The Dog Sitter
One dog. Two strangers. An unfurgettable romance.
Wanted: someone nice, normal and trustworthy to housesit a beautiful cottage in the Lake District while the owner is away on a business trip. Must like dogs.
Wanting to escape from crap bosses and useless boyfriends, Becky jumps at the chance of being a dog sitter and the perfect escape – rest, relaxation and a very cute pooch called Bella.
But looking after Bella comes with a catch, namely gorgeous, brooding, Chris Hemsworth-worthy Ash James, who claims Bella is his dog and will stop at nothing to get her back!
Becky’s not about to hand over lovely Bella to any Tom, Dick or Ash. She’s determined to watch every move Ash James makes…even if it gets her very hot under the collar.
My Review
The cover of this book is really fun and engaging and made me want to dive right in. The MC, Becky, is actually an illustrator so I thought that was a cute tie-in. Although I have to say that the color of the dog is all wrong! Bella is black and they mention that several times in the story.
I really liked the opening of the book. It was comical and had me giggling right away. The scenery descriptions throughout the story were fantastic and I felt like I could really see the different vistas the book described. The Lake District sounds like a fabulous place to live and I’m now very jealous that I don’t live in England. That’s another fun thing about the book – all the different English sayings, some of them I don’t know what they mean, made the book feel really fun and adventurous.
The drawbacks for me in this story were when Becky continuously was falling all over herself whenever Ash showed up. Literally falling. I get physical humor can be funny and maybe once or twice it would have been charming, but it just continued and made me look at Becky in a more negative way. Also, Becky was constantly daydreaming, so much so that she often had no idea what was going on around her. I suppose that was on purpose so that things could go awry and her character would need to solve the problem she just created by having her head in the clouds. For me, it was just too much. Too forced. Too annoying. I would have rated this story a 3 based on these factors but the last half of the book Becky (mostly) became a normal character and the story was the main focus instead of the antics. I very much appreciated the shift in focus.
The relationship between Becky and Ash is interesting. I guess it’s a romance? But for most of the book, it doesn’t feel like one. To me anyway. But it was a cute story, the setting was fabulous, Bella was a sweetheart and I’d love to see more stories written in this cute town.
Author Bio
Zara Stoneley is the USA Today bestselling author of The Wedding Date.
Born in a small village in the UK, she wanted to be a female James Herriot, a spy, or an author when she grew up. After many (many) years, and many different jobs, her dream of writing a bestseller came true.
She writes about friendship, dreams, love, and happy ever afters, and hopes that her tales make you laugh a lot, cry a little, and occasionally say ‘ahhh’.
Zara now lives in a Cheshire village with her family, a lively cockapoo called Harry, and a very bossy (and slightly evil) cat called Saffron.
Zara’s bestselling novels include ‘The First Date’, ‘Bridesmaids’, ‘No One Cancels Christmas’, ‘The Wedding Date’, ‘The Holiday Swap’, ‘Summer with the Country Village Vet’, ‘Blackberry Picking at Jasmine Cottage’ and the popular Tippermere series – ‘Stable Mates’, ‘Country Affairs’ and ‘Country Rivals’.
Social Media Links – Website| Twitter| Facebook| Author Instagram | Harry Pawprints Instagram | BookBub | Amazon
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