The second book in the Harlot's Bay series centers on Karl Dean, the grumpy, antisocial, loudly profane baker who runs his successful business in the town. In the first volume, Athena worked for him briefly and was highly amused by his blasting of audiobooks over the bakery's sound system before they opened for the day. Mostly because the books in question were monster romance novels. In this book we learn that Karl isn't really into monsters--it's just that the narrator was the love of his life and the books are his only connection to her.
Molly Dearborn left Harlot's Bay behind in her last year of high school and has never returned. She's recently divorced, lives in California, and earns her keep as a voice actor. Two events cause her to take a break and return to Maine: her house requires significant renovations and her author friend sends her Karl's obituary. Obviously, the obit is the result of a misunderstanding, but Molly and Karl discover they still have chemistry.
I loved Karl in the first book, with his murder threats against anyone who annoyed him, his profane mutterings, and his obvious soft heart and care of the people that he reluctantly allows into his life. I like Molly well enough to begin with and warmed up to her as I learned her circumstances. Neither of them wear their hearts on their sleeves and communication is their big obstacle.
Fiction is comforting when you know what the outcome will be. The conclusion is predictable, the big question is how the characters will get there. I didn't enjoy this novel quite as much as the first one, but it was still very enjoyable. Should Dade produce more entries in the series I would definitely read them.
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