Hush, Puppy (The Dogmothers #4)
by Roxanne St. Claire
Blurb:
John Santorini
has his hands full this summer and not just with Maverick, the wild and willful
puppy he recently adopted. He’s trying to franchise his business, he’s got
serious staffing issues, and his biggest investor still hasn’t committed to
financing. But all of those problems fade away when a five-year-old girl
pounces on his puppy in the park and pronounces him “Mine!” John can handle a
kid with a crush on little Mav. But he’s not so sure what to do with his
instant attraction to her mother, a beautiful young widow who brightens his
world the minute she arrives in town.
Summer Jackson
has come to Bitter Bark for one reason: to meet a man. But the man she plans to
connect with isn’t there. Instead, she finds two outrageous grannies who want
to marry her off, discovers an extended and colorful family that wraps her in
love, and crushes hard on a Greek charmer who offers her a place to stay and a
job for the season. John may not have been the man Summer intended to meet, but
his soul-melting kisses soon have Summer rethinking all her plans. He’s smart,
sexy, sweet, and his impossibly adorable puppy is helping her daughter overcome
her baffling speech impediment.
It doesn’t take
long before Summer and John are dreaming of the happy ending they’ve both been
denied. But when the past comes back to wreak havoc on all their lives,
Summer’s real reason for coming to town threatens to destroy this budding
little family. Will John have to settle for a Summer fling…or do the Dogmothers
have the recipe for romance one more time?
Themes: Contemporary
Rating: 4.5 stars
Heat Rating: 
Review:
Oh my goodness the feels of this story were
just too much at times but the end result was so worth all the tears in the
end. Roxanne St. Claire has definitely struck again with her Dogmothers finding
another set of victims for their matchmaking skills. Fans of this series, and its
predecessor The Dogfather series, have watched as one after another of the
Kilcannon-Santorini-Mahoney extended family have fallen in love and found their
match with the help of the family matchmakers.
This story revolves around the next Santorini to find love, Alex’s Twin brother
and the most logical thinker of the bunch, John Santorini. His life is just finally getting on track for
him to finally reach his goals and then the universe throws him a curveball the
likes of which he never could have planned for.
I loved every moment of this story and am dying to see what happens next
in the series, especially with a few of the kids we have already gotten hints
about pairing off, but I suspect we have a lot of craziness in store. There is an added bit of cuteness in this
story revolving around the relationship between John’s puppy Maverick and
Summer’s daughter, and while I can honestly say I am not a fan of kids and
especially don’t usually connect with them as characters in romance novels, Destiny
was such a sweet and vulnerable character, written as only Rocki can, that I was
roped into loving her as much as the rest of the family. This series continues to amaze and excite and
I am so thrilled for every installment and each second I get to enjoy and to be
fully honest once the last one has been written I can already see myself
planning a nice long week of binge reading the entire two-spinoff series
back-to-back just to relive every moment again.
John
Santorini’s plans are finally all falling into place professionally after so
many years of being put on hold and while his personal life is a bit lonely he
knows that he isn’t the kind of guy destined for a great love like the
emotion-driven members of his family. If
only he could get his new puppy Maverick to pay attention once in a while and
give him a break he could genuinely relax for once, but the little stinker is
forever getting him into trouble—until one day he leads him right into the path
of a child who will change his life forever.
Said child’s mother, Summer, is appalled when her sweet girl latches
onto a cute puppy in the town square and claims him for her very own, but the
man attached to the other end of the leash is beyond intriguing. John and
Summer both feel the connection, but with so much going on in both their lives,
walking away seems like the right thing to do, until fate brings them together
again at just the right moment in both their lives. Summer is in town on a
mission, looking for a man, but not the one she suddenly finds herself tangled
up and soon falling for, despite John’s appeal and the sweet way he treats her
daughter. Summer knows that she shouldn’t
get attached to John any more than she should allow Destiny to be attached to
Maverick, but the four of them can’t seem to be separated. When John’s entire world begins to crumble
around him, they both have to decide how much they are willing to risk to
bring happiness into one another’s life and if the greatest reward, love, is
worth the sacrifices they might have to make.
John
is like the only logical Greek man you will ever meet, driven solely by
spreadsheets, plans and the bottom line instead of the emotions, craziness and
love that drive the rest of his family.
He once gave up his goals and his love in order to do the right thing
for his family, but he finally has another shot to fulfill his dreams for his
business when Summer comes into his life.
He is a hard worker, but beneath all his logic, the sweetness and love
of his family and friends is truly what drives him. He is willing to give up so much of himself
and his own happiness in order to make sure that those around him are happy and
healthy and that to me makes him the most amazing of men, not to mention so
sexy. The way he is able to connect with
Destiny and draw out the little girl, giving her the confidence that she needed
was beyond sweet and seeing him forming a small family with Summer and her daughter showed me a side of John that we never would have imagined. In the end he really was a passionate,
loving, and determined man, one that is willing to sacrifice anything for his
loved ones. Summer has so much emotional baggage when this story begins that
she is weighed down enough to make me cry for her. She has been dealing with so much love,
guilt, pain, and fear since her husband died, but when she finds herself being
folded into the Kilcannon-Santorini Clan she quickly sees that having the
support of those that love and believe in her can lift her up. She is determined to do the right thing for
her daughter and do whatever she can to make it so that she grow and bloom into
the young woman she is meant to be, seeing her fall for Mav and John and
knowing that it might cause her pain in the end to be separated from them, but
that loving them is impossible to stop.
Summer also blossomed under Joh’s love and sweetness as she found her
footing and faith in herself and those around her again, standing up for those
she loved and defending them when an opponent comes to bring them pain. I loved seeing them both bringing out the
best in one another and becoming the best person they each could have been by
being together.
Hush, Puppy
was truly the sweetest and most emotional story I have read in a long
time; Filled with love, laughter, tears,
and ultimately the love of two people coming together to build a family from a
chance encounter. All of the love and charm
of this story is exemplified in the relationship between not just Summer and
John, but also the one between John and Destiny that develops—that love of a
father and daughter that so many overlook or ignore but that is so important in
any girl’s life. John is the perfect man to offer his heart to Summer, and Destiny,
with his deeply devoted sweetness and the love he showers on all those he
brings into his circle. His sexy brain
and charming thoughtfulness round him out into the perfect man for any woman to
love and of course the fact that he comes with an adorable puppy is not to be
forgotten. Summer has had a hard few years but she and her daughter are
determined to move forward in their lives and find a new balance—and a new
puppy—for themselves, but she has no plan to find a new man for herself. Summer
was the perfect lightness to balance out John’s solemn nature and bring him out
of his shell while John is strong enough to give Summer a foundation and pillar
to lean on which she needs badly. They
balance each other perfectly as the passion flares out of control
between them and the love grows swiftly and settles deeply into their
hearts. I loved every second of this
story, all parts of this story combining together to make the perfect mixture—a
sexy Greek sweetheart, a lovely smart woman and her sweet daughter, and the
puppy that brings them all together, rounded out with the huge clan of Greek
and Irish loved ones that support them all. I cannot wait for the next
Dogmothers story in the series and know that the very moment it becomes public I will
be the first one to beg for a chance to read and review it. Roxanne St. Claire
makes magic with every word she prints and this story is another spell cast on
readers for sure.
*ebook provided by author for the
purpose of an honest and unbiased review.
No compensation was provided.
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