Last week I got an e-mail from Librarian Leesa, who had just discovered the bloggie goodness that is the Bat Cave. Mixed in with the general flattery, was this question:I was wondering if you have any sort of listing of romance novels (series, historical or contemporary) that feature librarians? I am always looking for these, being one myself!!Now Leesa isn't the first person to ask me this question, but it took her e-mail for me to have a Light Bulb Moment. So with the general help of all you helpful folks out there are the Interwebs, I want to compile a list of Librarians In Romance Novels. I'm still kicking around how I will "house" this list (probably here on the blog), but in the meantime, I need help gathering titles. Here are the list of "requirements":
- Titles must be a romance novels. That means the romance has to be the central focus of the story, and there must be a happily-ever-after (dead librarians give us all a sad).
- In print, out of print - it's all good.
- Any and all sub genres welcome (contemporary, historical, inspirational, paranormal etc.)
- Until I get a handle on this "project" - titles should be limited to traditional print publishers (large and small presses) and digital releases from reputable e-presses. I may loosen the "requirements" down the line, but for now - let's just stick with these.
- Whether you thought the book was "good" or "bad" - I don't care. One thing I've learned in 10+ years of being a librarian? Crap is in the eye of the beholder. This list is merely that - a list. A jumping off point, if you will.
- You can send me titles two ways: 1) Leave a comment on this post or 2) E-mail me.
Historical
Breathless by Laura Lee Guhrke
Contemporary
Perfect Partners by Jayne Ann Krentz
Romantic Suspense
Open Season by Linda Howard
Running Hot by Jayne Ann Krentz
Erotic Romance
In Too Deep by Portia Da Costa
The Tutor by Portia Da Costa (erotica)
Paranormal
The Demon's Librarian by Lilith Saintcrow
Category/Series
Three Little Words by Carrie Alexander (HSR #1186)
What The Librarian Did by Karina Bliss (HSR #1622)
Lightning that Lingers by Laura London (Loveswept #25)
The Librarian's Secret Scandal by Jennifer Morey (SRS #1624)
Amber By Night by Sharon Sala (SD #1495)
The Driven Snowe by Cathy Yardley (HB #14)
OK folks - and away we go! It's list-making time!
33 comments:
Storm of Shadows by Christina Dodd has a heroine who is the lamest librarian ever. It stood out, as a librarian, I know that if you work with the public you deal with a lot of crap (literally and figuratively) and are not actually sheltered from the world. /end rant
I've had Mad, Bad, and Blonde by Cathie Linz recommended because it is about a Children's Librarain, but I'm not sure if it is romance or chick lit.
Good luck, I'd love to read about a librarian who has the kind of butt kicking skills the librarians I know irl have!
Sarah W: LOL! Well, she's a librarian - so on the list she goes. And do'h! Cathie Linz. She's written SEVERAL librarian heroines.
I saw a poster for this Harlequin Romance novel from 1960 at a friend's cottage last month - "Hospital Librarian" by Margaret Malcolm. The guy in the picture reminds me of Maxwell Caulfield's Michael Carrington character in "Grease 2".
The heroine in Janice Kay Johnson's 'Match Made in Court' is a librarian.
Trixie: Oldies are good too. The Laura London I mentioned is from 1983 :)
Sarah T: GAH! Still need to READ that book!
No clue how good/bad they are but my google-fu netted this list.
Black Velvet (Harlequin Temptation, No 689) by Carrie Alexander
In the Cards (Harlequin Superromance No. 396) by Julie Meyers
Librarian by Day by Paige Tyler (e-book).
How I Fell in Love with a Librarian and Lived to Tell about it by Rhett Ellis
The Dewey Decimal System of Love by Josephine Carr
All Jacked Up by Penny McCall
Drive Me Crazy by Nancy Warren
Christie Ridgway's two fer from SSE
I STILL DO, 01/09, Silhouette Special Edition,
ISBN 978-0-373-65432-1
and
RUNAWAY BRIDE RETURNS!, 05/09, Silhouette Special Edition, ISBN 978-0-373-65455-0
These two are fun because the heroines meet their respective heroes while they're at a library convention in Vegas.
Also, Dana, the heroine of Nora Roberts' KEY OF KNOWLEDGE is a public librarian.
And the heroine of one of Julie Kenner's superhero books (I think APRHODITE'S KISS) is a school librarian.
I love that you're doing this list. I've been keeping a half-assed one on Goodreads but it only has a few.
Does it count if she gets fired in the first scene? If not . . .
Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs by Molly Harper.
I didn't like the book bc it reminded me of stuff that's aleady been done too many times before, but it didn't have anything to do with the heroine being a librarian!
Oh FYI everybody - I'm not going to update this blog post. Instead, I'm going to take all the suggestions and dump them in a post all their own. Uh, assuming I decide to house this list on the blog....and that's the way I'm leaning right now.
Lynette: It counts!
Gail: I think the Carr book is chick lit. I need to decide if I'm going to include those or not. Probably....if they lean towards being romance-y.
I was going to suggest Dana from Key of Knowledge (who reaffirmed the fact that librarians do in fact know a little bit about everything) and I think that Darcy from Nora Robert's The Winning Hand was a librarian before she ran away to Vegas.
I'm super excited about this list! It might just be my next reading project! You know after I finish the first one...
Hot by Julia Harper and Montana Lawman by Allison Leigh. I know these two because they combine two of MY favorite characters: lawmen and librarians:)
And I know there's another funny one where she's staking out the library at night because she thinks someone is breaking in at night and she ruins the undercover cop's investigation but I can't think of the title!
You guys have already covered all my suggections, so just popping in to say that blogger allows for static pages now, so that would be an easy way to add the list to the blog.
Elizabeth: I double-checked by reading a review and yep - the heroine in The Winning Hand was described as an "ex-librarian."
Oooh, thanks for the tip RandomRanter! I hadn't noticed the Pages feature!
And having all guys toss out suggestions made me remember a couple more titles - LOL.
Remembered another one:
MONTANA CREEDS: DYLAN by Linda Lael Miller
The heroine is a public librarian.
And another two:
DRIVE ME CRAZY by Nancy Warren
DANGEROUS SECRETS by Lisa Marie Rice
LOL, I don't have any titles to add... but I know I have some to check out :D Thanks for doing this, Wendy!
Try:
Bound by Blood by Evie Byrne (Samhain)
Smoke in Mirrors by Jayne Ann Krentz
Miss Emmaline and the Archangel by Rachel Lee
Morning Comes Softly by Debbie Macomber (though she gives it up for MOC to rancher)
Jayne Ann Krentz/Amanda Quick wrote a number of books with researchers, bookshop owners and owners of extensive libraries with resources they loan out. You can tell she was once a librarian with all the book lovin' she has in her stories.
Here's one I found the other day. I meant to send it to you earlier
http://www.eharlequin.com/storeitem.html?cid=228&iid=22175
Don't think I saw this one posted here yet (although it's hard to keep track via the comments) but the heroine in Betina Krahn's historical romance 'The Book of the Seven Delights' is a librarian and the quest she undertakes with the hero is to locate the remains of the ancient library of Alexandria in Egypt.
I haven't read it yet, but I keep coming across copies of it in used bookstores: The Librarian's Passionate Knight by Cindy Gerard.
Moment to Moment by Bonnie Drake (Candlelight Ecstasy Romance: 219) has an asthmatic librarian. She has a quiet lifestyle and the depiction of library work with a busy circulation desk is believable.
An absolute classic is The Library Tree by Lilian Peake pub. 1972. The Chief Librarian, Richard Hindon is forced to hire Carolyn Lyle as a library assistant by her meddling uncle - also a councillor. Mr Hindon considers her "too old" at 22. This book made me laugh when I read it in the 80's & it's much funnier 30 years later. The steamy peak in their relationship is when he takes the time to teach her cataloguing with a railways book. Hot!
Fun list! This might be fudging a little, but the heroine of Anne Mallory's SEVEN SECRETS OF SEDUCTION is a bookseller who's hired to catalogue a library. The heroine of Courtney Milan's novella THIS WICKED GIFT is also a bookseller.
Hmm, where are the sexy male librarians on this list?
Ohh I don't have any titles to add but my TBR pile just grew exponentially! ;)
Passionate Pleasures by Bertrice Small is about a librarian. And another not yet released title by Cathie Linz, Luck Be a Lady, features a librarian.
Also, I'm not sure if you want get into the mystery genre because there are undoubtedly hundreds of librarian/sleuths, but I think the Jacqueline Kirby books by Elizabeth Peters are worth a mention.
@Theresa - "The heroine of Courtney Milan's novella THIS WICKED GIFT is also a bookseller." - actually, she was a librarian. Her family owned a subscription library, so her family charged people to access the books, but it was still a library! I remember being excited about that, because it reminded me of our local subscription library in San Francisco, the Mechanics' Library.
Another historical short, "The Wicked West" by Victoria Dahl, has a librarian heroine. She's just starting her library when the story takes place, but it's clear it was a success in the epilogue.
Kathy Love had a librarian heroine in one of her contemporary novels, she ended up marrying the mayor. I don't recall what it was called, as it was a wall-banger for me, but maybe I'll prompt someone else's memory?
Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the suggestions everybody! I hope to have a page up later today with the titles we have so far.
Bless you once again RandomRanter for letting me know about the static pages feature now on Blogger. I've made both my disclaimer and reviews guidelines posts "static" now. Yippee!
Theresa: I'm not sure why librarian heroes have been ignored by the genre. Probably the same reason nurse heroes have - the perception that the job isn't "manly" enough. Which is hogwash of course! Honestly, that whole territory seems ripe with possibilities on the erotic romance front....but that might just be me....
Miss Judicious: I'm always suprised by the lack of mention of subscription libraries in historical romances. And I was able to track down that Kathy Love title, which is Wanting What You Get....
Male librarian - Made for each other by Morgan Ashbury.
He's a librarian, she's a contractor/builder.
http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b46041/Made-for-Each-Other/Morgan-Ashbury/?si=0
And I think the Carr book does tend towards the romancey, and ends on a Happy-For-Now
@Miss Judicious - D'oh! Of course, you're right about THIS WICKED GIFT. Now I remember that a plot point for the hero is scrimping to pay for his subscription to the library. I didn't realize there were any subscription libraries around anymore - very cool!
Glad there is at least one male librarian romance! Clearly an untapped market though. I would sure read them. Thanks, Wendy, for putting together this list.
Open Season by Linda Howard-one of my favorites.
Seven Secrets of Seduction-Anne Mallory. It's a Regency era (I think) and she wasn't a "real" librarian but was hired to catalog the heroes library.
Is this list strictly for librarian heroines? If heroes also count then you can include Jayne Castle's Ghost Hunter. Cooper is a librarian & archivist, among other things.
To tell the truth the heroine bugged the crap out of me, but I was very fond of Cooper. He's both badass and more than a bit of a geek. He even needs reading glasses.
LoriK: Oh heavens yes! Librarian heroes are most welcome. Right now, I think there are only two on the list. Emotion In Motion and Made For Each Other - both of which are erotic romances.....
Have added Castle title under paranormal....
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