I Hate You More

A golden retriever sparks a contentious romance between a former beauty queen and a dog show judge in this spunky, sexy rom-com. 

Rom-com fans will laugh out loud while reading I Hate You More by Lucy Gilmore (Ruff and Tumble), a fun opposites-attract story about a former beauty pageant winner who falls for a Type-A, by-the-book dog show judge.

Twenty-eight-year-old Ruby Taylor of Seattle, Wash., is beautiful--inside and out. Crowned a Beauty Queen multiple times as a child and teen, Ruby regularly competed and preened in front of judges, with a little help from her thrice-married mother. When Ruby finally gave up the circuit, she settled into a more fulfilling life as a nurses' aid, helping others at Parkwood Manor, a local retirement community. There, she and Mrs. Orson, a resident, bond over their shared affinity for reading erotic novels. When Mrs. O enlists Ruby's help to qualify Wheezy--a golden retriever, her late husband's pride and joy--for the West Coast Canine Classic dog show, Ruby agrees, not fully realizing what she's in for.

 

Rotund Wheezy has a little problem with obedience and an even bigger problem with bacon. Matters snowball when cranky veterinarian and dog show judge Spencer Wilson questions Wheezy's purebred status. This leaves Ruby and Wheezy to jump through hoops with training and dieting while waiting for blood work to prove Wheezy's lineage. Along the way, Spencer's identical twin brother, Caleb, steps in to train Wheezy. He's a fun-loving dog-trainer under house arrest--living at Spencer's while on probation for running an illegal gaming website. Meanwhile, the brothers face major territorial issues.

Gilmore's sexy, snarky rom-com takes the crown, humorously showcasing winning dynamics of dysfunctional families and quirky romantic relationships.

I Hate You More by Lucy Gilmore

Sourcebooks Casablanca, $14.99 Paperback, 9781728226002, 288 pages

Publication Date: November 2, 2021

To order this book on INDIEBOUND, link HERE

NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (November 5, 2021), link HERE

 

Truth and Other Lies

A provocative, fast-paced novel about a down on her luck reporter who returns home only to face startling, dangerous truths that upend her life.

In Truth and Other Lies, debut author Maggie Smith has written a provocative, fast-paced novel of Women’s Fiction about Megan Barnes, a lovelorn, financially broke 25-year-old investigative journalist who is forced to return home to Chicago, where she moves in with her mother, Helen. Intent on regrouping and strategizing the next chapter of her life, Megan’s plans are short-lived when she learns that her pro-life mother--once a housewife--has surprisingly decided to run for U.S. Congress. As conservative mother and liberal-leaning daughter lock horns, not seeing the world and issues in it in the same light, Megan is offered a PR job to help launch a new memoir by Jocelyn Jones, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer whom Megan has always looked up to. Jones dangles a carrot in front of Megan: if Megan can make her book launch a success, Jones will use her connections and get Megan a job at the prestigious Chicago Tribune. However, in the midst of the book launch, dark secrets--with tentacles--about Jones emerge on social media, which ultimately ensnare Megan and test her mettle. She is forced to question herself, the meaning of truth and her loyalties.

 

Smith’s propulsive, enthralling first novel is tightly plotted with political intrigue and features three, disparate female characters who each face thought-provoking, hot-button contemporary issues that will entice readers with ratcheting romance and suspense--and a heart-racing conclusion.

 

Truth and Lies: A Novel by Maggie Smith

Ten16Press, $18.99 paperback, 9781645382624, 360 pages

Publication Date: March 8, 2021

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