Read Between the Lines is a charming and lighthearted romcom set against the picturesque backdrop of Oxford, blending a gentle enemies-to-lovers romance with a surprisingly engaging mystery plot. It follows Kat Fisher, an idealistic librarian and hopeless romantic, who thinks she’s finally found love on a dating app, until the red flags start piling up. When her so-called Prince Charming fails to show and starts asking for money, Kat suspects she’s being scammed and turns to grumpy ex-cop Leo Taylor for help.

What follows is a sweet and cosy mystery-romance mashup as Kat and Leo team up to track down the scammer. The Oxford setting really adds something special. The author’s references to familiar landmarks and cozy spots give the story an endearing, nostalgic charm. It’s a lovely change from the typical big-city romcom locations.

Kat and Leo are an entertaining duo. Their dynamic begins with friction (and some mild bickering in the library), but develops slowly and naturally as the story progresses. While I didn’t feel a ton of romantic chemistry or deep emotional tension between them, their banter and evolving friendship kept things engaging. It’s more soft smiles and companionship than fireworks, but that suits the tone of the book. The romance is definitely on the slower, subtler side.

The mystery element adds a fun twist, and even though the culprit is fairly easy to guess, the investigation has enough small surprises to keep you turning the pages. There’s also a delightful cast of side characters. The quirky library regulars really give the story its heart and bring a warm sense of community to Kat’s world.

All in all, this is a sweet, easy read, perfect for fans of feel-good romances with a bit of sleuthing on the side. While the characters could have been fleshed out more, and the romance lacked a bit of spark for me, the cosy vibes, witty dialogue, and well-drawn setting made for a thoroughly enjoyable book. A great addition to your summer TBR!

Rating: 3.5 – 4 stars
Cozy, cute, and quietly clever - like a warm cup of tea on a rainy day.

Read Between the Lines by Emily Kerr

ARC Read releasing mid June, thank you as always to NetGalley for the sneak peek!

Set in the UK, this story is about sunshine librarian Kat and ex-cop grump Leo. Kat is a romantic, head up in the clouds, falls way too quickly kind of girl. She is currently waiting to meet her online Prince Charming "Brian".
Having never met in person and only talked online for the past few months, Kat is still convinced he could be her happily ever after. Until Brian starts flagging all the red flags. And Kat realizes she might be getting tricked. Cue, meeting Leo and using his cop background to start their own investigation into Brian and the dating app itself.

It's all light and breezy, even with the investigative part it's not a heavy book which is nice. I felt it kind of lack chemistry between the main characters - missing some heat. The writing was good, and the characters were good also.

ARC review

3,5 stars

Kat is a librarian and she dreams of finding a guy who can live up to her book boyfriends. But she ends up being catfished by the man she met on a dating app.
Leo is a former detectiv that spends a lot of time in the library trying to make a business plan.

I received an ARC from HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter (via Netgalley).
Opinions from this review are completely my own.

Kat and Leo start investigating the catfishing together and they become friends.
I did not like how she treated him in the start, but I enjoyed their banter after they started working together.
Most of the story is about the catfishing and there is only a little bit of romance.
It is even more than a slow burn, as they only get together in the last part of the book.

Overall this is a cute book, it has a good writing, but the pace is a bit slow and I wanted more tension and chemistry between Kat and Leo.

I thought the book was well written, but it just wasn’t for me. I liked the Oxford setting.
Other than that, I found that even though the book was short, the pacing felt slow.
I was more interested in the mystery (who is Brian even if it was pretty obvious) than in the romance. The characters lacked chemistry imo, and I didn’t connect with them.

Thank you NetGalley and One More Chapter for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

A wonderful read!
This novel drew me in from the very first page and kept me hooked until the end. The characters were vibrant and relatable, the writing was engaging, and the story had just the right balance of heart and humor. Highly recommend!
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

This was a cute little romance with some mystery involved. I laughed quite a few times! I loved how fierce and determined Kat was. She was great. Leo was perfect in his own way. It would have been fun to hear his side as well. I wish the ending would have went a little longer but it was still good!

Set in Oxford, this bookish romance follows librarian Kat Fisher as she navigates unexpected romantic developments. Praised for its humor and likable characters, it's an escapist read that offers both laughter and heartwarming moments.

A cute, slow burn romance. Kat is a librarian in Oxford. She loves her job, and think she's found the one on a local online dating app. However, she finds out that he's catfishing her. The app doesn't do anything about it when she complains, so she gets former police officer Leo to help her find and stop the catfisher. In return, she will help him develop a business plan. But the sunny Cat and cynical Leo clash as they trace their target. Cat and Leo are fun and realistic characters. Overall, a good story.

First of all thank you for approving my request!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The authors writing style had me hooked throughout this book.

I didn't want it to end, a book I really couldn't put down.

This was rough.
In the beginning my first thoughts were that a lot of the writing was info dumping and not necessary information for the storyline. It was a lot of internal thoughts and musings that had no purpose.
Kat was a decent character! She said what she wanted, she didn't shy from confrontation, and she was well spoken. Leo, however, made my soul angry. Every time he was on the page with Kat he was exasperated, sighing, or criticizing her. I hated him with a fury. I did not like their relationship or him as a character. He was more annoyed with her than he was in love with her.
There was even a scene 40% into the book where Kat walks out to go to a party and she's wearing a polka-dot dress and Leo has the audacity to give her a backhanded compliment. I was FUMING. I haven't hated a male love interest so strongly in a long time.
The plot line of hunting down a romance scammer and making him fess up to what he'd done was a really unique story. I did think it could have been done in a different manner with more intrigue, it was still something I'd never read before.
The banter between Kat and her friends and co-workers at the library was adorable and relatable and I loved how easy the female friendships were, but I just couldn't get on board with the writing style and the infuriating male love interest.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
This book had it all! I wish I could cozy up and read it all over again it was THAT good.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Kat Fisher is a librarian looking for love. In the hopes of finding the one, she set up a profile on a local dating app that promises extra security. Without realizing she begins a correspondence with a scammer. Once the truth comes out, she’s determined to stop him from scamming other women. With the help of ex-policeman, Leo Taylor, the two set off to capture the culprit and make him pay. On the hunt to uncover the scammer’s true identity, feelings between the pair begin to surface. But what will happen once justice is served, and they go on their separate ways?

This was such a cute, cozy novel. Kat and Leo make quite the pair. Their banter was fun, though I didn’t quite feel any chemistry between them. While I understood that Kat would feel insecure as to the status of their relationship, given everything that happened to her, I still felt frustrated it. For that reason, the development of their relationship felt very flat to me. The plot itself is fast paced. I loved going along with them on their investigation as they get closer to uncovering who’s behind the profile scamming women, though I will admit the culprit is pretty obvious early on. While I would categorize this more as women’s fiction with a romantic subplot, I still enjoyed myself and would recommend this novel.

Cute Read for Book Lovers and Amateur Detectives

Librarian Kat hopes to find true love on an exclusive dating app and falls hard for Brian and his gravelly voice and heroic work. But when he fails to show for their first in-person date, Kat begrudgingly asks recently unemployed ex-cop Leo for help. Leo, who has been using her library as his work space and who seems to be able to get her riled up over the smallest things..

Emily Kerr's newest, Read Between the Lines, is a quick and cute read. Between the picturesque Oxford setting and quirky, lovable characters, the novel is easy to get through. While I personally had guessed the ending early on, there were one or two very good plot twists that I did not see coming, which was nice.

I think Leo's gruffness is adorably failing at hiding his good heart. I got a little more annoyed at Kat for just how chipper and naive she's written. Sometimes I feel that all the library and book tropes have been thrown in for cushioning of the plot but if you're on the hunt for a light and mostly cosy romance read with just the right amount of detective work, Read Between the Lines is for you!

The grouch in the library may not be as bad as he seems...

Kat is ready for love, and she thinks she's finally found it through a local dating app. Her new beau is in the military, but he's finally coming home and they'll get to meet face-to-face for the very first time.

Then he asks for some money. For a flight! To make their date she bought a new dress for! Just this once!

Red flag.

He's a scammer. She tries to report him to the app, but they swear he's a real person and dismiss her. Still feeling uneasy, she decides to take things into her own hands by investigating. Luckily there's a big grumpy ex-cop who frequents the library she works at who might be just the one to help her.

This story is all about solving the mystery of who this scammer is and getting him shut down. There's also a little bit of romance on the side. Really, I was hoping for a lot more romance.

For Leo, the grumpy ex-cop who holes up at the library, there wasn't a lot to work with. He has a bare-minimum backstory and it wasn't enough to really sink into. For Kat, it's easy to sympathize with her situation, but again, we don't actually learn all that much about her. It's not an actual mystery/thriller...it feels kind of blurry.

In the end the mystery is solved and love is found. There are certainly cute moments, but there wasn't anything really swoon-worthy. Three stars from me.

Note:: I received an early copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

A thoroughly enjoyable book, about libraries and book love, sweet romance, with a mystery thrown in for good measure! Kat was a character that I would love to be friends with. She’s an introvert, prefers books and dogs to people, and her inner monologue is downright hilarious! Some laugh-out loud moments are in store for any reader of this novel!

*I received a digital copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are strictly my own.*

3.75⭐️
I really enjoyed this one it was filled with so much banter which always makes me happy and lots of adventure that made it so much more fun!! I loved seeing the development between the two Kat was very much against being near Leo at the beginning but that ended very quickly!! The little missions they would go on together were so fun and really emphasized the longing between the two. The only thing I wish is that we would have gotten more of them actually in a relationship this is very very slow burn which i love but I wanted just a bit more of them!!!! Overall a really good book I would absolutely recommend there was lots of fun and romantic moments in this!!

Overall I enjoyed this book. It was a very cute rom-com about a librarian and an ex-detective. After she is catfished, he helps her with the investigation. The banter was good and the setting was dreamy. The story felt like it was slow at times but I’m glad I stuck with it!

I thought this book would be a funny, fast-paced romcom, but it was too quirky and slow.

I really wanted to like this book, but it was a bit boring. I felt the mundane conversations with the library patrons to be not needed, and I often skipped them.

I saw the Brian situation coming a mile away. I’m happy she didn’t fall for it, but I thought she had gone too far to get revenge/justice.

Leo was okay, but I thought he was a bit flat.

This book wasn’t for me. I hope others will enjoy it.

*An ARC was received in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars.

Really enjoyable mix of cozy mystery with romance. I loved Kat and Leo and their banter. She's a bit insecure but she’s also pretty feisty, though at the start I felt like she was being unfair to Leo. Leo felt less realised, I wish we had more of his backstory.

However, about 25-55% of the book really dragged. For instance, it took about three chapters to sign Leo up to the app. I loved that this blended a bit of a mystery with the rom com, though I think the mystery solving should've been played up more and perhaps could've involved Doris given she wasn an ex CEO! and given Leo is a former detective, how is it he couldn't see that something was amiss with the 'villain'? His behaviour at the event was dodgy.

For the cozy mystery and romance lover.

Thanks to One More Chapter/Harper Collins UK and NetGalley for the ARC.

This was a really fun book to read as you travel through how Kat and Leo get along on their quest to find bad people....