Much Ado About Nada

 Much Ado About Nada- Uzma Jalaluddin

Penguin Random House

Release Date: June 13, 2023

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Nada Syed is stuck. On the cusp of thirty, she's still living at home with her brothers and parents in the Golden Crescent neighbourhood of Toronto, resolutely ignoring her mother's unsubtle pleas to get married already. While Nada has a good job as an engineer, it's a far cry from realizing the start-up dreams for her tech baby, Ask Apa, the app that launched with a whimper instead of a bang because of a double-crossing business partner. Nothing in her life has turned out the way it was supposed to, and Nada feels like a failure. Something needs to change, but the past is holding on too tightly to let her move forward.

Nada's best friend, Haleema, is determined to pry her from her shell . . . and what better place than at the giant annual Muslim conference downtown, where Nada can finally meet Haleema's fiancé, Zayn? And did Haleema mention Zayn's brother Baz will be there?

What Haleema doesn't know is that Nada and Baz have a past--some of it good, some of it bad, and all of it secret. At the conference, that past all comes hurtling back at Nada, bringing new complications and a moment of reckoning. Can she truly say goodbye to what once was, or should she hold tight to her dreams and find their new beginnings?

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In Uzma Jalaluddin's retelling of Jane Austen's Persuasion (with a Canadian Muslim twist) Nada is stuck in the rut of family life and work. Her big idea app was a flop because her business partner stole her idea, Nada retreated into her shell and hasn't come out since. Her best friend Haleema drags her to a giant Muslim conference to meet Haleema's fiancé Zayn and hopes to set Nada up with Zayn's brother Baz. The only problem is that Baz and Nada have a history that Haleema doesn't know about. As the past is resurrected, Nada knows she has to decide: say goodbye to past dreams of love or take a chance and confront her fears?

Persuasion is one of my favorite Jane Austen books, and it is a tough one for a retelling- even more so than most second-chance romances. Bringing it into the modern world is even tougher. Uzma Jalaluddin did a really good job transferring this classic love story to modern-day Toronto, with the tension between generations in Toronto's South Asian Muslim immigrant community standing in for Austen's Regency rules. 

I loved how Jalaluddin made all of her characters, not just Nada, complex. There was a lot going on for each of them, and she did a good job of taking characters that at first seemed basic, then you get an insight part way through that changes how you look at all of their interactions. Nada gets to really go through a lot in this book and I felt like I watched her grow as a person as she fought through her sense of loss and betrayal over her app and losing Baz at the same time- and still feeling that years later but now seeing a second chance and being ready to fight for it. 

I liked the flashbacks to Nada and Baz in college, seeing them fall in love and getting some sense of why they kept it a secret, though I felt like they fell into the classic rut of not communicating or listening to each other. Both of them made mistakes, but it seemed like Nada was the only one willing to work to maybe change the present. While it would have ruined the book to get both viewpoints along the way, there were times I wished I knew what Baz was thinking, or knowing that he was working to change himself as well. Surprisingly, Baz was one of the characters that came off as flat for me.

Overall I enjoyed this book, though the pacing dragged occasionally. I love how Jalaluddin brings the reader into the South Asian Muslim community of her characters without feeling like she has to overexplain the community for her non-Muslim readers. We absorb and are absorbed by the community and Jalaluddin's beautiful writing.

Despite the many times I've referenced Jane Austen and Persuasion here, you don't have to have read it to enjoy this retelling.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

The Siren of Sussex

 The Siren of Sussex- Mimi Matthews

Berkley

Release Date: January 11, 2022

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Evelyn Maltravers understands exactly how little she's worth on the marriage mart. As an incurable bluestocking from a family tumbling swiftly toward ruin, she knows she'll never make a match in a ballroom. Her only hope is to distinguish herself by making the biggest splash in the one sphere she excels: on horseback. In haute couture. But to truly capture London's attention she'll need a habit-maker who's not afraid to take risks with his designs—and with his heart.

Half-Indian tailor Ahmad Malik has always had a talent for making women beautiful, inching his way toward recognition by designing riding habits for Rotten Row's infamous Pretty Horsebreakers—but no one compares to Evelyn. Her unbridled spirit enchants him, awakening a depth of feeling he never thought possible.

But pushing boundaries comes at a cost and not everyone is pleased to welcome Evelyn and Ahmad into fashionable society. With obstacles spanning between them, the indomitable pair must decide which hurdles they can jump and what matters most: making their mark or following their hearts?

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The Siren of Sussex begins a new series where a set of friends more at home on horseback than the ballroom will (hopefully) meet their matches. Evelyn Maltravers begins the series, and the plan, by coming to London for a Season in order to find a husband who will in turn support her family. Ever since her older sister ran off with a neighbor the family fortunes have been falling and now Evie has to marry to save the rest of her sisters. It's a tale as old as time in Victorian England, the difference being Evie knows she's nothing special in the ballroom so she plans to make her big splash where she does shine: on horseback. But to really set her apart she needs fabulous riding habits and that sends her to Ahmad Malik, half-Indian, half-English, and all genius when it comes to designing women's clothes. There's a spark between them from the beginning, but plenty of hurdles to overcome before love can win the day.

The Siren of Sussex may be my new favorite of Mimi Matthews' books- books which have always impressed me with excellent writing, detailed descriptions and enjoyable characters. Matthews takes all of this to a new level in Siren with characters willing to look outside of the box to solve their problems, face problems together, change plans as they go, and more. One of the things that always bothers me in books is when characters start the book with a PLAN-whether for their entire life or a set goal- and don't admit that this PLAN can change when they change over the course of the story (until the end of the book at least- I do like a happy ending). Evie starts off with a plan: make her debut on horseback and find someone to marry and support her younger sisters. But when she realizes it's Ahmad she loves, she is completely willing to change plans right away. Then it becomes about how she and Ahmad can be together. Matthews does a good job of not shying away from racism or classism. Evie goes from being a Sussex innocent to discovering how Britain treats India and her people in an excellent scene at Hatchards Books. She also glimpses the lives of seamstresses in sweatshops, the poor living at the docks, and many other worlds that a country gentlewoman would often not be exposed to.  Her instinct is always to help, to stand by her man, to work with him towards the greater good. 

Ahmad's only goal is to have his own dressmaking shop and that goal is nearly in reach. He has to deal with sexual harassment (and more) from some of his wealthy clients who think he can't say 'no' because of his position. He always feels like he's living on the outside- not truly English, not truly Indian. Evie becomes his muse because he can't admit he loves her, then he wants to do the honorable thing and stay away to not ruin her plans. He's a wonderfully complicated, caring, thoughtful man and easy to see why Evie falls for him.  Since Matthews believes in happy endings for her main characters, the challenge is how will they overcome the obstacles in front of them and make things work? It's as complicated as real life, but I found it to have quite the perfect ending.

I can't finish this review without singing the praise to one of the great characters in The Siren of Sussex: fashion. For those of you who don't know, Mimi Matthews has written a nonfiction book, A Victorian Lady's Guide to Fashion and Beauty. Her research into 1861-2 women's fashions comes through each page here- beautiful and detailed without being overdone, much like Ahmad's designs themselves.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

The Untold Story

 The Untold Story (Invisible Library Series)- Genevieve Cogman

Ace 

Release Date: December 28, 2021

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Irene is trying to learn the truth about Alberich-and the possibility that he's her father. But when the Library orders her to kill him, and then Alberich himself offers to sign a truce, she has to discover why he originally betrayed the Library.

With her allies endangered and her strongest loyalties under threat, she'll have to trace his past across multiple worlds and into the depths of mythology and folklore, to find the truth at the heart of the Library, and why the Library was first created. 

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In the aftermath of The Dark Archive Irene is both shaken and angry. It turns out rogue Librarian Alberich, who has tried to kill Irene and her friends numerous times (and has successfully killed other Librarians plenty of times) may actually be Irene's biological father. It naturally leads to questions like: who knew this? and why did no one tell Irene? Questions she very much wants the answers to. But she isn't given time to wonder about them. Worlds are disappearing, Alberich has agreed to sign a truce, Fae are starting to worry that the Library is Up-To-Something. And Irene, Kai, Vale, and Catherine are starting to gather evidence that suggests that some of the myths dragons ignore and Alberich's conspiracy theories lead to the very heart of why the Library was created-and who created it.

The Untold Story is a fast paced thriller adventure story that feels like it has more in common with the original Invisible Library than several other books in the series. While the first book remains my all time favorite, Untold Story may have become my second favorite in the series. It's hard to write about the story without giving away spoilers- but this book rocked!

Throughout the series we've seen Irene go from book thief to reluctant diplomat and here she gets to be her best (and worst) self. That may be the theme of Untold Story overall in fact: when are we willing to do bad things with good intentions or good things with questionable intentions. a version of "the road to hell is paved with good intentions"? Irene has struggled with this moral dilemma for a while now and has a harder time with it when she has to worry that maybe, as Alberich's daughter, she would have a predisposition for questionable actions. And she still has a tendency to take on too much guilt over choices that aren't hers- when Catherine, Vale, and Kai choose to help her they are doing it because of friendship, or because they believe it is the right thing to do, not because she's tricked them into helping her. Sadly, no one ever points out that Irene's feelings make her her own person and not her father's daughter. 

Vale, Kai, and Catherine each get some good action here. Catherine in particular gets a great, if short, "Librarian rant" towards the end that will have you cheering. It's something you can easily imagine a younger Irene saying, and something probably most of us who were drawn originally to this series on hearing the phrase "magical Library" will love. It definitely made her a hero for me. Vale gets to come through with true Sherlockian flair several times and this was the first book in the series where I was happy with Kai and Irene as lovers.

The only spoilers I will grant the reader are these: just when you start to panic that the book can't possibly be long enough to solve everything, Genevieve Cogman pulls off another brilliant solution and prevents us from a dreaded cliff-hanger ending. And you will close this book with a happy sigh and a grin, a book hang-over, and a need to re-read the series from the start to look for clues that the brilliant Cogman has apparently been laying for us all along to build up to this excellent Untold Story.

I do definitely recommend reading, if not the entire series, at least The Dark Archive before reading The Untold Story to be up to date on Alberich. But really, read the series. In order. Its fantasy world building genius.

The Godstone

 The Godstone- Violette Malan

DAW/Penguin Group

Release Date: August 3, 2021

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Fenra Lowens has been a working Practitioner, using the magic of healing ever since she graduated from the White Court and left the City to live in the Outer Modes. When one of her patients, Arlyn Albainil, is summoned to the City to execute the final testament of a distant cousin, she agrees to help him. Arlyn suspects the White Court wants to access his cousin's Practitioner's vault. Arlyn can't ignore the summons: he knows the vault holds an artifact so dangerous he can't allow it to be freed.

Fenra quickly figures out that there is no cousin, that Arlyn himself is the missing Practitioner, the legendary Xandra Albainil, rumored to have made a Godstone with which he once almost destroyed the world. Sealing away the Godstone left Arlyn powerless and ill, and he needs Fenra to help him deal with the possibly sentient artifact before someone else finds and uses it.

Along the way they encounter Elvanyn Karamisk, an old friend whom Arlyn once betrayed. Convinced that Arlyn has not changed, and intends to use Fenra to recover the Godstone and with it all his power, Elvanyn joins them to keep Fenra safe and help her destroy the artifact.

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In this world of magical Practitioners and mundanes, Fenra Lowens is a Practitioner with a gift for healing who prefers living in a small village far from the politics of court in the City. When her patient Arlyn must go to the City to deal with a false will naming him heir to a distant, ancient, cousin Fenra agrees to go with him to help. But it doesn't take long before she understands the truth: the man she knows as Arlyn, a man with no magic, was once the "cousin" Xandra Albainil- known as one of the most powerful Practitioners ever before he disappeared. Turns out, when he made a Godstone and discovered what most sensible people would have guessed (namely that using or creating anything with enough power to be called a Godstone is a BAD idea), he did have the sense to know he couldn't control it. Xandra sealed the Godstone away in his vault, but it took all of his power to do it.  Now people are looking for it to finish what he started and he needs Fenra's help to stop it. 

Malan's characters are multilayered and nuanced, we discover them slowly even though they are the ones telling us the story. The facet they show the world is never more than the first layer to a person full of strengths and flaws, untapped bravery and stubbornness. Fenra in particular wants her quiet life, but by the end is willing to do whatever it takes to deal with the Godstone. Arlyn is a brilliant character-or characters. He is the mild-mannered, quiet, brilliant woodworker the village children like; the stubborn man Fenra helps as a patient and slowly befriends. But there is also Xandra- the brilliant, stubborn Practitioner who believes he can never be wrong and knows better than anyone else, and who Fenra is pretty sure she's glad she never met. How did Xandra become friends with the levelheaded and loyal Elva? Elva is a case of someone who seems a completely open book, what you see is what you get. But watching the other characters develop makes you wonder what more of Elva's layers are.  We don't get to see them all here, but maybe in the future? Along with maybe more than the hint of romance we get here? Then there's the Godstone itself- a sentient being on some levels, Xandra on other levels, and something else in between. 

The Godstone doesn't end as a cliff hanger, but there are enough hints of future books that we can hope for a nice long series in this new world of Malan's. So many aspects still to explore, the reader will want to dip back into this world(s) again and again to see what they missed the first time.  

If you haven't read Violette Malan's books yet (Gift of Griffins, Halls of Law, The Sleeping God series), you are missing a master's class in brilliant world building and nuanced characters. The Godstone is another perfect example of Malan's talents.  Fantasy lovers will be thrilled and addicted.

Last Guard

 Last Guard (Psy-Changeling Trinity #5)- Nalini Singh

Penguin Random House

Release Date: July 20, 2021

Rating:📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Termed merciless by some, and a robotic sociopath by others, Payal Rao is the perfect Psy: cardinal telekinetic, CEO of a major conglomerate, beautiful—and emotionless.

For Canto Mercant, family and loyalty are everything. A cardinal telepath deemed “imperfect” by his race due to a spinal injury, Canto cares for the opinions of very few—and ruthlessly protects those he claims as his own. Head of intel for the influential Mercant family, he prefers to remain a shadow in the Net, unknown and unseen. But Canto is also an anchor, part of a secretive designation whose task it is to stabilize the PsyNet. Now that critical psychic network is dying, threatening to collapse and kill the entire Psy race with it.

To save those he loves, Canto needs the help of a woman bound to him by a dark past neither has been able to forget. A woman who is the most powerful anchor of them all: Payal Rao. Neither is ready for the violent inferno about to ignite in the PsyNet . . . or the passionate madness that threatens to destroy them both.

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As the Trinity series has grown, readers have gotten to discover more about the Psy race. But it hasn't just been their development after the fall of Silence that we've seen, it has been the disintegration of the PsyNet, the psychic network that keeps them alive. In Last Guard the secluded, nearly forgotten designation of Anchor Psy must step into the forefront to help save the dying PsyNet and give their people a chance to live. Canto and Payal were abused and terrified children when they first met but they forged a bond that, decades later, has proven unbreakable by time, Silence, and family cruelty. 

Over the arc of Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series, we've seen the Psy race go from being the big bad robots with a few dissenters to a people who got a lot of things wrong in their search for peace and safety and are now trying something new. Canto and Payal are perfect examples of the 'new' Psy as a whole: people trying to be brave enough to not only embrace change, but to try to learn new ways of living after a lifetime of abuse. Payal in particular is a person learning that there is no need to be 'perfect' and that it is our flaws and quirks that make us truly unique. Her lessons are ones we should all try to learn from.

The connections between Canto and Payal are wonderfully written, even before words like "love" became involved you could see the bonds between them and cheer them on as they discover how to support each other. By the time emotions develop to admitting they love each other, the reader feels that love as a tangible thing, wrapping around them the way Canto wraps Payal in his arms. It's a feeling that, like the hope for the Psy by the end of the book, stays with you long after the final page. 

Readers familiar with the series will enjoy cameos by characters they've met in previous books, including Arwen and Pasha and Silver and Valentine (Silver Silence). They get to further play the 'what's going on between Nikita and Anthony' game and spend more time with Ena Mercant. For readers just joining the world, while more of the backstories will make sense if you've read other books in the series, newbies won't really be lost by jumping in mid-stream. But they will become addicted and instantly need to read the entire series before ever sleeping again. So take a few days off work and make some strong coffee before diving in.

The brilliant world-building and sparkling, tangible emotions readers have come to expect from Nalini Singh are in full force here. Last Guard is a wonderful new addition to an unbeatable series. 

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Churchill and Son

 

Churchill and Son- Josh Ireland

Penguin Group/Dutton

Release Date: March 30, 2021

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: We think we know Winston Churchill: the bulldog grimace, the ever-present cigar, the wit and wisdom that led Great Britain through the Second World War. Yet away from the House of Commons and the Cabinet War Rooms, Churchill was a loving family man who doted on his children, none more so than Randolph, his only boy and Winston's anointed heir to the Churchill legacy.

Randolph may have been born in his father's shadow, but his father, who had been neglected by his own parents, was determined to see him go far. For decades, throughout Winston's climb to greatness, father and son were inseparable--dining with Britain's elite, gossiping and swilling Champagne at high society parties, holidaying on the French Riviera, touring Prohibition-era America. Captivated by Winston's power, bravery, and charisma, Randolph worshipped his father, and Winston obsessed over his son's future. But their love was complex and combustible, complicated by money, class, and privilege, shaded with ambition, outsize expectations, resentments, and failures.

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Winston Churchill is one of those fascinating people who you are always learning something new about, and who we will always want to read more about. Look in any bookstore and you'll probably see more books about him than anyone else. I am definitely one of the people helping to fuel this industry- always eager to read the next book on this complex man. After reading Erik Larson's wonderful The Splendid and the Vile I grew curious about his family members- especially his son, Randolph.  So when Josh Ireland came out with Churchill and Son I jumped on it.

Churchill and Son describes the fascinating, emotional, and volatile relationship between Winston and Randolph.  After being neglected by his own father (probably the best thing he ever did for Winston, in my opinion) Winston was determined to have a close bond with his own son. He lavished praise and affection on the boy, encouraged him to always speak his mind, and to bow down to no-one. Randolph, in return, worshipped Winston and supported his every political stance. Randolph inherited all of Winston's good qualities: intelligence, brilliant public speaking ability, and charisma.  But Josh Ireland doesn't pull any punches or sugarcoat Randolph's or Winston's bad qualities.  Their worst qualities are also on display- temper, frequent lack of empathy, ignoring all others to focus on themselves. Winston spoiled Randolph as a child and indulged him to the point of his being uncontrollable as a youth- and Randolph never grew out of this. Hard drinking, hard gambling, frequently cruel to friends as well as enemies and never one to forget a grudge, Randolph grew up being told he was heir to the Churchill dynasty- and believed himself entitled to be handed all that and more without having to work for it.  

Ireland does a brilliant job of putting readers into the center of the Churchill family dynamics.  You sympathize with the long suffering Clementine and their daughters as they are pushed to the side and Winston focuses on Randolph.  You want to reach into the pages and shake Randolph for some of his worst episodes and while feeling pity for Winston for having this wretched son, you are also tempted to point out to him that spoiling the boy led to some of this behavior in the adult. The explosive fights between Winston and Randolph are as shocking to the reader as to those who witnessed them- even though after awhile you know exactly what is coming. I especially appreciated that Ireland doesn't focus only on specific time periods, like World War II, but covers their entire lives- paying special attention to Churchill's "wilderness years" between the wars, which I had not read much about before. 

Meticulously researched, fascinating, brilliantly and sympathetically written without pulling any punches, Churchill and Son is the behind the scenes story of Churchill family dynamics.  It's the age-old story of a man trying to make up for his own poor relationship with his father by giving his son everything. And the age-old story of a son who can never step out of the shadow of his famous father.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Dark Archive

Dark Archive (Invisible Library 7)- Genevieve Cogman

Penguin Random House/Ace 

Release Date: December 29, 2020

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis:  Irene is teaching her new assistant the fundamentals of a Librarian's job, and finding that training a young Fae is more difficult than she expected. But when they're the targets of kidnapping and assassination attempts, she decides that learning by doing is the only option they have left ... 

In order to protect themselves, Irene and her friends must do what they do best: search for information to defeat the overwhelming threat they face and identify their unseen enemy. To do that, Irene will have to delve deeper into her own history than she ever has before, face an ancient foe, and uncover secrets that will change her life and the course of the Library forever.

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Genevieve Cogman (The Secret Chapter) returns to the worlds of the Invisible Library with a bang.  Irene and Kai are trying to hold together the tenuous peace treaty between the Fae and the dragons while stealing books for the Library and training a new apprentice.  Catherine, Fae delegate Lord Silver's neice, is probably a lot like a very young Irene and desperately wants to be a librarian and read books all the time.  The on the job training of how to avoid assassins and archvillains might not be what she'd hoped for, but at least she's learning from an expert.  But is the archvillain is question London's new Napoleon of crime, or a vicious and familiar foe? And who is the person behind the Professor? 

Irene remains the Librarian we all admire her for being: practical, full of snarky wit and crazy ideas, and one of the only people capable of keeping her hysteria to herself when all others are screaming theirs aloud. Practice makes perfect after all. She is who I want to be when I grow up. But even Irene found herself in situations throughout The Dark Archive that tested that talent there.  From the first page on she and the others are in active danger and trying to figure out who they've most recently annoyed enough to try and kill them.  Is it personal or a way to sabotage the fragile new treaty? Or are they, for once, only collateral damage as friends of detective Peregrine Vale, who is searching for clues behind a new force in London's criminal underworld?  Just as readers (and Irene) got glimpses into the secrets of dragons in The Secret Chapter, we get glimpses into the Fae here.  Catherine is the first Fae we've met still young enough to be actively considering what her archetype is going to be, and through Vale we get glimpses into the possibilities higher chaos worlds can have on someone with Fae blood.  Without giving away spoilers (like who the villains are) I can promise danger, fire, and destroying stained glass windows along with shocking revelations and clues to even more secrets.  It's a busy few days even by Irene's standards!

Cogman has some serious "wow" moments in Dark Archive and is clearly setting up her readers (and her heroes) for some massive "whoa" moments in future books.  Not a cliffhanger ending (thank you Genevieve!) but one that will leave you desperate to see what happens next. While some of this book will be easier to follow for those who have already read the rest of the series, newcomers will not feel totally lost starting here. A great new chapter in the Invisible Library series!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

You Lucky Dog

You Lucky Dog- Julia London
Berkley/Penguin Group
Release Date: August 25, 2020

Rating:
📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Carly Kennedy's life is in a spiral. She is drowning in work, her divorced parents are going through their midlife crises, and somehow Carly's sister convinces her to foster Baxter--a basset hound rescue with a bad case of the blues. When Carly comes home late from work one day to discover that the dog walker has accidentally switched out Baxter for another perkier, friendlier basset hound, she has reached the end of her leash.

When Max Sheffington finds a depressed male basset hound in place of his cheerful Hazel, he is bewildered. But when cute, fiery Carly arrives on his doorstep, he is intrigued. He was expecting the dog walker, not a pretty woman with firm ideas about dog discipline. And Carly was not expecting a handsome, bespectacled man to be feeding her dog mac and cheese. Baxter is besotted with Hazel, and Carly realizes she may have found the key to her puppy’s happiness. For his sake, she starts to spend more time with Hazel and Max, until she begins to understand the appeal of falling for your polar opposite.

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Carly Kennedy dreams of the perfect life, as presented in every rom-com and social media account out there telling her to work hard and life will reward her: she'll move to New York City, have the perfect job, lots of friends, live somewhere trendy and beautiful, eat and drink at trendy, beautiful places.  Life will be perfect.  So far, she's perfected the "work hard" part, but the rest isn't following.  Her life is a non-stop whirl of crazy, artistic publicity clients (who knew two people could feel like so much more?); crazy, divorced parents; and a crazy, stressed-out sister who dumps a depressed basset hound on Carly to deal with.  When the dog walker leaves the happy Hazel in place of her depressed Baxter, that's it!  By the time she tracks Baxter down days later, she's ready to explode.  She's not ready for Max Sheffington, who is feeding her dog mac and cheese on the couch and is far too cute to be a neuroscience professor.  Hazel and Baxter hit it off so well that Max and Carly keep puppy play dates going, which quickly turn into something magical between the dog parents as well as the dogs.  But into every rom-com some wrenches must be thrown, and Carly and Max have to try and untangle more than just leashes if they're going to get their happily ever after!

Carly is a stressed publicist trying to build a brand with a twenty-year old "artistic" fashion designer and a retiree who believes wooden circles are art.  The most sane person in her life is probably Baxter, the depressed basset hound her mother adopted to give away as a surprise gift (spoiler alert- pets as surprise gifts are never a good idea, even under the best and most thoughtful of circumstances.  Which this wasn't).  Having the dog walker mix up Baxter and another basset seems like the kind of thing that would absolutely happen to Carly.  But at heart, Carly is an optimist who accepts the craziness life enjoys throwing at her and attempts to positively reframe it in ways that would make her podcast motivational speaker mentor proud.  Max is a "brain scientist", a professor of neuroscience who researches dogs, humans, and autism- inspired by his autistic brother Jaimie.  He's a bit of the classic science type, not great with social setting or cues, not sure if someone's flirting with him, and never confident around women.  He's also kind, caring, super cute, and loves dogs.  The outgoing Carly and the quiet Max seem like opposites, but thanks to two stubborn dogs, they get the chance to discover that opposites really do attract.  The longer they spend together, the more they discover they enjoy each other's company, and the relationship that develops is sigh-worthy in its wonderfulness.

Right from the start, You Lucky Dog lets you know it is going to be a fun, comedic experience. The writing is bright and bubbly, rather like Carly herself, with plenty of humor, but never so overblown that it crosses into crazy, unrealistic drama.  Instead, the drama is completely believable and largely thanks to Carly's mother, who turns every scene she's in into a whirlwind that leaves you breathless and unsure whether you're coming or going.  Jaimie and the struggles and stresses he, Max, and their dad go through are well-written, with touching empathy.  The characters are wonderful all the way around.  The dogs are magical in their basset cuteness. 

You Lucky Dog is a celebration of dogs, love, and what happens when you stop overthinking and let things happen.  It was a book I smiled at every time I picked it up (with a cover like that, how can you not?) and was sorry when I had to put it down for any reason.  A definite must read for romantic comedy fans, dog lovers, and anyone else looking for a happy way to spend the afternoon!

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review