[Review] No Offense (Little Bridge # 2) - Meg Cabot

Summary: A broken engagement only gave Molly Montgomery additional incentive to follow her dream job from the Colorado Rockies to the Florida Keys. Now, as Little Bridge Island Public Library’s head of children’s services, Molly hopes the messiest thing in her life will be her sticky-note covered desk. But fate—in the form of a newborn left in the restroom—has other ideas. So does the sheriff who comes to investigate the “abandonment”. When John Hartwell folds all six-feet-three of himself into a tiny chair and insists that whoever left the baby is a criminal, Molly begs to differ and asks what he’s doing about the Island’s real crime wave (if thefts of items from homes that have been left unlocked could be called that). Not the best of starts, but the man’s arrogance is almost as distracting as his blue eyes. Almost…

John would be pretty irritated if one of his deputies had a desk as disorderly as Molly’s. Good thing she doesn’t work for him, considering how attracted he is to her. Molly’s lilting librarian voice makes even the saltiest remarks go down sweeter, which is bad as long as she’s a witness but might be good once the case is solved—provided he hasn’t gotten on her last nerve by then. Recently divorced, John has been having trouble adjusting to single life as well as single parenthood. But something in Molly’s beautiful smile gives John hope that his old life on Little Bridge might suddenly hold new promise—if only they can get over their differences.

Clever, hilarious, and fun, No Offense will tug at readers’ heartstrings and make them fall in love with Little Bridge Island and its unique characters once again. (Pub Date: Aug 11, 2020)

Second in the Little Bridge series, just like most of Cabot's, you really don't need the previous volume to understand. In fact, the main characters were barely on in this and the side characters that were didn't need background for us to understand them.

This will focus on the librarian Molly, who happens to help a baby and its mother, getting herself in the middle of Sheriff John's investigation. Intrigued by it all, she decides to help, making the two get closer.

2.5, rounded up.

Cabot has done much better romances. It's not that the couple didn't have chemistry, but I couldn't really feel any excitement about them getting together. And although it was the mystery surrounding the baby that made me keep reading, even that didn't receive a very thrilling conclusion. This was a very direct story from beginning to end. There's nothing to hate but there's very little to love. If this were a YA featuring the sheriff's daughter and Elijah, the boy in the library, I'd have enjoyed it much more, probably. Still about the romance, it's the first time I see Cabot miss her chance for comedy, because this main couple was actually different: for the major part, Molly was more into the case than in the sheriff himself, while he's drooling all over her since day one.

I recommend it to fans of Meg Cabot, even if it's not her best work. And also to people who aren't into too much romance in their romances. We get an investigation as a side story, and that was intriguing enough.

Honest review based on an ARC provided by Edelweiss. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

Rating: 3 out of 5.