What the Librarian Did
Bliss
2010
My oh my! I am dying to know what the librarian “did”! What shame is she hiding? Extending computer time to rogue patrons? Did she forget a subfield delimiter? Bun too tight? I am sure the crimes are horrible, like that awful blouse she is wearing. Good thing that Bad Boy Devin is there “checking her out”. Good thing for Rachel, after a hard day answering reference questions, un-jamming printers, tossing out crazies, and removing God-knows-what from the book drop, she is probably ready for some hot steamy romance.
Enjoy!
Mary
Stereotypes persist! We’re either naughty or dowdy.
Hey! I just read this for a Readers’ Advisory class (romance week). Never having read a romance before, I had trouble picking one out and thought what the heck, might as well embrace all stereotypes. It does do that, but really, I enjoyed the book. The good thing is, it’s as if the book was written for me – 90s rock star, librarian, and it’s set in New Zealand, where I’ve always wanted to go. So I never have to read another romance!
What the librarian did – well, you find out pretty quickly in the book, but of course it’s all neatly wrapped up in the end. It’s a “gentle romance” – not a great deal of sex (just one scene, I think) and more about the relationships than anything else. I was surprised, though, the details of what people were wearing and the decorations and such. Probably typical of romances, but I’m more a mystery reader where details matter, so it left me confused initially.
This reminds me of a “Book By You” that my husband had made for me years ago about a vampire and a librarian. It, like this, had every single cliche you can think of. A fun read, but not something I’d spend my dwindling collection development bucks on!
Oooh…and it’s not just a Harlequin Romance. It’s a Harlequin SUPER Romance! (more heaving bosoms for your buck?)
“She’s got a secret that’s long overdue.”
O.M.G. That is awesome haha 🙂
I am loving the cover and synopsis– just might have to find this book in one of my local libraries to see how this turns out!
Yay! After the Catholic-bashing in the comments on the Holidays book, now we get to settle in for a nice round of ignorant sneering at the best-selling genre in the USA!
How ’bout we top it off tomorrow by reminding each other how ugly and stupid people who shop at Wal-Mart are?
Wow, I’m so glad y’all aren’t MY public librarians. Because at MY library, where we actually pay attention to what people want to read and stuff, we know that this title has received outstanding reviews and been a hit with romance readers, for being nuanced, funny, and sweet, with well-rounded characters.
But hey, if you’re looking for stereotypes, I’ve got a mirror you can borrow…
Relax @hapax! That book came out of my public library collection and I had to wait for it! I too would be concerned if any public librarian ignored the romance genre. As you said this is very popular. The only reason that this book is on the site is a tribute to National Library Week. As for stereotypes, I do wear glasses and have very sensible shoes. I wouldn’t mind though if some boy toy though “checked me out”. 🙂
Oh how I love Romance novels and their covers! This is fantastic…for more laughs, check these out:
http://worldoflongmire.com/features/romance_novels/
http://worldoflongmire.com/features/romance_novels/readers_covers.htm
Oh, Hapax, don’t you know…anti-Catholicism is one of the last acceptable prejudices in America, along with criticizing people who are overweight, those who smoke, and Republicans.
My husband saw this book in the grocery store checkout lane and sent me a photo; I told him that he had to buy it. It has made the rounds among my fellow reference librarians, who all thought it was pretty funny.
I would also recommend The Dewey Decimal System of Love by Josephine Carr. It’s somewhat of a romance, but also a mystery. Better character development, too.
Hapax, you’ll notice *nothing* in the commentary says this book should be weeded – we’re merely told to enjoy the cover! This blog doesn’t just post things to get rid of – it also occasionally just posts things that are funny or cool.
And come now, every genre should have a sense of humor about itself. I do love fantasy, and yet it’s also my favorite genre to browse through covers and mock them for being silly. Laughing at something doesn’t mean you hate it. 🙂
Two snickers and an ILL request later… 🙂
@Hapax – I didn’t see any Catholic bashing except for one person who said if a Catholic didn’t know who Esther was is ignorant. It was mostly Catholics answering the submitter’s frustrated question.
As for this – heck, I’d rather see this stereotype than the one I usually see around the internet. That all librarians are stiletto heel wearing, miniskirt sporting nymphomaniacs who have sex with everyone behind the stacks.
So in this book I should learn how to seduce a librarian ?
I remember that movie “You’ve got m@il”, thanks to it I learnt that, to date a bookshop keeper, you must first ruin her life and lie to her. Does it work the same with a librarian ?
Is there something wrong with me because my first thought in reply to “What the Librarian Did” was “took a dump in the science fiction/fantasy section”?
Interesting placement of “Larger Print”
For some reason, I half-expected him to help her do some shelving. Or Inventory! Always good to have an extra pair of hands doing Inventory… especially that guy’s hands. 😀
Check the website above if you want to see the “other librarians in fiction” list. Be prepared for somewhat more rude titles, including Hot Mouth Librarian and What a Librarian (those are a couple of the more polite ones).
Yes, librarians always have to deal with their image (Yes, I’m a retired male librarian). And they always will, same as computer geeks, accountants, teachers, truck drivers, hair dressers, and interior decorators.
Look at the shelves behind her. I think her secret is that she hasn’t weeded in decades.
her secret is that she’s running an ebay store from her staff pc
My dad has collected librarian porn and written about the image of librarians in porn novels, and given a presentation at the Journal of Popular Culture convention about the topic. About a decade old now, here’s the NSFW link: http://www.riverofdata.com/librariana/porn/
My favorite was “The Dewey Decimal System of Love”. I checked it out from the library – of course! How can you resist? You have to see how the author is going to portray librarians. I found it funny – a good, light read. OR a graduation gift for your favorite library science student. 🙂
Dowdy by day, naughty by night.
“I love it when you talk that dirty AACRII to me, baby!”
Doin’ the Dirty Dewey, I suppose…cataloging was never that exciting for me…
@Jamie
Specifically the science-fiction/fantasy section? Interesting.
Personally, my first thought was that her long-overdue secret was that she had been a man.
Oooh, this reminds me of a book I gave my ex boss who I used to shelve for for her birthday several years ago. Another romance novel with a librarian. Sadly, I don’t recall the title.
Wow-someone turned up my space heater! 🙂
Is her secret that she still shops at Laura Ashley?
Not sure how nobody brought up how awkward it would be working as a librarian and having someone come up to check this book out
Wow. I take it you don’t get a lot of actual readers and patrons reading this blog… at least not the kind who read romance novels…
Dear Author loved it… http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2010/02/review-what-the-librarian-did-by-karina-bliss/
She dresses like she’s Amish! Where’s her bonnet?
As a New Zealander, I’m dying to know what happens in it. Are the main characters supposed to be Kiwis, or Americans in New Zealand? I have to point out that if they’re supposed to be New Zealanders, that Kiwi rock stars are only famous here, not overseas 🙂
As the only person at my library who was willing to take on the romance collection when a long time staff member retired, I got to order this one. So I know what the librarian did! 🙂 If it has a librarian in it, there will be demand and I will buy it. I love my other collections, but I think romances are the most fun to order. My coworkers are totally missing out.
@Jami (and Hapax): Oops, it seems my little comment on the holiday post about ignorance was taken badly, which was not my intention. I am a Catholic myself (as I thought was clear as I signed off as one …). 😉 Ignorant is of course a term which has strong pejorative connotations and I maybe should have avoided it. What I meant was that surely the book of Esther belongs to the realm of what we in Swedish call “allmänbildning” (a most excellent term that the English general knowledge doesn’t really cover). It’s just something you *know*, I’d have thought, at least if your religious background includes any sort of Sunday schooling. Can’t remember if we ever read from Esther’s book during Mass though. Ignorance shouldn’t be looked upon too harshly in my opinion – it’s a rectifiable condition, nothing permanent unless you choose to keep it that way! 😀 Sorry for the OT post.
To today’s point: I think the blouse if cute! But you have to be young to really carry it off. 😉 And, like, not have big boobs.
I really need to read this book. In fact, I may even need to buy it. The cover is priceless.
I think it would have been great if he had been dressed very conservatively and she had the tattoo and leather pants.
@Allie – Right, because people who work in libraries aren’t “actual readers”. We just pretend to like books for the job security.
So now we know that the only people with less of a sense of humor than librarians are romance novel fans.
@bani – It’s okay. It’s just that your’s was the only one that looked like it might be “Catholic Bashing” – the others didn’t seem to be bashing to me and the submitter’s original question seemed frustrated.
Also I think the blouse is cute too. For someone who doesn’t mind high collars and doesn’t have a double chin. It’s actually the kind I would’ve wanted badly as a teenage girl and mom would refuse to buy me because “It’s too matronly.” I never could get her to understand I LIKE matronly clothing and HATED the stuff for girls my age.
Still can’t, actually.
This cover is adorably hilarious.
Angry romance reader there needs to develop a thicker skin, like us fantasy novel readers: http://www.cracked.com/article_14790_the-best-worst-fantasy-science-fiction-book-covers.html
Thanks Jami! My daughter who is 16 is quite into that sort of blousey look too right now – but she pairs it with hotpants, lol.
Hey, I read this one and liked it. The author, Karina Bliss (gotta LOVE that name), is good with character development and turing standard romance tropes into fresh stories. She also coined the most excellent phrase, “alpha-hole” in a later book. That one has gone down in history.
Anyway, the main character is a great representation of a ‘real’ librarian and wears rockin’ vintage clothing — don’t know why she’s got that God awful ’80s blouse on the cover.
Full disclosure, I’m a librarian.
Rachel has lots of secrets that are long overdue:
–the blue ribbon is holding her head on
–she drank radioactive tea and now glows in the dark
–in a rage, she tore out page 69 in every book in the library
Of course, Devin has secrets of his own:
–he cried like a girl when he got that tattoo
–he stole his necklace from his mom’s jewelry box
–he slipped a roofie into Rachel’s tea
What, no carelessly discarded glasses?