Troublemaker

by Linda Howard

[Berls]

So I've been hearing people rave about Linda Howard for the longest time... but I read a co-authored book of hers about a year ago and it was meh. So it took me a while to go for it again. But then this book came up as a book club read AND I could get it at the library. So that did it. I picked it up. And I really loved it.

Troublemaker is definitely a book for dog lovers. The dog in this book, Tricks, really should have a more prominent place in the synopsis, because if you weren't planning to read a book where a dog is easily one of the chief characters, you could be disappointed. I was not. I was thrilled. Tricks is fantastic and easily my favorite character in the book. But I liked all the characters. Isabeau "Bo" was great - I liked that she isn't stupidly trusting, but at the same time doesn't always see danger where she should. I thought I wasn't going to like Morgan, for a couple reasons. 1 - I'm not really a big fan of paramilitary characters and 2- at first, he seemed to not like dogs... which so doesn't fly for me. Thankfully I was wrong on both counts. His paramilitary status was just a part of him, it didn't overrun his ability to have a personality and be interesting... it wasn't all he was. So I liked that. And I liked watching Bo and Morgan fall for each other. It's a slow burn, which is fun - especially once the fire really does hit. The suspense was probably the disappointing piece and why it's not five stars. Personally, I don't need a lot of suspense. But when I pick up a suspense, I expect a lot more than this delivered. It was a couple of moments but otherwise, it was really just a fun romance set in a fun, small town, featuring some colorful small-town characters and hijinks. which I loved, just not really the romantic suspense I expected.

Long story short - I am officially sold on Linda Howard and plan to read more!