ARC Review: Hush, Puppy (The Dogmothers #4)

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.