I did not like Nicole Hawkins. She made a brief and very unappealing appearance in a previous Gold Coast Retrievers story, and she left a bad taste behind. Becky Muth does a great job of trying to redeem her, even bringing in the prior couple to forgive and sort of awkwardly befriend her, but it didn’t work for me.

Her co-star in the romance, Arnold, seemed very flat. He was loads of fun in the previous book, and I was excited to see a story for him. I hate to say his pet stole the show (and it wasn’t even the dog co-star). In fact, the dog co-star is seen very little and there were times I wondered if this really fit in the series.

What I did like a lot was the positive message the book tried to convey regarding scarring and injuries. Nicole faces a lot of adversity after she almost dies in a fire and is horribly burned. The scenes of her dealing with the aftermath - while a bit quick - were heartwarming and allowed me to start disliking her a little bit less.

**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**