So K-9 romances are my catnip, which means Ethan, the Air Force hero of this story, and his service dog Sam should be right up my alley. Problem is that Sam appears in exactly one scene in this book, since all the action takes place off base and military service dogs live in kennels rather than with their handlers. Apart from that one scene, it really doesn't matter what Ethan does in the armed forces, only that he's a serviceman, because Isabella, the heroine, has vowed never to get involved with a military man.
Honestly, I'm afraid I got very impatient with Isabella. She blew hot and cold constantly with poor Ethan, changed her own mind all the time, and blamed her own hangups on everyone but herself, mostly her father, who seemed only guilty of trying to do his best for her. For example, she blamed him for not telling her about an old friend's death, but she's a woman of almost 30. Why was it up to her father to keep her informed and why couldn't she stay in touch herself with someone she claimed to care about?
Ethan had some annoying issues himself including massively overprotective instincts, which Isabella quite rightly called him on (no, you do not get to tell your new girlfriend to wait while you check her house is safe for her to enter) but then Isabella was annoying herself. Thinking that the need to compromise was key to a relationship is fair enough, but in the end she was the only one who made any compromises and she failed to notice that.
At the end of the day, I was mainly disappointed because this is part of a series called Man's Best Friends, and with a K-9 on the cover this isn't what I expected, so I felt let down. There were more issues with the story than just misleading marketing, however, and because of these I'm afraid this is only getting two stars from me.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for review through NetGalley.