No Offense by Meg Cabot

 

No Offense, pub date just last week, is by well-known author of "The Princess Diaries" - Meg Cabot, so when my contacts at William Morrow Publishing asked if I would like a copy for review, I was very excited! I'm so happy to report that I still feel that excited having just finished No Offense today!

This 5 star rom-com is set on an island in Key West, where a spunky new children's librarian (Molly Montgomery) meets handsome divorcee and single dad Sheriff John Hartwell. In addition to the small town fun of this story, Molly's library is the scene of a crime, and so she sets out to find answers and help catch the perpetrators, much to the annoyance and chagrin of the hot Sheriff ( I mentioned he was hot right???). 

As the mystery progresses, Molly keeps managing to be in the midst of it, making independent decisions despite what the Sheriff thought of them. I couldn't quite make out if it was just feminism or stubbornness, but she and the Sheriff frequently don't see eye to eye, and this makes for a rocky start, even as they are inexplicably drawn to one another. 

Little ditty about the picture - Molly mentions Nancy Drew in conversation, I thought it would be only appropriate to snap a shot of this book next to my first collector's set of Nancy Drew volumes 1-4. To the left is an adorable card that my granddaughter picked out for my recent birthday and those two cardboard girls are supposedly she and I - swinging on swings together (as we've done) so cute huh?

This book had just enough tension, side-plots, and action to keep it a page turner, and an endearing one at that. I have these fun characters in my head and heart now, and would love to see more of them. When I posted about this book online, a friend asked if it was part of a series, to which i automatically said no -- only because it is definitely reading like a stand-alone and (shame on me) I automatically said no, only to find out that YES it is part of a series of stand-alone yet same setting/same characters series called, "The Little Bridge Island series." I stand corrected, and gladly so, because this means I get more of that adorable island's cast of characters, and perhaps little highlights of Molly and Sheriff in them as well. I am very keen now to read her book "No Judgements" which I'm hoping is another in this island setting.

If you enjoy rom-com and easy breezy, sexy, smart, sassy, island setting stories, definitely check this out!! I highly recommend it for a relaxing happy read!!!