Love At First Book [Paperback] Jenn McKinlay [Paperback] McKinlay, Jenn [Paperback] McKinlay, Jenn [Paperback] McKinlay, Jenn

I confess right away that Jenn McKinlay is one of my favorite authors of modern romance. Everything that she writes, from her cozy mystery series (which manage to be sexy without ever putting sex on the page) to her women’s fiction, has an element of love and a promise of Happily Ever After. I trust her to lift my spirits and to make me laugh, because she understands what is funny like few others. Jenn puts the “com” in rom-com. That said, she still manages to create complex characters who have personal histories and issues that must be resolved to get to that HEA.Emily Allen, a librarian on Martha’s Vinyard whom we met last year in McKinlay’s stellar SUMMER READING, has made a break from her stifling mother to spend a year in Finn’s Hollow, Ireland. Still suffering occasional bouts of hypochondria, she has bravely stepped out to follow her dream of traveling. Em will be working as an assistant to her favorite author, Siobhan Riordan who, because of a severe case of writer’s block, has not written a book in several years. The plan is for Em to spend each morning with the author and every afternoon working in the Last Chapter bookshop owned and operated by the author’s son, Kieran (Kier) Murphy. You know that he’s met his match when he obstinately decides to call her “Red” instead of her preferred “Em,” and she decides to call him “Kier” instead of “Murphy.” Let the games begin!From the hilarious “meet cute” to the final chapter, Kier and Em bat heads, battle wits, push and pull, fall in love, have a falling out, endure heartbreak and heartache until they arrive at their happily ever after. I laughed and I cried. You will too. But in the end, it is just a great story!

Normally, I don't read romance novels, but I do love a good rom-com movie, so I'll read a rom-com, when the emphasis is on "com." Jenn McKinlay, one of my favorite cozy mystery writers, also writes rom-coms, and with the emphasis on comedy and quirky, affable main characters, I think they are the perfect lazy time read. What I love about Jenn's romance's are that the characters are REAL; they have faults and quirks and their "meet cutes" are never the picture-perfect scene that everything imagines they will be.That the author actually travelled to the UK/Scotland to conduct research for this book is obvious. I'm not sure how many other writers of rom-coms do that, but I admire Jenn McKinlay's devotion to her craft. The dialogue is witty and believable. This is an author who can write in any genre, and I'll read her work. I look forward to many more years of entertainment.

While the book overall was a quick fun read, I am just mystified what happened to Emily’s mother? The whole premise of the book was Emily’s escape from her abusive mother, midway through the book the mother just disappeared. So the book went from daily phones to poof no mention ever again. Mind you I found the whole storyline around the mother daughter relation ridiculous and unnecessary to the story, however if you decide to go with it, then there needs to be some resolution. Otherwise, things just don’t mesh

I could see part of the plot ahead of time but not all, by any means. The romance was swoony but not delicate. I loved it!

This book was so good, I didn't want it to end.