Love Overdue

Rightbrain Romance #2

by Pamela Morsi

Meet Dorothy devotedly unsexy librarian Buttoned-up book lover DJ is all sensible shoes, drab skirts and studious glasses. After an ill-advised spring-break-fueled fling left her mortified, she's committed to her prim and proper look. When she's hired by a rural library in middle-of-nowhere Kansas, she finally has the lifestyle to match--and she can't wait to get her admin on. But it's clear from day one that the small-town library is more interested in circulating rumors than books. DJ has to organize her unloved library, win over oddball employees and avoid her flamboyant landlady's attempts to set her up with the town pharmacist. Especially that last part--because it turns out handsome Scott Sanderson is her old vacation fling! She is not sure whether to be relieved or offended when he doesn't seem to recognize her. But with every meeting, DJ finds herself secretly wondering what it would be like to take off her glasses, unpin her bun and reveal the inner vixen she's been hiding from everyone--including herself.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Fiction, Chick Lit, Adult, Adult Fiction

432 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Pamela Morsi was an American writer. She was the author of 29 romance novels, beginning in 1991.

Reviews

[Carmen · Rating 5 out of 5]

CUTE, SWEET, FUNNY and SMART. FIVE ROMANCE STARS. HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION.

Please excuse any crass language in this review, the book is NOT crass, but I've gotta describe it in my own words, ya know what I'm sayin'?

This book was amazing. It's a romance novel, but it's also funny and sweet - with a bit of a dark and serious undercurrent to keep it from being too fluffy.

DJ loses her virginity at age 21 to a mysterious stranger at the beach on Spring Break. She doesn't know his name, she doesn't know where he's from. He was sweet, patient, gave her hours of kissing, and turns her out. I mean, he puts it down for her so good she forgets any word but "please."

After this spectacular night of marathon sex, she creeps out the next morning without a word, thinking she'll never see this man again.

Unfortunately, for eight years she's been unable to find a man who is even close to the standards set by Mystery Guy. She tries unsuccessfully to have relationships with perfectly decent men, but none can match the chemistry she had with Mystery Guy. This is completely accurate. I mean, she lost her virginity to this man (which makes it extra-difficult), but you can be having completely mediocre sex for years, then start dating a guy who fucks your brains out and suddenly you can't ever be satisfied by the "perfectly fine" sex you were having before.

BUT THE TWIST IS, Mystery Guy had no idea she was a virgin, his world was turned upside down by HER fucking, and he's been spending the last eight years jerking off to the memory of HER. Unbelievable. This is too good and cute to be true. Extra funny and extra cute is that he wasn't really that sexually experienced when he laid her out, INSTEAD he (saddened by a terrible marriage and believing he needed more practical and hands-on experience to be "good in bed") studied the shit out of sex and kind of tutored himself into being a sex god. So funny.


ANYWAY. It's eight years after the fact. DJ gets a job offer in a small Kansas farming town to be a library administrator. She jumps at the chance to escape from her hell job and become the library administrator to a small, closeknit town.

Unbeknownst to her, Viv has other, deeper, more personal reasons for bringing her to town than to just revive the gloomy and oppressive library. She wants DJ to be a girlfriend to her son, Scott.

When Scott walks into the kitchen, DJ nearly spits out her coffee upon seeing a face she was certain she'd never see again....
...

AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! OMG. The book is amazing. Even though DJ recognizes Scott instantly as the man who made her First Time the Best Time, Scotty doesn't recognize her AT ALL which leads for super-hilarious scenarios.

It's rare for me to laugh out loud while reading a book. Usually the most an author can wrench out of me is a wry smile. Morsi had me IN TEARS with laughter twice in this book, during the most hilarious scenes: One, the first dinner together awkwardly with Scott and his mom and DJ. DJ recognizes Scott and he has no fucking idea who she is and why she's so angry with him. It's hysterical, OMG, I couldn't stop laughing. Two, when the two of them go on their first "date" together, Scotty still in the dark. It's a riot, OMG, for sure I was turning heads in the coffee shop laughing my ass off while reading this book.

EVEN BETTER, the book is not only about romance and sex and falling in love. It's got a lot of plot, a lot of subplots, a lot of great side characters... everything you could want in a book. There's drama at the library and trouble with DJ adjusting to her new job and coworkers. There's a side romance! I love side romance! There's Scott's mom and her depression. There's DJ's adorable little black terrier Melvil Dewey and the trouble he gets into: he's so cute and sweet! I love when romance novels have extra layers and well-written plots like this.

This book is also queer-friendly and autism-friendly and I have to give the author major props for dealing with both these concepts in a cute, friendly, and respectful way. Extra points.

The dark side is there, too, to keep this from being too sweet and too fluffy, and that dark thread is suicide. So, trigger warning for that if you feel like that would upset you, but I think Morsi does a good job of handling it without making it silly or inconsequential (see my anger at The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry).


Tl;dr - If anything will restore your faith in the romance genre, this book is it. Extra points for being so funny. :D I can't believe this book made me laugh out loud, it was that good. Morsi is extra cute in numbering her chapters using the Dewey decimal system. For instance, a chapter might be called: 140.4 Philosophical Schools of Thought. It's fun.

FIVE ROMANCE STARS, HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION!!!! EXTENSIVE KISSING IS IN THIS BOOK!!!!

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was great - except for the little fact that it was missing its ending. Seriously, it was like someone ripped out the last 30 pages of the book, leaving just the epilogue. I actually got a little angry when I saw that I was at "98%" completed and realized there was no way everything could get dealt with in that short bit of time. My favorite part of a romance novel is a good tension filled confrontation - which this one definitely should have had because everything led up to it, and then it just ended. No conversation about how they first met or why she kept it a secret. We don't even get to see the moment when all those fireworks that they had initially get reignited, so to speak. Really a big let down. If the author needed more room, she could have edited out some of the too-long section on wheat harvesting - it was nice to see the details of that, but not at the expense of the more important parts of the book. Up until the end, it was a nice book with sweet mis-communicating characters and a meddlesome mother (which I normally would find super-irritating, but she really didn't bother me here). I would have given this book 3.5 or even 4 stars if it actually had an ending. Based on some of the other reviews I have read, I think the author might want to seriously consider a big rewrite on that. Otherwise, she might not get any repeat readers. I certainly won't be one if this is what I can expect from her.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

DJ is the poster girl for prim and proper librarians. She is conservative and staid. She wears muted tones and safe shoes. That is who she is and it's who she wants to be. Except for one night, eight years earlier when she decided it was time to see what she was missing. She went out for a night of drinking and dancing with friends and ended up in the bed of a stranger.

Now in her late 20s she has accepted the job of Library Administrator in a small rural town in Kansas. But when she arrives she finds things are not going to go as smoothly as she had hoped. The acting librarian is recalcitrant in the extreme; she is living upstairs from her landlady; and the landlady's son is the stranger she hooked up with eight years earlier.

DJ is trying desperately to avoid Scott. He's a player who cheated on his wife and had an affair with a married woman. But those things don't quite gel with the man she is getting to know. Still she needs to fight their growing attraction to each other and hope he never remembers that one night eight years earlier.

Love Overdue is cute and quirky small town romance which every now and then becomes something more. The characters in this story are wonderfully odd and just a little broken. It doesn't always work. The repeating of the same events from the different points of view got a little confusing and I've never been a fan of flashbacks as a plot device. I actually thought I had missed something when I got to the end and went searching for a few missing pages but finally realized the ending was at it was supposed to be. Those are small things and I enjoyed this book a lot. Enough that I've bought a couple of other books by Pamela Morsi.

Many thanks to Harlequin and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC

[Siany · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok seriously what happened to the ending of this story?

I actually was fairly enjoying this until 98% into this. Where was the ending? It jumped 8 years into the future with no explanation etc ..

I didn't love it though regardless of the ending. Just something about DJ I really didn't like all that much. She was buttoned up and came across as a bit of a prude and I didn't think it was explained properly. The explanation of why she was the way she was fell short for me and to be honest seemed a little silly. I liked Scott, he was actually very likeable, not the usual type of male that appears in these books. And how he learnt his "skills" made me laugh. Viv was an eccentric funny character but I felt very sorry for her character and again the missing ending kinda missed a chunk for her character.

Now back to the missing chapter. Scott figures out who DJ really is and BAM! suddenly its 8 years into the future. I was really confused when I realised what had happened. No explanation from DJ to Scott about why she wasn't honest, we didn't get his reaction to the truth. We got nothing! Sooo frustrating. There is such a build up to the moment, the fact we didn't get any of that part was extremely annoying and has made me mark the rating lower than what I would have done. And a massive chunk was missing from Viv's story...I don't want to give away what she was working towards in the end but how comes she changed her mind? because of the dog? or something else? big important parts missing from the story in the end made this very disappointing.

Read and reviewed courtesy of Netgalley

[Paige Bookdragon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly adorable.



I have a confession to make:

I WANT WHAT HAPPENED TO DJ HAPPEN TO ME.

Like the "get wild and have sex with a stranger then after a few years you meet each other again" thing...

I know. It's embarrassing if you put it that way, but this book is not icky cheesy.This book rocks.



Why I'm fond of this book:

Heroine went to unknown place to start a life.

Like seriously, how gutsy must you be to resign to your comfortable (albeit boring job) to work in an entirely new place without knowing anyone there?

Gutsy level: badass

I do admire those people who do this because being relocated in a new workplace (and living in a different place)is scary and exciting for me. I was hoping to be transferred to Timbukto or maybe anywhere else as long as there's a running water and toilets available, but alas.. my boss wouldn't probably do that, so I have to resign soon in order to fulfill this wish.

The hero is not a jerk.

Refreshing to find some hero who doesn't have to act like a jerk because he is a character in a book. Men who are kind, a bit sweet and yet flawed but is still lovable do exist.

Nerdy heroine who loves books so much.

You don't need me to explain.

Some weepy moments that really touched me. Like for real. I CRIED.



Some tiny weeny problem with the book though:

Excuse me Kansas, no offence, but I get tired of all the wheat harvest talk in this book. Wheat wheat wheat. Some pages were wasted with too much wheat talk. But nevertheless, I was entertained with this book. I even skipped work because of this. *snicker*

[Jae · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the sweet and mellow small town romance very much. But I had a bit of a problem with the ending. I was a bit baffled that the most anticipated moment of the whole story was omitted.

The moment when Scott learned the truth about who D.J really was, went missing. I want to know what was said, how Scott took it, how D.J explained herself, everything. How could PM robbed us from that humongous tid bit?

Still, I enjoyed the story and was pretty surprised that no major tear jerker moment was included. I remember I cried my eyeballs out in PM's

Steam: 3.5

[Saly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating 3.5 stars
Okay I lost my review when my net went down, so here it is. I like the way PM writes despite her books not being high octane passion & romance. Her characters are good and complex. For the heroine growing up with older parents, book were her world and now she gotten a job in a small town as a librarian. She is stuffy and an introvert at first, the only time she cut loose when she was 21. Her new town is what not she expected, first there is her landlady, the people at the library and the landlady's son, Scott, her one big mistake. But Scott doesn't recognize her, a fact that infuriates and relives her in equal measures. Her opinion of Scott is pretty low, she thinks he's a cheater and a man-whore. The book just made me smile and that says enough.

[Manda Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! What a funny, sexy, poignant story. I loved the way that Morsi layered the story of DJ's past in with the story of her present. The tale of a single librarian burying herself in a small Kansas town might have painted DJ as pathetic, but she was far from it. Her chemistry with Scott was off the charts and despite their history, the slow development of their relationship was just right. Add to that the story of Scott's mom and Mr. Dewey and this book is near perfect. One of the best librarian romances I've read. Ever.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a good book. I loved the librarian theme and the chapter headings were great. Each chapter was given a dewey decimal classification and that became the chapter name. That heading related very well to the contents of that chapter - very clever! DJ has come to Verdant to become the head librarian/administrator for the town library. She has been given a place to live by the head of the library board - the upstairs apartment of her home. That same lady also has another goal - to hook DJ up with her son the pharmacist. DJ is horrified to see that that pharmacist is the man she had a one night stand with eight years earlier. She is relieved (and a little insulted) that he doesn't recognize her. While her opinion of him isn't good at the beginning, the more she gets to know him, the more she comes to like him.

I liked DJ most of the time. She has great enthusiasm for her job as the head of the library. She wants to make the library the best it can be. The interior is not what she expected, as it is dark, gloomy and underutilized. Her employees are quite a collection of characters. There is Amelia, the woman who has been doing the job for the last several years and isn't happy to have DJ there. She is grumpy, mean and seems to have no interest in making things any better. There are the two bookmobile drivers, Amos and Suzy. Amos is a veteran with some PTSD issues, but is overcoming them pretty well. Suzy is a nice girl who loves to know everything that is going on and to share it with anyone who will listen. James is the employee who is rarely seen but heard from often. He is mildly autistic and doesn't like change, but is very good at what he does. She is not quite sure what to make of her landlady who seems more interested in pushing her toward her son the pharmacist than in what DJ can do for the library. DJ wants nothing to do with Scott, who turns out to be the man she had a one night stand with back in college. She does her best to avoid him, but in a small town that isn't possible. She also believes that he is a player who cheated on his wife, had affairs with married woman, and preyed on women during spring breaks. But as she gets to know him, that opinion doesn't match the man she is getting to know and care for. I got rather frustrated with her judgmental attitude toward him when she didn't really have anything to base it on. I liked seeing the way that her opinion did change. Their romance seemed to develop pretty slowly as DJ got to know Scott as he really is. I loved seeing the way that she opened up to him in the wheat field. I kept waiting for her to tell him about their shared past. I loved seeing her happiness with the surprise Scott had for her when she got out of the hospital.

Scott turned out to be a real sweetheart. He had been in that bar eight years ago looking for an experienced woman so he could learn better techniques in lovemaking. When he hooked up with DJ he didn't know she was even less experienced than he was, but it didn't seem to matter since they were pretty explosive together. Eight years later he's in his hometown, divorced from his wife (who turned out to be gay), and taking care of his widowed mother. There aren't many single women in town so he's not sure he'll ever find someone to love. When he meets DJ he doesn't understand why she seems to dislike him on sight. There is something about her that reminds him of the girl from eight years ago that he hasn't been able to forget. His mom keeps trying to throw them together and as she does he likes what he learns about DJ. I enjoyed seeing him show her around Verdant and introduce her to people. I loved the way he took her out in the wheat field and showed her his method of getting away, and later introduced her to what the wheat harvest meant to the whole town. His patience with her as got physically closer was great as he knew what he wanted and was willing to wait. I loved his willingness to help her with her library project. The way he stepped in to finish the project as a surprise to her while she was in the hospital was a wonderful way to show his feelings. I loved the way that he got so many others involved.

The only real problem I had with the book was the ending. The last chapter ends with him seeing something that links her to the girl he knew those eight years ago, then it cuts to an epilogue that takes place eight years later. There is no discussion of that night or why he didn't recognize her. It was terribly frustrating because I really wanted to know.

[Leah · Rating 2 out of 5]

review goes live on the blog 9/23

2013 has been an awakening of sorts for me. After a disaster of an introduction to contemporary I had been a bit hesitant to try again and swore the genre off for months. Eventually I gave in and soon discovered some of my new favorite books.

When I heard about Love Overdue it sounded like a book practically written for me: small town librarian, hot pharmacist, the inevitable awkward-yet-hilarious moment when they realize they had a fling eight years ago. I was READY for this one. Unfortunately, Love Overdue left me frustrated more than giggly and irate when I should have been all starry-eyed.

Dorothy Jarrow - DJ - is introduced to her new staff and they're more caricatures than characters and left such a weak impression I forget their names already. There's the Cranky Old Woman who thinks she runs the place because she's been there for years and refuses to relinquish her hold, Overly Bubbly Woman is nearing 30 yet speaks like a 12-year-old, Wounded Soldier can't be healed (until, of course, when he meets a woman, then it's as if PTSD never existed), and James. James was by far the best character and he hardly had any screen-time. He's autistic and prefers to have things run a certain way. DJ's arrival and subsequent upheaval of the library's organization is too much for him to deal with but he has such a shining moment and I loved him.

The other characters in town weren't much better: Scott's mother was terrible. I hated her and was so put off by her actions. She hires DJ in order to set her up with her son. That's it. She had DJ move across the country because she wanted to play match-maker. A year ago she lost her husband and puts on an act. I never understood why she did this - she just lost her husband. It's okay to cry and grieve. There's no need to have the town see you as bright and bubbly and her obsession with purple (she only wears purple clothes, drive a purple Mini Cooper, and painted her HOUSE purple) was downright disturbing. She also spends the majority of the novel planning suicide only to have all thoughts of it magically vanish in one scene.

My other big issue was the Ending That Wasn't. Right from the start the reader knows all about the spring break hook-up - there are scenes interspersed throughout the novel and both DJ and Scott think back on that night quite often. When they first meet DJ instantly knows who he is and over the next few months Scott's totally oblivious. There are moments when DJ reminds him of that girl he once knew, but he never fully puts two and two together until the 'ending.' Eight years ago he bought her a belly chain and she kept it all this time. One night he sees it, the lightbulb goes off in his brain, and The End. There's a pitiful attempt at an epilogue and the book is over.

Extremely sexist dialogue (Scott boasts about how his women roll over and sit at the snap of his fingers), horrible characterization, and a frustrating payoff on a 400+ page romance simply didn't work for me. Judging from other reviews Love Overdue has found plenty of fans, but unfortunately I am not one of them.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this one because another book by Morsi, The Lovesick Cure, was highly recommended to me. So, of course, instead of reading that book, I read this random one with the super-cute cover.

Anyway, this was kind of all over the place. There were elements that I liked, particularly the main character's attempts to fit in a new town and new job. But there were also weird aspects that made no sense. In particular, there are a couple of passages from Scott's point-of-view which make no sense in terms of what we know about him: he's supposedly a nice guy (and his actions generally support this), but there are a couple of random "ROAR! I am a creeper alpha male!" -type internal monologues that were incongruous with the sort of character he's supposed to be. I know that sort of character is trendy right now, but I am so effing fed up with it, I can't even think. Anyway... I guess that annoyed me more than I thought it did.

The convention of the third-person, alternating POV in romance-ish fiction definitely shows its limitations here, because really this is DJ's story, but the other POVs (Scott and his mom, Viv) diluted her story quite a bit. I wanted to know why DJ was so ashamed of the random hookup she had in college, I wanted to know more about why she was so determined to make a life in rural Kansas, rather than using it as a stepping stone to a better job, I wanted to know more about her strange family history. Instead of those details, allowing for her character growth to be revealed on-page, we got a bizarro subplot about Viv and a lot of Scott's musings on his vegetable garden. If the story had been told wholly from DJ's POV, this would have been a strong, more character-drive story, with key reveals hidden from the reader until DJ discovers them herself.

Also, it seemed like the last couple of chapters were missing! They weren't, but there's a big reveal and the reaction to that reveal isn't shown on the page AT ALL. Instead, we get an unnecessary epilogue that serves no purpose whatsoever.

I realize this sounds like Love Overdue isn't worth the 3 star rating I gave it, but it is a well-paced novel and Morsi's writing is engaging and entertaining. I also felt like while the book summary is super-stereotype-y about librarians, Morsi did a good job not playing into those stereotypes (for the most part, there it's there a bit, of course) in the actual text. Also, she lightly examines introversion in a multi-layered way, which I very much appreciated, and I enjoyed the scenes in which DJ has to learn to navigate her new surroundings quite a lot (there's a wonderful moment in a wheat field that, while unrealistic due to the creepy crawlies present in a wheat field, was pretty wonderful too--no it's not that kind of scene, get your mind out of the gutter!).

[Anna Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't get why the ratings are so low for this book!!! It was absolutely ADORABLE and I loved the romance. I didn't really care for the whole suicide pie subplot but I am a fan of the way she dealt with a character that probably has Asperger's. Also, it has to do with a kickass librarian. What more could you want? :)

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m a sucker for books that have a librarian heroine....because I’m a librarian myself! I could identify with the challenges she faces in creating a more pleasing library atmosphere, while fighting “tradition” and long-standing employees. Libraries (collectively) are facing change, and librarians (and library patrons) are either embracing or running away from it, and Morsi did well in describing the complexities that surround this with respect.

I’d consider this more of a light romance. DJ has moved to town for a library director position, and moves into a MIL’s apartment of one of the board members. What she doesn’t know? It’s secretly a matchmaking opportunity, disguised as a well-meaning offer. Scott is a bachelor, whose first marriage ended in disaster. He’s moving on, and thinks he might have found someone new in DJ. DJ, however, has a secret....and this secret becomes the barrier in their relationship. As a reader, I clearly felt the chemistry between DJ and Scott, but it wasn’t blatant, hop-in-the-bed together. That’s not to say that I couldn’t see why they hit it off. It was much more of a light romance, which fits Morsi’s typical style. I thought the book was well done, and while I could see where the misunderstandings/back story was going....I couldn’t wait to keep on reading. A great book for a summer read!

[Yelania Nightwalker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lo primero que amé de este libro, fue su portada. ¿Acaso no es hermosa? Así que no me quedó más que solicitarla a NetGalley y honestamente, me encantó.
La historia nos cuenta la vida de un farmacéutico llamado Scott, divorciado y soltero codiciado en su pequeño pueblo; y Dorothy, la nueva bibliotecaria que se viste como tipicamente deben verse los bibliotecarios. Cuando DJ, como la llaman sus amigos, descubre a Scott, hace hasta lo imposible porque él no la reconozca como la mujer con la que tuvo una noche loca, varios años atrás, ¡y él no la recuerda! Mientras la madre de Scott intenta juntarlos y ellos intentan estar separados, las chispas entre estos dos saltan por doquier. La verdad es que disfruté mucho leer este libro, fue muy dulce y muy divertido. Me encantó la pareja porque la química entre ambos era palpable y la historia te envuelve de tal manera que, no deseas dejar el libro hasta que lo has terminado. Una novela maravillosa, muy divertida, con varios giros inesperados y con una pareja muy linda.


*Este libro fue enviado para reseña via NetGalley. Los comentarios se basan en la lectura de la novela, no recibimos ninguna remuneración por ellas

[Ashley Owens · Rating 2 out of 5]

Inconsistently written characters, and not enough love scenes. I liked some of the "townies" though. But I just really do not understand DJ (the main character)'s slut-shaming.

[Margreet Asselbergs · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://ripeforreader.blogspot.ca/2013...

LOVE OVERDUE by Pamela Morsi
Advanced Reading Copy
To Be Published: August 27th, 2013, Harlequin

My rating: 3 of 5⭐

Only once in her life, had DJ ever let loose, and she will never forget that night eight years ago, or the hot fling she spent it with, or the mortifying 'morning after' as she slinked out if his motel room. But nothing brought the memories back to life faster, than coming face to face with the hot fling from all those years ago. It doesn't help that he turns out to be the son of the board member who hired her as librarian, to come and head up the rural library in Verdant, Kansas. Dressed to look the part in shapeless greys, pulled back knot and stern glasses, DJ looks nothing like the anonymous sparkly girl of that hot one night stand, but still it stung that he had no clue who she was.

DJ is determined to focus on the improvement of the library and not get distracted by Scott, town pharmacist and erstwhile hot fling, nor be waylaid by the interim librarian's ministrations to boycott any and every step DJ takes. Her friendly nature ensures that she quickly wins over the rest of her employees and most of the library's visitors who would welcome any improvement.

With her landlady's ongoing outrageous attempts to set her up with Scott, and the rumour mill rampant, DJ finds it virtually impossible to avoid him. Slowly the initial irritation turns into appreciation, and ultimately there is no denying the attraction anymore. Until finally that loose and open girl from eight years ago, starts fighting free from the dull and stodgy role DJ had cast herself in. Will Scott know her now??


***

What a lovely surprise!!!

I initially thought I would be reading a cute, but rather predictable 'love revisited' type story. But about a quarter into the book, all these wonderful delicate layers started becoming visible, making this so much more than just another easy romantic read!

The slow deepening of nuance around the characters, really brings them to life and makes the perhaps somewhat familiar plot, all that more compelling and believable.

However......there is a huge chasm between the last regular chapter and what can be constituted as the Epilogue....where we skip eight years ahead. I normally enjoy being able to peek into the future to see what has become of the characters, but in this case, I don't even know where we left off precisely? I mean, I can guess what happened, based on the facts of eight years later, but give that a huge part of this story was this previous connection DJ and Scott had. Scott didn't remember the previous encounter, at least not DJ's part in it and his reaction to that revelation, since the tension around that had been building throughout the story, was necessary for its completion. I feel we are missing an entire chapter. Now, unfortunately, we are left with this big, gaping hole.....a huge question mark, that mars an otherwise close to perfectly intricate country story.

I would have gladly give this book 4.5 of 5 stars in a rating, but I can't do it now.........and it doesn't feel right, because what IS there.....is so good!

Despite my comments above, I still thoroughly enjoyed reading LOVE OVERDUE.


**ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Harlequin in return for an honest review.**

[Beate · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is funny to boot! You have solid, well developed characters that have layers to them. You have a mom-figure that kills in the funny department, you have the lovebirds that seem like they could never get along as they hide behind plain personas. And you have friends of the lovebirds that are a little bit more than your regular support characters. These characters made me laugh out loud while sitting in a crowded Starbucks, drinking my iced latte.

I fell in love with the library indexing thing for chapters. Reminds me of when I used to live at the local library when I was a kid, reading everything I could put my hands on.

I loved Dorothy "DJ" Jarrow. She had the whole librarian thing going, only a lot less sexy that you would expect for a romance novel. She's had a very hard time falling in love, having been "ruined" by the best sex in her life the one time she decided to stop being a good girl.

Scott Sanderson is the perfect son. He married young and got divorced much too early. He has an adorable and meddlesome mother who is trying to fix his love life. But he's "satisfied" with where his life is, and having been burned once, isn't exactly looking for a new Ms Right.

The characters had a "will he remember me/why is she familiar" thing going that was fun. It gave the story that something little extra, and it paved the way for some really funny situations.

Like any romance with respect for itself, this one too has a "villain". This book's villain is Amelia Grundler, who is the epitome of the evil librarian. Most of the time I wanted her to up and die... When she managed to stop the work on the library? Grrr! It made me sick that she dared calling the library "hers". My exact words were "Bitch! Please die!". I loved how that solution came about, by the way. The author made Amelia eat dirt, and thus made me giddy with happiness.

The book does end a little abruptly, and a little on a cliffhanger. We get a short epilogue that is set eight years into the future, and it answers some of the question you're left with. But I would have loved to read the end of that scene. I would have loved to see how they explained themselves to each other. I feel kind of robbed having had that scene taken away as it was one of the things I was looking forward to while reading the book.

Review can also be found at From the Bottom of a Frappe.

I received this book as an e-galley from Harlequin via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

[Galleane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amoureuse et un peu plus est une romance qui m'a plu de bout en bout. Entre l'ambiance petite bourgade avec ses qualités et ses travers, et l'aspect bibliothèque/livres, j'ai eu deux éléments que j'apprécie énormément de retrouver dans les romans. Déjà si l'un de ces deux éléments est présent, je suis joie, mais les deux ensemble, c'est l'extase totale. Les personnages composent une palette de couleurs variées, les caractères sont divers et il est très facile de s'attacher à eux. Le couple principal et lui aussi très charmant, si les débuts sont difficiles pour chacun, séparément dur de ne pas craquer pour eux et c'est pire quand ils se rapprochent. La vie à Verdant m'a énormément plu, différents sujets interviennent et le couple principal n'est pas le seul à évoluer sous nos yeux. C'est un roman qui raconte beaucoup de choses et qui s'attache à plusieurs personnages. Je ressors charmée et j'ai pris beaucoup de plaisir avec cette lecture. Je l'annonce maintenant, c'est un coup de cœur.

Ma chronique complète : http://bloggalleane.blogspot.fr/2015/...

[Kay · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a light romance without much steam. DJ is a straight laced librarian but there's some fun hiding underneath all that. Scott is also a very likable guy and I liked how he lived up to his father's vision of the town pharmacy. The sexual tension written between these two was done well. I did feel like the ending was a bit anti-climatic. We get so much tension in the beginning and it was also a big ordeal of DJ hiding the truth about knowing Scott in the past. Instead of ending it so abruptly, it would have been nice to read about the characters' reactions after the truth was revealed. Instead, we skip it all and get an Epilogue that is years later. This is a good book for escape but I didn't find anything refreshing about it.

* ARC provided by Harlequin MIRA via Netgalley

[Harlequin Books]

"Sweet, charmingly funny and a treat for all library lovers, Morsi's latest is more than a romance between two beautifully paired characters; it is a love story for anyone with a soft spot for small towns and their individual eccentricities. Though the scenes of small-town life occasionally overwhelm the lead couple's burgeoning relationship, the flashbacks to their shared past are so touching and vibrant that readers will be carried along, hungry and hoping to see them make their way back to each other." RT Book Reviews, rated 4 stars

[Jolene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a magical story of ordinary people. I love Pamela Morsi's characters and she does it again with this cast of ordinary, quirky small town folk. A shy coward saves the day, a scatterbrain girl has a plan and a man without a heart, falls in love - these are just the secondary characters. I kept turning the pages, waiting for the moment when it all comes together. It is a beautiful journey down the golden path and Morsi shows that there is magic all around us if we are willing to be brave enough to see it. A sweet journey home.

[Jes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book so much that I don’t have too much to say about it! It’s a good three-and-a-half to four star read.

I enjoyed the setting and side characters (this is a small town romance done right). The B-plot about the hero’s mother was done really well. It felt like an SEP side plot. Unlike SEP, though, I liked how her character arc didn’t get resolved with a love interest.

I also really loved the things that the book left some things unsaid. The transition from the last chapter to the epilogue was really sweet. I like a story that leaves some details implied!

My only real ding against this book is that I feel like D.J. didn’t manage to be fully fleshed out? As much as I liked her, I don’t fully understand why she would want to completely hide her personality the way she does. Yeah, we see that she presumes that the community she’s living in is going to be way more conservative than she’s used to. That aside, I feel like she takes an extreme reaction in making herself over into an “unsexy librarian”. It’s also possible I missed something, so I won’t complain too much.

Otherwise, really satisfying read. I have no idea what headed to next. Do you have any suggestions?

[Anne in VA · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well... I love small-town romances with regular people, but the amount of information provided about wheat and being a librarian was too much. Too much! I was bored out of my damn mind. The moments with the couple were super cute, but it felt like half the book was about wheat and the library. There was also a bit of woowoo mixed in that I wasn't into because the coincidence of it all was just too OTT for me personally. It was still a cute story, even though the big reveal was, unfortunately, VERY underwhelming :/

[Janga · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love to see a talented author play with a stereotype and make it work. In her upcoming release, Love Overdue, Pamela Morsi does this not once but three times. First, the unlikely heroine of her latest romance novel is one Dorothy Jarrod who is remarkably close to the image of the prim, introverted, sexually anxious librarian that researchers in the 1990s found to be the predominant image of women in the profession. Second, D.J., as she is known, and the hero, Scott Sanderson, first met when they were college students looking to hookup on spring break. Of course, conventional wisdom says that college students on spring break are promiscuous young people who typically engage in risky, irresponsible behavior, but D.J. and Scott are just the opposite. Finally, D.J. and Scott are brought back together by his mother, whose matchmaking goes to great lengths. Matchmaking mamas conventionally push their children toward marriage because the mamas are eager to see their children settled and producing grandchildren for Grandma to enjoy, but Scott’s mother has a far more surprising and compelling reason.

D.J. is six years out of graduate school and still waiting for a shot at managing her own library when she is hired—without even an interview—as administrator of the “tiny but thriving” public library in Verdant, Kansas. Morsi describes the pairing of library and librarian “as unlikely a scenario as a tornado trip to the Land of Oz.” Nevertheless, this Dorothy and her small, black terrier, whose name is not Toto but Melvil Dewey, Jr., familiarly known as Dew, set out on their journey with eagerness. D.J. hopes they will find in Verdant a home, “a place D.J. had been searching for her whole life.” D.J. believes that Verdant, like most small towns, is looking for a librarian who is “sedate, slightly stuffy, and incredibly sexless.” Dressed in gray with practical shoes, eyeglasses, and tamed hair, she is doing her best to fit that image and is not at all uncomfortable in the role:

“D.J. had found circumspection and reticence could be very comforting lifestyle choices.”

With a sentence like that in the first chapter, the reader just knows that somewhere in her journey D.J. is going to exhibit audacity and openness.
The reader soon learns that there is just a moment in D.J.’s past. Just as she was turning twenty-one, D.J. and some of her friends spent their spring break at a Texas resort, South Padre Island. D.J.’s birthday plans include taking a break not just from classes but from the buttoned-up person she is. She plans to become a “crazy, sexy, wild woman. A woman who sleeps with strangers.” The stranger she sleeps with is Scott Sanderson who, like D.J., is anything but wild and liberated. His mother describes him as “steady and responsible since the day he was born,” and his sexual experience is limited to a few unmemorable episodes with the woman who has been his girlfriend since high school. Scott thinks there has to be more to sex than he has found so far, and he hopes to find it on South Padre Island. D.J. and Scott meet and share an unforgettable night that is romantic and sexy and everything they are both looking for. But when D.J. awakens the next morning to find a stranger asleep beside her, wearing her red lace panties “like an armband on his right bicep,” she is embarrassed and remorseful. She runs away, determined to embrace her conservative self and never to repeat her spring break experience.

D.J. is understandably horrified when she discovers that the woman responsible for hiring her, the woman who has offered her an apartment in her home, is the mother of that stranger from her spring break experience. She is terrified he will remember her and angry when he doesn’t recognize her.

Scott thinks D.J. looks vaguely familiar, but he can’t understand why she clearly dislikes him on sight. As for Scott’s mother, she picked D.J. for her son. She even hired a private investigator to be sure D.J. was the right woman for him. She’s not about to let a little thing like the reluctance of the parties involved keep her from making the match that will see her son happily settled and free her to go on with the plan she has for her life. Her machinations leave other fictional matchmaking mothers in the shade.

Added to these twists are D.J.’s library colleagues, Morsi’s version of famous characters from Oz: the Scarecrow, a likeable ditz whose greatest achievement is her four years as a cheerleader; the Cowardly Lion, an “odd duck” who is so frightened by people that he hides in the stacks; the Tin Man, a vet suffering from PTSD who has lost his heart for living; and the wicked witch whose body language D.J. interprets as “saying something like “I’ll get you, my pretty, And your little dog too”—all of whom get what they deserve.

Dorothy finds not only a home, but also a hero and an HEA (albeit one some romance readers may see as missing a chapter). Love Overdue allows Morsi to rifle through the box of romance stereotypes and come up with something fun and delightful.

from my First Look at Heroes and Heartbreakers

[Meagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is probably more like a 3.5. I expected to like it for the lost-love-found trope, and because it presented the whole "librarians gone wild" thing. Seriously. Convince us to whip off the glasses and take down the buns, and you won't believe the wild animals you end up with. And those elements were there, and they were fun. (If not completely inspired.)

What I wasn't expecting, and what turned out to be the strength of the book, is the depiction of small-town life in an agricultural community and the details about library service in rural areas. Things like gossip, business hours that revolve around harvest, tradition, odd characters, bookmobiles, old Carnegie buildings, crotchety long-term employees...they're all there. And I'm really curious to know if the average reader would enjoy reading about the new librarian in town getting home deliveries back on schedule and worrying about handicap accessibility and proper lighting for low-vision patrons. And trying to figure out how to get audiobooks into the combines of harvest workers. I don't know if it has broad appeal. I kind of liked it, anyway.

But the real strength in this book is the small town Kansas setting and the portrayal of all the relationships it holds. I grew up in a really small town, and it captures the fishbowl thing really well. Everyone knows everyone else's business, and once you're known as one thing, you keep that reputation pretty much forever. The dateable population is really limited, and gets more complicated considering that you've pretty much grown up with the fifteen guys you might consider dating. (You've also witnessed all their jackass behavior since the dawn of time. Doesn't make for lots of serious crushes. At least it didn't for me.) It also gets all the good stuff, like how everyone rallies around when someone needs help, and how most everyone's idiosyncrasies are at least tolerated, if not celebrated.

So, fans of small-town romances without a whole lot of steamy stuff, take notice! Especially if you're intrigued by the idea of rural library service.

[Marinella · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars for the cover, the preview and my expectation! I'm so fond of Pamela Morsi's books! (Written in may)

(Written in september) Well, now I have read it, and for me it's very good. I have loved all the characters, from the dog to the various people in this little town. I have loved so much some scenes: the scene in the wheat field, the retold words about the moon (my God, I understand so well why DJ reacts in that way!), the first meeting between the two at Padre Island, the harvest, the little chatting of the people! And the characters are very vividly described: the strenght and sorrow of Viv, the memory of his father's words and the sense of responsability of Scott, the little girl in the library, the lesbian couple, the ex-soldier with a lot of issues, the autistic library-worker...
Pamela Morsi has the talent to describe a real world, not with abstract concepts, but in the day-to-day routine, not with some epic demonstration, but in the minute and detailed telling. She describes life as it is, with an empathetic eye. And I like her way so much!
There are some humorous moments too. The dialogues are amazingly natural, realistic, enthralling. And, for me, the idea of denominating chapters with the nomenclature of Dewey sistem is wonderful! I have also no complaint about the ending. Yes, it seems a little abrupt for the reader, but I have taken it as a sign of honesty from the author (NOT ALL has to be told, surely we have to respect the perspective of the author) and as...a sign of trust and reliance in the readers. Like to say: you are not a passive reader, have you not a mind, some imagination? So, I have appreciated this ending, perfect for two characters so private and introverted as Scott and DJ.
English words for this book: sparkle, wheat, library.

[The Window Seat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who’d have thought that librarians and pharmacists could be sexy? Apparently Pamela Morsi did and in her new book Love Overdue she has convinced me too. Of course it helps that her pharmacist is a perfect Beta hero, which are my kryptonite. I just fall over myself to read about the good guys finding love and it’s especially good when they are matched with a woman who isn’t bitchy or overpowering in the story. Both characters are allowed to be strong, confident adults, but they are also allowed their foibles which make their falling in love all the more entertaining to read.

Accepting a job offer out of the blue, Dorothy Jarrow sets her sights on doing the work she loves and creating a new future for herself in Verdant, Kansas. Being a librarian was never the most glamorous choice of career, but DJ knows that it suits her meticulous nature and she is ready to tackle the challenge of rebuilding a rural library system to fit into the modern age. Wanting to create the right impression of a librarian, DJ dresses the part in conservative clothes and she has long learned to tamp down any of her wild and wicked impulses. In fact, with the exception of a wild night eight years earlier, DJ has always kept herself guarded against expecting emotional attachments since she grew up without that kind of love and support. Her arrival in town is enthusiastically met by most of the citizens; however DJ is quick to learn that even small towns and small libraries can attract bullies who hate seeing things change.

For the full review, please go to http://www.thewindowseat13.com/2013/0...

[Shanu · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think pamela morsi is a really talented writer.

that being said, that book wasn't for me. It was way too long. Every information was buried into 3 chapters of nothingness. I guess if you're looking for a cute, enjoyable romance book that you could drag along all spring and summer with you, then don't look further : you've found it.
Defo not for me, but would recommend.


Good points :
-Characters are likeable.
-writing style is good
-pace is good once you hit the 10th chapter hit mark. but it's still very long.


***SPOILERS BELOW***


Bad points :
-H and h met first in the 9th chapter. Then H's mother tries to set them up. And from then on only, the stories moves forward.
-i found it very hard to believe that Scott didn't realise DJ was the girl he had a fling with long ago. Scott pictures his one night fling as his dream girl (dreams about her, gets aroused thinking about her, thinks all day about her) still he doesn't connect the dots when he sees/hang out/date/kiss DJ. Nope, not buying it. (he didn't realize it was her until the very last line of the book - right before the epilogue)
-the whole revelation about Scott : he didn't cheat on his wife, she was the one who cheated on him. This falls into the cliché that H are always nice guys and broken men, it's women who fuck them over, yadayada. But i guess i shouldn't be surprised, it's Morsi after all. I wouldn't have minded if Scott had cheated on his wife. No one is perfect. If he truly was the one for DJ, i'm sure she could have overlooked his one mistake. But of course no, Morsi had to erase that one little flaw he had to make his THE perfect H.

[Mummy Cat Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. Sometimes the summary just gives you an idea but in order to paint the picture you have to read the whole thing.

I found I really enjoyed this book. I have never read something by Morsi before but found she was a great story teller. I was impressed with the way the book was thought out and organized. I liked the writing and the length of the book was very satisfying.

I liked the characters and I cared about them. I wanted to keep reading to know what happened next. There were several times in the book when the reader was trust back in the past but those times were enjoyable and were not confusing. I also enjoyed Scott's mother. While eccentric, she was quite funny.

The author does add in some ideas on selfishness, a gay life style and gender biases.

Overall, it was a cute book and a nice surprise. I enjoyed the story with its humor and excitement. I felt Morsi did a great job with the writing and organization of the book. I can recommend this book to romance readers.


Content: Clean to an extent. While there are no sex scenes there is touching and talk of sex. The book also added in some opinions on a Lesbian lifestyle and Gender biases. It's definitely an adult read because of those aspects of the book but not as bad as other Romance or New Adult books.

I received this from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really need to stop reading romance novels about librarians. Beyond all the stereotypes, they're totally ridiculous--no library could possibly function the way these places work. (A "small" library with 70,000 items in the collection? With four employees and a director? Two out driving bookmobiles every day? Is this 1960 or 2025, or both?)

That being said, this book is just silly. The over-stretched Wizard of Oz references got old very, very fast. The heroine, Dorothy, was whiny and irritating. The hero, Scott, was flimsy and awkward. The secondary characters were either distracting because their storylines were more fascinating (Amos, James and Jeannie were much more interesting than the above-named pair) or because they were just plain awful. Scott's mother, Viv, was dreadful. Pushy, manipulative in the extreme, borderline abusive to animals, and severely psychologically fragile, it was hard to read about her without wondering at the author's point in creating the character in the first place. Was she supposed to be the good witch? Really?

The worst of it: the resolution of 'the big issue' never actually happens. Of course, the reader knows what's happened after the fact, thanks to the epilogue, but COME ON. When you've led up to it for 400 pages, you've got to really OWN the conflict. Anything less is a cop-out.

Love Overdue is just that.

Not recommended.