The Library Tree

by Lilian Peake

Carolyn Lyle was intelligent, willing to learn, and interested in her new job -- but she was also the niece of a very influential man, and nothing would convince her boss, that iceberg Richard Hindon, that she was nothing but a spoiled, pampered darling who couldn't be got rid of fast enough !

Could she make him change his mind about her?

Genres: Romance, Harlequin, Enemies To Lovers, Harlequin Romance

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Lilian Margaret Peake was born on 25 May 1924 in London, England, UK. During the World War II, she moved to the countryside.

Her early ambition was to be a journalist, and she ended up working at various newspapers and magazines around England. She also married and started a family, and eventually she decided start to writing romance novels. She wrote over 65 romance novels for Mills & Boon from 1971 to 1996 as Lilian Peake.

Lilian passed away in 27 May 1997.

Reviews

[Melluvsbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This was a cute story. The hero was suitably broody and grumpy and the heroine was sweet and likable. The library setting was a little odd… it was hard to take seriously all the drama around the library. 😅 The H talked about the job of junior library assistant as if it were rocket science to shelve books and hang up fliers on the bulletin board. It’s was comical, really. But I did enjoy their push and pull. Mr. Librarian was quite dark and forceful in his attentions, which was fun in contrast to the fluff of the rest of the story.

Bottom Line - lots of fun, but the setting and overall lack of steam were detractors 3.5 stars



⚠️SAFETY SQUAD SPOILERS⚠️

- no cheating or sharing
- OW drama - the H has sexy secretary after him
- OM drama - the h has several men chasing her
- dubcon - their few first kisses were forced upon the h
- h is 22 yr old virgin
- H is a 30 something - experienced man, but not a manwhore
- no sex takes place within the pages of this book. 😭

[Leona · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like I am doing this book such a disservice by only rating it 3 stars given it had me laughing out loud for most of it (something I rarely do when reading). I am actually torn between 3 or 4 stars, but I will settle on 3 since there were a few things that didn't quite work.

This was true vintage and though I am not a fan of Lillian Peakes, this one actually had some rare HP moments that were absolutely priceless such as flirting while discussing the dewey decimal system. Ah, romance at it's finest.

Even though he was the king of asshats and the worse boss ever, I just could not hate him. His crazy antics and the heroine's reactions were priceless. She was a bit too weepy in places and her plaits (we call them pigtails over here) were a bit overdone, but she actually made the story for me. ( Sorry, I just can't find pigtails attractive on anyone past 10 years old. I'm not sure why the author kept harping on them)

This is very vintage, light on romance, but surprisingly a fun ride.

[Shallowreader VaVeros · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is 40 years old. I think it depicts an interesting view of public libraries and council machinations that could even be relevant today. Carolyn is given a library assistant position due to her uncle the councillor wrongly influencing the selection committee. This makes the head librarian Richard angry and bitter as he hates suck up and nepotism. Richard keeps harping that a degree holder in a public library is useless *snort* The Head Librarian making googly eyes at the over qualified degree holding library assistant whilst explaining the intricacies of the Dewey decimal system is hawt hilarious. Their eyes met over 385.3...or was it 621.13? The symbolism of Carolyn cutting her hair and Richard buying it and keeping it by his bedside draw is creepy but could also be a sign of expecting love to be unrequited. Carolyn eventually quits her job. When she finally finishes Richard rocks up to her home and tells her she should go to library school and get a library job on her own merits. And that he "awwwww" loves her and wants to marry her. Then her uncle rocks up and says "Found you a wife and here's your funding". Dowry exchange anyone? Moral: Women - study and get by on your own merits. Nepotism sucks. Men: Only way to achieve things with local council is to marry a councillor and board member’s relative. This book is an old favourite. Perhaps it is the library theme :)

[Aarathi Burki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very different in terms of the background setup which happens ro be a library. The so called library is a huge one and employs 100s of people to keep it well organized and running( I am not sure if it's the case in reality). The hero Richard is the head of rhe library meaning he is the main person responsible for managing the library though it has a committee of members who take part in major decisions about the library. Richard is a youngster in his 30s trying to add modern features to the library whereas the committee members are all I. 60s and 70s and keep opposing modern views thereby frustrating Richard. O e such committee member is Austin who uses his influence to get a job for his niece Carolyn our heroine a job as an assistant in the library. Richard tries to make her life a hell by .asking her do menial jobs, she has a university degree but Richard makes her do ordinary work befitting a uneducated person. Carolyn gets roasted in the ego battle between her uncle and Richard. She gradually falls in love with Richard but holds no hope of him reciprocating as he only hates her. Carolyn finally has enough and resigns from her job when Richard realizes his love for her and confesses it. They both unite and Carolyn's uncle too has a change of heart and approves of Richard and his ideas and the story ends on a happy note.

Few things which I liked about the books were
- The story moves at a good pace with no drag
- The characters are well sketched
- The writing by the author is flawless
- being a book lover I loved that the entire story happens in tge backdrop of a library
- the ending was beautiful
All in all a fantastic story

[Melinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the heroine appealing. She was in an appalling position, she owed her loyalty at work to her boss yet she felt she owed a lot to her uncle for all he had done for her. I think the author made the hero uneccessarily harsh and his cruel vinidictive behavior continued too close to the end of the book for me to be convinced that he had loved her for months. He was downright mean at times.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

The h was appealing, and the library background was absorbing and accurate. (I have worked in several libraries, so I should know!). But, I agree with the reviewer who called the H an "asshat". His cruelty and unprofessional behavior were over-the-top, and I felt the romance was unconvincing.

[Brittney Bergholm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating it 3 stars just because of the hilarity of its outdatedness!

[Fizzydrinks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm only giving it 3 stars because of the library theme. The h was gorgeous and over-educated for her job, with heavy nepotism thrown in. The H was right to be offended as her boss but he was incredibly rude and cruel. We see her over hearing him countless times, when he would go around and complain about her to any one he found! He charmingly calls her a promiscuous bitch once, among sooooo many other descriptives. There was casual workplace harassment, as all the male employees seemed to be fingering her plaits all the time or resting their arms on her shoulders.
I think the H was just a dog in the manger because of how popular she was with the other not-OMs(yes, there were multiple shooting their shot!). Finally he made her resign and quit her job, hence doing what he swore he would do on day 1 of her job, not very lover like of him IMO. 5 minutes later, he does a weird turnabout, makes her confess first, and then convinces her to start a librarian course and give exams and re-apply for the job after 1 year. Wut?

Oh and there's an absolute weird mini subplot where the h's long lost dad calls her on his death bed, the H drives her there and promises the dad to take care of the h, and the dad dies 2 paragraphs later. I think the author started to go somewhere with this then abandoned the idea lol.

[StMargarets · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rapunzel of the stacks! That's how I'll remember this story. Heroine has long blonde plaits, a university degree, and belligerent uncle who uses his influence to get her a job at the hero's library. Hero has a promiscuous sister with two children, a merry widow secretary, many controversial new ideas, and a hair-trigger temper.

He is catnip to our heroine who overlooks all the guys panting after her to bask in his angry glare. If attention - even negative attention - is love than the heroine is assured of a blissful life of name calling, punishing kisses, and bruises from a strong grip. What a dreamboat.

Also - this is one well-funded library system. They have a dozen people unpacking new books all day every day. LOL It's a different world nowadays.

[MsVette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it, though it did seem rushed. I agree that the male character was too harsh at times for it to be believable that he even liked the H.
It seemed more of a short story the way things ended so fast.

[Caz · Rating 1 out of 5]

The heroine was between a rock and a hard place, but what a doormat. She's treated like crap by the odious, prejudiced "hero" (what on earth would ANY woman have seen in him?) and ... agrees to babysit his sister's kids. *eyeroll*

[Tenaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the side characters and the heroine. It was fun having a Harlequin romance set in the exciting dramatic atmosphere of a library. That brought the rating up to 4 stars.

The hero was too damn mean at times. There’s a limit to how nasty a protagonist should be. Damn, dude, calm down.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had no idea that libraries were so dramatic, unintentionally funny as well.