and lover of contemporary romance.
The book started out a bit rough but found its footing after the first third or so. At first there were a few too many cliches, even for a romance novel, and the characters were a bit rough. However, once the book gained some momentum, it became a much more enjoyable read! By the end, I wished I had more time with the characters. This book became very moving and I found myself getting emotional with the characters.
This book is certainly one for book lovers. I loved how Kier and Em quoted books to each other. But besides that, the characters’ and author’s love of books shines through. Em’s love of a book series from her childhood was very relatable.
I look forward to future books by this author!

A book lover's dream of a heartwarming story with our FMC Emily moving to Ireland to work for her favorite author. The story picks up right away and dives into introducing us to the cozy bunch that run The Last Chapter, and it is filled with humor, romance and a bit of heartbreak. It's a delightful quick read that kept my attention & made me laugh and cry from the very first page. The only thing I would change is fleshing out Emily and her mother's relationship, the back and forth seemed flat, and one second, I was hoping for a resolution for the two but then we never went back to mentioning her again!

3.25

Thank you to the PUBLISHER for providing me a digital copy of “Love At First Book” for a review. This is a bit of challenging review to write because this wasn’t a top read for me but had moments that I appreciated and moved me emotionally (it did have me crying on a plane but I was also on a plane and a character died).

I’ll start off with the main character, Emily, and I was not a fan. She’s 29 years old, only a few months older than me, but she was written to be younger? Or she at least came off like that and it was odd. I think it was because she was created to be quirky/awkward but authors so often miss the mark because they go with stereotypes that are just outdated and don’t make sense anymore, and ultimately the character comes out cringe. I did feel for Emily with her family issues - her overbearing mother and her father who remarried one of her high school classmates.

I liked Kieran a lot and wished we were able to get his POV. He had a lot of emotions to unpack - his mother’s illness and eventual death, the book series his mother wrote, and more. That said, I needed more time between Kieran and Emily to understand their spark - it felt rushed.

The writing - random but it peeves me that there’s a cat on the cover when there’s a dog that poses a more prominent animal character. I think the writing could’ve been flushed out more - felt a bit one dimensional.

Overall, it was light-hearted read, despite a character dying and leaving an emotional path up to it, there were some things the authors left open. Mainly, Emily’s relationship with her mother - it’s simply never talked about again so what was the point of this drama? I will emphasize, the reason I rated this a bit higher is actually because of the Tig book series that is the foundation of relationships in the story.

Of course I want to read about a librarian, who takes a job with her favorite author & works in a book store! Super cute, fast paced romantic comedy that had me cracking up. Of course it wouldn’t be happily ever after without a meddling mama and a little drama. Love a good romance in between all the thrillers. ;)

3.5 stars

Emily embarks on the adventure of her life. A bored librarian, she’s offered her dream job as assistant to her favorite childhood author who hasn’t published in a decade. When she arrives at the cozy Irish village, she finds herself thrown into the company of Kieran, the author's (Siobhan’s) grumpy son. Intent on forcing his mother to rest, Kieran does everything he can to prevent Emily from helping Siobhan write her final book. But sparks fly between the librarian and the Irish bookstore owner and Emily is forced to choose between helping the woman she’s always admired finish the book she can’t wait to read or falling for the man who fights for her in a way no one ever has.

Love at First Book will make you cry, laugh, swoon, and cry some more. This is not your average rom-com. It deals with mental health, toxic and complicated family dynamics, grief, and a crushing fear of change. For every moment of sunshine, there is one of rain, but I promise, this story is not to be missed.

Emily is a main character every book nerd can relate to. She and Kieran often flirt through book quotes (and there’s a scene that’s basically Strip Poker: Literary Quote Edition) and find each other again in fiction. I appreciated the depiction of her anxiety but would’ve preferred it to be a larger part of the story rather than a detail the author could slip in at convenient points. Every disorder is different and the author portrays the anxiety attacks themselves well, however, I felt like Emily’s anxiety only appears when it enhances a scene rather than being something she had to constantly deal with. Unfortunately, mental health can’t be turned off when it’s not convenient for the plot, so I would’ve liked to see Emily’s anxiety portrayed more consistently.

That being said, watching Emily come out of her shell and learn to stand as her own person was wonderful. I liked that she struggled with conflict but was never afraid to speak her mind. Her view of herself transformed over the course of the novel, yet she remained kind and caring without being weak. The book in general normalized asking for help and going to therapy for both genders, which is always a positive.

I adored Kieran (our broody love interest). He’s complicated without being unnecessarily cruel, brooding without being basic, and so humanly flawed. The “enemies” portion of the enemies-to-lovers narrative was actually reasonable and didn’t make Kieran into a horrible person without a soul (always a benefit). He wasn’t cruel for the sake of cruelty and none of his behavior was justified with the repulsive “boys-will-be-boys” thing. Yay for no internalized (or externalized as the case may be) misogyny! Kieran respected women, consent, and boundaries, a startling rarity for the trope.

His relationship with his mother Siobhan drove the story as much as the romance and remains one of the best complicated family dynamics the romance genre has to offer. Family is as important to Love at First Book as the romance is, creating a layered and complicated narrative. I truly felt for every character in the story and could understand their position, even if I didn’t agree with it.

As for the writing, it was engaging and well-developed. Emily had a clear voice separate from that of the author, which I appreciated. The pacing was slow towards the beginning but excellent after the 100-page mark. The dialogue was fast and hilarious, balancing catchy lines and realism perfectly. If you love reading, romcoms about reading, crying and laughing at the same time, and grumpy Irishman out to steal your heart, Love at First Book is most certainly for you.

This is SO very cute!! Of course as a librarian I'm drawn to cute romances about librarians and bookish people. The main character is so fun and likeable, and her love interest is just enough gruff and grumpy to be annoyed and also love him.

Everything felt a bit too on the nose for me with this book, which is the difference between a romance being charming and contrived and this one fell on the wrong side for me

Thank you to NetGalley, Berkley Publishing, and Jenn. McKinley for this digital arc. This one was super fun and flirty! Strangers x lovers trope in a small town bookshop while assisting a writer finding the energy to finish a fun series everyone is dying for the concluding book to finish the adventure of their favorited character. I really liked both characters and loved how Emily connected and helped with Kir - struggling to open up. Such a good story for readers who enjoy books about books! :)

McKinlay attempts to have anxiety and hypochondria representation but in both cases they fall not just flat, but untrue. Like, someone who has only experienced an anxiety attack by reading the dictionary definition.

This is written like a formula: a cast of 15 or so characters each fulfilling a certain type and flaw, a few awkward flirting scenes, a few more even more awkward and unrealistic open door scenes, cue drama and grand gesture, finale.

I liked the author/author assistant plotline. That could have been an incredible literary fiction novel in itself rather than a subplot in a romantic comedy.

Basically, it's an off brand Hallmark holiday movie with c-list actors.

Thanks to Berkeley Publishing and NetGalley for an e-arc to read and review.

Emily is a former librarian who moves to a small town in Ireland to help her favorite author, Siobhan, work through writing the last book in her famous series. Kieran is Siobhan's son, and doesn't think Siobhan should stress herself by forcing herself to finish the series.

This is a sweet love story, and it's definitely about Em finding the best place for herself in the world, where she feels comfortable and happy and safe. She comes from a harsh upbringing with a narcissistic mother who refuses to believe she's a problem. Finding the people she does in Ireland, even with the animosity from Kier, feels like a much better space for herself. I like that she's found her people, and that she feels like she's found "home."

I will say that, after reading the ARC, I wish there was better resolution with the mother. She essentially has an altercation by phone with her mom, but there's no mention of her blocking the mom, or whether they're still talking, or if the mom has continued to harass her best friend. Three mom stops being mentioned about halfway through, and every time Em gets a "someone is coming" kind of feeling, I was anticipating that her mom was going to show up on her doorstep to raise hell. But it didn't happen. She also talks about how Siobhan gives her the maternal affection she's always craved, but still nothing about her own mom. I feel like there's definitely a loose end there.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy via NetGalley in return for sharing my thoughts on this book. Thanks to the author and publisher for this opportunity!

I could not put it down! Open-door romance with grumpy and sunshine main characters in a quant little town in Ireland. The book addresses some heavy topics like growing up with a narcissistic parent, child abuse, grief and grieving. I loved the Irish setting, not to mention that most of the book takes place in beautiful cottages or a dream-worthy bookshop. I would highly recommend for anyone looking for an Irish romantic adventure!

This is a sweet escape to Ireland!

I enjoyed this book for many reasons, which I’ll list below. There are a couple of things that gave me pause in terms of recommending to everyone (though I would recommend it overall)

What I enjoyed:
1. I loved the small-town Irish village setting with a rich cast of characters. It’s a perfect cozy read!
2. The romance was sweet- Grumpy/Sunshine, slow burn, small amount of descriptive steam
3. The side characters are so interesting as well- I loved seeing each of their personalities and how they connected to the larger story. And found family is a prominent theme that I enjoy.

What I didn’t love:
1. It’s written in first person from the female main character’s perspective. It’s handled well, but I prefer 3rd person for romance novels, and it’s nice to get a dual perspective. I really wanted to know what was going on with him, too!
2. The book is based around the author of a famous series of youth novels. I wanted to dive more into that world as it’s important to the story in many ways, but it was only mentioned here and there. I understand space is limited- I just wanted a bit more!
3. Please check trigger warnings before reading- I don’t want to be specific to avoid spoilers, but do use care if illness, mental health, and toxic relationships are difficult subjects for you. The author did a nice job of handing each of the hard areas, but I would have liked to know a bit more about some of the topics before I chose to read the book!

Overall, I would recommend this book to most people I know. It’s lovely!

Thank you very much to Berkeley publishing and NetGalley for the advance read copy!

I really tried getting into this book but I felt that I have read so many like it before. It didn't make me want to continue reading it.

This was really cute! I like that you could tell what the author likes and is interested in by the references made in it. There's a lot of good ones. The banter is also quite good.

Unfortunately, this one isn't going to be a favorite of mine! The characters, plot, and dialogue felt very underdeveloped. I had high hopes, but it unfortunately fell a little flat!