I continue with my holiday reading with another sweet and heartwarming Christmas romance. In the spirit of full disclosure, it was one simple word in the title that had me adding this to my holiday to-read list. DOG!!! Yep, that’s right, another doggie story. I am such a sucker for a cute story with a great doggie in it, and Humphrey, who seemed to have a sixth sense of people in trouble, was perfect in his role of escape artist extraordinaire!
The book summary pretty much lays out the premise of the whole story. Rachel has had a rough year. Her boyfriend dumped her and shortly thereafter became publicly engaged (I HATE public proposals). Her kitty had a stroke and died, she got laid off, or as they say in the UK, she was made redundant. Good grief! As if getting laid off isn’t bad enough, but then to be called redundant to complete the feeling of being useless. To make matters even worse, her best friend and flatmate, Olivia, the one who was there for her all through the year’s ups and down, is killed while riding her bike.
In an effort to “help” her, Rachel’s What’s App obsessed family (family discussions and decisions are made on numerous What’s App threads) decide that Rachel will be dog sitting for her sister and taking care of Grampa for the holiday since she didn’t have any holiday plans, other than sitting in her apartment grieving amongst the pails of water from her leaky roof. None of this is a spoiler since it’s pretty much how the story started. Grampa, an 80yr old widower, is cared for by his daughter, and Rachel’s aunt, Karen, who treats him like he’s a doddering idiot on his deathbed. Grampa, who is so lonely since the death of his wife 10yrs ago, is determined to have a Christmas adventure before he dies and maybe even fall in love again. LOVE GRAMPA!!!
Most of the story takes place in the little village of Hartbrook that Rachel’s sister, Maddie, lives in with her wealthy husband, Frank, and her (not Frank’s) dog, Humphrey, whose nickname should be Houdini for all the magnificent escapes he has accomplished. Frank, an American and former Hollywood actor, is a bit of a pompous @$$, rude to pretty much everyone: the staff, Maddie’s family as well as the entire village of Hartbrook. Frank is also pestering Maddie to have a baby and she is waffling. Maddie’s home, a mansion with wings, and according to Frank, no one is allowed in the west wing, and they’re also not allowed to leave the property or go into the village, for anything – EVER!. Hmmm…..that’s not suspicious - AT ALL!
Last but not least, and most certainly to make things more interesting, there’s a hunky builder, Ben, working on the new kitchen in the mansion. As if Humphrey and his antics weren’t cute enough already, there is an adorable little girl, Rosie, who is Ben’s daughter, that is best buddies with Humphrey. As it turns out, Ben and Olivia had been buds since college and Olivia even tried to fix them up earlier in the year, but Rachel wasn’t interested. Ben is a widower and his wife, Sophie, was Olivia’s BF back in college.
Yes, this story was the classic Lifetime Christmas love story, but that’s what I wanted and why I picked it. It’s about the only time of year that I’ll watch Lifetime. The character development was good for this quick read. I loved the characterization of Rachel’s family, especially Grampa. The pacing was steady and the storyline was sweet and amusing. The writing was on par for a heartwarming Christmas story. I’m looking at an overall rating of 3.8 that I will be rounding up to a 4star review. I want to thank NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.
#NetGalley #DreamscapeMedia #TheChristmasDogSitters