Book Review: Puppy Love

Book: Puppy Love (Romantic Comedies series) by Nancy Krulik

Edition: Paperback

Description:

Romance can be ruff....

Alana loves her dog-walking job, but it blows her mind to see how pampered these pooches are. Her newest clients actually feed their poodle steak and treat her to massages at a doggie spa! Alana can't make heads or tails of why anyone would do this -- or why she complains to hunky handyman Connor and not to her boyfriend, Sammy.

When Sammy starts keeping her on an awfully tight leash, Alana wonders whether Connor might be a better match for her. But Alana's puppy love comes to a screeching halt when she learns that Connor isn't who she thought he was. Is Alana barking up the wrong tree with him, too?



Rating: 5 stars

Review:

Puppy Love is a young adult meets new adult book set in New York City with 17 years old Alana Marks trying to enjoy her senior year of high school. But between being busy with her dog-walking job, school stuff, volunteering and hanging out with her best friend Stella, it makes it easy for Alana to avoid the realization that her three year relationship with her boyfriend Sammy is not as good as it used to be.

Sammy recently started his freshman year at Columbia University and everything about him has changed from his personality to the way he thinks to the way he dresses including the way he interacts with Alana and his old friends. He's no longer the sweet and thoughtful guy he once was, he's more of a stranger with the way he has changed. He used to care about causes and helping others but his short time at college has changed his perspective. He's also very distant towards her but at the same time very jealous in regards to her friendship with her dog walker friend Leo or her new friend Connor.

But the abrupt ending of her relationship gave her a chance to move on, to focus on herself and possibly explore her crush on Connor. Alana and Connor had an immediate connection when they met while she was picking up one of her doggy clients a poodle named Nicolette. She thinks Connor is an interesting guy with being 18 years old and trying to make a career as a photographer in between working as a handyman. At the time, nothing happened between them because she had a boyfriend but now that she's single things are looking up.

Everything was going great between Alana and Connor with their new found relationship growing into something real until a misunderstanding led to a break up. Can Alana look pass this to follow her heart?

As a fan of romantic comedies, I'm glad I read this because it's full of all these funny and romantic moments mixed in with a little bit of drama. This was a quick read with an engaging story with interesting characters. But asides from the fun and romance, the story also showed characters who are in the process of trying to find themselves while also trying to stay true to who they are.

And speaking of characters, I thought the author did a good job with creating characters that felt real and placed them in situations that actually felt realistic and very relatable. I really like Alana, Stella, Leo and Connor. The only one I didn't like was Sammy but I'm sure that was the point, he was shown as an insincere jerk and not to mention how he treated Alana. I was surprised by how Alana and Stella were shown because they were very social conscious and support various causes from animals to the environment and that's something I don't usually see in a lot of young adult books. Alana has this desire to help others and she's earning money to save up for college with her dog walking job yet she also found time to volunteer for various organizations. That's pretty cool.

This is a really cute and romantic read and plus it's filled with adorable doggy antics.