Love Overdue

July 29, 2013
As charming and sunny as the summer days it describes, Morsi’s librarian romance crafts the staple elements of the genre with verve and a sure hand. The details may not be terribly plausible, but neither are they treated as perfunctory. Dorothy “DJ” Jarrow has finally landed her dream job as the administrator of a tiny public library system in rural Kansas. The gossipy, sometimes vindictive realities of smalltown life first startle her and then steel her determination to succeed. What she can’t seem to brace herself against is her landlady’s son, Scott “the hot guy” Sanderson, a mild-mannered pharmacist with a surprising alter ego as the dirty secret from DJ’s past. He doesn’t remember their encounter—at least consciously. But fate, Scott’s mother, and a smart terrier named Melvil Dewey Jr. will help the two renew their connection. Morsi delivers a satisfying beach read with gentle humor and quirky, vivid characters.

Starred review from September 15, 2013
Dorothy Jarrow, aka D.J., leaves her job working for the director from hell to accept a position as director of a small Kansas library. The building, a beautiful Carnegie library, is dark, dated, and disorganized. It comes with a motley crew: Amos, the depressed bookmobile driver; James, a silent young man with Asperger's syndrome who has an unsettling ability to disappear into the stacks; Suzy, a perky clerk; and seriously disgruntled Amelia Grundler. Fortunately, D.J. doesn't have to worry about housing right away because the library board chair, Viv Sanderson, has offered her a room in her home. But Viv has plans for D.J. that have nothing to do with the library: Viv wants a wife for her pharmacist son, Scott. The now buttoned-up D.J., however, recognizes him as the man with whom she shared a hot, one-night stand years ago. Morsi provides lots of humor, including library-specific jokes, such as Dewey Decimalbased chapter headings ( 129.9 Origin and Destiny of Individual Souls ). In this nearly perfect snapshot of a close-knit, gossipy, rural town at wheat-harvest time, former librarian Morsi once again proves that she is one of romance's top authors.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)