Sarra Manning is an author I’ve read before. YA contemporary, adult romance and chick-lit. I obviously prefer the chick-lit though this very cutesy book definitely sits firmly within romance.
Rescue Me follows Margot and Will who after running into eachother at a kennel wind up adopting Blossom, an adorable Staffie together. Having her a week each, they wind up spending time together and slowly falling for eachother.
I wanted to read this book the moment I heard the concept. Shared love for a dog bringing two people together? It’s perfect. And Blossom was a perfectly adorable dog. In fact, she was probably my favourite thing about the book.
The human characters were okay. Will and Margot have both been through a lot and it’s made life difficult for them at times. But it didn’t really feel like I got to know them that well even knowing these massive secrets. And that seems to be a theme for all the characters. Will’s family pop up a lot and though I cared for them whilst reading it some of the things were solved without feeling like much went into them. You constantly hear about Sage needing to go to uni and her not wanting to but that’s basically it. I would’ve liked a few scenes seeing her work things out. And then on Margot’s side it’s mostly her, Will and Blossom and I just wasn’t sure.
Still, it was nice to see the effects of grief, abuse and even mistreatment of animals portrayed so well. It was done sensitively and I teared up a few times. I didn’t outright cry but it was emotional. You see that with support, therapy and talking things through you can grow past these things. But if they still have a negative impact on you now and then, that’s fine too. It doesn’t make you any less and I really enjoyed that.
I didn’t really care much about the romance. Don’t get me wrong, it was cute, but when they started to have problems I was rolling my eyes. I already said that this book makes communication out to be important. And yet you still get them not talking and listening when things go wrong. Sigh. I know there has to be some drama but it was particularly frustrating in this book.
This is definitely a book for dog lovers though. Blossom reminded me a lot of my own dog even though they’re completely different breeds and sizes. It made me so happy to see such a happy, playful dog throughout most of it. And it hurt my heart when Blossom was sad. She definitely was a good girl.
4/5 Stars
Lace and Dagger Books 