Cold Nose, Warm Heart by Mara Wells @MaraWellsAuthor @SourcebooksCasa

Posted January 23, 2020 by Anne - Books of My Heart in Book Review / 16 Comments

Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.


Cold Nose, Warm Heart by Mara Wells @MaraWellsAuthor  @SourcebooksCasaCold Nose, Warm Heart by Mara Wells
Series: Fur Haven Dog Park #1
Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca on January 28, 2020
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 384
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
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All Caleb Donovan has to do to redeem his family name is take a rundown South Beach apartment building and turn it into luxury condos. Easy, right?

Unfortunately, that would also turn the local dog park into a parking lot and the neighbors aren't having it. Caleb is faced with outright revolt, led by smart, beautiful building manager Riley Carson and her poodle, LouLou.

For Caleb, this project should have been a slam dunk. But even more challenging than the neighborhood resistance is the mutual attraction between him and Riley. It would be so much easier just to stay enemies...

Can Riley and her canine sidekick convince Caleb that what's best for business isn't always best for the heart?

I was excited to buddy read with Barb, at Booker T’s Farm,  because Cold Nose, Warm Heart has dogs and romance.  Dogs were in the story and important to the characters but I didn’t get much personality from the dogs themselves.  I really enjoyed the planning and ideas for the dog park.

I didn’t however enjoy the main characters. The power balance was typical with the rich guy and down on her luck gal. Even with Caleb’s family having issues, he still drives a Porche and has money. Riley, for having worked in the corporate environment did not seem very professional or aware of standard business practices.  I did feel for them as people who never had a positive experience in a romantic relationship, where someone cared about them. But the romance seemed to build without basis.

They also spent too much time on the dog park, rather than figuring out what was going on with the property and why it had such poor maintenance and was lacking in maintenance budget. Again, neither one seemed very businesslike.  Both Caleb and Riley should have been giving it a look.

I did really enjoy Grams’ spirit.  Lance was fun and felt much more real than Caleb. He was busy working and supporting himself. The other residents and those in the neighborhood were great. I loved Eliza and Sydney. I was happy Riley had some great friends.  Perhaps this is why she had the strength to figure out how to make things work.

In the Fur Haven Dog Park series, I am excited the next book is Lance!  I hope we will see how the construction goes and get an update on all our dog friends.

Anne - Books of My Heart
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • COYER Friends

Posted January 23, 2020 by Anne - Books of My Heart in Book Review / 16 Comments


16 responses to “Cold Nose, Warm Heart by Mara Wells

  1. I enjoyed buddy reading together even if we didn’t necessarily love the book like we thought we would. I do agree more attention could have been spent on the housing issues but the dog park made me happy so I’ll let it slide. The book was pretty problematic but like you, I think the side characters are great. And another pet peeve of mine, I know the dog on the cover probably represents Eliza’s dog and let’s be honest, he makes a pretty awesome cover. But don’t you think it might have made more sense to have a dog representing LouLou on the cover? Just saying.

  2. Jen

    Sorry this wasn’t a big winner for you. The title and cover are so cute! But sounds like you’ll be giving the next book a try.

  3. Sorry this one wasn’t better. It’s never a good sign when you don’t like the main characters very much. But at least you had fun reading it with Barb! 🙂