This was another cute story by Amy Lane.

Carter has always needed to be rescued from his boring life, so when a youth shoves a dog into his arms outside the grocery store, Carter is in need of rescue. He has never owned a pet and has no clue what is doing. He is afraid that he will mess up and make the dog turn out horrible or even kill it.

Seth comes to the rescue but, at first all he see is a crazy person who had no idea what they are doing, but has he spends more time with Carter he comes to see the man underneath the crazy exterior. Carter needs to see himself as a worthy person before they can have their happy ending.

A great book with a great cast of characters, not only Carter and Seth but all the secondary characters as well.

3.5 doggie loving stars :)

Amy Lane wrote another awesome Christmas story that I couldn't help but love. Freckles is such a sweet story that made me sigh every time I turned the page. I wanted a story that would put me in a happy go lucky mood and sweep me off my feet via the magic of Christmas. This one delivered that feeling. Not as intensely as I would like but it managed to deliver none the less.

This story fell a smidge short for me because the romance is scant. I also had a couple hangups in regards to Carter. For such an awesome guy that anyone would be lucky to have he lacks self-confidence. He had no sense of his worth and overall awesomeness which bugged me because I was able to see how wonderful he is the instant he appeared on paper.

And lets not forget the true star of this story Freckles. I absolutely love this dog he is so stinkin' cute! To be honest, Freckles, stole every single scene he was written in and I know our MC’s had to be a little jealous. Freckles antics made me appreciate my own dog even more and you best believe Teddy ( my dog) received lots of extra love pats, treats and snuggles as I read this story.
Heartwarming, Fun loving fluffy awesomeness.

An absolutely enjoyable read :)

Just what everyone needs during the hectic holiday season: a story of love and puppies.
Let’s start with Freckles. Freckles is a small bit of fluff, described as a possible hamster but actually a puppy. She is apparently owned by a young boy whose father has instructed him to find a home for a litter of puppies before he, the father, has to take them to be euthanized. Wow. So cruel. Nevertheless, there is one puppy left and the boy offers to let Carter, who has never owned a dog, hold it. As soon as the puppy is in Carter’s hands the boy hightails it, leaving Carter to decide what to do.
Carter is a kind hearted lawyer, as evidenced by his unhappiness working for a firm that is only interested in money, not right or wrong or the love a family might have for their dog. So, what does he do with this puppy? He immediately takes it to the vet, where he encounters a vet tech named Sandy.
Sandy recognizes a dog owner novice when he sees one but when Carter says he wants to keep the dog Sandy decides to give him a quick overview of Small Dog 101 and sends Carter to shop for all the necessities while the vet examines the puppy. Diagnosis: a healthy puppy and a much thinner wallet.
The rest of the story has two parts. The first is laugh out loud funny as Carter and Freckles try to get to know one another and set boundaries. With Carter refusing to crate train Freckles this is going to get smelly and messy fast, but at the same time, very funny. As Sandy tells Carter, it’s never the dog’s fault.
The second part is the slow start but fast boil of an initially tentative relationship between Carter and Sandy. Sandwich in there a mentorship of a young woman who is starting a dog walking business just because she doesn’t know what to do with herself, and Carter trying to decide whether to continue being unhappy at his current job.
Delightful as only Amy Lane can do it. When Christmas is inserted into the story your heart will melt, if it hasn’t already while reading about Carter and his ball of fluff. Or is it Amy and her book of fluff. Whatever, this is definitely the right way to read your way into the season.

Absolutely adorable! This book cleared my acne and paid off my studnt loans. I do recommend.

This book was so darn adorable! Another winner for Amy Lane.
Carter was so adorable, having absolutely no idea what to do with a dog. And Sandy so willing to help Carter with all his needs.
I loved the inner dialogue. Sexy men and cute puppy! Winner!

Post goes live 26 Jan

I’ve definitely been in the Holiday-story mood so when I saw this offered for review, I jumped at it.

The story is structured well, but I quickly got tired of the dog poop references. Yes, we get it. The dog’s a puppy and can’t control itself. But seriously, I did not want to hear about her poops for chapter after chapter after chapter.

Of course, I’m also someone who doesn’t enjoy bathroom humor of a human variety either.

There was an odd juxtaposition of Carter getting pink, ribbony items for his tiny dog – a concept enforced by Hollywood which usually rubs me the wrong way due to its stereotypical nature – but here it was okay because Carter was in no way a gay stereotype. I thought the author balanced that out nicely. It was just another thing that made Carter a true 3-dimensional character.

I enjoyed Freckles. I wasn’t sure about Sandy at first. He didn’t make a lot of sense to me. However, once he and Carter started dating, I saw ‘into’ who he was and liked that man. I thought the ending was a bit too fast. To go from ‘we should take our time’ to ‘I want you forever, let’s move in together’ is a huge leap and it felt off to me.

That said, the story had a definite “Ahhhh” feel toward the end. The one thing that was missing – for me – was the large family get-together that was mentioned. I wanted to see Carter’s mom when she found out what happened. I wanted to see how Helena dealt with a real Christmas.

But this was the author’s story, not mine :)

The story, even with all the poop references, deserved 4 stars.