Get ready to laugh out loud with this hilarious romantic comedy featuring:
A grumpy firefighter who thinks his way is the only way
A bubbly yoga teacher who prefers to go with the flow
Adorable Dalmatians who swap places—and the chaos that ensues
An opposites-attract romance that'll warm your heart
Violet March and Sam Nash are as different as night and day and have been enemies ever since Violet accused Sam of dognapping her beloved Dalmatian. Sam knows that's impossible—for one thing, his dog Cinder is a well-trained fire safety dog who never steps out of line. Violet's dog Sprinkles, on the other hand, has never met a command that she didn't ignore completely, much like her bubbly owner. So when Sprinkles and Cinder accidentally switch places during the annual police vs. fire department softball tournament, Violet is thrilled by her dog's sudden perfect behavior, while stubborn-yet-charming Sam is horrified to find that his dog...

A Spot of Trouble

I Picked Up This Book Because: Judged a book by its cover and was not disappointed.

Media Type: eBook/Audiobook
Source: Sourcebooks Early Reads/Hoopla
Dates Read: 11/8/21 - 12/24/21
Stars: 4 Stars
Narrator(s): Angie Hickman and Chris Andrew Ciulla

The Characters:

Violet March:
Sam Nash:
Cinder, Sprinkles

The Story:

Review to come.

The Random Thoughts: ( )

Adorable romcom ( )

Full disclaimer: I read about 50% of this book word for word and then heavily skimmed the rest. The author, Teri Wilson, lost me when the female lead character (I hestitate to call her the "heroine") didn't understand that some dogs ARE working dogs but that doesn't mean that they're loved any less.

Violet continued to be Too Stupid For Words for the remainder of the book, but honestly Sam wasn't always much better - who the heck can't tell their well-trained dog apart from one that loves to get into mischief? No dalmatian has the exact number or pattern of spots as another dalmatian anyway, but even if they looked incredibly similar, you should be able to get your dog to respond to their name, your voice, specific commands, etc. instead of someone else's dog.

And how the heck did Violet, from a family of police officers, not understand that tickets (even from the fire marshal) have to be paid due to the law?! That makes no sense. (Don't get me started on the elderly ladies who thought switching collars would be a cute prank to get Violet and Sam to fall in love... UGH.)

I get the impression that this book is begging to be made into a Hallmark movie - the author literally even MENTIONS the Hallmark Channel. Don't get me wrong: I do occasionally enjoy the mindless happiness that comes from watching Hallmark movies (especially at Christmastime.) However, I think Wilson would have been better off focusing on cleaning up her plot and refining her characters... Quirkiness is one thing, but when the main character is so naïve and self-centered to not understand basic societal concepts like working dogs and following the law, it becomes hard to root for her to find true love and achieve personal growth.

Sorry if this review is a bit incoherent... I'm sad that I didn't love this book more, especially since dogs were a major part of the plot! ( )

A Spot of Trouble by Teri Wilson was fun from page one! Cute Dalmatian dogs, an opposites attract romance, meddling senior citizens, a softball tournament between the FD and PD called Guns and Hoses, and a quaint sea side community all add up to a read that just made me feel good and put a genuine smile on my face. Sometimes we need books that are not complicated and gut wrenching, books that just make us happy. This book was that for me.

My sincere thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book and give my unbiased opinion of it. I highly recommend. ( )