Well, I just got book number three. Just in time, as I just finished reading something else.
(The third book in the ビブリア古書堂の事件手帖 series, I’m really going to nominate that — well the first one — for the intermediate book club after all)
Edit because no more than 3 replies in row allowed:
I just finished volume 3.
Well, once again, the “physics” behind the process is kinda weird, but anyway, it was an interesting development. What 理央 was doing is way beyond the kind of content I expected from a book in that category. I’m kinda happy with the ending too. I wonder what will happen between her and 国見. Probably nothing, but who knows.
On the negative side why does the author need to remind us constantly about the size of 朋絵’s butt (her only appearances always involved that) and 理央’s breast. It’s getting fairly annoying at times.
Side plots! Of course the manager will say 麻衣 can’t date some random guy… I’m still happy that they finally got to kiss. In other news, a lot more on 牧之原. It makes me wonder if she wasn’t in fact time traveling back to meet 咲太 in the past… but last volume said time traveling is impossible? 
Finally, that cliffhanger at the end: just calling it know, but I’m going to say it’s the random idol from the magazine he reads in the middle of the volume who said she loves 麻衣, so much so (I guess) that she became her. Also, now that I am ordering the next book, the girl on the cover match 100% her description… So that’s probably right. And she might be 麻衣 step-sister? We’ll see.
Overall, I’d say I’m still having a good time reading this series, despite some negative points. This one felt a lot more on par with what I liked from the first volume, so I’m indeed going to keep reading for now.
Edit: I have now finished volume 4.
It’s interesting to see the waiting needed to get those books from the library as a proxy for popularity.
I had to wait 2 months for the 1st book, 2 weeks for the second book, 2 days for the third book and the fourth book was just available. (I wish I could say “2 hours” to continue the series, but nope). The next book is also straight up available.
Plot-wise, this book was the worst so far. Mostly because it involves a character I don’t care about (even though she was mentioned as far back as the first volume), the main character treats her like garbage (which is somewhat understandable given the situation) AND YET she still falls for him in the end. …but why though?
I guess one thing I enjoyed about the third volume was that the girl didn’t fall for him as part of a weird cliche. This time, though, the main character was pretty much a caricature of himself, interactions were definitely unrealistic (I thought of giving some examples, but eh, I can’t bother) and the end fell flat as far as I am concerned.
Is the author trying to make an odd/even rule for the series? (Odd-numbered books are good, even-numbered ones can be skipped). Well, I guess the next book will tell.
(I’m just laughing). Somehow this book is a bit more descriptive than I thought 
. All the wincest references don’t help either.
.
. Putting Mai on a fricking huge pedestal and she is just acting like a jerk. I’m not usually the one complaining about this stuff, but here it just felt like it concentrated everything what’s wrong with the dating culture image in Japanese popular culture. Isn’t this just enforcing those bad things…