Love at First Book by Jenn McKinlay #bookreview #contemporary #romance

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Title: Love at First Book

Author:  Jenn McKinlay

Publisher: Berkley

Publication Date: May 14, 2024

Page Count:  366

My rating: 4 stars

About the book:

When a librarian moves to a quaint Irish village where her favorite novelist lives, the last thing she expects is to fall for the author’s prickly son… until their story becomes one for the books, from the New York Times bestselling author of Summer Reading.

Emily Allen, a librarian on Martha’s Vineyard, has always dreamed of a life of travel and adventure. So when her favorite author, Siobhan Riordan, offers her a job in the Emerald Isle, Emily jumps at the opportunity. After all, Siobhan’s novels got Em through some of the darkest days of her existence.

Helping Siobhan write the final book in her acclaimed series—after a ten-year hiatus due to a scorching case of writer’s block—is a dream come true for Emily. If only she didn’t have to deal with Siobhan’s son, Kieran Murphy. He manages Siobhan’s bookstore, and the grouchy bookworm clearly doesn’t want Em around.

Emily persists, and spending her days bantering with the annoyingly handsome mercurial Irishman only makes her fall more deeply in love with the new life she’s built – and for the man who seems to soften toward her with every quip she throws at him. But when she discovers the reason for Kieran’s initial resistance, Em finds herself torn between helping Siobhan find closure with her series and her now undeniable feelings for Kier. As Siobhan’s novel progresses, Emily will have to decide if she’s truly ready to turn a new page and figure out what lies in the next chapter.

Love at First Book by Jenn McKinlay is a new contemporary romance novel with some humor but also some heartbreak. The story is one of a grumpy/sunshine or enemies to lovers romance set in the Emerald Isle, Ireland.

Emily Allen is feeling a bit stuck in her life where she works as a librarian in Martha’s Vineyard and decides to finally make a change. Answering an ad for a job as an assistant and part time book shop work Emily finds the one placing the ad is one of her favorite authors, Siobhan Riordan, so of course Emily jumps at the opportunity.

After arriving in Ireland though Emily gets a bit panicky about her big move and matters don’t get any better when she finds she’ll actually be working a lot of the time with Siobhan’s testy son. Determined to make the most of it though Emily settles in and does whatever is asked of her by both mother and son.

Starting off Love at First Book by Jenn McKinlay I really thought this was going to be a run of the mill rom com but boy was I wrong. The story gets much deeper with cancer being at the center of one of the characters motivation so it really really pulled at my heart strings having just dealt with my own family member cancer scare. There was a good balance of the light and darker topics in the book and while i may have passed this by knowing the deeper topic was to come I’m certainly not sorry I read it and got to know and enjoy these characters and their stories.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Find this book online:

Goodreads  /  Amazon

About the author:

Jenn McKinlay is the award-winning New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of several mystery and romance series. Her work has been translated into multiple languages in countries all over the world. She lives in sunny Arizona in a house that is overrun with kids, pets, and her husband’s guitars.