I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Series: Lovestruck Librarians #5
Series Rating:

Published by Lyrical Shine on January 17th 2017
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 232
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley
Goodreads
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Apple Books


IF THE BOOKMOBILE’S ROCKING . . .
Constance Chen is not the demure kind of librarian. Sure, her high-horsepower ride is Big Bertha the Bookmobile, but Con swears a blue streak, does her own home improvement, and wears steel-toed boots. She has a tight circle of friends, a demanding, beloved sprawl of a Chinese-American family, and a strict hookups-only policy when it comes to men. Her life is just how she wants it. Except for one maddeningly sexy footnote.
Sam Wolcott, her friend’s baby brother and the library’s IT star, has been throwing sparks with Con since he moved to town. To everybody else, he’s a thoughtful, sensitive sweetheart. To Con, he’s a cantankerous pedant, because if they don’t fight nonstop their clothes will spontaneously combust. Sam needs a commitment Con won’t—can’t—give. And neither of them will chance their hard-won bonds for pure lust.
Too bad Con and Sam have a whole week in a very tiny, very private space to sustain their dumb arguments. Alone. What happens in the Bookmobile might take their resistance right out of circulation . . .
Ok – seriously. Where can I get a job driving a Bookmobile around?
Con and Sam have been battling the attraction between them for years. Years. Both of them. The only reason they’ve been fighting it is that Penny, Sam’s newly re-discovered sister, is Constance’s best friend. I’ve been pretty clear on this blog in my feelings on this topic. It’s a pretty thin premise. Penny’s a big girl. She can handle two people she cares about having feelings for each other. And as we discover mid-way through the book, she’s well aware of their feelings and is just fine with it.
I really liked Sam. A lot. A lot a lot. He was the sexy, lumberjack-esque IT guy assigned to ride around with Con in her Bookmobile in order to help her figure out why the internet connection in the van went wonky every time she got to a certain area. Being in such close confined quarters makes it really difficult for both of them to control their raging hormones.
I liked this book, I loved the story, but I didn’t love Constance, which killed it for me a little bit. She was determined not to get involved in a relationship, and her reasons, while not completely rational, were valid. But in her determination, she was cold and selfish with Sam. You have to be willing to compromise in a relationship of any kind, and I never saw that from Con. Whether it was something huge like plans for the future, or something small like whether or not to go out on an actual date, she was completely unbending. Then when there was an issue that was too big to compromise on, she had no give. It was always Sam who had to give in. There was none of the back and forth that’s necessary for a healthy relationship.
There are some things that are too big to compromise on, and when they come up against something, they go their separate ways, and once again it’s up to Sam to give in. I probably would have been more ok with him making such a huge concession, but since he’d been doing all of the conceding, it rubbed me the wrong way.
This wasn’t a bad book; I definitely enjoyed parts of it, especially the Bookmobile itself. Con and Sam had great chemistry, whether they were in bed, out on a date, or snarking at each other in the Bookmobile. I didn’t have any issue tracking everyone, even though it was the fifth book in the series. It can easily be read as a standalone. It was clear there were stories I’d missed, but they didn’t take anything away from this story.