THE UNDATEABLE

Some good can come of internet notoriety.

Librarians are used to being stereotyped, but when Melissa "Bernie" Bernard is caught scowling in the background of a romantic viral video, the result is sudden and unbearable: she becomes a meme. As Disapproving Librarian Disapproves makes the rounds online and journalists start asking her for comment, Bernie decides to take a brief leave of absence and let it blow over. But one journalist, Colin Rodriguez, makes an offer too tempting to pass up; if she allows his colleagues at Glaze.com to make her over, he’ll set up a month of dates for her and write about them, allowing her to banish her new reputation as undateable. After she warily accepts, the dates start off terribly but slowly improve as Colin gets to know Bernie and as Bernie takes some of his dating advice. But as they get to know each other, it becomes clear that the best match for Bernie may actually be Colin. Title’s (Kentucky Home, 2013, etc.) humor and insider knowledge of libraries add pleasing depth to the galloping plot, and the chemistry between Colin and Bernie is crackling for a book with relatively few passionate scenes. Combined with Title’s remarkable ability to naturally work feminist discussions about dating and femininity into the plot, the book represents the best of a new kind of contemporary romance: socially aware and laugh-out-loud funny, with a love story that’s real enough to imagine reading about on Twitter.

A delightful start to Librarians in Love, a promising new contemporary-romance series.