You Lucky Dog (Lucky Dog)

by Julia London

An accidental dog swap unleashes an unexpected love match in this new romantic comedy from New York Times bestselling author Julia London.

Carly Kennedy's life is in a spiral. She is drowning in work, her divorced parents are going through their midlife crises, and somehow Carly's sister convinces her to foster Baxter--a basset hound rescue with a bad case of the blues. When Carly comes home late from work one day to discover that the dog walker has accidentally switched out Baxter for another perkier, friendlier basset hound, she has reached the end of her leash.

When Max Sheffington finds a depressed male basset hound in place of his cheerful Hazel, he is bewildered. But when cute, fiery Carly arrives on his doorstep, he is intrigued. He was expecting the dog walker, not a pretty woman with firm ideas about dog discipline. And Carly was not expecting a handsome, bespectacled man to be feeding her dog mac and cheese. Baxter is besotted with Hazel, and Carly realizes she may have found the key to her puppy’s happiness. For his sake, she starts to spend more time with Hazel and Max, until she begins to understand the appeal of falling for your polar opposite.

• ISBN10: 0593100387
• ISBN13: 9780593100387
• Publish Date: 25 August 2020
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: Berkley Publishing Corporation,U.S.
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 352
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780593100387

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

A dog mix-up brought them together, but it seemed like the universe was determined to keep them apart.

I thought the set up for this book was fantastic! I won't tell you the whole tale, because it was quite funny, but the result was that Max and Carly, two people who probably would never have met, were brought together via this dog mishap. There was that initial clash with Carly and Max having very different personalities and dog-parenting styles, but eventually, the four formed a sort of little family. Eventually all the together time gave way to more (as we expected), but family hijinks and career aspirations posed a threat to this budding relationship.

Quick thoughts:

• This IS a rom-com. Many have heard me complain about some books being slapped with that label and ending up a bit on the heavy side, but I would definitely call this a rom-com. The combination of zany antics, quirky characters, and humor kept it buoyant and I laughed quite a bit.

• Romance approved! These two formed a delightful union. The attraction and depth of affection felt authentic to me. Seriously, I was in tears at one point, worried about the fate of their relationship.

• The dogs. I could not get enough of the dogs. London did a wonderful job writing them into the story. They brought a lot of warmth and glee to the scenes they inhabited.

Overall: A fun rom-com made even better with two adorable dogs.