Rowena’s review of Pilgrims Don’t Wear Pink by Stephanie Kate Strohm.
Main Character: Libby Kelting
Love Interest: Garrett McCafferty
Series: None
Author: Facebook|Twitter|Goodreads
Libby Kelting had always felt herself born out of time. No wonder the historical romance-reading, Jane Austen-adaptation-watching, all-around history nerd jumped at the chance to intern at Camden Harbor, Maine’s Oldest Living History Museum. But at Camden Harbor Libby’s just plain out of place, no matter how cute she looks in a corset. Her cat-loving coworker wants her dead, the too-smart-for-his-own-good local reporter keeps pushing her buttons, her gorgeous sailor may be more shipwreck than dreamboat — plus Camden Harbor’s haunted. Over the course of one unforgettable summer, Libby learns that boys, like ghosts, aren’t always what they seem.
After reading Past Perfect by Leila Sales and loving it, I thought I’d really enjoy reading this book as well. While I did enjoy it, I enjoyed the Sales more. That’s not to say that this book wasn’t good because it was, I just spent a good portion of this book, annoyed to high heaven with Libby.
You see, Libby scored an internship working at Camden Harbor, a museum in Maine. She’s a big history buff and thought she’d enjoy some time in Maine, working at the museum there and she totally did. She met some new people, made some new friends and learned a lot about herself over the summer and it was an enjoyable reading adventure for me even though there were times when I wanted to smack some sense into Libby and times when I cringed because of what was happening in the story.
Libby was a good character. She’s young and she has great taste in friends (how awesome was Dev?) but she was also rude to the one person who has been up front with her from the jump. The romance that blossomed between her and Garrett was cute and even though I cringed when Libby let Garrett have a piece of her mind, I still enjoyed their romance. I’m a sucker for a good romance and theirs was cute.
Libby is one of those girls before boys kind of girls and I loved that. When she cut her date with Cam short because her best friend needed her, I loved her. I think that even though I was highly annoyed with the way that she talked to Garrett over and over again, because it was evident that she was such a good friend to Dev that I let a lot of things about her actions slide.
Right from the time that Garrett comes into the picture, I knew that I was going to love him. I mean, how can you not love him after he starts busting up laughing after Libby falls over and shows her Hello Kitty panties to the world? How can you not fall a little more in love with him when he starts calling her Hello Kitty? and then later when he calls her Proud Mary? I thought he was just too adorable. I loved that he wasn’t a jock but a sci-fi nerd who was proud to be a sci-fi nerd. The way that he would defend his passion for nerdy things endeared him to me more than anything. He owned his nerdiness and he won me over with that. Such a cutie patootie.
Overall, this book was a great contemporary read that would be perfect for a day at the beach. It’s cute, it’s fun and even though I didn’t absolutely love it- I still thought it was a cute read.
..and that’s your scoop!
Buy the book: B&N|Amazon|Book Depository
Book cover and blurb credit: http://barnesandnoble.com
I actually really, really loved this book. It just made me so happy, though I agree with some of the issues you had.
🙂
But Dev and Garrett were awesome 😀
I really loved this book; I saw a lot of myself in Libby like the loving Jane Austen and history and pink while also enjoying the writing and just giggling through most of the book. I can definitely see why some people would prefer Past Perfect but this book was just so *me.*
@Alex: This was a good one but I enjoyed Past Perfect more. I adored Garrett though and wanted to smack Cam more than once.
But still, it was a good read.
@Bookworm: Thanks for stopping by. We’re like the opposites then since I felt the same way about Past Perfect but still, this book was cute.