Author: Sarah Morgan
Narrator: Jennifer Woodward
Publisher: Harlequin | HQN
Publication Date: May 2017
Genre: Chick Lit / Contemporary Romance
Buy the Book: Amazon | BN | Audible
Description: One man. One woman. Two dogs.
Meet Molly—New York’s most famous advice columnist, she considers herself an expert at relationships…as long as they’re other people’s. Still bruised from her last breakup, Molly is in no rush to find happily-ever-after—the only love of her life is her dalmatian, Valentine.
Meet Daniel—A cynical divorce lawyer, he’s hardwired to think relationships are a bad idea. If you don’t get involved, no one can get hurt. Until he finds himself borrowing a dog to meet the gorgeous woman he sees running in Central Park every morning…
Molly and Daniel both think they know everything about relationships. But as they try—and fail—to resist their undeniable chemistry, they’ll soon discover they just might have a lot left to learn…
My Thoughts: Initially, I had some reservations about reading this book because it’s the fourth book in a series and I am usually a stickler for reading a series in order. This book is definitely the exception as the author does a brilliant job making this story a stand-alone. Characters from earlier in the series do make an appearance in this story but it did not detract or in any way take my focus off of Molly and Daniel. Honestly, I don’t think even a meteorite crashing into my living room would have distracted me.
I loved this story. It checks off so many of the things I look for in the romance genre without getting too sappy or bordering on too explicit. First of all, dogs. Especially dogs that feature prominently in the story are going to interest me. The dogs in this story are Molly’s dalmatian, Valentine, who is named for his heart shaped nose and Brutus, the German Shepherd that Daniel wrangles as a prop to grab Molly’s interest. I loved that these two dogs are actively part of the story, and not in the background.
I also loved that Daniel and Molly really appear to be so broken that love and relationships just don’t work out for them the way they do for others. And with good reason, given their respective backgrounds. The underlying message that love finds you most often when you aren’t looking for it was wonderful and it was awesome to watch it happening with these two.
I thought the story was realistic and the premise was cute, though it could appear a little creepy that a man would “borrow” a dog so he could meet a girl he sees jogging in the park. I did not feel an “ick” factor. Instead, I felt Daniel deserved points for his ingenuity in arranging this meet cute. I’m also super grateful that the author did not drag out the whole “keeping secrets and being dishonest” trope because that would have annoyed me as both Molly and Daniel played their cards very close to their chests. The great thing is that when dishonesty was discovered on both their parts, discussions were had like adults and the reader was saved from too much of the giant misunderstanding and drama chaos.
This book is my first experience reading Sarah Morgan’s work and I am excited to find more of her work. She creates characters that are very easy to like and relate to and that give the reader a sense of camaraderie with. This entire series is set in and around Manhattan which gives me more of an interest in visiting. The descriptive detail of Molly and Daniel’s world feels very picturesque and vibrant. I now want a Dalmatian that I can walk in Central Park.
I paired my reading of this book with the audiobook format which was quite enjoyable. The narrator, Jennifer Woodward does a wonderful job of bringing these characters to life and flawlessly switches between Molly’s English accent and everyone else’s American accent. The emotion she put into her narrative performance brought tears to my eyes and had me laughing out loud several times.
My Final Verdict: I highly recommend this book because…did I mention dogs? Fans of dogs must absolutely stop what they are doing right now and read this book. I also highly recommend fans of the romance genre, be it romantic comedy, contemporary romance or chick-lit read this book because a happily ever after is always a good thing.
Thank you to the publisher, Harlequin | HQN, who provided an advance reader copy of this book via NetGalley.
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