"Overworked and underappreciated, single mom Amy Byler needs a break. So when the guilt-ridden husband who abandoned her shows up and offers to take care of their kids for the summer, she accepts his offer and escapes rural Pennsylvania for New York City."
Amy is a school librarian in Pennsylvania and when she's given the chance to get away for a week, she decides to get some continuing ed credits and signs up to go an upcoming library conference in New York and present on a project she's been working on at her school. Lucky for Amy, she has an old friend who runs a magazine in New York City, so she has somewhere to stay. What she doesn't anticipate is this week will turn into a longer adventure, connecting her with an interesting man who captures her heart. When it comes time to return back to her old life, will she?
So, I liked this book okay --- but it required several suspensions of disbelief. I could buy the fact that Amy's husband left her and she had to figure out how to get a job and take care of her kids on her own. What I had a hard time believing was 1) she is able to, at the last minute (from what it sounds like), submit her program for the conference, register and get to New York; 2) without a hotel reservation because she's sure she's staying with her friend . . . even though she didn't get a firm confirmation from her; and 3) there's no mention at all of how hot New York City is in the summer . . . and how packed these conferences tend to be. I really don't buy that she was able to submit her proposal for a program right before the conference --- sorry, but I know how much lead time they need for things. Also, I know how hot New York City gets in the summer --- and I know that library conferences get scheduled during the summer in locations that are hot because they save money that way.
And of course, Amy's friend in New York City, who runs a magazine, is wealthy and the magazine does a profile on Amy with a makeover . . . . it's like everything can fall in place if you're friends with people with connections and a lot of money. Also, I can't quite believe Amy goes somewhere wearing stretch pants and a sweater set ... or wear a knit dress to dinner . . . I mean, it's summer.
So this is maybe a little snarky. While I found this book entertaining, I don't think I was quite in the mood for this Cinderella story starring a school librarian. It's an okay story, but it just didn't quite resonate with me.
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