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As the new director of Sunnyside Assisted Living, Lauren has her hands full with everything from a budget-obsessed boss to a 90-year-old muffin-juggling resident.
And now Lauren’s got a brand-new fire to put out.
There’s a beautiful stranger outside her office, waiting to steal a moment of Lauren’s time –with a fox perched on her shoulder.
Grace just launched her animal-assisted therapy business with almost no start-up money and a borrowed fennec fox, but she knows furry companions will transform the lives of Sunnyside’s elderly residents.
The moment she sets eyes on the raven-haired Lauren, Grace wants this deal even more.
Too bad Lauren’s stodgy boss takes one look at the fox and gives the idea a big heck no. Lauren the rule-follower reluctantly shows Grace the door.
But Grace is no quitter – when it comes to business or the woman who caught her eye. She comes back with service dogs, and not only do they bring Sunnyside’s most isolated resident out of her shell, they revive a decades-old romance between two women who never expected to see each other again.
Witnessing the awesome power of Grace’s animals – and her dedication and passion – Lauren decides defying her boss is a risk worth taking. But as she and Grace grow closer, can she go from breaking rules to risking her own heart?

227 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 16, 2022

62 people are currently reading
62 people want to read

About the author

Cara Malone

68 books478 followers
I write stories that explore the thrills – and challenges – of falling in love as a woman-loving woman, including the bestselling Lakeside Hospital medical romance series and Rainbow Award honorable mention The Rules of Love.

My books are for you if you’re a fan of contemporary romance, if you love strong women who aren’t afraid to be vulnerable, and if you like a little heat with your sapphic love stories.

Grab a free copy of Mind Games on my website, CaraMalone.com

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5 stars
163 (58%)
4 stars
77 (27%)
3 stars
32 (11%)
2 stars
4 (1%)
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2 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
Profile Image for Howard.
2,141 reviews121 followers
July 11, 2022
4.5 Stars for Slow Burn: A Furever Veterinary Romance (audiobook) by Cara Malone read by Tegan Bourke.

This was a wonderful story of young women falling in love and old women falling back into love. And all kinds of animals are thrown in the mix.
Profile Image for Lorraine Rusnack.
1,130 reviews33 followers
April 22, 2022
This was a wonderful surprise since it's two stories in one. Rose and Dee started there romance back in the 60's with a summer fling and then go their separate ways. Lauren and Grace start with a working relationship that has great potential to be so much more. I love that Rose and Dee are reunited after 60 yrs apart and still feel the spark of love between them. I have loved this whole series. I highly recommend them you can't go wrong with cute animals and romance.
Profile Image for Gail.
990 reviews58 followers
April 21, 2022
Ms. Malone's latest has it all - romance, heat, humor, a touch of angst and adorable animals and I read without pause to the end.
There are two romances covered, both given equal attention and beautifully meshed with the overall background of the assisted living facility, Sunnyside.
Lauren, the facility Director and Grace, operator of an animal assisted therapy business, click from first meeting and over time emotions grow with a few work hiccups, aided by friends, therapy animals and facility residents/employees. Dee, long time facility resident is stunned when she recognizes new resident Rose as her long lost love. In the 1960's they'd both spent time on Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos and had an intense love affaire before Rose left and was never heard from again. Dee had eventually gone on with her life. Is there a chance for happiness after so many years? Lauren can't help but hope so and takes on Cupid's role.
Smooth storytelling with side characters that enhance the plot particularly meddlesome troublemaker resident Opal and I read quickly hoping for a double HEA. Just the dose of sweet romance that I needed.

Easily recommend.
Profile Image for Kaye.
4,364 reviews73 followers
July 31, 2022
The latest (#6) in the Fur-ever Veterinary Romances. Grace has started her animal-assisted therapy business and is trying to get pets into Sunnyside Assisted Living center. The director Lauren thinks it is a good idea but her corporate boss is saying no. Grace decides to on a sales pitch over dinner which turns into other wooing. There is a lovely secondary story of old loves who’ve lived a lifetime apart meeting again at the center. This is a sweet, low-angst story filled with cute animals. It does include some interaction with characters from the previous books, which I’ve read, but there isn’t big news or catch ups on their lives. This can be read very easily as a stand alone. (3.5 stars)
30 reviews
April 24, 2022
loved it

Cara malone has away to wrap you up in her writing. You feel every emotion that is written. A must read.
Profile Image for Rowan.
310 reviews3 followers
April 21, 2022
This another lovely story from the Fur-Ever Romances. This is two love stories in one book, what more could you ask for. Lauren is in charge of an assisted living facility and there she meets Grace, who runs a animal assisted therapy business going into care homes to help improve the well being of the residents.
Within the assisted living facility lives Dee, and he long lost love Rose comes to stay at the facility. What happens after that is a lovely story of reconnection and romance. Minimal aghast, just a well written story with a HEA. Would highly recommend.
145 reviews3 followers
April 20, 2022
I loved this book! As described, there are two romances in this story. One is contemporary and sweet. The other is historical and profound.

Lauren runs Sunnyside, an elder care facility. Grace is an animal-assistance provider. Grace's idea is to bring animal-assistants-in-training puppies to Sunnyside, just to give the residents some joy and so that the animals can become socialized to people. It seems like a good idea until Gary, Lauren's boss and quite the putz, says no. The best that comes from this idea is that Lauren and Grace meet. And wow, their meeting is a romance in the making!

Dee and Rose met each other in 1964 when both women were in the Galapagos Islands studying tortoises. Their attraction was immediate but short-lived, as Rose had to return to the U.S. to complete her studies. Sixty years passed until Rose and Dee found themselves at Sunnyside, both as residents.

Both of these stories are well-written, and what I most liked was the story and the history of Dee and Rose, and the way their paths crossed, parted and came back together.

Cara Malone has taught us to expect excellence from her, and she has not disappointed with this story.
1,277 reviews
April 22, 2022
Two stories in one!

Cara Malone is a beautiful storyteller and in this book she weaves two wonderful stories of love. A new, young love between Lauren, the empathic director of an assisted living facility and Grace, the owner of an animal-assisted therapy business. And Cara gave the reader an opportunity to catch up on a few of the characters from previous stories in this series. If you've read Cara before, you know her humor will have you giggling at the antics of puppy love and a very unique resident named Opal. But the second story, written with sensitivity, between two seniors, Rose and Dee, who are reunited after almost sixty years, made my heart just melt. Oh my gosh, Cara, you tugged on my heartstrings! I heartily recommend this book and the entire Fur-ever series!
Profile Image for Rachel.
29 reviews
April 17, 2022
I got an ARC in exchange of an honest review.

4,5.

I. Loved. This. So. Much. Not kidding, I got through it in a single sitting; I didn’t even stop for lunch. It’s cute, it’s fluffy, and it doesn’t follow the trend of having a break up at the 75% mark so the characters can get together again; it’s fine sometimes, but it’s so overused that my reaction went from “oh no! Are they gonna get back together?” to “oh, we’re doing this again?” after the 30th book.

What I did not like much is the obvious lack of research Malone did on the cat: Sphinx cats are NOT hypoallergenic, because despite having no hair, they still produce the dander that affects people with cat allergies. They are also a very high maintenance breed, requiring weekly baths and weekly nail trimming; they have sweat glands, which means they sweat and so dirt accumulates easily on their skin, and because they have no fur they can easily hurt themselves with their claws.

Aside from that, it was a really nice read. It’s the Malone book I’ve enjoyed most in a while, and I definitely recommend it.
Profile Image for Carolyn G. Manuel.
1,070 reviews
April 23, 2022
A Life Together

Lauren is the manages an assisted living facility and a top notch administrator. Grace is a veterinarian and runs a therapy animal business for medical facilities. When they meet the attraction is immediate and only grows stronger. Dee is a resident whose heart races when the love of her life from sixty years ago moves into the facility. Will these couples be able to find their happy ever after? A warm and tender story of love.
330 reviews
April 24, 2022
Heartwarming!

I loved the two love stories within this book. Dee and Rose were lovers in their youth and parted ways. They meet again years later and rekindle their romance. Grace and Lauren meet when Grace brings Sonic, the fennec, to Lauren’s workplace. Their romance is on the steamy side. Overall, a great read and I definitely recommend.
1,149 reviews15 followers
May 31, 2022
Great.

I really enjoyed Slow Burn. It’s a great, heat felt story. You won’t know who you love more. The choices are the animals, the residents of a long term care facility or the romancing couple.
150 reviews3 followers
April 23, 2022
This a cute read. I love the story line and that it’s two romances in one!!
Profile Image for Suzi Vilkman.
20 reviews2 followers
April 18, 2022
What a story!

Just finished reading this beautiful story, or, in fact, two beautiful love stories.

The way Cara Malone tells these romantic stories is phenomenal. The older ladies who meet again in the nursing home had me in tears in hope and despair.

The younger couple seemed to complete each other, and cameo appearances from characters previously in the series were lovely to meet again.

Recommended for anyone looking for hope in the hopeless world we're in.
Profile Image for Michael Wells.
1,092 reviews6 followers
April 23, 2022
Cara Malone has combined two love stories in one book along with animals. Lauren works at a Senior Home as a supervisor and meets Grace, who works with animals. Dee is a resident of there home and finds out Rose has just become a resident.
The plot involves Lauren and Grace in a contemporary love while Dee and Rose have an historical love going back to 1964. The story has a great plot with good characters. I like the way both stories play together at the same time. Sometimes we do not follow our heart but adjust our lives to what is acceptable for the time we live in.
I received this book from the author as an ARC but my opinions and review are my own, I recommend this book for romance readers who want duel love stories
Profile Image for Rocío.
172 reviews1 follower
May 29, 2022
Lauren is the director of an elder care facility. Grace runs a therapy animal program and shows up at the center to provide her services. They hit it off from the beginning.
I liked their story very much and I also liked reading about other characters from previous books. But what I truly enjoyed, although it made me kind of sad for the lost years, is the story of Rose and Dee, an elder couple who reunite after more than fifty years.
The story has everything; funny and sad moments, romantic, threatening...
I highly recommend this story. You may also enjoy the author's other fur-ever stories.
Profile Image for Anna Furtado.
Author 5 books2 followers
June 5, 2022
Another fun, yet thoughtful, read in this fur-ever series. This time, it's a caring assisted living director and a vet-turned-animal consultant. There is an equally intriguing couple who are residents in the home, whose story goes back and forth between their younger days and their current lives. Throw in one gregarious, trouble making resident, an uncaring corporate bean counter with too much power, and love in the making on two different fronts - with a dash of crazy Sphynx cat and the chaos begins! A sometimes madcap, sometimes poignant story that will keep the reader turning pages.
Profile Image for Devoncatt.
322 reviews3 followers
April 15, 2023
Sweet romance that says dont worry about others say just be proud of who you love

It's the usual of trying to do what you're supposed to do, time is too short to not be with the one you love! Also showing how corporate style care homes are more for profit than for the residents best interests!
302 reviews1 follower
March 12, 2024
It was okay. Maybe a more comedic and would go over well for comedy lovers than drama lovers. I
Felt detached. But I finished it. The antics of the elderly people in the care facility were sometimes funny and I am all for pet therapy but didn’t connect with either mc. It said veterinary series but no one was a vet.
189 reviews1 follower
April 24, 2025
Excellent Love Story

The two main couples are from different generations. This story brings them together. One couple is just meeting and the other couple reunite after sixty years apart. These love stories are weaved together in a lovely way. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.
Profile Image for Meghan.
703 reviews11 followers
April 26, 2022
I enjoyed this but not as much as the other books in this series. I liked Grace and Lauren and I liked how the complimented each other. Dee and Rose, I felt for them and loved that after 60 years they ended up together. It was great. Overall not my favorite but still pretty good.
96 reviews2 followers
May 3, 2022
O-H

Being from Ohio I have always loved the fact that Cara has a series located here. It was fun to see some of the characters from other books involved as well. Little drama here and there but it made the book better. I'm glad hat Dee and Rose finally get their happy ending.
31 reviews
April 29, 2022
Purr Fun

“Slow Burn” is a delightful tale with a few twists and some subtle insights. It was great for a lazy afternoon read.
618 reviews
May 7, 2022
sweet

I loved this story. The main characters are so sweet and have great chemistry. I love all of Cara Malone’s stories. Great ending.
5 reviews
May 10, 2022
Great read

Loved this book on so many levels. Young love, sweet and passionate. Elder love, sweet and endearing. Women loving women at all stages of life is beautiful.
Profile Image for Jeff.
1,637 reviews4 followers
May 14, 2022
Wonderful story

I have enjoyed this wonderful heartfelt story of not one but two love stories at the same time, one of new love the other one over several years.
Profile Image for Frances.
324 reviews6 followers
December 14, 2022
aww favorite

I really enjoyed this series but I definitely think this was my favorite out of all of them. I absolutely love rose and dee it was heartwarming.
65 reviews
June 4, 2024
Amazing!

Two love stories for one book! Love the characters, animals and humor! Great series keep the great books coming! Looking forward to the next book!
Profile Image for Aris Duarte.
288 reviews3 followers
June 19, 2022
Great addition to the series. And easy, fast reading and incredible new characters and great to be able to see what the old characters from previous books were doing.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews

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