A delightful holiday romance about a small-town single dad and an animal rescue owner as they try to find forever homes for a dozen lovable pups before Christmas. Pine Hollow has everything Ally Gilmore could wish for in a holiday break: gently falling snow in a charming small town and time with her family. Then she learns some Grinch has pulled the funding for her family’s rescue shelter, and … the funding for her family’s rescue shelter, and now she has only four weeks to find new homes for a dozen dogs! But when she confronts her Scroogey councilman nemesis, Ally finds he’s far more reasonable — and handsome — than she ever expected.
As the guardian of his dog-obsessed ten-year-old niece, Ben West doesn’t have time to build a cuddly reputation. But he does feel guilty about the shelter closing. So he proposes a truce with Ally, agreeing to help her adopt out the pups. As the two spend more time together, the town’s gossip is spreading faster than Santa’s sleigh on Christmas Eve. And soon Ben is hoping he can convince Ally that Pine Hollow is her home for the holidays. . . and the whole year through.
A Christmas with fur babies and precocious 10 year olds, winner, winner here!
I hadn’t read a book by Lizzie Shane before and this was awesome.
A great Christmas time read melded with the seriousness of pets needing furever homes just tugs your heart.
Poor Ben known as Scrooge really wasn’t a scrooge at all. Just afraid of loss and control.
Ally was amazing and just what scrooge needed, but didn’t know it. She made everything better in Ben’s mind. He just had to get past one big obstacle, himself!
Recommended read from me to put on an awww smile and a lighter heart
Ben West has become known as Scrooge. His life has been spiraling out of control since he became the guardian of his niece. He is on the city council to finish the term of his brother-in-law. He never asks for help and the list of things to do keep getting bigger and he is the only one that keeps saying no. Ally Gilmore is a professional photographer. She is back in Pine Hollow to help her grandparents with the animal shelter they run. She feels more lonely and in a way looking to find her roots. A letter arrives and a showdown is coming. Only from the first time they come in contact, the world has shifted. It is all the dogs that start to steal the story. Trying to get them all adopted and a rescue that is pregnant. Neither planned on falling in love but Scrooge is fighting it and Ally has finally decided what she wants. It takes an intervention to get their HEA
This small-town romance is a sweet holiday read, perfect for Hallmark movie lovers or dog lovers. Ally Gilmore goes to Pine Hollow to help her grandparents with their rescue dog shelter and then learns that the shelter is in danger of losing their funding. Despite their less than stellar introduction, Ben decides to help Ally find homes for the dogs. Of course, after spending time together, their feelings for each other begin to change. However, Ben is overly cautious because he is concerned about his niece, who he has guardianship of, and what might happen if things don’t work out with Ally.
Pine Hollow is a cute little town with a tight group of people (think Gilmore Girls’ Stars Hollow). The townspeople create gossip in less time than it takes to finish your coffee. They’re also adorably supportive of each other. I was expecting a fluffy easy read but was surprised at how this book also ties in some more thoughtful matter such as honoring a deceased loved one and figuring out your next chapter in life. The dogs in this book are all great side characters and I enjoyed picturing each of them with their unique personalities. The Twelve Dogs of Christmas is guaranteed to give you all the warm cozy feelings and holiday cheer for the Christmas season.
I also love how this book set up the couple for the next book in the series, due out in May.
Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for the free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The Twelve Dogs of Christmas by Lizzie Shane is an excellent festive contemporary romance that was hilarious, creative, warm, and fuzzy novel that put me in the Christmas spirit.
There are so many things I love about this book:
1. First off, I am a passionate advocate and lover of all canines, have furry babies here at home, and am a firm believer in supporting local animal shelters, rescues, and Humane Societies. So, obviously this was right up my ally (no pun intended haha). I loved that this book centered around a small town, Pine Hollow, Vermont, and saving/keeping the doors open on the much-needed Furry Friends Rescue that is owned by Ally Gilmore’s grandparents. The passion, love, compassion, selflessness, and drive this family had to help out these down on their luck dogs, touched my heart so many times. I loved it!
2. I love all of the character cast, especially the main characters: Ally Gilmore and Ben West (and Astrid of course…and Deenie, and Elinor, and Connor…). I really loved the complexity, the backstories, the strengths, weaknesses, and gifts that each of the two MC have. They compliment each other perfectly and seem to bring out the best in one another. I am really glad that both are able to overcome the difficulties they have experienced in life, find a second chance at happiness, both find a sense of belonging, home, and purpose and find love and acceptance within themselves and one another. I also think Colby and Partridge are some of the cutest canine characters around!
3. I love the adorable, quaint New England town. Its picturesque descriptions, businesses, inhabitants, and of course, decorations! There is plenty of material here to use for future books.
4. I love the dialogue. It is cute and romantic, but at the same time it is sarcastic, hilarious, witty, surprising, and the one-liners are just classic. It all balanced out so well to create a wonderful story.
5. Finally, I loved the end! Perfect in every way.
I love this novel so much, and to add to my excitement, I also find out that it is the first in a new series: Pine Hollow. Eeeek!!!! I am also now a legit fan of Ms. Shane!
5/5 stars enthusiastically
Thank you Forever/Grand Central Publishing for this copy and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.
I am posting this review to my GR, Instagram, Bookbub, Amazon, and B&N accounts immediately. Published on 9/29/20.
What a wonderful book! Lizzie Shane has given us pure Christmas and wonder in this book! Her Characters are so real that it seems like they could be your next door neighbors. So many Christmas books give you a plot and throw in an “Oh, yeah, it’s Christmas time,” but Shane went with Christmas all the way through. There was plenty of snow, Christmas lights, hot chocolate and even Christmas decorations on the dogs in the shelter that they are trying to find homes for.
Ben was a kind of messed up guy. He was so busy trying to take care of everyone else that he wasn’t willing to reach out and take love with Ally when it was right in front of him. His niece that he was raising was a delightful part of the book, but Ally really took my heart. It just didn’t seem like she had a place where she felt that she belonged. But hold on–Christmas miracles really do happen!
Another terrific book by Shane that puts your heart and your mind in the right place for Christmas.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book via NetGalley. All thoughts are my own.
Wow! This book is so wonderful! It is heartwarming, charming, hopeful, fun, sweet, romantic, funny, and so much more! Whenever I picked up “The Twelve Dogs of Christmas”, I was whisked away to the small town of Pine Hollow, and fell in love with the town and story!
This is the first book in Lizzie Shane’s “Pine Hollow” series, and I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I am to find out there will be more books in this incredible series! Ms. Shane truly knows how to bring a story to life, and her characters are feel so incredibly real. I feel like I got to know each and every personality, including those of each and every doggy (which I just loved!), and found myself rooting for these characters to find happiness.
Ben is the guardian of his niece, Astrid, since her parent’s died tragically a couple of years before the story takes place. He sometimes puts up a hard exterior, but truthfully is a very warm and sweet. He is afraid of letting those around him down, and puts other’s needs before his own. Never could he have imagined helping to find homes for the shelter’s animals would lead to possibly finding the person who can bring out of him what has been gone for so long.
Ally is sweet, spunky, loving, and has such a big heart. She comes back to town to help her grandparent’s run the animal shelter, only to find out their funding has been pulled. When she agrees to have Ben help her find homes for the remaining dogs, she never could have imagined what happened next!
(Possible Spoilers!)
I found myself rooting for Ben and Ally to find their happy-ever-after with one another from the start! The bring out the best in each other, and truly understand the other’s wants and fears. Though some moments are hard, they are able to work through them, and I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see if and when they would admit their true feelings for one another! You will just have to read to see what happens!
Also, the town’s ability to come together and support each other is simply beautiful and heartfelt, and brought tears to my eyes. From Astrid, to Ally’s Grandparents, to Deenie, Elinor, and so many more, this town is so full of heart, and it was just a joy to read.
If you enjoy contemporary romance, holiday romance, small-town romance, and / or love dogs, I highly recommend this book! So many moments had me smiling from ear to ear, squealing with delight, and simply swooning! I could not put this book down, and found myself picking it up whenever I had a moment to see what would happen next! No spoilers, but, I will say, the ending…SO MUCH SQUEALING!!
Thank you so much to Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the review copy of this novel, I just loved it! All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
This is a delightful read about a rescue shelter for dogs that has to close by the end of the year due to loss of funding. Of course, it takes place in a small town where everyone knows everyone. The story moves along nicely with interesting characters. One may want to clobber Ben once in a while. But he’s had fatherhood bestowed upon him abruptly because his sister and husband were killed in a car accident. He tries so hard to be everything to everyone. The lessons learned in this book should resonate with many. Of course, if the characters would just talk to one another instead of the whole town, the book would be much shorter. The ending was somewhat predictable, but it did have a few twists that I didn’t see coming.
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC for my honest review.
The Twelve Dogs Of Christmas is the first book in Lizzie Shane’s Pine Hollow Series. I loved this book it was the perfect book to get you out of this funk we are living in. This is the first book I have read by Lizzie Shane but it won’t be the last. Ms. Shane has written a wonderful story which drew me right in, making me forget everything else and did not let me go until I turned the last page. I loved how the author described everything so vividly I was able to visualize and feel everything that was going on. This is very well written has well developed and likable characters that you can’t help but fall in love with. This is the book that will put you in the Holiday Spirit. I’m excited to see what she has in store for us next! A must-read for book-lovers of small-town romance that includes cute dogs! I can’t wait for the next book in this series Once Upon a Puppy to come out.
Warm, adorable, and cosy!
The Twelve Dogs of Christmas is a tenderhearted, amusing rom-com that transports you to the small town of Pine Hollow, VT and introduces you to the overworked, broody Ben who is struggling to juggle a council position and the guardianship of his ten-year-old niece, and the kind, spunky photographer, Ally who will do whatever it takes to help her grandparents save their dog shelter and find homes for all the four-legged residents in need of a permanent family.
The prose is polished and light. The characterization is spot on with a cast of characters that are fun-loving, quirky, and endearing. And the plot is an irresistible blend of heart, humour, nostalgic moments, misunderstandings, family, friendship, tension, chemistry, attraction, spirited shenanigans, Christmas cheer, and a whole lot of puppy love.
Overall, The Twelve Dogs of Christmas is a heartwarming, feel-good, delightfully magical tale by Shane that I can say wholeheartedly is another one of my favourite holiday reads of the year!
The book blurb will tell you about the story and I won’t redo that in this review. What I WILL do is tell you what I liked about this book: To me, The Twelve Dogs of Christmas starts out with two people who are lost…in heart and spirit. Ally Gilmore comes “home” to her grandparents’ place in Pine Hollow – wondering if her life in New York City may be at an end. She loves her photography but she doesn’t have any roots there and it is starting to wear on her. She tries to use her time to get her head on straight and decide what to do with her life…AND help her grandparents with their animal shelter.
Ben West feels he is a fish out of water. He has become a single dad, almost overnight, to his ten-year-old niece when his sister and her husband pass away unexpectedly. He is trying SO hard to be all that he can be and to give his niece all that she loves and deserves. Along the way, he loses sight of his own inner heart while trying to be everything to his family and his town and his friends. And then he runs into Ally…literally!
I loved how these two went thru their days and learned how to just…be…a little more each day. There were missteps for both of them, that’s for sure! Some of them were funny: like when Ally was startled by Ben thinking it was actually a moose sneaking up on her. His response? “I get that a lot.” It’s funnier when you read it in the story but it made me smile. And don’t get me started on the dogs. Let me just say, Partridge. He’ll steal your heart.
Reading about Ben and Ally was fun and heartwarming and heartbreaking at times. People need to learn to take care of themselves, too. And once these two figure that out, they work together and become a wonderful team. Especially with the dogs. The twelve days in the town’s newsletter made me laugh out loud. Really enjoyed the story!
Ben isn’t your typical single guy, he’s the guardian for his niece after her parents have passed away, deciding vote on the city council, IT guy for the city and resident Grinch/Scrooge. Ally is a photgrapher from the big city who needs a change and comes home to help her grandparents run their dog rescue after finding out her grandmother was injured. It’s weeks before Christmas and Pine Hollow is trying to fund some projects only to have to cut the funding for the animal shelter. To lessen his guilt, he decides to help the shelter find homes for the dogs that are at there before the end of the year. Ally and Ben are attracted to each other but Ally believes Ben to still be engaged and Ben is committed to his niece and making a good life for her, also afraid if he gets in a relationship and it doesn’t work then that’s more loss to deal with. The town has decided that Ally and Ben are a great couple as they work together and start getting the dogs adopted. Unable to truly deny their feelings for each other or stay away from the other, they need to come to some understandings and figure out how they can make the relationship work and may even get some help from the people in town. Very quick and great read by Ms. Shane. She always has great characters in her books and she succeeded again with the ones in this story. I received an ARC from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.
A really sweet holiday story. Ally Gilmore has taken a break to come to Pine Hollow to see and help her grandparents. Little did she know that the rescue shelter has just had its funding cut and they have four weeks to find homes for twelve dogs before it closes its door. Ben West feels bad as he was the deciding vote as it was the only place they could cut funding to make major repairs left by a huge snowstorm. Because of this he has offered to help by posting pictures of the pups they needed to find homes for. Ben feels he is in over his head and because of that, he sometimes gets grumpy hence they call him Scrooge but know he has a heart of gold. Two years ago his sister and husband were killed in an accident and they had asked him to raise their daughter Astrid should anything ever happen to them. The story is clean and located in a small town where everyone knew everyone else’s business but also was there when you needed them, you just had to ask. If you like dogs, you will enjoy the pups in this story too. I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and this is my honest review.
The Twelve Dogs of Christmas was a really cute story about dogs, love, family, responsibility, and opening your heart. The activities to hep place the shelter dogs were so cute and clever, almost as cute as the dogs.
Poor Ebenezer Ben had a lot on his plate trying to fulfill his sister and brother-in-law’s shoes after they died and he became a guardian to Astrid, his adorable niece. He was always overwhelmed until Ally showed up in his life. It was fun to watch the two of them and to see the small town speculate that they were dating.
I really liked how the small town willingly came together to help each other when it was really needed. It gave the reader that wonderful Christmas spirit of hope.
This story will have your heart pulling for Ben, that he can somehow open his heart and let others in to help. It will also have you hoping Ally can find her place, her home and not return back to New York City where she does not want to be. I received an advance copy of this book and I willingly chose to write an honest review.
You don’t need to be a dog lover to appreciate Lizzie Shane’s The Twelve Dogs of Christmas, just someone who loves small town holiday books with all the feels. From grumpy, Scrooge-like Ben, the single guardian to his niece Astrid, a self-professed dog fanatic to photograph Ally, determined to save her grandparents dog rescue. These two opposites are fun to watch as they become friends after an accidental coffee mishap during their first meeting.
I appreciate so many aspects of this book. I love how Shane wrote Astrid as a well adjusted ten year old, still mourning her parents but not being that ultra bratty kid that I’ve read way too much of lately. I like how everyone in town is invested in a relationship between Ben and Ally, even as they themselves deny that romantic bond. And the dogs! Each dog has their own personality and the reader really gets to know each one, like we were looking for one to adopt.
This was a really great book for any time of year, not just at Christmas and not just for dog lovers.
I feel like I waited all year for this story and I didn’t even realize I was waiting for it. I loved this book so much! This story filled my heart and made me laugh and cry. I was immediately pulled in and loved how everything unfolded. There was an excellent build as Ally and Ben came together and I was caught up in the wonderful dialogue and amazing moments. And the dogs! Oh my, the dogs! They were the sweetest!
Thank you Forever for my review copy, all opinions are my own.
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Welp, that was freaking delightful. I mean, sigh. So stinkin cute.
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Let’s talk about what I loved…
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Dogs. All the dogs (I’m partial to the little old dachshunds Fred & Ginger tho).
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Small town
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Small town Christmas events.
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The small town square.
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Yes, small towns are my jam.
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How truly clean and lovely this novel was. I love some good steam. But some sweet sugar is also needed. This one was so sweet.
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The atmosphere was lovely, Pine Hollow is the perfect town to fall in love
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The Stars Hollow feel. I expected to see Luke and Loralei arguing on the town square.
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Knowing that there are so many characters that I can’t wait to meet in the next novels.
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I will absolutely recommend this one. If you love Hallmark Christmas movies….or Gilmore Girls….or even Virgin River….or Sweetwater Springs series by Annie Rains….this is for you.
This novel was the perfect antidote to a high stress week. Kids, dogs, and all the feels, it was exactly what I needed.
This is such a cute read and the title is so perfect! I’ve only ever had one dog in my life and that was when I was a teen but after reading this story, I want to go adopt a whole bunch of them! lol Every one of them had such a character and I could just picture them all in my mind as I was reading. I love Christmas stories that take place in small towns with all the Christmas traditions!!
Ally is at loose ends in her life and decides to go help out her grandparents at their dog shelter and maybe even settle down there but then she learns the town will no longer fund the shelter and it will close down in the new year. When she literally runs into Ben, the councilman who is responsible for stopping funding the shelter, she vows to fight it and him!! As they get to know each other, Ally discovers that Ben is not the Scrooge everyone thinks he is. He has a lot of personal problems, though, and it might just take a Christmas miracle to make him realize he can’t control every little thing in his life. Be ready for a slow burn romance, a dozen adorable dogs and a cast of characters that will have you entranced.
I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
I try very hard to not pick a book by its cover or title. That can get you into trouble big time. So often good books have bad covers and bad books, have good ones. But every once in awhile a cover or title draws you in and you have no choice. That’s what happened with this book. I just loved the title so much I had to try it.
Plus, I’m always looking for new to me authors so it was a win-win situation.
You have to admit the title is great. The cover is okay. I haven’t yet tried Lizzie Shane so I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I was thrilled to be starting a new small-town romance because those are really my jam right now.
I enjoyed both Ally and Ben. I had to work a little harder to warm up to Ben. At times he drove me crazy but by the end of the book, I totally understood. You feel for him and his situation. His life is tough but he’s making it tougher on himself. No one is doing that other than him.
I also later in the book felt for Ally and was really pissed at her grandparent for a minute or two. I won’t explain more because you need to read it for yourself to truly understand it. She’s a really great person who I think really and truly needed friends. It’s almost like she doesn’t know how to act around them when she starts to get them.
As a whole, this is a wonderful Christmas story that you’ll enjoy at the holidays. I will say that when the author introduces Ben’s friends the story got much better. They help to sell the whole small-town, grew up together feel. She needed to have them all interact sooner. I think it would have made for an even better story.
Even with that small issue, I thought it was a wonderful, heartwarming story that will bring you holiday cheer. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this one if you read it. Any of you read her?
This is a super small town Christmas romance story! I can easily say that because it fits my top requirements for loving a Christmas story. Pine Harbor has a number of special events throughout the month of December and that’s important to me because it makes the story very Christmasy. The characters all exude that special Christmas spirit, also important to me. The Twelve Dogs of Christmas by Lizzie Shane fulfills my #1 top requirement. This story gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling and made me smile a lot as I was reading. So, yes, this is definitely a winner in my opinion!