Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read and review this book!

Something about this book caught my eye when a random email from Netgalley came through one day. Perhaps it was the Jack Russell on the cover, but I was instantly drawn to this book and felt like I had to read it. I hadn’t read the first in the series but I feel like this stands alone anyway. It was a fun romance, with two spunky main characters and of course a dog thrown in the mix.

Both characters have been unlucky in love, and both are trying to make good in their chosen careers with mixed success. Without knowing it, they need to become each other’s biggest cheerleader and support to become who they want to be, and not just work wise. There are a few misunderstandings before the HEA, as there should be!

If you’re after a quick and fun romance, this one might be your next read! I’ll definitely be looking for more from this author now. Five stars.

Sticking to my usual nonsense, it wasn’t until I was a few chapters into this book before I realised that I have read another story in this world. We met Ethan in “Sit, stay, love” when he was on the losing end of a love triangle. I was glad to see him get his own story and find his own HEA.

I liked Hazel and her specific brand of quirky. She wasn’t all that impressed by his celebrity or his dimples. That’s a lie. She was definitely impressed by his dimples.

I always froth on a book set in Australia, mostly because you don’t see a lot of them going around on Insta/tiktok. This one was even better as it was set in and around my home town! Tough they didn’t really mention anything local so it really could have been set anywhere 😂

Thanks to #NetGallery and publisher for a copy of this book.

Genre: Romance FM
Format: Digital
POV: Dual
Tropes: Actor/Dog minder, quirky animal characters, Aussie setting, we promise not to fall in love, it’s just casual.
Spice: 🌶️🌶️ /5
Age suggestion: 18+

A funny rom-com about Ethan, a heart-throb actor, and Hazel, a grumpy dog sitter. Ethan's focused on his career-defining movie, but Hazel, who just lost her job as a sous chef, takes on the gig to make ends meet. She finds Ethan annoyingly charming, but her aloof cat, Kevin, is oddly smitten with him. Their banter is witty and fun, and Kevin’s antics add a unique twist. This light-hearted read is perfect for anyone who loves a good laugh and a sweet, unexpected romance.

4 Stars

This was a super cute follow-up to Sit, Stay, Love about movie star, Ethan James, trying to move on from Sera and take the next step in his career.

Hazel, an out of work chef, takes up the position of Ethan’s dog sitter whilst he’s on set and the two become friends, confidents and lovers. But their lives start to move in different directions and Ethan and Hazel have to decide whether their love is worth taking the chance on. Is it?

This was sweet, romantic and cosy. A perfect read for lovers of rom-coms and especially for fellow Aussies looking for some closer to home scenery. This was a good time!

Ethan is filming his next movie and needs someone to look after his very anxious dog, Harry. Hazel takes the dog minding job after losing her position as a sous chef. Whilst not a fan of the film star, Hazel’s grumpy cat Kevin is.

This is a cute, light hearted romance with adorable furry companions and lots of Aussie romcom moments. Whilst not a huge of Hazel (lead FMC), it is a somewhat realistic look at two adults chasing their own dreams and ambitions in life after struggling with past demons. It may be that Kevin and Harry (dog and cat) are the real show stealers!

The book is told in third person and mayhap dual POV would have worked better. A slow burn romance, grumpy-sunshine story, with a touch of spice and much banter.


‘We all get a bit wrapped up in ourselves sometimes. I’ve spent most of the last year like that. You’ve got big stuff happening and I understand it’s important.’

I am not normally a romance reader but this one hit the spot.

Love from Scratch is a cozy little read. It focuses on a movie star and a chef who need each other in more ways than one. Not only does this novel contain romance, but it hit on topics such as facing your fears, being alone and being honest with yourself. It has a moderate pace making it a very enjoyable read. The best thing for me was it was relatable. Without giving spoilers, the characters felt relatable and easy to like. You understood at a gut level the situations they found themselves in.

This book ticks the opposites attract and forced proximity tropes with a sprinkling of animal cuteness, mouth watering food descriptions and amazing beach scenes.

I gave Love from Scratch four stars. It hit in all the right places but lacked that 5 star wow factor for me.

Second in the series but fine as a stand-alone story, Love From Scratch gives actor Ethan Jmes the happy ever after that he missed out on in Sit, Stay, Love. Ethan is a likeable guy, down-to-earth and genuinely nice despite his celebrity status. I loved his relationship with his rescue dog Harry and his dedication to being his very best at his craft. Chef Hazel Connor pairs beautifully with Ethan. She’s lost her cooking mojo after a bad experience which led her to leave her job in Sydney and move to Queensland, where she takes on dogsitting Harry for Ethan while he makes a movie there. I loved her relationship with Harry and with her cat Kevin. It was good to see how Ethan drew her out and helped her to believe in herself once again and lovely to watch these two falling for each other. This is a light, fun and quick read which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and Amy Hutton for providing me with an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

WOW is my first word! From the beginning, this was a charmingly hilarious story involving Kevin and Harry, Hazel and Ethan's adorable cat and dog!
Kevin is basically my spirit animal. He reminds me so much of one of my cats and Kevin's warmness towards Harry reminds me of the way that my cat only seems to like me and my dad (whom she seems to like more)!
Any story that involves cats instantly has me hooked so I devoured this! I also enjoyed the connections to Australia, something we don't see as often in the book community!

I think my biggest critique would be that there could have been more layers to Hazel's character, It seemed she didn't have much of a backstory while Ethan did and ultimately resolved a lot of his issues,.

Regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and would recommend it!

This book was marketed as “heart throb actor meets a grumpy woman” but I didn’t find Hazel grumpy at all, she was no nonsense but mostly optimistic and was a refreshing female lead. Ethan was a little bit too good to be true (even with his history/baggage) but I really liked him and he was humble enough to not come across as completely obnoxious.

The setting was great, I could picture the sunshine coast beaches and hinterland, nice to read an Aussie romance for a change. Both characters’ family dynamics were interesting, I didn’t like Ethan’s much.

My favourite character was Kevin the cat. Great name for a cat and his behaviour was so typical.

I haven’t read the author’s previous book but i don’t think that affected my enjoyment of this story. A good holiday read.

Thank you Simon & Schuster for an ARC of this book to review, opinions are my own.

I really, really enjoyed this one! I found the MC Ethan to be a much more genuine character in this book compared to sit, stay, love. It wasn't that I didn't like him, it just felt like in the race for Sera's heart, he just wasn't a very strong horse.

However, I really grew to love him and his kind heart in this one, he really shone. I also thought Hazel was a great FMC and I thought the dynamic between the two of them was great. The two of them together just makes sense, and the way they pushed each other to follow their dreams, even possibly at the expense of each other was actually really beautiful. There are far too many romance books in which characters give themselves and their dreams up just for love, but it's nice to know these characters got to have their cake and eat it too.
The side characters were great (we love Kevin, Kevin for MVP), the pacing was good and it was a very easy, engaging read


Overall, a book filled with many warm fuzzies that was super enjoyable, and I think any animal lover who enjoys a cosy romance with have a great time with this one.
My only gripe is that we had a perfectly good opportunity for an only one bed trope and IT WAS NOT TAKEN. Devastating.

A big thankyou to Netgally, Author Amy and publisher for allowing me to read the ARC of this book.

A enjoyable romrom. Loved the Aussie places mentioned as an Aussie. Definitely loved the male character and the female was good also, however I felt we knew less about her then that of the male character. The pets characters were a cute addition to the story. I enjoyed the book all the way through and was even smiling as I read the epilogue as it was such a happy ending for them both.

I will definitely be going to me bookshelf to read sit stay love very soon.

Recommend this to all rom com fans.

Thanks NetGalley for giving me a copy. However I did not enjoy this read. The plot was ok but it was far too long and drawn out. It was boring and I couldn’t wait to finish it. Sorry

When I read the blurb for Love From Scratch, I instantly fell in love with the idea of this flashy, confident, golden retriever movie star hero and this 'grumpy', reserved, black cat heroine. And I'm so pleased that from the very opening line, I fell head over heels for Love From Scratch and loved every moment of it. I was even more delighted to realise it was set in Australia!

After starting, I realised that this novel is connected to Hutton's debut, Sit, Stay, Love, however, you don't need to read that to completely understand Love From Scratch. It stars one of the main characters from that book, Ethan, but introduces Hazel, a down-on-her-luck chef who has had her confidence in her profession greatly shaken and has turned to pet minding while she recovers. When she agrees to an exclusive contract to dogsit Ethan's separation-anxiety Jack Russell terrier Harry while he films a movie, the arrangement isn't enough for Ethan, who has basically fallen in instalove with tall, glowering Hazel, who in turn doesn't seem at all impressed by his usual charms.

I love a golden retriever guy, so Ethan really worked for me. I wouldn't necessarily say that Hazel was grumpy, or that this was 'reverse grumpy/sunshine': to me this is definitely more that Hazel is the black cat to Ethan's golden retriever, and while he's used to dazzling people with his good looks, Hazel's 'type' is actually the complete opposite, which was really interesting to read about. I actually wondered if maybe Hazel was demisexual, since she really wasn't attracted to him at first (although she could see the appeal to others). I really enjoyed watching Hazel fall for Ethan, and overcome her prejudices, both about him being a celebrity and him being 'not her type'.

I also really loved Ethan's struggle as someone overcoming a dog phobia and working on a film set with three dogs. I enjoyed seeing his depths revealed, and his brutal honesty about not being the world's greatest actor and knowing that a lot of his fame has come from his looks, however he was still a hard worker, ambitious, and knew what he wanted. He felt the weight of the entire production on his shoulders as the lead actor, and he genuinely wanted to do a good job.

There's nothing angsty about this book. It's an adorable fluffy read with cute pets (shout out to Hazel's cat Kevin who loves Ethan but barely tolerates Hazel). The banter is cute, but I really liked the way Hutton wrote the growing attraction between the two leads, and how they definitely became friends first (this is part of my demisexual theory on Hazel), and how the book didn't just end once they got together, so we got to see them navigating the start of their relationship, too. There's also lots of food talk as Hazel falls back in love with cooking for others, so grab snacks while reading in case of hunger pangs!

A very cute story!!!
Loved the build up and the character growth.
Found the idea of him having a dog and her having a cat kind of like a ying/yang component of their relationship

After animal rescuer Sera chooses her best friend Toby in Amy Hutton’s debut Sit, Stay, Love, sunny-natured rising movie star Ethan James, gets another shot at love with his prickly dog walker, Hazel.

This book was sweet and easy light reading written in an engaging style. What was also refreshing was to read a rom com set in Oz. I also loved that Hazel was the prickly one, which was a refreshing gender reversal of the whole grumpy/sunshine. I love reading female characters that are prickly and go against a gender stereotype that women are a ‘softer’. Ethan was sweet and I liked we got more backstory about his relationships with his family. Though I was surprised he was more hung up on Sera as I never really felt any chemistry with them in the first book.

However, I felt like I was told more than shown and it was a bit too Insta-lust for me. Given Amy Hutton’s background is in TV I think this would work really well for the screen to flesh out the story more with actors to bring Ethan and Hazel more to life than in book form. I also think the final conflict was a bit flimsy, but I appreciate that they had that time apart to pursue their careers.

Overall this was a sweet and lovely read though the ending was a bit too cheesy for me.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster Australian and NetGalley for the ARC

When a book promises to combine my two favourite things, cats and food, then you know I'm going to read it!

LOVE FROM SCRATCH is the follow-up to SIT, STAY, LOVE (which is currently 99c on Amazon btw!) and follows the ever charismatic Ethan James as he films the sequel to his doggy rom-com. I enjoyed that we got to see a different side of Ethan and that he has come out of his shell a bit more. Truthfully he was a bit of a d1ck in SSL 🫣 but I had high hopes he would redeem himself in this one, and I was right. His relationship with his rescue dog Harry is super sweet and finding a dog sitter to care for Harry during filming set up the perfect meet-cute. Enter Hazle and her sassy cat Kevin! And yes you have to stay it like Home Alone KEVIN! 🤣.

The story is a cute rom-com to snuggle up with your furry companion. 

You can definitely read LOVE FROM SCRATCH as a standalone, but to appreciate Ethan's full backstory, I highly recommend starting with SIT, STAY, LOVE.

A cute light hearted read. Nice descriptions, likable characters. Definitely had me smiling at my screen and I would be likely to read the others in the series

I found this to be an enjoyable lighthearted romance. I particularly liked Kevin (the cat) and I’m not even a cat person!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a cope of this book in exchange for a honest review.

So this was a slow burn…. A very slow burn. This doesn’t usually bother me but the chemistry has to be there. Unfortunately, for me, I didn’t feel like the chemistry and pacing was pulled off as well as it could have been. The premise was fun and should have made a great romcom but it fell a bit flat. It wasn’t a bad book but also wasn’t particularly memorable. I do enjoy books with animals so Harry and Kevin were the stand outs for me.

Ethan James is an up and coming movie star, Hazel is a chef who has just had her world turned upside down with a horrible review. So the chances of their lives crossing paths seems highly unlikely. Until Hazel moves inter state to try and restart, taking some time out to become a dog minder.

The book is told is third person, I really think dual POV would have added a lot more to the storyline and allow it to flow a little better. It’s definitely a slow burn romance, with a touch of spice and a heap of banter.

I enjoyed the building attraction between the two main characters and I particularly liked how Hazel didn’t love Ethan immediately, he had to work for it. Their relationship is fun especially with the addition of the animals, but there wasn’t a whole lot that really grabbed me in.

Overall a quick easy Aussie romance