Willow Wells is officially an entrepreneur. With the first phase of her dog gym’s renovation complete, and a success, Willow is ready for more. A doggie spa to be exact. The plan is to win an upcoming dog show, not only giving her the funds for the expansion but a national advertising campaign with the winning dog, Lady Valkyrie. Everything is going according to plan—and Willow can see the future … future in all its gold medal and dog grooming glory—until Terry Gib, Lady Valkyrie’s owner, is accused of murder.
Willow thought that Terry had come to Pineview just for training, but it turns out Terry has ties to the town; a painful past that links her to a local bed and breakfast owner. And now that owner is dead. As Willow races to clear Terry and save their chance at victory with Lady Valkyrie, the rest of her life begins to fall apart too. Wednesday is distracted, her father is anxious, and Griffin, the man she’s coming to depend on, is threatening to leave her—so he can woo her.
Now Willow is forced to make some big decisions: about who she trusts, who she should believe, and who she should date, before she loses it all forever.
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This was really good. First, the title fits the story & I love that. Too many cozies have great titles, but they have nothing to do with the story.
The main character is Willow Wells & she owns a 3 legged Chihuahua mix. That alone made me a fan for life. What an awesome message that sends! Especially since Tele, short for Telescope can run the obstacle courses at the doggie gym Willow owns. Would love to know where the name came from (Telescopes are mounted on tripods maybe?)
Another great thing is that Willow uses a refillable water bottle. These things are mentioned in passing, you aren’t hit in the head with them, but hopefully they will influence people to be less wasteful & adopt special (needs) pets.
The characters are very fleshed out & very real. I loved Willow’s relationship with her family, especially the friendship she has with her sister. The scene at the yoga studio towards the end was great. Willow’s sistr wednesday wants to be an internet influencer & the amount of time she spends looking at her phone versus Willow was a great ying & yang. Wednesday’s internet “job” was actually affecting her real job & I liked how that was shown.
The mystery was good & I didn’t have it figured out till the end. The best part to me was that nobody dropped everything else to sleuth. They still worked, spent time with family & Willow especially had love life problems on her mind at least as much as she did the murder.
Willow’s contractor is an old friend, & may become more. The relationship they have is very fun, with lots of joking & teasing. I really enjoyed their scenes together. That said, I think we need a new cozy category-cozy/romance because this book was as much sweet romance as it was cozy mystery. I really enjoyed it even though I rarely read romance. Don’t worry, there’s nothing graphic in the romance.
I intend to get book 1 so that I’m all caught up for when book 3 comes out. The characters are very real, with flaws you can relate to. And that you’ll want to root for & spend time with.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I had the opportunity to read the 2nd book immediately after the first one and I couldn’t pass it up. The first book was so fun to read, this book is just as fun to read. The relationships are developing nicely, my favorite character is still the tri-paw chihuahua Telescope. The mystery is well-written and plotted. I look forward to reading more this series in the future.
I voluntarily agreed to read a copy of this book supplied by NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own and in no way have been influenced.
Willow has finally got things on track and her business is doing well, now she is thinking of adding on to the business and Terry has finally agreed to let her train Lady Valkyrie and enter the competition, of course everything has to go wrong now. Terry is now looking like she murdered the B&B owner Kaitlin who it turns out she has quiet the past with, Griffin is indicating she would like more but she won’t acknowledge it and her sister Wednesday is off doing anything but what her Dad needs her to do so Willow does what she knows she needs to… find the killer! There are a lot of twists with this one and just when you think you have a good idea who did it another piece of information either comes to light or is explained away. This is a great fun read that keeps you entertained and enjoy trying to work out who did it and will Willow ever allow Griffin in!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Dog Training and Solving Murders
This book is the second in the series and is a wonderful addition. Our heroine continues to face her problems and achieve personal growth while solving a troublesome murder. The plot has several levels and it is tough to figure out the killer until the author reveals it. The characters are complex and interesting. The entire book is humorous and entertaining. So far, I have enjoyed all of the books that I have read by this author. I received this book for free and this is my honest review.