💜 enemies to lovers

💜 slow burn

💜 no third act breakup

💜 a dog love story on the side!

Put a puppy in a romance book and imma automatically pick it up! As a huge dog lover I absolutely LOVED Ashanti and her whole puppy-related storyline! She was so kind and I really wanted the best for her. I loved watching her come into her own and grow her business. And there was a side romance story between two puppies, Duchess & Puddin’, that I adored!😍

As much as I loved Ashanti, the puppies, and even the side characters, I couldn’t stand the male love interest Thad. I am not an enemies to lovers girl. Before reading this, I swore off the trope forever, but since I already had an arc, I wanted to give a try. But, as usual with contemporary enemies to lovers stories, one of the characters always has to be mean & rude, and that was Thad. He was so mean to Puddin’ in the beginning that I almost cried. He wasn’t abusive, but just really mean. He got better later on in the book, but I don’t forgive or forget. If you got beef with Puddin’ then I got beef with YOU foreva! He was also very rude to Ashanti at first, and even though he eventually came to be nicer and genuinely liked her, I just couldn’t make myself like him after how he acted. 

This book was VERY much a slow burn romance. It was a little too long in my opinion. I feel like it could’ve been about 30 pages shorter. But, even though I usually don’t connect with slow burn romances, I was kinda happy that it was slow burn because the romance isn’t what I was enjoying anyway, I enjoyed how much time we got with Ashanti & her storyline outside of the romance. 

This was a really fun read with (mostly) lovable characters and an adorable side love story with dogs. Although I had some problems with the male love interest, I enjoyed Ashanti’s storyline so much that I’m glad I finished this! Anyone who is a fan of enemies to lovers & puppies will enjoy this one!

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for this arc. All opinions are my own.

TW: parental death