Book Review: Adrian’s Librarian by Hollis Shiloh

Title: Adrian’s Librarian
Author: Hollis Shiloh
Genre: Historical Romance, M/M Romance
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: review copy from publisher
Published: May 22, 2013 by Dreamspinner Press

One night at a masquerade party, rakish Adrian Knowles kisses the wrong man by mistake and meets Oliver Windham. Feisty yet wary and broken, Ollie desperately needs a friend. Almost against his will, Adrian finds himself playing the hero… and falling in love.

Adrian hires Ollie to set his library to rights—after having his servants put all the books out of order. He promises himself he’ll treat Ollie only as a friend, but Ollie quickly becomes the only man he wants.

Reviewed By: J9

In a Nutshell: Not for me at all.

The Set Up: Rakish Adrian is used to having plenty of attractive lovers but one night at a masquerade party he meets Oliver, a young man badly in need of rescuing. Lord Adrian hires Ollie to organize his library but the jaded lord is surprised to find himself falling in love with the gentle, injured young Ollie.

Why I Read this Book: I adore historical MM romance and I’m always searching it out.

What I Didn’t Like: This is not the romance for me. Adrian is older, has the money and power.  On the other hand, Ollie is described often as a boy and “practically a child.”  If the term “boy” is used in the context of a Dom/sub relationship that’s fine by me but not in a romance with characters with such vast age differences.

To make this situation worse, Adrian has all the power in the relationship. He creates a job for Ollie of organizing his library so Ollie isn’t sold by his uncle to a molly house. So this puts Adrian in a power position of Ollie where he can’t say no to sexual advances without life repercussions. I’m sure the author intended to have Adrian’s seduction of young Ollie be erotic but it struck me as grooming instead.

IMO: I couldn’t force myself to finish this novella.

J9’s Rating:
DNF