Read for library book club this month,the theme is librarians and teachers. I love Olivia Dade but have never read this series.

Constance “Con” is the book mobile librarian. Sam is one of the library IT resources. They do NOT get along. There’s a lot of snarky banter and eye rolling. She’s rough on the IT equipment and says it’s constantly failing, he’s sure she’s exaggerating, plus they are super attracted to each other. BUT Sam’s sister is Penny’s best friend and neither want to complicate things by getting involved. AND Con doesn’t have time or energy for a boyfriend, Sam wants a commitment, marriage, kids.

They are forced into close proximity for work, Sam has to ride along in the book mobile for a week to trouble shoot the IT issues. Very quickly they work out their arguments. So that’s one barrier to being together gone.

They end up deciding just to hook up and not tell the sister, no commitments. But Sam isn’t having it. He talks to his sister, then begins a campaign to win Con over. She insists having a boy friend just adds to her burdens, but Sam is a good boy. He watches to see what he can actually to that will bring Con joy or take care of her or take of crap she doesn’t need to deal with.

So everything is going great! They are together and happy! But… there’s still 45 minutes left in this book… WTH?

They get engaged! (After like 4 months, it’s pretty fast). and at the engagement party Con says something to a friend about kids not being in her future. Sam finally clocks this as something he should ask about. There’s been a few hints dropped but nothing explicitly stated. When they first had sex Con said “I can’t get pregnant”, Sam inferred she’s on BC or IUD. We know she practically raised her younger siblings and is still involved with a lot of their drama. The reader knows this has been a burden to her, but she hasn’t said it the same way to Sam. Meanwhile Sam’s mom bailed on his family (and his sister’s) and he grew up with just his dad, who died a year ago. He’s always wanted a big family so he never has to be alone again.

So when Sam is like “oh hey, you’re on antibiotics, we need to be careful about BC”, and Con says “what? That doesn’t matter” they finally open their mouths and talk. Con never wants to have kids. She feels like she raised 3 kids already and is sterilized. And she doesn’t want to have kids because her partner wants them. When Sam explains that he definitely does want children, Con ends things.

So sad! They are both heart broken. Sam’s sister talks to him about what ‘family’ means and it can be more than a spouse and children. Yada yada yada… there’s a big satisfying reconciliation and they are back together!

I liked this, it was a good, standard contemporary romance. I appreciated the POV of someone that doesn’t want children, doesn’t apologize for it, and won’t be talked out of it.