Title: Checking Out Love
Author: R. Cooper
Release Date: February 4, 2015
Rating: ★★★★★ / 5 Stars
Genre(s): Contemporary Romance, M/M
Jeremy is a grad student with a quick mind and insatiable thirst for knowledge. What he’s currently most curious about is the infamously strict librarian at the small private library attached to his university. He has a weakness for devastatingly clever jerks, so despite his looming thesis, Jeremy decides to pay the famous special collection—and its curator—a visit. But instead of an intimidating beast of a librarian, he finds the librarian’s soft-spoken assistant, Benj.
Quiet, shy, guys with pretty eyes and handmade cardigans are not Jeremy’s type. Jeremy is too smart, and weird, for anyone so sweet. He’d walk all over them, or find them boring after five minutes. Which doesn’t explain why he keeps coming back to the library, despite never once encountering the notoriously protective special collections librarian. Perhaps if he weren’t so distracted by Benj’s surprisingly impressive shoulders and the absolutely charming library he runs, he’d notice there’s more to Benj than knitted sweaters.
Thanks to the wonderful Piper Vaughn, and their recommendation, I fell in love with R. Cooper’s short contemporary works.
The first in my list of uplifting yummy works is Checking Out Love. The short is told from the point of view of knowledge-hungry grad student Jeremy who visits a library to read journals very related to his research and also to see the Beast. The Beast is a villain that condemns many to a ban from visiting the library if they break his rules. We love the Beast and so does Jeremy. In the Beast’s place, Jeremy (literally) bumps into Lavender Sweater Covered In Cat Fur wearing librarian Benj instead. Over the course of a couple of hours, Jeremy not only falls for the library but he can’t get the librarian out of his mind no matter how many times he tells himself he isn’t into him. Oh boy.
I absolutely adore Jeremy because he’s such a rich narrator. The world through his eyes is so bright and colorful and I wanted to get lost in it. I loved every detail he added to both the library and Benj. He’s very charming and his inability to be quiet was one of the things that endeared him to me so much. Although the work is less than a hundred pages, I couldn’t help from absolutely being engulfed in it.
Benj on the other hand is every bit the soft, lumbering, tall and handsome hero of my dreams. From his cat Persephone, to his taste in coffee, I loved this guy. Also, how obviously infatuated he grew with Jeremy (much to Jeremy’s pleasure) was so refreshing. Mysterious unreadable heroes where? My expressive Benj is the best ever.
Another worthy-of-mention point is that Jeremy is a narrator of color, Korean actually, and even mentions how he’s “too” femme for most gay men. I enjoyed reading through Jeremy’s eyes so much because he didn’t assume white as the default and would point out if a character was white. Hallelujah.
I even made the short a little aesthetic picture! I loved this one and it’s super cheap on Amazon so do get it and talk to me about it.
