romance Archives - Awful Library Books

Friday Fiction: Was it something I said?

October 1, 2021 Mary Kelly Friday Fiction 7 comments

Was it something I said?
Thesman
1988

Today we have another special teen title straight from the 1980s. 16 year old Bonnie is short. In addition, she was just dumped by her boyfriend saying she just looked too young. Evidently, boyfriend got embarrassed because the last time they went to the movies, the cashier asked if he wanted to buy her a child’s ticket.

Meanwhile, everyone at school is getting excited for the school fair and the fortune teller in the Oracle of Delphi booth. Bonnie’s BFF, Anne, was scheduled to do the bit as the fortune teller but ended up being sick. She asked Bonnie to cover. No one knew that Bonnie was covering and the fortunes she told took on a life of their own. All sorts of drama ensues as cute next door neighbor boy, Mitch gets obsessed with his fake fortune about Bonnie.

Friday Fiction: Summer Reading from the ALB archives

July 9, 2021 Mary Kelly Friday Fiction 5 comments

As we are now smack dab in the middle of summer, it’s time to break out some romance. I dug out some seriously old posts of some fabulous romance that you should try.

My criteria:

Ridiculous cover
Ridiculous scenario
Ridiculous “misunderstandings”
Ridiculous or jackass boyfriend/”hero”

Grab yourself a refreshing beverage and enjoy these books.

Mary and Holly

Friday Fiction: Overnight Cinderella

April 16, 2021 Holly Best of the Worst, Friday Fiction 8 comments

Overnight Cinderella
Garbera
2001

I usually grab any title that features a librarian so I am ready for our library themed posts for National Library Week. I was going to feature this one, but the librarian part of our heroine’s life was barely there. Evidently, our heroine, Cami, traded in her research librarian cardigan for a more glamorous job in event planning.

I think the author used librarian as a metaphor for virginal and shy. (Come to think of it, I don’t know too many librarians that give off the virginal and shy vibe. But I digress.) Anyway, she meets Duke, the corporate suit in charge of security for Pryce Enterprises. Of course Duke and Cami have to work together due to security issues for a big gala that Pryce was hosting.

NLW Special: Rule Breaker

April 5, 2021 Mary Kelly Friday Fiction, Librarian's Choice 6 comments

Rule Breaker
Boswell
1990

In honor of National Library Week 2021, ALB is presenting some library and library-themed books. We are kicking off our week with a romance!

Our man of the hour, Rand Marshall, heard there was a children’s librarian named Jamie who turned down all the cool guys for dates. Rand was up for the challenge. Rand also has a secret identity as Brick Lawson, a best selling author of action thrillers that are wildly popular, but universally panned by the highbrow literary types.

Our meet cute starts with Rand hitting on our librarian by asking for a book by Brick Lawson. Of course, Jamie is all about quality literature and rolls her eyes at his request. (Very bad librarianship, Jamie – we don’t comment on customer choices).

Valentine’s Day Special

February 14, 2021 Mary Kelly ALB Announcements 7 comments

Dating, love, and romance are always available at your local library. We here at ALB want to make sure you are taking advantage of so many titles geared to help you manage your love life! (You’re welcome!) Our first post listed, Make your own sex toys has been gracing our Valentine’s list off and on since 2012. To this day, I still get a bit squeamish when I see people squeezing the vegetables and fruit at the grocery store.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Mary and Holly

Friday Fiction: It Must Be Magic

June 26, 2020 Mary Kelly Friday Fiction 4 comments

It Must Be Magic
Woodruff
1982

The eighties live again in this teen romance. Kerrie, a rather bookish high school junior has a not so secret crush on Mike Price. During the annual “Genie Week”, Kerrie’s friends arrange it so that her “genie” for the week is Mike. (I am still trying to figure out the educational value of girls getting a high school boy as a genie to do their bidding for an entire week.) Kerrie gets mixed up because it seems that Mike likes her. But is he only doing that because he has to? Kerrie is convinced that no one likes smart girls so she must be completely wrong to expect him to actually like her. She is not one of the cool kids. Of course, hijinks ensue, and I will leave it to you to guess how this ends.

Mary

Kiss Me Creep

May 29, 2020 Mary Kelly Friday Fiction 3 comments

Kiss Me, Creep
Woodruff
1984

This is the teen version of the icky guy that is just misunderstood. See most of our romance posts. It’s a trope all on its own. Our gal Joy doesn’t like Richie. He constantly teases her. By the end of the book, Joy thinks she might have missed the boat on Richie. Maybe he actually likes her and he isn’t a creep. I think the jury is still out.

Ah, young love.

Mary

ALB’s Holiday Romance Readers Advisory

December 23, 2019 Mary Kelly Best of the Worst

Here at ALB we want you to get in the holiday spirit by offering you a few fiction choices. We have a delightful selection of some choices that will definitely combine holiday charm with romance. We have a nice selection of the familiar romantic tropes.

In The Christmas Husband, radio love doctor is facing a lonely Christmas when sad single dad shows up. Santa delivers with an instant family for our poor heroine.