Title: Canine TLC
Author: Deirdre O’Dare
Publisher: Amber Allure
Genre: Contemporary Romance/Multi-Racial/Multi-Cultural
Length: Novelette (49 PDF pages/14k words)
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
A Guest Review by Aunt Lynn
One Sentence Review: An okay, but ultimately forgettable read centering around a Therapy Dog.
THE BLURB
While in the Veteran’s Administration hospital to recover from wounds, warrior Gary Sanchez gets a new lease on life from a visiting therapy dog. He knows immediately what he wants to do when he gets out of the hospital and back on his feet. With the help of Angie, a special rescue dog he adopts, Gary follows this dream…smack into a young doctor with a major canine phobia and a hard-ass attitude.
Doctor Mirman Hamardi has struggled and suffered to get his medical degree and build a life in his adopted homeland. Childhood trauma has left him with a deep fear of dogs, so when he sees one in his hospital, he’s ready to kick some serious butt. The man on the other end of the leash, however, is a different matter entirely. What is it about the handsome Latino that draws Mirman like a magnet?
Can Gary and Mirman bridge their differences and find a way to fill the aching, empty spot in their lives with each other? Only Angie knows for sure…
THE REVIEW
Canine TLC is part of this author and publisher’s fairly prolific Canine Cupid series, the first I’ve read of each. From what I understand, Canine Cupids are short stories with a dog at the center bringing the protags together. What drew me to this tale was the idea of Therapy dogs, something I considered for my Grace when she was younger as she has a fabulous temperament for the job, but Canine TLC ended up being a disappointment.
The story opens with Gary, a recovering wounded Vet living outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico, adopting Angie, a spaniel mix to train as a therapy dog. He recalls how he decided upon this course for his life and where his drive came from. In another part of Albuquerque, Mirman, a resident at a local hospital, is making the last of his rounds, reminiscing about how he got to this point in his life and how his mother sacrificed everything to get him out of the Middle East and away from their oppressive existence. Gary’s plan is to go around to local hospitals with Angie visiting sick kids and wounded soldiers, but runs into a problem when Mirman, who despises and fears dogs, creates a fuss. After he sees how his kids react to Angie, however, he reluctantly agrees that this canine therapy might be a good thing. In time, Gary and Mirman become a bit friendly, and after a party at Gary’s, move their relationship to a different level.
I liked the parts with Angie, the brief description of the process of the steps to become Therapy certified and the visits to the hospitals. And we get a good feel as to why Gary wants to do this (though I wonder what he did for income as it seems like he didn’t work outside of this project).
The problem I had was that I felt no chemistry or connection between Gary and Mirman, and their interactions stiff and forced. The blurb says “What is it about the handsome Latino that draws Mirman like a magnet?” and after reading the story through twice, I simply don’t see that. He notices Gary is good looking, but that’s about it, so when they finally come together toward the end, it wasn’t quite credible to me. Additionally, there is a conversation Gary has with his sister at a party where she tells Gary that she can tell that Mirman likes likes Gary, and I had to wonder what she saw that we — and Gary — didn’t. Additionally, I felt like they were two-dimensional and as such, didn’t connect well with them, nor was I really invested in them.
I think part of the problem is the short format for this story. I felt like it was only getting started when it ended, and maybe further interaction would have made me more comfortable with the characters — and them with each other.
OVERALL
An okay read centering around a Therapy Dog with characters that lacked chemistry that for me, will be pretty much forgettable once this review is posted.
Thanks for the informative review Aunt Lynn. I’m usually not one to enjoy pets as a co-star in my reading material, and this book doesn’t tempt me to make an exception.
I’ll leave it for peeps who like reading about pets…enjoy!
You pretty much do need to like dogs to read this series, Denni, so if not, you should skip it. Thanks for commenting.
I haven´t still been tempted by this series.
Thank you for your (first after) review 😎
Hi Helena.
🙂 I have a backlog of books waiting for review, so I’ll be working through those and taking on some after so that I review a couple time a month. I think. That’s the plan right now.
Hi Lynn,
I’m with you on this book; I felt just the same: it only just got started when it ended.
I’d won this here and was thrilled because I have two spaniels and they are so rarely portrayed anywhere in literature. I must say, the author did a good job with the dog. Angie could have been drawn after my own girl. But everything else in the book is forgettable.
Thanks for commenting as someone else who read the book, Feliz. We’re agreed, then.
Lynn
As you know, it takes a special skill to write short stories, and short stories with dogs are particularly hard to write because sometimes the dog steals the story (I reviewed one of these recently).
I haven’t read this book but even though I love dogs might give it a pass because if there’s no chemistry between the protags, what’s left?
Thanks for a very thorough review of Canine TLC even though the story might be forgettable. 🙁