Life on the Leash Mini-Review

~~HOW CUTE DOES MY KITTY LOOK HERE HAHAHAHA ~~

When this book turned up, I literally had no excuses to read it as soon as I could because I was in a serious mood for some contemporary romance and animals can always make your day better. Little did I know this book would have me on the brink of CRYING. Yes, animals make us sad too. Because it’s been a while since I read this book but I do have some awesome general thoughts on it, today I bring you a mini-review 😀 (let’s be honest, my normal reviews are like essays, yes I’m sorry…not sorry).

Goodreads Blurb:

Cora Bellamy is a woman who thrives on organization. She’s successfully run her own dog training business for years, perfectly content with her beloved rescue pitbull as the main man in her life. She’s given everything to her business, and her lack of social life (or slobber-free clothes) has been completely worth it.

But all that changes when she meets Charlie Gill, the hottest client she’s ever had. The only problem? Charlie’s taken. Luckily, Cora has a new friend—the sweet, lovably geeky Eli Crawford. More loyal than a retriever, he’s always there to help Cora with her problems, including her love life. That’s why she’s shocked to realize that even as things start heating up with Charlie, there might just be a more-than-friends spark between her and Eli, too.

As Cora’s life gets more tangled up than a dogwalker’s leashes—and as she prepares to audition for a dog-training TV show that may irrevocably change her entire life—she has to figure things out before it all goes straight to the dogs.

Charming, witty, and warm-hearted, Life on the Leash inspires you to cheer for every underdog looking for love.

Rating: ★★★☆☆(3.5/5)

Never has a book made me want a dog more than ever but also show me how much work having a dog can be! I have a cat and having a cat is pretty low maintenance in itself – reading this book we’re introduced to Cora who’s basically a dog whisperer and trains them for a living. She was such a great and relatable character to read, she’s determined and strong, most of all such a kind and professional dog trainer.

Throughout the book, we’re exposed to many various situations with dogs and their owners, especially how those owners affect and treat their dogs. Some of the situations were truly heartbreaking and it was brilliantly written in that I was crying and just as desperate as Cora to help these dogs. As Cora is going about her business training dogs, we’re also introduced to the main plot (what I think is the main plot) and that’s her meeting two different love interests while trying to figure out whether she should audition for a dog reality tv show. One of the interests completely infuriated me while the other was the obvious perfect fit. The reality tv show part of the plot was interesting and really fit Cora’s character and personality, and I was generally hoping that she would be successful for it while reading.

I thought this book was really cute, light-hearted for the most part but there were, unfortunately, some downsides I personally didn’t enjoy. The main one being that the dialogue and the writing weren’t always cohesive and didn’t seem to fit the characters sometimes. Not sure if it’s just me, but it felt like the writing may have been trying a little too hard to make Cora and the other side characters sound young, super enthusiastic and ‘trendy’ when I think they would’ve been just as well-rounded characters without. I’m also not a huge fan of love triangles and going for the guy that already has a girlfriend, but I do like the way the ending of the book turned out and it actually created a pretty good character development for Cora.

I’d definitely recommend this book to dog AND cat lovers because I learnt a lot while reading this book, and flew through it so fast because it was such an easy read.

Do you own any pets?

Until next time,

xx Tracy

Many thanks to Allen & Unwin for kindly me sending me the review copy for this book at my request in exchange for an honest review.