Truth About Men & Dogs

About Love #1

by Andrea Simonne

This wasn’t supposed to happen. Especially to a guy like me.

I’ve been called a dog, I admit it. Maybe more than once. The truth is I’ve dated a lot of women, but I can’t see myself settling down. I’m just not that kind of guy… or dog.

Try telling that to my mom and sister. The two of them think I need to find a wife.

They’ve tricked me into vacationing in a small town so sweet it makes my teeth ache. My cousin Doug lives here—as if that doesn’t tell me everything I need to know about Truth Harbor. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love my cousin. He’s sort of awkward and pitiful, but he’s still family. 

At least he’s finally convinced Claire, the woman he’s crazy about, to go on a date with him. He tells me he’s in love with her. The poor guy sees wedding bells in their future. 

But then Doug gets called away on an emergency and asks me to take Claire out instead. He wants me to build him up, to tell her what a great guy he is, to help him win her heart. 

I never should have agreed to it. 

Because now I'm the one falling for Claire. 

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Audiobook, Contemporary, Billionaire Romance, Romantic Comedy, Rom Com

ebook

Published March 1, 2021

About the author

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Andrea Simonne grew up as an army brat and discovered she had a talent for creating personas at each new school. The most memorable was a surfer chick named "Ace" who never touched a surf board in her life, but had an impressive collection of puka shell necklaces. Eventually she turned her imagination towards writing. Andrea still enjoys creating personas, though these days they occupy her books. She's an Amazon bestseller in romantic comedy and contemporary romance, and author of the series Sweet Life in Seattle and About Love. She currently makes her home in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and two sons.

Reviews

[Christie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Despite the cover, which is... not good, I liked this a lot! I was invested in the romance between Claire and Philip from the start, and I liked how it took them a while to get together, but we also got a lot of cute & steamy couple time in there too. The pacing of the romance was pretty good, and although I feel like it could have been 50 pages shorter, I didn't really feel it dragging too much, despite the nearly 450-page length.

I found myself really invested in both our main characters - especially Claire as she moved on from her divorce and developed her business. I always enjoy books with a wider cast of characters and in this case I really felt that they helped to make the small town setting come to life. This was a fun, light-hearted romance that included enough small town charm and interweaving side-plots to keep things moving and interesting through the duration of this (pretty long) book. I enjoyed this a lot and would recommend if you want a light-hearted small town romance!

Side note: I would question the overall marketing of this book. Honestly, the cover is a little amateur in my opinion, and the 'dogs' referenced in the title are barely present within the book ("men & pirates" would have made more sense). It's a great book and I don't think the cover and title are doing it justice!

*I was provided a copy of this book for review (thank you!). All opinions are honest & my own.*

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars!!!

What a great romance novel! The perfect fairytale story of a chance encounter that lead to Claire and Phillip’s happily ever after. There are a few twists and turns along the way... but that kept my interest.

The author does a fantastic job with the all the character portrayals. I felt like I knew them. The intertwined relationships, past and present added so much depth to the storyline. I loved the setting, the town, Truth Harbor and even the birds!

The book grabbed me right from the beginning and moved at a quick pace. This was my first time reading this author and have to say I enjoyed her writing style. I am anxiously awaiting future Truth Harbor books!!!

Thank you Hidden Gems for the free ARC in exchange for my voluntary review.

[Annette Dahl "Old Vicarious Reader" · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Best Rom-Com Story I've read in a long time.

I love Andrea Simonne’s stories. They never disappoint me and this story swept me away. It had quirky characters and laugh out loud scenes. It was a pure delight to read.

There’s a scene when they start to make out and Philip starts talking dirty in his pirate impression that I found to be very cute. The word play was so adorable it made my old lady heart smile.

It's not too often that you read a story and wish it didn’t have to end. That’s how I feel about this one.

If you’ve got the blues and you need warm and fuzzy feelings with lots of doing the nasty, this is the story for you…

Excellent Story - Excellent Writing - Excellent Read

[T. Rosado · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars

Although the story takes place in fictional Truth Harbor, I loved that it was basically set in and around Seattle, WA. The San Juan Islands are but a ferry ride from my home town and Seattle is just a short drive. I grew up spending a lot of time in both, making it easy for me to visualize the different scenes in the book. It was a fairly straightforward romance with some well-written and fun characters. The story/character conflict kept the narrative compelling and moving along at a nice pace. While most of the story was light and witty, there was an emotional climax that brought the heavier "feels." Overall, an easy and fun romance with great character depth.

[Tamara Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another stuff my kindle random but it was actually a good book. Kinda a cliche cheesy love story but who doesn’t love one of those from time to time? One point deducted for the terrible front cover though

[OAZ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute although it could have way shorter.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book. It was an easy read and you just rooted for Claire and Philip the whole way. There were some absolutely absurd circumstances and you just shake your head but you get so vested you can't help to just love it anyway. I enjoyed that everything ended up in a HEA but not just only for them but for someone else in the book too. Thank you HiddenGems for the book, loved it.

[S · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was looking for something fun and light and this seemed given the blurb that it would fit that description nicely. This however turned out to be a giant angst fest. I have to admit to not liking angst in real life and definitely not liking a lot of it in my reading material, this author was layering it on by the trowel full.

We meet Claire as she finds herself entangled in the leashes of 3 dogs she’s walking. Phillip goes to her rescue and untangles her and decides that she’s just to plain for him, until he notices she has a nice rack, then she’s somewhat acceptable. Fast forward a couple of hours and he see’s Claire again only he doesn’t realize it’s her because she slapped on some makeup and does her hair, which makes her all the way acceptable since his lower region now has a reaction to her.

This is when the author starts the layers of angst, we find out that Claire is recovering from a cheating husband, who happened to cheat with her step-sister who he married and they have now moved back to the small town that Claire lives in. Now the town folk get’s to start back up the “Poor Claire” laments since she obviously wasn’t woman enough to keep her man and her sister had to take him off her hands.

Then we get a man Doug, who comes across so pitiful, he is unable to simply ask Claire out he has to beg and plead for her to go out with him. Claire accepts so she can stop him from begging her. Then said man has his cousin who, happens to be Phillip fill in for him…because well you know he has drama with his mom out of state that he has to go take care of.

Claire is running a small maid service business and she’s trying to drum up clients and we have some of the meanest people most entitled people demanding that she pretty much cleans their places for free.

Then we have old family drama, family members that make you feel as low as a slugs belly and new family drama added to the mix. Old family secrets, new family revenge and past hurts that come to the forefront.

Someone trying to buy up the small town and of course Phillip is in the middle of this fiasco and he’s keeping secrets from Claire that you know is going to blow up in his face so we can have chapters and chapters of angst to deal with.

Then we have a “Pretty Woman” shopping scenario that leads to some pointed questions. Lots of things in the story that make no sense and did I mention that Phillip is a billionaire?

The story is called “Truth About Men And Dogs” well the dogs don’t even belong to either Claire nor Phillip and their contribution to the story amounts to about a page maybe a page and a half, so not certain how that fits with the title.


The good in the story, Claire while adjusting to her world going sideways on her has grown a backbone since her divorce and she’s hold her ground a lot more than in the past. She has through necessity started her own small maid service business to support herself. Her relationship to her two girlfriends is very strong and those ladies are gems.

While the author throws in a lot of bad things about Philip, although a bit high handed at times he comes across as a nice guy. He treats Claire nicely and tries to help his cousin as best as he can.

For me this is a story that went nowhere fast and was just to mired in non-stop angst for me to enjoy it.

I received and ARC from Hidden Gems and I am leaving a voluntary review.

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed "The Truth about Men and Dogs" by Andrea Simonne, a modern twist on one of my favorite classics, "Cinderella." In this retelling, orphaned main character Claire ran her own house cleaning business and lived in the tiny carriage house behind her father's ancestral home, where her stepmother and one of her two stepsisters resided. Fortunately for Claire, her stepmother was much nicer than the one in the classic tale, and only one of her stepsisters was "evil." Claire's modern-day "prince," billionaire Philip, was just as rich and handsome as one would expect, but he came across as kind of a jerk at first, and he was definitely a workaholic. Philip wasn't so bad once Claire got to know him, however, and their slow-burn romance was well-crafted.

Philip and Claire got to know each other through Philip's cousin, Doug, who had a huge crush on Claire and had finally convinced her to go on a date with him after months of begging. Unfortunately for Doug, he had to leave town suddenly to care for his overbearing mother, so he asked Philip to take his place on the date and talk him up to Claire. As Doug's absence lengthened and Philip and Claire spent more time together, Philip started to develop feelings of his own for Claire, who never really wanted to date Doug in the first place. Following her husband's affair with her stepsister Ivy and a messy divorce, Claire was determined to rebuild her life on her own terms, without a man.

The story took a few twists and turns that I didn't expect, but at least a few of them were because there were so many secondary plot threads involving Claire and Philip's family and friends. As a result, the story dragged in a few places, and the book was definitely longer than it needed to be. That said, I never lost interest in Philip and Claire's story, and it was very easy for me to cheer them on to their HEA.

Overall, "The Truth about Men and Dogs" was a funny, sweet, and surprisingly emotional story, and I highly recommend it for all fans of contemporary romance. I would read future books in this series.

*Review copy provided by the author via Hidden Gems Books. All opinions expressed are my own.

[Ana Andrade · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a contemporary romance that blends humor, family dynamics, and unexpected love. The story follows Philip, a workaholic commitment-phobic billionaire coerced by his family into vacationing in the quaint town of Truth Harbor. There, he reconnects with his cousin Doug, who has long harbored feelings for Claire, a local woman running her own house cleaning business. When Doug is called away on an emergency just after securing a date with Claire, he convinces Philip to step in, hoping his cousin will sing his praises and help win Claire’s heart. Reluctantly, Philip agrees, but as he spends time with Claire, he finds himself increasingly drawn to her.

I liked the book enough, though it was a bit silly at times. Despite the title, don’t be fooled—the dogs are almost nonexistent in the story; Claire actually has birds as pets. Philip’s transformation from a work-obsessed billionaire to someone capable of deep affection was well-paced. Claire’s resilience, especially after a tumultuous past involving her ex-husband and stepsister, added depth to her character. Their chemistry was palpable, and the progression of their relationship felt natural. The small-town setting of Truth Harbor provided a charming backdrop, and the supporting characters enriched the narrative, adding layers of humor and warmth. While some plot points were predictable, the overall storytelling was cute enough.

[S Paschal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tricked into a vacation by his family, workaholic Philip is climbing the walls inside of a day. His family won't take no for an answer, so he's stuck, at least for the short term. Missing the city, he schemes to find a way out of little Truth Harbor. One of his attempts to contact the outside world leads him to steal Claire's phone in a misguided attempt to get out of town.

The feisty little blonde in unlike any woman he's met before. He doesn't intimidate her and she's not afraid to state her opinion. The only problem is that his cousin is in love with her. Thrown together by circumstances, Philip tries to stay away, knowing that he'll be back in the city before too long. He's in an impossible situation - he is intensely attracted to Claire, but he doesn't want to hurt anyone by pursuing her either. His need to control and take care of everyone around him has him conflicted. Claire challenges him, fuels his desire on both emotional and physical levels and her near obsession with pirates has him enthralled. Will he take what he wants for himself?

Filled with quirky characters, familial drama, small town humor and a seemingly bad boy, who is truly a good man at heart, this is a sweet and funny small-town romance. Four stars.

This is an honest, voluntary review of an ARC of the story.

[O’rion Risher · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF
5% in and I’m rolling my eyes.
The Hero is a creep, the humor is forced and awkward, and then the ridiculous name for the step sister… “Ivy Smivy”…

The very first chapter started off not making any sense. The way the heroine is talking to these dogs and then the reality where she’s twisted up and her ankle is hurt do not work together. Then the H’s sister comes out and is really awkward and weird. Then the continue to insist on driving her home and making her very uncomfortable. Even picking her up and ignoring her when she says “put me down!”

Icky.

Then they bombard the heroine with asking financial information about her business and then shoving a commercial the sister was in in the h’s face. What is even happening right now? This is the most awkward and strange story and it hasn’t even started!

Now we get to the really weird part where we meet the stepsister. This story is seriously giving off terrible Cinderella retelling vibes. She lives in the cottage next to her fathers huge house, is a house cleaner, wicked stepmother and at least one of the stepsisters seem to be awful… she’s got birds she speaks to, wicked stepsister #1 (Ivy Smivy) stole the h’s husband and married him and is pushing it in the h’s face and talking down to her…. 🙄🙄🙄

Yeah, it’s a no for me.

[JenMcJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars. I listened to this on Audible. It was a good book. He falls first but just when she finally trusts him, he falls apart.

I struggle a bit with the independent women in these stories that go overboard with rejecting the billionaires money to the point of being impractical and immature. I get that you don't want him to buy you an expensive bike or sailboat, but pizza? C'mon.

Spoiler: I also disliked strongly the reason that Ethan and Ivy were together and I feel like Claire missed the point that her whole marriage was a sham and she was who Ethan settled for because he couldn't have Ivy. I just don't get it. If Ethan was good enough for Claire, why wasn't he good enough for Ivy? Why would Ethan even approach Claire in the first place? So for all those years he was going to her house knowing he wasn't good enough for one their daughters but was okay for the other? The logic can't be found. Additionally, the crap that Ethan pulled was not supported by his declaration for Ivy in the scene.

I guess it says something that most of the review is about another couple in the book and not Phillip and Claire. I liked the epilogue.

I will read the next book though. Hopefully it has a more cohesive plot that makes sense.

[Floraljoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous in every way:
I loved this book. It had all the feels with just the right mix of humour, drama and romance. It was steamy yet passionate and sweet too.
Phillip is a workaholic and when he is coerced by his family to vacation in small town Truth Harbor he meets Claire. He ends up working on her house and whilst they initially butt heads, they soon can't deny the feelings they have for one another. However he is not your ordinary construction worker and I liked that he broke the mold when it comes to how billionaires are normally portrayed. Meanwhile poor Claire has been hurt in the past and it was wonderful seeing her find healing and love again. There was a complexity and depth to the story and it was wonderful seeing the characters personal development and growth.
All in all a great book that ticks all of the right boxes!
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say about Claire and Phillip? This is a perfect love story with a wonderful happily ever after. I love the chemistry that jump off of the pages. I love the small town setting. I love the townspeople. I love the meet cute. I love Calico Jack and Quicksilver. The characters are all so real and loveable and absolutely add value and meaning to the story. The underlying story lines and Claire and Phillip's respective pasts are realistic and easy to believe and to get caught up in. The writing is very well done and is thoughtful. The story moves easily and at a good pace. I simply can not wait for the next installment in this story line.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Danielle Hirschovits-Gerz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I’ve officially hit my limit with these Hallmark-like books.

This one started with strong Cinderella and Bridgerton vibes, but the bratty behavior of Ivy drove me nuts. By the end, I was just happy to see the book come to a close.

It’s not all bad—there are moments of sweetness and light humor that might appeal to readers who enjoy cozy, predictable romances. However, for me, it leaned too heavily into the same overdone tropes without offering anything fresh.

Ultimately, while some readers might enjoy this for its escapism, I found it too saccharine and formulaic to truly connect with. If you’re in the mood for fluffy romance, it might be worth a shot—but as for me, I’ve had all I can handle of contemporary romance for the time being.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who would have thought that the odd hot guy who had temporarily stolen her phone would become so important to Claire?

When Phillip gets tangled in a showdown with the father who abandoned him with his mother and sister when he was a kid, the whole town may suffer the fallout.

Past hurts and letting go to move past them are hard fought battles.

Staying mired in anger could be destructive in more ways than one.

A story of challenges, defeat, and different kinds of wins - with lots of family stuff and some crazy romance stuff.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Cassie · Rating 5 out of 5]

He doesn't believe he needs to slow down, she is determined to make her business a success. Can they let down their walls to let their hearts fall?

I have to say that while I liked this book, the title is a little misleading in the fact that there are only dogs in the story for two short instances. Overall I loved the determination and drive each character had. I definitely thought she was stronger than she thought she was because there is no way I would be able to face the betrayal she did and still see it everyday. I didn't blame him for struggling with revenge, but loved how we slowly saw a more relaxed and softer side. Good read!

[Diedra Price · Rating 5 out of 5]

💖💖💖

I loved Claire & Philip story. The hard working businessman and small town businesswoman fall in love.. I hate the misunderstanding that Ivy had about Claire. If she could have said something years ago to Claire, it could have been resolved sooner. However I don't know why Ethan married Claire if he was still in love with Ivy. Also I don't think Philip's father was punished enough. He still has money overseas and still get to live his life carefree after everything he's done to his family. That's my only 2 complaints I have about the book. However I'm glad everyone got their HEA.

[Stacey G. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, I’m going to say it- Is Doug on “the spectrum”? His character was too over the top and unrealistic for someone in their 30’s.
The Ivy, Ethan, Claire love triangle storyline was too indecisive. Ethan wanting to help Claire and showing interest in her at the beginning of the book, but then with the revelation at the end, and Ethan declaring he’s loved Ivy since that one summer-was just all over the place. And I’m left thinking why would Claire forgive Ethan especially since he married her when he couldn’t have Ivy.
I initially enjoyed the banter, but once they got together, the book became boring.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an awesome book that I really enjoyed. The story and characters grabbed me from the beginning and I couldn't stop reading. I loved the characters and watching them grow together, they were well written and went well together. I found this book amazing with great word building making me feel apart of the story and watching it unfold in front of me. A definite must read for any fan and I can't wait to read more from this author!!!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Mindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read

Very entertaining read! Kind of a modern day Cinderella with twists, Claire is an orphan (well her dad died a few years ago and she's over 18) she had a stepmother (not wicked) and two stepsisters -one nice and one a bit wicked, she cleans for a living and has birds for company. But her rich prince is a successful business owner and she's into pirates more than princes and doesn't want to relay on any man. Fun situations, humor, feels and fun characters make this a good read!

Volunteer KU based review

[Patricia Baxes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well...this book had its moments, but it just seemed to take forever to get to them! The storyline was good; the characters were meh; plot twists and turns were somewhat bland to me; and the darn HEA was really watered down. I was actually somewhat bored. I know lots of readers will love this book...I’m just not one of them. (I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book and found it to be just okay.)

[Shifty Bugger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the book it was great, the story was written well and the characters were interesting. Poor Doug he organised a date with Claire the girl he has had a crush on forever, when he found out he had to go away he has asked his cousin Phillip to stand in for him and put in a good word. Phillip and Claire ended up spending alot of time together.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Trina · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice easy read

Parts of this book had me giggling and other parts I found myself rushing through. I found it a nice easy read but I really struggled to like clare and found myself rushing through some of the pages. I think this one was more of a personal opinion as it wasn't a bad story which is why I classed it as a nice easy read. I personally like strong characters so not sure I'll read the next book either.

[Kandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet Story

This book was very enjoyable. The author wrote the characters exceptionally well, and the story had enough drama and laughter to keep me constantly engaged. I loved Claire's fierce drive to be a successful business owner and how she guarded her heart while not letting others run over her plans. Philip was hysterically funny from the get-go, and, as his character developed, he became even more endearing.
Overall, it's a great read!

[Rebecca Goss · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this author and loved this first book in the series. I generally don't especially like books about billionaires. There was a hilarious meet cute and the humor continues throughout the book. The characters are quirky and delightfully flawed. The community is close and supportive which I love reading. I especially enjoyed that the author is not afraid to make her male lead characters expressive and emotional.

[Melissa B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captivating story and characters that reel you into their woes, emotions, challenges, and lives. It's an entertaining, fun, sweet read.
"He agreed to help his cousin win the girl of his dreams… except now he’s falling in love with her himself".

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Margery Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oops!
The first thing that came to mind after starting this book was the old saying that goes something like “The best laid plans of man…”. When Doug asks his cousin Phillip to help him out with Claire, Phillip reluctantly agrees. The plot is beautifully developed and I was pulled into the story with its emotional ups and downs.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book.

[Elizabeth McDaniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story wasn’t just about Claire and Phillip falling in love. It includes family and the townspeople and fun and pain and a whole lot more. There are so many depths to the story that it reels you in from the sheer possibility of how real the people and their circumstances are. Great story

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.