Love Overdue is a contemporary romance by Pamela Morsi. Dorothy Jarrow (DJ) is a librarian that received a job offer out of the blue. She packs up everything and heads of to rural Kansas and is determined to be the perfect librarian complete with the prim and proper look. It does not take DJ long to discover that the two major sources of interest in town are gossip and wheat. It just so happens that the women that hired her is also her landlord, and her son Scott Sanderson just happens to be the man that she had her only one night stand with. DJ is both relieved and offended when he does not recognize her and does her best to keep it that way. She tries to keep her distance, but the attraction from that first night still lingers and a growing friendship makes Scott hard to ignore.
I requested Love Overdue from NetGalley just because the heroine was a librarian, I admit it. Sadly, I was disappointed with the stereotypes of librarians, only because I happen to be one and spend the majority of my working hours with other librarians. The stuffy, sexless librarian that DJ thinks she needs to be bothers me, as does the portrayal of the grouchy librarian who she displaces when she gets the job. Not that Agatha is a sympathetic or even vaguely nice character, but I would be a little miffed if I was in a senior position for years only to be pushed aside with no notice or reason behind it. There might still be some librarians out there that fit either of those stereotypes- but frankly I have yet to meet one. DJ's other side, the librarian that excepts people for who they are, values their individual strengths, and considers the access to library materials and a safe place to everyone was right on point with the librarians that I know.I liked the quirky small town and its quirky residents- although I suppose there are residents of similarly sized towns that might be upset at the stereotypes of that as well. I liked that DJ was open minded about people being unusual, and that Scott faced some serious relationship issues in his past. The assumptions by DJ and Scott about the others keep the book moving forward, and as the reader discovers the full truth much quicker that either of the main characters there are some fun moments as well as some that just made me want to kick them and tell them to talk to each other. I think there were two distractions that made this even more evident. Scott's mother Viv was a great character, the the subplot about her plans for the future was unnecessary as far as I was concerned. I also found the back and forth between points of view, which often times repeated the same events, a little disjointing. The flashbacks to Scott and DJ's first encounter were also a bit odd, but less bothersome than the point of view shifts. And then there is the ending, or lack there of, maddening. Instead of a confrontation where DJ and Scott need to hash everything out and a clean up of Viv's choices possibly with her coming clean about everything we get an epilogue eight years in the future when everything is all hunky-dory. The confrontations are typically the best part of the book, and I felt a bit cheated because of its absence.
With all that being said, I did not hate Love Overdue. It was sweet, it was nice, but it did have some problems. Readers that love Morsi's writing and contemporary romance set in small towns will find some charm and enjoyment here, but it is not something I would recommend across the board.
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