Val is a veterinary technician. She’s happy with her daughter and her friends and is hopeful one day she’ll be able to go to veterinary school. Whilst she’s happy she’s living a well organised somewhat rigid life and after some bad breakups isn’t sure she’s looking for a relationship.
Ronnie is relatively new to town. She teaches English at the school in town and helps with some extra-curricular activities. She has a background with animals from her teenage years and like Val is suffering from the effects of a breakup in her past. She’s also had addiction issues in the past.
I didn’t realise this was the second part in a series when I picked this one to read. I don’t think I missed anything by not having read Veterinary Partner – but I wish I had as I liked both Lauren and Callie whom the first book is about. The moments both of these characters appear are some of the better ones in the book so I think even though I wouldn’t return to this one, I will still make the time to go back to the original.
The book alternates point of view and the unfortunate thing for me about this was that both points of view were often just reasoning and feelings about why they shouldn’t be together. There’s a lot of stop start in their relationship – making this quite a significant slow burn.
I hadn’t read the blurb since choosing the book (a normal habit for me), so it came as a bit of a surprise to me how Ronnie’s addiction was introduced, as whilst we spend a lot of time with Ronnie clearly having issues with the idea of a relationship and failure in general, it isn’t explained why. I feel like I would have connected more with the book if it had been.
This wouldn’t be the first book I would think of to recommend, but I think it’s likely if you enjoyed the first part you’ll enjoy this one too and if you’re a romance and animal fan you’re likely to find something in this too.
I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
LGBTQ+ Reader 