Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.
This book was cute. I think that is the best thing that can be said about it – it was a very cute book. It has dogs, cupcakes, and a very clear romantic couple that the only obstacles between them are themselves. It has meddling octogenarians and a rivalry that has very little merit other than pride. It’s cute. That being said, I was able to finish the entire book in a few hours because I was able to read it very quickly, since it wasn’t a very deep book either. This isn’t necessarily a negative, just an observation. The huge terrible things that caused the main characters to act the way they did were just glossed over, and weren’t even brought up until significantly far into the book to begin with, so really the characters had flaws but they didn’t feel connected to their actions. Violet – the ingénue in this book – really grated on me. She was incredibly frustrating and I found her to be very bullheaded. She had a tendency to not want to listen to anyone and then play the “woe is me” card when she ended up in a pickle that could have been resolved if she had taken five seconds to let someone finish a sentence. Why Sam falls for her is still a bit beyond me other than it is a romance book and it is clear a HEA/HFN ending is coming. Plus they both have Dalmatians. Apparently having the same dog as someone means that you are fated to love them when you live on a tiny island. To be clear, this book is written well, and I did enjoy the few hours I read it, but it is not something I am going to be picking up again any time soon. Solidly 3/5