Long Overdue at the Lakeside Library by Holly Danvers

Available Feb. 8, 2022

Rain has returned to the Northwoods of Wisconsin, starting her life over again. She's decided to keep her family's library open during the long, cold winter and she's ready to make the little log library the favorite winter hot spot of Lofty Pines. In addition to a new wood stove, they've got a coffee bar and they're all set for the local ice fishing tournament. Unfortunately their best-laid plans have gone awry and when Wallace Benson is found dead in his fishing shack, Rain's BFF Julia's husband finds himself the number one suspect.

There is a lot to love in this series. The setting is wonderful. I love the lake, the library, Rain's cabin, I would go live in Lofty Pines if I could. The main characters are very nice and the relationship between them is fun, two young women who've been friends since childhood.

There were also some speed bumps. The dialogue was really awkward in some places. There was a lot of repetition, where people say the same things over and over again or say things that don't need to be said. The descriptions were like that in some places as well, though I felt like it was improved from the first book. In the first book I noticed the author had a tendency to always describe what the characters were doing with their hands and that continued here as well. Everything seemed padded, as though it needed a good, hardy edit. Another theme through the story was that Jace is facing some struggles with a new coworker who seems to be gunning for his job and we don't get a resolution or update for that at the end.

On the whole I enjoyed this book but I think a solid edit would have made this book really excellent.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.