Animal Attraction
A double entendre! Avast! Etc! (I'm scheduling this very late at night please forgive me)
I know pets in romance novels can be controversial, up there with kids, so I thought… what if I found three books with not just one or two pets, but like a whole menagerie? All or nothing! Anyways. If you are an animal lover, these three books may hold a particularly soft and fuzzy place in your heart. Also, obligatory photo dump of me with cute animals at the bottom of this post.
The Wallflower Wager by Tessa Dare. Book 3 in my first (and favorite) Tessa Dare series features eccentric Lady Penelope Campion finally getting her shot at love. We’ve met Penny in the previous books, a strange little lady with a house full of mid-rehabilitation animals and a handful of permanent fixtures. We love her. She’s great. She has a foul-mouthed parrot and a two-legged dog who uses a little wheeled cart/wheelchair thing to get around and is always getting stuck places.
Gabriel Duke (who is not a duke, he’s just rich and ruthless) has just moved in next door, and is NOT amused with the menagerie on the other side of the fence. For reasons, he NEEDS his new ascension to the upper class to go smoothly, because BACKSTORY, and he demands Penny gets rid of her furry friends. Penny challenges him in return- she’s happy to let some of the zoo go, but Gabriel has to find them loving homes she approves of first.
This book is full of delightful shenanigans, adorable animals, grumpy new money dude/sunshine old money spinster, and more shenanigans. It’s fluffy, it’s fun, it’s Tessa Dare at her best!
Rating: 4.5/5
How hot? 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Love In The Afternoon by Lisa Kleypas. In this semi-Cyrano set up, we have Beratrix Hathaway, unmarried rescuer of animals very similar to Penny from The Wallflower Wager. Her best friend Prudence is nearly betrothed to Captain Christopher Phelan, off fighting in a war. Pru doesn’t show much interest in writing him, especially as it’s clear the war is changing him into a less interesting man (to her), so Bea takes over, writing as Pru to keep Christopher’s spirits up and their love story alive.
Of course, it being Cyrano, Christopher falls for the Pru of the letters, and when he finally comes home he’s confused how different the spoiled, rude Pru is in real life. HM. I’m sure they get married and it’s all fine and Bea isn’t heartbroken at all.
As you can expect from a Kleypas pairing, these two are so stubborn and funny and sweet and deeply in love and yet make it as impossible as possible to be together. This is a very epistolary book (letters!) so you know I’m already suckered in, and Bea’s eccentricities with her many rescue pets is much fun.
Rating: 4.5/5
How hot? 🔥🔥🔥🔥
No Judgements by Meg Cabot. Sabrina 'Bree' (no relation to me) Beckham is hiding but not hiding out on Little Bridge Island, Florida, from a toxic, emotionally-abusive ex. She’s waitressing at a cafe owned by island royalty when a massive hurricane sweeps through town, leveling the community and cutting them off from the mainland. This is all scary enough, but between flooding, structural damage, and the being cut off from the mainland thing, there are now tons of pets left alone and slowly starving without anyone to care for them.
Enter… Drew Hartwell, nephew of Bree’s boss, notorious rake, owner of many dogs. He and Bree end up unwittingly thrown together in their quest to care for the abandoned (and sometimes literally trapped) pets of the island. Is this accidental calling indicative of things looking up for both of them, or is their chemistry a result of forced proximity, inclement weather, and a shared love of animals? I think you can probably guess.
This was my favorite of the three Little Bridge Island books (it’s book 3 I think), but I’ll be honest, I was a little disappointed by my first adult foray into Meg Cabot, who holds a uniquely important position in my life as a reader AND writer! The Princess Diaries was the cornerstone of my college thesis on epistolary YA! And yet, what’s charming when it’s a teenage POV is slightly less so when it’s a grown ass adult. The first book of this series made me want to shake the heroine, which isn’t exactly a new feeling for a Cabot protag, but it was more frustrating than I remember it being. Have you read a lot of adult Cabot? Do you have a favorite? I’m genuinely curious, I do love her, but perhaps only in YA?
Rating: 4/5
How hot? 🔥🔥
Next week, I’ll be recommending books about romance authors! Gettin’ meta!
What should I be reading next? Let me know in the comments!
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Loved No Judgments, but DNF'd No Offense and No Words. I realized it takes a lot for me to enjoy small-town romance, which is why I preferred Cabot's paranormal and YA. As an adult, I want more spice, and that's okay!