A huge delight for me to today to share my review for THE TRUTH ABOUT LOVE AND DOGS by LILLY BARTLETT, and also share a guest post by the lovely Michele about something we all love and that’s book covers! Which cover do you prefer?! Never an easy decision to make, especially when you’re an Author and wanting people to pick your book up!
Here’s a little more about the book!
Four little words, uttered by her husband…‘Oh my god,’ he gasped into her shoulder. ‘Shannon!’There’s just one problem: her name isn’t Shannon.
Rewind six months and Scarlett and Rufus aren’t in the honeymoon stage anymore so much as the honey-should-we-bother phase. Desperate to get their sparkle back, Scarlett has plotted, planned and waxed more than any woman should have to, but none of it is working. Which makes it very hard to start the family they want.
At least her business is going strong, even if her marriage isn’t. She and her best friend spend their days tangled up in dog leads and covered in fur. Scarlett/ is the fairy dogmother, training hopeless pets like compulsive eater Barkley, impulsive Romeo Murphy and bossy Biscuit. Meanwhile, her best friend walks the dogs and pines for the man who doesn’t know she exists. Thank goodness the women have each other.
If only Scarlett could work out how to get her marriage back on track. But Rufus isn’t sharing his feelings with her. He is, though, sharing with her best friend. Her best friend, Shannon.
Amazon US link: https://www.amazon.com/Love-Four-Legged-Word-Michele-Gorman-ebook/dp/B01LW80PF7
Amazon UK link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Love-Four-Legged-Word-Michele-Gorman-ebook/dp/B01LW7UMO9
GUEST POST – all about covers!
How often do you pick up a book because of the cover? I do it all the time. It’s what makes me take the time to look at the description, read the first few paragraphs, and, if I like all that I see, decide to buy it.
So, is it any wonder that covers cause us authors so much angst? They might even make us more nervous than writing the book itself. That’s because writing is an evolutionary process. It takes months to do, plus there are many rounds of editing. But the cover is the instant, one-and-only first impression your book will make. It’s like getting ready for a first date with someone that you really really want to impress! You’ve only got one chance.
Every single author I know holds her breath when that email comes through from the publisher saying “Here’s the cover art and we hope you’ll love it as much as we do.”
So here it is: my one chance. These are the two covers we’ve chosen to make a first impression for The Truth About Love and Dogs. What do you think? They’re very different from one another, aren’t they? That’s because tastes in romcom covers in the UK are so different from preferences in the US.
I always ask my Facebook friends and newsletter followers for their feedback about my proposed covers, and the US readers mostly go for a photographic cover while UK readers love the illustrated ones. Does that hold true for you? Which do you like better?
Whichever cover grabs you most, I hope you’ll love the story inside!
Happy reading!
Lilly xo
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About the Author
Michele writes books packed with heart and humour, best friends and girl power. Call them beach books, summer reads, romantic comedy or chick lit… readers and reviewers call them “feel good”, “thought-provoking” and “laugh out loud”. She is both a Sunday Times and a USA Today bestselling author, raised in the US and living in London with her husband. She is very fond of naps, ice cream and Richard Curtis films. Michele also writes cosy chick lit under the pen-name Lilly Bartlett. Lilly’s books are full of warmth, romance, quirky characters and guaranteed happily-ever-afters.
MY REVIEW
What an absolute joy this was to read!! It mixed the fun of dealing with crazy dogs – and their even crazier owners! – with the more serious topics of a married couple drifting apart and how fertility issues played their part in putting a wedge between a husband and wife and how that put so much pressure on their relationship and friendships!
Scarlett is a dog behaviourist – she is the doggy whisperer! Although most of her work centres around re-training the owners more than the dogs! The exploits of both had me laughing out loud! And along with her best friend, Shannon, who is a dog walker, their business is growing nicely and all seems well!
But tougher times are just around the corner and when her husband, Rufus seems to find it easier to talk to Shannon about delicate issues rather than to his wife and it puts them all, especially Shannon, in a very awkward position. And when Gemma, Scarlett’s sister, falls pregnant it really devastates Scarlett and she struggles to cope with her feelings of jealousy which was totally understandable.
I raced through this book as it was just so easy to care about these characters and hoping that their lives could be put back on track and loved how sensitively more serious subjects were dealt with alongside the humour of dealing with problem dogs!.
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Books and Me! 