I was super excited and grateful to #Berkley Publishing for approving me to read this second in the Beloved Book series by Dorothy St. James who wrote the Southern Chocolate Shop and White House Gardener series. I’m really loving this new series maybe even more than the chocolate shop one (even though I adore chocolate!). It’s probably because the bookroom is a secret one. The cool history part of this particular book was that long ago, the place was actually called The Bookroom. But you’re gonna need to read it and find out why!
It was a little hard to put this book down due to all the “what if someone finds out about the bookroom while investigating the murder” suspense. The town rumors, meanwhile, were um, interesting to say the least. And Mama Eddy had even more of a reason to be happy with herself later on in the book. There’re just so many reasons why you’ll want to read this book. For more complete enjoyment and getting to know the characters better, I’d recommend reading the first one first, but this one does give enough backstory without spoilers that readers should be able to figure out who the key players are.
My Goodreads review:
A Perfect Bind by Dorothy St. James
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Wow just when you thought the secret bookroom was all safe and sound…vandals were striking, then a murder happened outside the library. Tru and her book friends had their investigating job cut out for them in trying to figure out how the vandalism and the murder could connect in with some events of the past that the victim was looking into.
I love how the whole time I’ve pretty much despised Anne for coming in and setting up the ridiculous bookless library–I seriously hope this is just the author’s imagination, and this never, ever happens anywhere! But just when you want to be mad at her, she does something actually nice. You’ll have to read and see.
I hadn’t quite seen the whodunit coming until the very end which was really exciting. I was so proud of Tru for calling Jace in for his help. But…what happens in the bookroom stays in the bookroom ’cause I don’t want to spoil even one little tidbit. This awesome mystery comes out in ten more days, but I was so grateful to Berkley for approving me to read it, that I just couldn’t wait any longer to pick up where the last book left off. I’m super happy with the good direction Jace and Tru’s relationship is going too, thanking the author for that one!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by publisher Berkley via NetGalley, and my opinions are my own.