Tuesday, June 22, 2021

Review & Giveaway - - The Sergeant's Matchmaking Dog

The Sergeant's Matchmaking Dog
by Carrie Nichols
Small-Town Sweethearts - Book 5
Publisher: Harlequin Special Edition
Release Date: June 29, 2021
Reviewed by PJ
 



Let love—and a puppy—lead the way!

Former marine Gabe Bishop is focused on readjusting to civilian life. So the last thing he needs is the adorable kid next door bonding with his dog, Radar—and the boy’s guardian butting in. Addie Miller is afraid of dogs, so why does she keep coming around and making his heart melt? Soon, Gabe finds himself teaching Addie about the beauty of the human-canine bond…and becoming her shoulder to lean on. Could his new neighbors be everything Gabe never knew he needed?




PJ's Thoughts:

Carrie Nichols is one of my favorite authors writing in the Harlequin Special Edition line. Her heartwarming stories, especially those in her Small-Town Sweethearts series, are filled with complicated relationships, sweet romance, emotional depth, hard-won happy endings, and some of the cutest kids around, who are much more than wallpaper. 

In The Sergeant's Matchmaking Dog, Nichols gives us Gabe and Addie, characters trying to do their best while dealing with a whole lot of emotional baggage and determined to ignore each other. If it were left to them, they would probably never get together. Good thing they have Gabe's dog, Radar and Addie's little brother, Teddy to lead the way. Talk about adorable matchmakers. 

Once again, Nichols immersed me into the lives of her characters from the start and kept me invested until the happy conclusion of their story. She touched on difficult topics keeping both Addie and Gabe from pursuing a relationship but did so with a deft hand, exploring survivor's guilt, parental addiction, and parental neglect in a way that conveyed the seriousness of the topics while still keeping the tone of the book hopeful. She allowed her characters to grow, find forgiveness, and heal, opening their hearts to the possibilities of love and a life together. She made me fall in love with all four of them, especially Radar, a very special dog with a whole lot of instinctive wisdom when it comes to the humans he loves. 

While The Sergeant's Matchmaking Dog is the fifth book of a series and characters from previous books do make appearances, it can absolutely be read and enjoyed on its own. It has my enthusiastic recommendation, along with the other books in the series. 


Have you read any of Carrie Nichols' books?

Do you read Harlequin Special Edition books? Do you have a favorite author writing in that line?

One randomly chosen person who posts a comments before 11:00 PM, June 23 will receive a signed, print copy of The Sergeant's Matchmaking Dog

*Must be 18
*U.S. only
*Void where prohibited


8 comments:

  1. I would love to win this book. Like aspects of cute kids, dogs and survivor guilt trope. Thanks for the chance. I have not read this author.

    Many years ago I read lots of SSE - Suzanne Brockmann to name one author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This book sounds good; I am going to check out the other books in this series.

    ReplyDelete
  3. No, I haven't read her books! She is a new to me author, which I love finding. I haven't read SSE's in a long time but this one is going to take me back to them. It sounds wonderful and I'm sure I'll fall in love with Radar. Thanks for the chance to win.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I checked out Carrie's Amazon book page and no, I haven't read any of her books. I liked the blurbs for her books and they sound like books I will enjoy. I frequently pick up Special Edition books and have found few that I didn't enjoy. Tara Taylor Quinn is one I enjoy.
    Thank you for introducing me to a new author and one I think I will really enjoy.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I don't think I've read Carrie's books yet, but I do love this line! How fabulous!

    ReplyDelete
  6. No, I haven't read any of Carrie's books yet. I do read Harlequin Special Edition books, no favorite author so far.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I have not yet read any of Carrie Nichol's work.

    I do enjoy the Harlequin Special Editions line.

    A few favorite authors are RaeAnne Thayne, Michelle Majors, Christyne Butler, Christine Rimmer and Susan Maller.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is a new to me author as well as a new to me line of stories. I am a fan of stories which include dogs and the love between dogs and their humans.

    Y'all continue to introduce me to new authors and stories which tug at my heart. Thank you for that as well as this review.

    Hope everyone is well and safe and happy.

    ReplyDelete