The Baron by Sally Goldenbaum

Many times, series romance is all about the "hook". The blurb on the back cover that makes you pick it up. In this case, the hook was probably the murder mystery weekend, which were trendy back in the 80's. But that was the most boring part of the book! How many good reads do we miss because of this focus on "the hook"?

The Baron by Sally Goldenbaum (LS 233)
(1987, Contemporary Series) 4/19/08
Grade: 3.5

When librarian Halley Finnegan fills in on a “murder mystery” weekend, she decides to have fun playing “Countess Ambrosia”. The sexy “Baron von Bluster” makes the event a lot more fun! But when the weekend is over, Halley is still an ordinary librarian, but the Baron turns out to be wealthy Nick Harrington, who’d never want someone like her, right?

This book started out slow, and I was about to give up on it. The murder mystery setup was cute, and Halley and Nick had nice chemistry, but the story just seemed blah, nothing special. But as we got to know the real Halley and Nick, things began to get more interesting. Halley’s loving, working class family takes Nick into their embrace, but Nick finds it hard to accept after his cold upbringing. He’s still grieving for his late wife. There’s nothing new in the story, but the characters warmed on me as the book went on, and I ended up liking the book quite a lot.

I always find it hard to grade a book as a whole. A book with a good first half and bad second half probably gets a disproportionally bad grade from me, because it's my last impression. On the other hand, a book with a so-so beginning and a satisfying ending probably gets a bit of a boost.