Sarah is looking for love under the covers…of a good book!

As a small-town librarian, Sarah has her hands full with projects that range from running in-library daycare to planning her best friend’s wedding. Romance is a complication she doesn’t need…until he walks in.

Archivist Matthew is a big-city bear shifter looking forward to a quiet, short-term project in Virtue before heading to his dream job in New York. He didn’t count on Virtue’s vibrant, sexy librarian stealing his heart with a single glance….

Matthew never meant to stay; Sarah never meant to fall. But as they investigate a mystery from Virtue’s past together, neither wants to turn the page on a blossoming summer romance that just might last a lifetime.

This is an adult 18+ story that contains language, possible violence, and sexual situations geared to an adult audience.

Titles in the Virtue Shifters series include — Timber Wolf – Librarian Bear –

Love Zoe Chant’s stories?  Then check out the other series that have been reviewed here at Shifter Haven on the Zoe Chant page.

Title:  Librarian Bear
Series:  Virtue Shifters #2
Author:  Zoe Chant (C.E. Murphy a Zoe Chant voice)
Published:  March 29, 2021
My Rating:  4.5 stars

Librarian Bear, the second title in the Virtue Shifters series is a fun, sexy story of a slightly different bear shifter, the unique human who is his mate… and self-made complications along with a mystery to solve.

Matthew had no plans to stay in Virtue, none at all.  His dream job was waiting for him in New York City, he simply needed to finish up this archive month-long project and he was off to the biggest city of all.  Those plans of his, long thought out and planned in minute detail are about to be derailed by one lovely small-town librarian who just happens to be his mate.  Only this fated mate tale might not have that happy ending since Sarah will never, ever leave her hometown… and Matt’s dream is in the city.

I loved Matt and Sarah so much.  Sarah is, well, a pretty amazing lady.  She is the ultimate helper, hardly ever turns down a cry for help, to fix injustice, to lend a hand, or to turn down anything that her friends or the residents of Virtue might ask of her.  She’s constantly on the go, forever happy and uplifting, and right now she’s also confused by her reactions to a man who will be in town for such a short time.  Sarah doesn’t have time for romance — no, she really has no free time to devote to a relationship because all of her time is used up for the town’s benefit.  But that may change for the month that Matt is in town, especially since she’s just been handed another assignment that comes with a mystery that will open her eyes to things she never knew about her hometown.

I have to be so careful in choosing my words here, for it would be so easy to say too much about the mystery involved in Librarian Bear.  For a woman who thought she knew just about everything about Virtue, Sarah is about to get bombarded with new, sometimes hard to digest information.  I laughed-out-loud at some of her reactions and held back a sigh of frustration with other things revealed.  There are threads woven in this story that I hope will be carried through the rest of the series (however long that may be) for now I have questions and hopes for things to come.  Matt is so slow to realize that there are always possibilities in any situation.  He sees finding his mate as a one or the other decision when it really isn’t.  I’ll admit that there were moments when a strong smack upside the back of his head seemed in order, but eventually Matt gets his act together to see those possibilities as realities.

I had fun here with an, at times, slow-burn kind of romance.  Librarian Bear is full of sizzling chemistry, likable (and some unlikable) characters, a deeply hidden secret, and some amazing revelations to be unveiled.  I had a blast, and hope it isn’t long before we can visit Virtue again.

I read this title through my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

Available for the Kindle