Lizzie Shane

Four Weddings and a Puppy by Lizzie Shane
Pine Hollow series #5. Contemporary romance. Can be read as a stand-alone. It takes place after book 4 and that couple is one of the weddings in this story. Friends to lovers troupe and Grumpy sunshine troupes.
Kendall Walsh is a wedding planner at her family’s struggling ski resort. The job isn’t her first choice of a career, but she’ll do her utmost to keep the resort running. She feels she owes her father for all the medical bills that were paid when her Olympic dreams came to a crashing halt. Having her rambunctious retriever doing everything he can to get to a wedding cake is a disaster in the making. Surprisingly, her childhood friend Brody comes to the rescue, catching the dog and saving the wedding. Kendall doesn’t know why he’s back in town when he should be competing somewhere. When he decides to stick around and help manage the resort, Kendall doesn’t know what’s going on, but it’s nice to have her friend back. Even if he seems to have walked away from his Olympic track career.

A multi-layered romance with chuckle worthy banter, a joyous puppy getting into everything, and underlying mental health issues for both hero and heroine. Her grumpiness is a bit humorous which is exactly how Brody looks at it. His laughing at her grumpiness and still being her friend, plus washboard abs makes Brody irresistible.
I enjoyed the surface flirting but really appreciated when Brody gave her the truth and when Kendall finally took a stand.
I’m enchanted and will have to go back and pick up the prior four books in the series.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley.… (altro)

In this particular PINE HOLLOW book, the heroine and the hero are reunited after years apart by a rambunctious puppy being rescued from harming a wedding cake. The childhood friends renewed their relationship, though with attraction sizzling between them. The heroine is a wedding planner at her family's ski resort, a career that she hadn't planned on taking until her own Olympic dreams were dashed after a career-ending accident led her back to making a living at her hometown. The hero is an Olympic skier who is questioning his own future and had escaped said life by attending a family wedding during this time. Through constant interactions, the heroine and the hero must traverse some weddings, a puppy, and their own personal issues before they could look onward to their own happy ending with each other.

This is a solid addition to the PINE HOLLOW series. Each book in the series can be read by itself, with enough information provided in each book about the series to not get lost. There are also some heavy topics being discussed in the book, so fair warning for upcoming readers to read the author's notes before reading the book. As an icon of the series, the animal characters are the best in each book. I really enjoyed reading about the mischievous puppy that stole the show in this book, enlivening the story a lot with its presence. The set of human characters were entertaining, especially when the book focused on friendship and the romance between the main characters. It would be nice to add more details in certain points to make smoother transitions in the story, especially when situations warranted a better resolution in my opinion. However, personal preference aside, this is an enjoyable read in the PINE HOLLOW series.

** Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions and thoughts in the review are my own. **… (altro)