The Librarian's Passionate Knight Dynasties:The Barones

Rating:
Summary: harmless but unimaginative romance
Review: Being a librarian living in Boston, I HAD to read this book, and while I don't resent the time spent, it didn't take much more than an hour to read either.

Children's librarian Phoebe lacks self-confidence and is being harassed by an ex-boyfriend when she is rescued by Daniel Barone, son of a wealthy Boston family. For their own reasons, they each decide there can be no romance between them, but in the meantime they are still attracted to each other and Daniel helps Phoebe develop self-confidence. The characters are likable enough, and Phoebe does become more empowered throughout the course of the story, but there wasn't anything particularly interesting about the story or the characters, so I won't be reading any more in this series about the Barone family. Also, this book got several things wrong about Boston -- the main library doesn't have a parking lot, for instance, and there are definitely no ranch houses in Boston proper! This would be more forgivable if the book weren't part of a series of over a dozen books about this family -- surely the author must know the city better than is evidenced here?

Altogether, as interesting for the title as anything else, and perhaps a harmless read for a high schooler. Pretty bad cover too.

Rating:
Summary: harmless but unimaginative romance
Review: Being a librarian living in Boston, I HAD to read this book, and while I don't resent the time spent, it didn't take much more than an hour to read either.

Children's librarian Phoebe lacks self-confidence and is being harassed by an ex-boyfriend when she is rescued by Daniel Barone, son of a wealthy Boston family. For their own reasons, they each decide there can be no romance between them, but in the meantime they are still attracted to each other and Daniel helps Phoebe develop self-confidence. The characters are likable enough, and Phoebe does become more empowered throughout the course of the story, but there wasn't anything particularly interesting about the story or the characters, so I won't be reading any more in this series about the Barone family. Also, this book got several things wrong about Boston -- the main library doesn't have a parking lot, for instance, and there are definitely no ranch houses in Boston proper! This would be more forgivable if the book weren't part of a series of over a dozen books about this family -- surely the author must know the city better than is evidenced here?

Altogether, as interesting for the title as anything else, and perhaps a harmless read for a high schooler. Pretty bad cover too.

Rating:
Summary: Fun, sexy read!
Review: Heroine: average/plump

The night was hot, but she was not. Yet something about the short, mousy girl in line at the ice cream stand caught the attention of sexy millionaire playboy Daniel Barone anyway, and he wasn't sorry when he spotted her a second time on that sultry August evening in the crowd milling around Boston's Faneuil Hall

Shy, quiet Phoebe Richards couldn't believe that she, a librarian who lived a simple life filled with romance novels and daydreams about daring, dashing heroes had actually met one of Boston's most eligible, adventurous bachelors, not to mention one of the only truly chivalrous men left in the world. Too bad he only wanted to be friends after rescuing Phoebe from a perilous situation.

Or did he?

What worked for me:

I adore puns, so I loved the rather apt title.

The characters were wonderful: shy little Phoebe was very sweet, sexy Daniel just charmed the heck out of me, and I would have gladly given Pheebs' surrogate mother Leslie a high-five for taking our heroine to task over her tendency to put herself down.

There was a nice mix of drama and humor in the story. The instance when Daniel and Phoebe cross paths for the second time was absolutely priceless!

Size-wise, Phoebe was short and roundish. No mile-long legs and impossibly perky bosoms on this gal!

What didn't work for me:

Jumping into the middle of a family series like "The Barones" is like plunging into a soap opera five years after it debuts. There was a huge amount of information on Daniel's background handed out in large lumps. Fortunately this only happened in a couple of passages. The rest of the time was focused on the budding relationship of Pheebs and Daniel, which was of more interest to me.

Overall:

A fun, sexy read! Fans of "caterpillar to butterfly" or Cinderella stories should enjoy this one.

Be aware that there are some steamy scenes in this book.

If you liked "The Librarian's Passionate Knight" you might also enjoy "Midsummer Lightning", "The Independent Bride", "The Bridesmaid's Reward", "His Seductive Revenge", "Carried Away", "His E-mail Order Wife", "The Course of True Love", "More to Love", "Runaway Bay", "Dear Cupid", "Looking for Laura", "Spellbound", or "Sweet Memories".

Rating:
Summary: Fun, sexy read!
Review: Heroine: average/plump

The night was hot, but she was not. Yet something about the short, mousy girl in line at the ice cream stand caught the attention of sexy millionaire playboy Daniel Barone anyway, and he wasn't sorry when he spotted her a second time on that sultry August evening in the crowd milling around Boston's Faneuil Hall

Shy, quiet Phoebe Richards couldn't believe that she, a librarian who lived a simple life filled with romance novels and daydreams about daring, dashing heroes had actually met one of Boston's most eligible, adventurous bachelors, not to mention one of the only truly chivalrous men left in the world. Too bad he only wanted to be friends after rescuing Phoebe from a perilous situation.

Or did he?

What worked for me:

I adore puns, so I loved the rather apt title.

The characters were wonderful: shy little Phoebe was very sweet, sexy Daniel just charmed the heck out of me, and I would have gladly given Pheebs' surrogate mother Leslie a high-five for taking our heroine to task over her tendency to put herself down.

There was a nice mix of drama and humor in the story. The instance when Daniel and Phoebe cross paths for the second time was absolutely priceless!

Size-wise, Phoebe was short and roundish. No mile-long legs and impossibly perky bosoms on this gal!

What didn't work for me:

Jumping into the middle of a family series like "The Barones" is like plunging into a soap opera five years after it debuts. There was a huge amount of information on Daniel's background handed out in large lumps. Fortunately this only happened in a couple of passages. The rest of the time was focused on the budding relationship of Pheebs and Daniel, which was of more interest to me.

Overall:

A fun, sexy read! Fans of "caterpillar to butterfly" or Cinderella stories should enjoy this one.

Be aware that there are some steamy scenes in this book.

If you liked "The Librarian's Passionate Knight" you might also enjoy "Midsummer Lightning", "The Independent Bride", "The Bridesmaid's Reward", "His Seductive Revenge", "Carried Away", "His E-mail Order Wife", "The Course of True Love", "More to Love", "Runaway Bay", "Dear Cupid", "Looking for Laura", "Spellbound", or "Sweet Memories".