The Little Library

I was really looking forward to this one because I enjoy Kim Fielding's books and because I liked the premise, but I couldn't quite connect with the characters or the story.

Elliott's major conflict was internal; his prior boyfriend was an actual criminal, and he felt guilty for letting himself get involved with a bad person. I understand this state of mind myself, but I didn't feel he really got over his hangup within the story. Worse, for large parts of the book, it wasn't really clear what exactly was bothering him (the guilt), so I had trouble feeling sympathy for him. From my perspective, he had a lot of advantages that he wasn't seeing at all: a steady job, lots of books, people who cared about him, and a perfect partner. In the end he decides he does have enough, but he isn't ecstatic about it. It felt like he was settling, rather than embracing his life. There are also hints of him starting an interesting research project, and maybe finding his purpose in life that way, but that plotline doesn't go anywhere.

Simon's conflict is about his parents' homophobia, and that is mostly just depressing. I predicted the actual ending and it was unreasonably sappy, and I am a hardcore lover of sappy endings. Elliott also has to deal with a homophobic neighbor, and when that situation comes to an inevitable crisis, the neighbor doesn't really face the consequences of his own actions. Instead the police act as though Elliott and the neighbor have committed equivalent crimes. No, the neighbor committed an outright hate crime, and Elliott reacted in anger, like any normal person would. I really have no patience right now for any narrative that makes it seem like a hate crime is in any way the same as a negative reaction to the hate crime.

I think I understand the message the book is trying to put forth, that community is the most important thing we have in life. But it's delivered in a fairly heavy-handed way and it does not address all of Elliott's problems. So I can't really accept the happy ending.

On the positive side, of course it's a well written book. Elliott and Simon's banter is really funny. I always like that Kim Fielding makes her heroes avid readers, and Elliott is an actual book hoarder, which is (unfortunately) easy for me to relate to. Simon is quite a dreamy love interest, although I think I might've liked this book better if it had had alternating PoVs, instead of just Elliott's.

Basically, though, this is a fairly bland contemporary romance, and there are enough negatives to prevent me from recommending it with enthusiasm.

The first half of the book seemed like this was going to be a fun, quick romantic read, even if a bit on the sappy side, but it just went on for far too long. About 100 pages or so could be cut from this book and you'd get a better, more satisfying romance. There was just a lot of filler like pages-long descriptions of them going about their normal day to day activities or little explainers that were unnecessary for anyone alive today. The dog thing was a red flag for me and also didn't add anything to the story in the long run (I mean, they'd been on maybe 3 dates at this point? and Simon pushes a dog on him? No, sir).
I had to really push myself to finish this at about 75% done and it became a burden. I didn't want my first book of the year to be a DNF.