Welcome to the Blog Tour for book 3 in the Forever Home series, Puppy Kisses. [I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.] This book will release next Tuesday, June 30, 2020.
Summary
It started with a car chase and a lie.
Dawn and Zeke had stolen – rescued – the puppy from an abusive owner who chased them with a shotgun. Their high-speed getaway caught the attention of the sheriff. Zeke was about to lose his license, and Dawn’s flirting was doing no good. So she said the puppy was a service dog in training for Adam.
Zeke’s brother, Adam, went along with the story once he put most of the pieces together. He’d do almost anything for Dawn, not that he’d tell her that. But once the sheriff was gone and the local vet had checked out the puppy, Adam was attached and refused to let her go.
Dawn had been rescuing the puppy for herself. She had other animals at the kennel that would work as a service animal for Adam. Training the right puppy – and getting her rescued puppy back – would be a great excuse for spending more time with Adam. She didn’t know why he insisted on pushing her away. They were combustible when they were together. She would just have to keep pushing until he saw the potential they had together like she did.
Review
This was a great addition to a fun series! The characters – both human and canine (and bovine!) – are terrific. The dogs in this book are especially delightful. I adored Uncle from his first appearance. And I laughed every time Adam called the new puppy Methuselah.
There are lots of laughs in this book. I loved the snappy dialogue between the various characters. The animals added great humor to this too, especially the rogue cow.
Adam and Dawn are fascinating protagonists. Dawn is so in-your-face for most of the book, yet a lot goes unsaid between her and Adam. Both of them could have avoided some conflict with better trust and communication as well as fewer assumptions. Adam gets some benefit of the doubt on the communication pieces because his visual impairment means he misses any visual cues from Dawn’s facial expressions or body language that might have clued him into her true feelings. Dawn is also working through some identity things as the person she wants to be and the person people assume she is don’t always line up.
There was a moment at the end of the book that seemed to be headed one way and then absolutely didn’t go where I thought it would. Which was fine – it was a great shift. But it didn’t feel resolved by the end, which left me feeling off-kilter going into the great epilogue. This was the only blip in a thoroughly delightful story. I have enjoyed this whole series from the start. Be sure to check out book one, Puppy Love (♥♥♥♥) and book 2, Puppy Christmas. (You can read my review of Puppy Christmas here.) I would love to read more books with these characters if the series is going to continue or spin off in any way. Each of the three sisters have had a book, though, so I’m not sure if there will be more Forever Home stories in the future. (Language, sex)
Rating: ♥♥♥♥
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If you have enjoyed one of Lucy Gilmore’s books before, or if you want to know more about her, you can explore her website here. While you are there, you can see the other names she writes under and check out those books as well. It looks like she has plans for some new stand-alone puppy-related romances coming in 2021! I even picked up a few books from her other pen names, thanks to the website. Be sure to check it out!
As part of the Blog Tour you can enter a giveaway for copies of the first two books in the series! You already know I loved them. Check out the giveaway here.