The Sexiest Man Alive--Diana Holquist

Here's my entry for Beth's Smart Bitches Day.

So here's the deal--I don't usually read contemporary romance. Mostly because my romantic history is dull as dirt and from what I can gather of modern mating rituals, contrary to perception, I'm apparently a guy. So contemporary romance depresses and kind of annoys me as it doesn't reflect my life. It's a lot easier for me to get into historical romance with the angst and long skirts, and the propriety and the illicit sex than deal with the modern day. But I checked this book out because of Dear Author's review in which them mention there's a secondary character who is a librarian. A male librarian. This is rare, I tell you. So lured by the possibility of a positive portrayal of a librarian, by which I mean a character who isn't a virgin or nearly so, has a backbone, possibly clothes sense and isn't shirking from the larger world, I opened the book.

And for the approximately 3 pages he appears, Senior Reference Librarian of the NY Public Library, Mr. Josh Toby, pays off. He's tall, skinny and redheaded, but treats his delusional homeless patrons with kind but firmlpatience. And he gets into a physical fight for his true love in the end. Okay, the fight is with his true love, who he's had a thing for since high school, but aw!

I have a lot of problems with all other aspects of this book. Jasmine Burns is an aspiring costume designer who has a fear of men. Oookaaay. This fear dates to when she was 16 and was invited to make out under a tree with her handsome tutor, who invited his friends come by to observe and catcall.

Yeah, unbelievable much? Because my that logic, I should be institutionalized. Believe me, if you haven't developed a fear of men from spending your 7th grade year being sexually harassed and called "whore" by all the boys in your class, a few guys spying on you from a tree isn't going to do it.

Her sister Amy got the family's gypsy gifts--she can occasionally tell people who their true love is. And in return for $2,000 to pay off her and Jasmine's other sister, Amy lets Jasmine know her true love is Josh Toby. But is it actor Josh Toby, who is kicking around his hometown of NYC incognito doing random acts of kindness and feeling bad that he's not real deep, he doesn't fit into his family's counterculture mold, and everyone just thinks he's just a hottie with no brains or soul or Librarian Josh Toby? Oh, noes! It's Hottie Josh of course!

So a book that I can't suspend disbelief to get into, annoying characters, a plot that likes to think it's full of outrageous fun but isn't really funny--I didn't make myself finish it, because I wanted to slap everyone.