Sometimes you start a book and you can tell right away it is not worth your time. It's not well written or the characters are terrible people you can't possibly invest the time in to see if they will have any kind of redemption at all. That was what happened to me a week ago and I find that a bad book can sometimes sour me for reading for a little bit. Fortunately, I the picked up Meg Cabot's No Offense and it was like a breath of fresh air!

Molly Montgomery is the new children's librarian on Little Bridge, a small island in the Florida Keys. She is still smarting from a difficult break up and obsessed with true crime shows on TV when a real mystery drops into her lap, er, library. As she gets to know the sheriff, with whom she butts heads on more than one occasion, she tries to solve the crime and also uncover a little romance as well.

I don't normally read cheesy romance, but when the time is right, it's right. This light, fluffy, sweet novel was exactly what I needed to get the yucky taste of that DNF out of my mouth while also serving as a distraction from the world. It was also very good writing with darling characters. This was cute and would make for perfect vacation reading.

DNF

Meg Cabot has long been a favorite author of mine. Her books, at their best, are unbeatably fun and romantic, but this one feels flat, as have the prior Little Bridge Island books. The MC annoys me, and the love interest is a cop and single father. The mystery resolves around an abandoned baby. This so isn't for me. Still a big Meg Cabot fan, but not for this series.

The "drama" of it felt a little forced. The two MC's distrust to love seemed a little quick but was enjoyable to read regardless.

I just adore Meg Cabot. She can do no wrong and her latest is no exception. Light, fun, and a pleasure to read.

Molly Montgomery's life is about to change! Following her broken engagement, she decided to pursue her dream job as a children's librarian. Little Bridge Island is a quaint and whimsical town, that is rocked by a baby being abandoned at the library. Of course, Molly is the one who finds the small baby and contacts the sheriff.

Meet John Hartwell, all six-feet-three, handsome sheriff of Little Bridge Island. John believes vehemently that a criminal has left the baby, but could the opposite be true?

Molly is everything John isn't, messy, creative and loves being around kids and books. John is orderly, organized and upholds the law. John is recently divorced, struggling to take care of his teenage daughter. When Molly and John meet, will this turn out to be a true fairy tale? Or utter disaster? Read this charming book to find out!

Meg Cabot is a beloved author to me, and I was excited to read No Offense, the second book in the Little Bridge Island series.

It was a light, enjoyable read just like the first book, and thought the characters were fun and well written.

I always enjoy revisiting characters and setting from previous books, and it was good to be back in Little Bridge Island.

*many thanks to William Morrow and Netgalley for the gifted copy.

2 stars

You can read all of my reviews at Nerd Girl Loves Books.

My overall feeling about this contemporary romance book is a solid "meh". It's not the worst I've read, but I won't remember what this book is about in a week. The writing is fine, but the two characters aren't interesting, the romance is very clunky and the side plots kind of ridiculous.

Molly moves from Colorado after she breaks up with her finance to be the new children's librarian at the Little Bridges Library in the Florida Keys. One day she discovers an abandoned newborn in the bathroom of the library and is met by newly divorced Sheriff John. Per romantic book formula, their initial encounter is fraught with miscommunication and both sides are left thinking the other person is hot but insufferable. The duo are then shoved together over and over again until they fall into each other's arms, and then into bed. That's it. Other than a goofy cold case about a string of burglaries which the Sheriff has been unable to solve (and for which he is reminded of by all of the island's "quirky" characters), not much else happens.

I didn't feel any chemistry between the main characters and felt the story both dragged on and was rushed at the same time. Yeah, I don't know. The corny ending had me *literally* rolling my eyes. I've read books from this author before and enjoyed them, so hope this is just a one-off that didn't resonate with me.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for the free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was not the book for me, I found it forgettable.

I didn’t love this one. I had a hard time connecting to the characters and ultimately wasn’t invested in their relationship. There were some cute moments, and who doesn’t love a librarian character in a book, right?

Molly and John are a cute couple, and I love how cute and quirky this title is. But Molly is a terrible children's librarian (with her heart in the right place, but still) and she comes across as naive and dumb much of the time. Their relationship dynamic sometimes came off like a gender cliche. Meg Cabot can do better.

This was a cute book. Very light hearted and a fun read. Found myself skimming a bit though waiting for the action. I enjoyed the characters and their heated/enemies to lovers dynamic.

I read No Offense by Meg Cabot for free. It is a light hearted romance with some minor sex between a children librarian and a sheriff. The setting takes place on an island in the Keys. The librarian finds an abandoned baby and calls the sheriff. The sheriff has to find the baby's mother and a thief. The librarian then finds the mother. There is misunderstanding between the sheriff and the librarian, but if course everything works out in the end. It is not the best romance I read but it is a light hearted romance which was what I needed at the time.

NO OFENSE
MEG CABOT

Loved and enjoyed this super cute rom-com between Molly the head children's librarian for the Little Bridge Island Public Library and Sheriff John Hartwell whose meet cute is surrounded by an abandoned baby in the library bathroom. A cute mystery plotline and adorable banter between our MCs that is super cute and romantic. This is a great escape read in between some heavy reads that I definitely needed. Had not read a Meg Cabot book before and glad to have been introduced to her writing in this cute romcom.

This was my second and last Meg Cabot book. It was going ok until the Red Cross Ball. Molly went from being afraid to speak to John to throwing her arms around him and kissing him, all this in the span of a few minutes. The characters are just very inconsistent. And, was it necessary to keep saying "Dylan Dakota, aka Lawrence Beckwith III" or constantly referring to Molly as "the librarian," and correcting people when they referred to John as Chief, instead of Sheriff?? And, the sex scene, why? It was just so out of the blue. I didn't like this one or No Judgments. Also, what librarian stores books in a bathroom???!?!??? NONE!!

How did I miss the first one in this series? I really enjoy Meg Cabot-she writes characters that are very real-flaws and all-I appreciate that in this book her characters didn't stew over imagined slights but actually acknowledged issues, apologized and moved on! What a refreshing thing to read about adults who act like adults.

Meg Cabot is a must read for me. This one has plenty of Meg Cabot’s charm as we travel to the fictional island of Little Bridge in the FL Keys. There is a little mystery, a sweet children’s librarian and a grumpy sheriff. Though I wasn’t sucked into the relationship between the librarian and the sheriff, the quirky townsfolk made it adorable and entertaining.

Meg Cabot is an automatic must-read for me. She is able to make the state of Florida a character in her novels, which is fantastic, and her characters are always quirky and fun, albeit imperfect. I loved this story, and the series, and hope to read more!

I so enjoyed the first book in the Little Bridge stories but this one not so much. I found it slow going and didn’t really relate to the romance between the librarian and the cop. I hope other stories in this town are more engaging.

Molly has found her dream job in Little Bridge Island as the of head of children’s services in the local library. But, her dream soon gets disrupted when a newborn baby is found in the library bathroom. Not only is it distressing to find the poor baby abandoned, it also brings Sheriff John Hartwell to her door. Not only is he infuriating…he’s infuriatingly attractive as well. No man should look that good in a uniform. Especially when he’s being stubborn and unwilling to listen to her advice.

This year, I’ve had a bit of a rocky relationship with contemporary romance. There have certainly been some books in the genre that I have enjoyed but those have been overwhelmed by a slew of titles that have disappointed me. I thought I was very brave *pats self on back* to try out a new to me author, especially one who’s so beloved by so many people. So, what did I think about my first Meg Cabot book? What a lot of fun! It was was cute and funny, a gentle rom com with a lot of heart.

No Offense had a charming small town romance feel to it and was my favourite type of rom com, where instead of the author trying too hard to be funny there’s gentle humour was laced through the book. Although you may never have a big belly laugh you will always have a little grin on your face as you read.

This also had a mild, very mild, enemies to lovers trope. But, it was more like mild-annoyance-and-frustration-with-the-subject-of-my-attraction; calling them enemies was a bit of a stretch. But, watching them bicker was a lot of fun, especially when our grumpy sheriff was so desperately drawn to her…yet frustrated with her amateur sleuthing. Their romance may not have been fireworks and mad passion, but it did have a little heat and combined with the amount of fun I was having I really enjoyed their relationship.

This was actually the second book in the Little Bridge Island series, however, I can attest to to the fact that this can be read as a standalone because I haven’t read the first book – yet – and I didn’t even realise it was part of a series until I looked it up on Goodreads midway through the book. So, if you haven’t read the first book in the series and this one intrigues you, don’t hesitate to pick it up.

This was a light hearted romp that I thoroughly enjoyed, it may have even restored a little of my faith in the contemporary romance genre. If you want something light and quick to read, you won’t go wrong picking this one up.

No Offense is a fun read with characters you always want to read more about. I hope Meg Cabot continues sharing stories about the people of Little Bridge.