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Puppy Love
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 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?
274 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2008
10 people are currently reading
1186 people want to read
About the author
Nancy E. Krulik
417 books239 followersNancy Krulik is the author of more than 100 books for children and young adults, including three New York Times bestsellers. She is best known, however, for being the author and creator of the Katie Kazoo Switcheroo book series, which has brought her to the attention of second, third, and fourth graders nationwide.
Nancy has also written extensively for teens and is well known as a biographer of Hollywood's hottest young stars. Her knowledge of the details of celebrities lives has made her a desired guest on several entertainment shows on the E! network as well as on Extra and Access Hollywood. She can be seen there talking about the secret lives of such celebs as Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Hilary Duff, and Frankie Muniz. Nancy has also been a guest on radio broadcasts nationwide discussing the superstars she has researched over the years.
As the author of several teen and preteen advice books, including Grosset and Dunlap's Prom!: The Complete Guide to a Truly Spectacular Night, Nancy has been interviewed by several prominent magazines including Cosmo Girl, Teen, Teen People, Seventeen, and Teen Celebrity. She has also been the celebrity guest for three Teen People chat presentations. Nancy has recently begun to delve into the teen novel market, writing four romances for young adults, all of which will be published between 2004 and 2005.
Nancy currently lives in Manhattan with her husband, composer Daniel Burwasser, their two children, Amanda and Ian, and a crazed cockerspaniel named Pepper .
Nancy has also written extensively for teens and is well known as a biographer of Hollywood's hottest young stars. Her knowledge of the details of celebrities lives has made her a desired guest on several entertainment shows on the E! network as well as on Extra and Access Hollywood. She can be seen there talking about the secret lives of such celebs as Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Hilary Duff, and Frankie Muniz. Nancy has also been a guest on radio broadcasts nationwide discussing the superstars she has researched over the years.
As the author of several teen and preteen advice books, including Grosset and Dunlap's Prom!: The Complete Guide to a Truly Spectacular Night, Nancy has been interviewed by several prominent magazines including Cosmo Girl, Teen, Teen People, Seventeen, and Teen Celebrity. She has also been the celebrity guest for three Teen People chat presentations. Nancy has recently begun to delve into the teen novel market, writing four romances for young adults, all of which will be published between 2004 and 2005.
Nancy currently lives in Manhattan with her husband, composer Daniel Burwasser, their two children, Amanda and Ian, and a crazed cockerspaniel named Pepper .
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
November 15, 2012
Reviewed by Jennifer Rummel for TeensReadToo.com
Alana's boyfriend, Sammy, left for college three weeks ago. He only went thirty blocks away, but every time Alana meets him, she feels he's changed. He's not the same sweet boy she fell in love with who's interested in helping people less fortunate. Soon, they've split up and Alana realizes that she's not that sad about it.
Instead, she throws herself into her daily job as a dog walker. She loves her dogs, even if they are a bit of a handful. What she doesn't understand is how much the owners spoil these dogs. She's never met some of her employers who leave her instructions to cut up steak for a dog's dinner and to use particular bottled water to quench their thirst.
Besides the perks of hanging out with dogs, Alana meets some great guys on the job. There's Leo, who's funny and down-to-earth, but does he want to be more than friends? Then there's Connor, who Alana can't stop thinking about. Does she actually have a chance with him?
Nancy Krulik writes a great romance about love, finding yourself outside of a relationship, and being true to yourself.
Alana's boyfriend, Sammy, left for college three weeks ago. He only went thirty blocks away, but every time Alana meets him, she feels he's changed. He's not the same sweet boy she fell in love with who's interested in helping people less fortunate. Soon, they've split up and Alana realizes that she's not that sad about it.
Instead, she throws herself into her daily job as a dog walker. She loves her dogs, even if they are a bit of a handful. What she doesn't understand is how much the owners spoil these dogs. She's never met some of her employers who leave her instructions to cut up steak for a dog's dinner and to use particular bottled water to quench their thirst.
Besides the perks of hanging out with dogs, Alana meets some great guys on the job. There's Leo, who's funny and down-to-earth, but does he want to be more than friends? Then there's Connor, who Alana can't stop thinking about. Does she actually have a chance with him?
Nancy Krulik writes a great romance about love, finding yourself outside of a relationship, and being true to yourself.
March 14, 2020
Super cheesy but I still loved it. Maybe because I’m a crazy dog person? It really had me feeling the feels though. Again... I know it’s super cheesy and juvenile... but sometimes we need that in our lives.
January 22, 2024
A cute and fun read. Not my normal style to read, but I enjoyed it.
August 13, 2014
2.5
Originally posted here
In a weird turn of events, I have decided to start reading what I own. I understand this is a crazy concept as I, too, am confused by this. But, this is book two in this trend of where I stuck my hand in my one bookshelf and pulled out a book and decided I was going to read it. After I pulled it I noticed it was part of a series done by Simon Pulse a few year ago. Thankfully the series can be read in any order!
Puppy Love is the story of Alana, a senior who lives in New York City and has a boyfriend who is a college freshman. It is very clear to the reader that the two are growing apart, quickly; however, it is not clear to Alana. Quickly though, the more she hangs out with her boyfriend she notices things are changing he’s turning into someone that she doesn’t fully agree with and they decide to break up. Although it’s a blow to Alana she quickly realizes that life will go on with the help of friends, family and her dog walking business.
And you know what: life goes on. She continues to live, walks crazy dogs and has friends that support her. There is a cute fellow dog walker who she kisses and realizes there is absolutely no spark with, which becomes a chemistry joke later on. While the book was a quick read for me, there was parts of it that dragged for me and when the love interest Connor was introduced I figured out the twist before it was hinted that there was a twist.
All of that being said, I would still recommend Puppy Love to anyone that is looking for a quick, YA clean read.
Originally posted here
In a weird turn of events, I have decided to start reading what I own. I understand this is a crazy concept as I, too, am confused by this. But, this is book two in this trend of where I stuck my hand in my one bookshelf and pulled out a book and decided I was going to read it. After I pulled it I noticed it was part of a series done by Simon Pulse a few year ago. Thankfully the series can be read in any order!
Puppy Love is the story of Alana, a senior who lives in New York City and has a boyfriend who is a college freshman. It is very clear to the reader that the two are growing apart, quickly; however, it is not clear to Alana. Quickly though, the more she hangs out with her boyfriend she notices things are changing he’s turning into someone that she doesn’t fully agree with and they decide to break up. Although it’s a blow to Alana she quickly realizes that life will go on with the help of friends, family and her dog walking business.
And you know what: life goes on. She continues to live, walks crazy dogs and has friends that support her. There is a cute fellow dog walker who she kisses and realizes there is absolutely no spark with, which becomes a chemistry joke later on. While the book was a quick read for me, there was parts of it that dragged for me and when the love interest Connor was introduced I figured out the twist before it was hinted that there was a twist.
All of that being said, I would still recommend Puppy Love to anyone that is looking for a quick, YA clean read.
August 15, 2010
I love reading the Simon Romantic Comedies. They are normally a quick read with enjoyable plots but this one upset me. The story is about a girl Alana who walks dogs as a part-time job to save for college. She has a boyfriend, Sammy, who has just started college. He meets new people and changes his goal for his education and this upsets Alana. She starts thinking that the hot Connor she met while working may be a better choice for her. All this sounds good but the sub-plots were over the top. Alana criticizes the rich people that she works for about their choices for spending their money. It portrays anyone who has money has selfish and irresponsible with their money. Clearly, there is only one way to spend money in Alana's mind. Her parents are lawyers who work for legal aid. She wants to be a social worker. Her best friend is a huge environmentalist. I certainly think these are all good choices but they may not be everyone's choice. It is not bad to earn money. The character who tries to defend business and money making, Sammy, is made out to be a jerk who doesn't care enough. And the only way to spend your extra money is not always helping the poor. It is a free country and I really didn't care for the judgments that were made in this book.
Skip this Simon Romantic Comedy. There are so many others that are great.
Skip this Simon Romantic Comedy. There are so many others that are great.
April 4, 2010
I'd probably give this book a 3.25 that I'd bump up to a 3.5. It wasn't my favorite Simon Romantic Comedy, for sure, but it was cute enough.
The premise was promising: Alana works as dog-walker to save money for college next year... She has a boyfriend who's a year older—a freshman in college now—who seems to be going in a different direction now that he's out on his own... She meets a nice, good-looking boy and starts to fall for him... meanwhile there's another boy who obviously has a crush on her... yadda yadda. And it was cute. Don't get me wrong.
But books like this are quite formulaic... near the end the girl and guy have fallen for each other, but then there's always some HITCH in their romance than they have to work through before they can really be together, you know? And this hitch was so transparent that I saw it the second the hero was introduced into the story. I'm pretty sure that wasn't the author's intention, but there you have it. So I totally saw it coming and thought Alana TOTALLY overreacted... but then, she's a teenager, and teenagers are soooooo dramatic, so what did I expect, really?
BUT, love conquered all and stuff, so it's all good. :)
The premise was promising: Alana works as dog-walker to save money for college next year... She has a boyfriend who's a year older—a freshman in college now—who seems to be going in a different direction now that he's out on his own... She meets a nice, good-looking boy and starts to fall for him... meanwhile there's another boy who obviously has a crush on her... yadda yadda. And it was cute. Don't get me wrong.
But books like this are quite formulaic... near the end the girl and guy have fallen for each other, but then there's always some HITCH in their romance than they have to work through before they can really be together, you know? And this hitch was so transparent that I saw it the second the hero was introduced into the story. I'm pretty sure that wasn't the author's intention, but there you have it. So I totally saw it coming and thought Alana TOTALLY overreacted... but then, she's a teenager, and teenagers are soooooo dramatic, so what did I expect, really?
BUT, love conquered all and stuff, so it's all good. :)
June 11, 2010
Alana needed money, to save up for college and the only job that she can get that will earn enough money for her is as a dog walker. She wanted to save money to go to the same college as Sammy. But as Sammy and Alana see each other less, there heart started fading away from each other. As a professional dog walker, Alana works for the high snobby society people, and she never gets to see her boss in person. They only leave messages to the workers through the bulletin board. They even leave messages to that cute hunk of a guy, Connor, a handy man. But as a worker he seems kind of disrespectful. He treat the place he's working as, like his own home. Who does he think he is?
Nancy Krulik is such a fantastic author, she's able to use everyday living experience as a stress out teenager and make their love story so realistic at the same time unrealistic. Normal people, wont date people that they dont know that well, but the way Nancy Krulik created Alana, makes Alana a special individual that falls in love too easily, with strangers (Connor)!
Nancy Krulik is such a fantastic author, she's able to use everyday living experience as a stress out teenager and make their love story so realistic at the same time unrealistic. Normal people, wont date people that they dont know that well, but the way Nancy Krulik created Alana, makes Alana a special individual that falls in love too easily, with strangers (Connor)!
August 26, 2011
The book starts off as an introduction to a girl, Alana, who is a dog-sitter, finding it how the rich treat their dogs as being ridiculous. That is because, the dogs are fed steaks, only bottled water and trested to spas and other luxuries that she feels some others are not able to get. In her job she meets Connor who turns out to be the son of one of the rich families she dog-sits for. She soon breaks up with her boyfriend to be with him but is sad when she finds out that Connor is part of the rich people she doesn't like. This book ends with them being together. I felt that this book was a quick read and definitely more interesting than the required reading books for school, but I felt that this book's plot was predictable and even though that I thought it was interesting, I hoped for a different twist in the book.
June 7, 2010
My sister gave me this book to read. The book itself was short and simple so I read it fairly quickly and was really disappointed with the story. I like cheesy romance stories, but this went way overboard. It was completely predictable! The title, Puppy Love, is not enough indication to how corny this book was! The characters were overplayed and there was no real conflict in the story. It's an understatement to say that it was dorky. I didn't hate this book, but I don't plan on reading it again. I would recommend this book to everyone that likes typical romantic comedies that are an easy-read.
April 2, 2012
OMG OMG OMG! MY BOOK HAS HALF OF THE PAGE MISSING! CAN ANYONE EMAIL OR MESSAGE ME PG. 167!?!?!?! AN ENTIRE VERTICLE HALF OF THAT PAGE IS MISSING! CAN ANYONE HELP ME!?!? I CAN'T CONTINUE WITH A HALF A PAGE MISSING! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! I DON'T SKIP ENTIRE SECTIONS OF BOOKS! So if you have the book can you give me the writing on the page so I can keep reading it!
Oh well I'm done, but I didn't get that page. It was still totally predictable! I loved it, but the printing press messed the whole book up for me.
Oh well I'm done, but I didn't get that page. It was still totally predictable! I loved it, but the printing press messed the whole book up for me.
April 17, 2010
Despite the misleading back cover (again) I adored this book. Super cute and fun. I loved the dogs, the characters, and the plot. Alana is a great character, who is a bit of a snob when it comes to rich people, but aren't all poor people. I know I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to snobish rich people. Alana is a fun main character, who doesn't play a lot of games, has believeable problems, and is totally relatable. My favorite of all Simon Romantic Comedies.
May 3, 2016
Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies are always a fun read. These books are not necessarily the best written novels but the stories are always fun and you know you will get a happy ending. I think some adult romances could take a note from these books b/c they are characterized well which is much of the battle in writing any novel since you want your characters, for the most part, to be endearing and relatable.
September 2, 2009
Book 6: Now this was a good book I liked this book because it is something that I was really interested in. This book is about a girl who is in high school and her college boyfriend. In this book this girl is a dog walker and is trying to raise money to get ready for college since its her last year in high school.
July 7, 2012
Why do I keep doing this to myself!? Better than the other ones in 'romantic comedy' but it.... it.....paa, it just didn't work for me. Some parts I haad to skip through but its pretty clean. Sadly (for me) I caught myself tearing up a little. Oh well. And me being me, I'm on the search for another 'romantic comedy' to call my own.
June 3, 2013
This series of books is mainly love stories, but they are fun to read. I enjoy them a lot. I think that it was pretty entertaining to read about a girl walking dogs and falling in love. I dont have a favorite part because it was hard to choose, I think that the life of the character makes this book so lovable and fun. I would recommend it to anyone.
June 21, 2013
This book in all honesty was all that I thought it would be, and I love reading the Simon Romantic comedies. I don't really know what it was but t just didn't have the right zazz that the other books did. The ending was way more predictable than I would have liked but I definitely loved the romance.
April 15, 2009
I like this book because it is about a girl that walkes dogs in the city. Also she has to take care of them and if someting happen to a dog shes in truble.You would like this book if you like books about dogs and pets.You could find this book in a public libery.
August 7, 2010
Totally predictable, poorly written, and boring... Man, that is harsh...
October 27, 2010
It was soooo good! And the ending is so sweet!
January 31, 2011
aww... near the end it was so emotional, i loved it. even though i skipped ahead alot.
June 19, 2011
great for a one day read! Couldn't put down the cute a quirky little book. If you love this one the series is great!!
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August 6, 2011Cute, little romance aimed at teens. Rather formulaic but surprising enjoyable if you just want a change of pace or a light romance/teen fluff.
September 8, 2012
Love. IT!!!! It's really cute.
January 11, 2019
Just something cute and sweet.
August 16, 2012
Love this book it is really good if you like romance books this is the one to read.
February 25, 2013
This was cute as always-these books always make fun, easy, and sweet reads!
April 22, 2013
really good, but i was a bit disappointed that the book's main problem was stated and solved in the last 30 pages
June 16, 2013
Happy ending, but it was maybe just a little too generic
February 13, 2014
Cute, light romantic comedy. I enjoy the romantic comedies for teens from Simon Pulse. They are clean, fun, quick reads.
August 5, 2014
He was nice enough not great I always want more when reading these books but it was a sweet and simple love story.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews