Book Review: A Boy and His Dog

A Boy and His Dog

By Chloe Holiday

Published 2021

201 Pages

Hope Hernandez is nearly finished with her medical residency and ready to start a “real” life. But first, she has to get through a coveted rotation in Bear Creek, Colorado and beat out her competition to join Bear Creek’s ER staff, which would mean shift work instead of her current crazy schedule and time to actually enjoy life and a relationship. In the interim, a dog would provide perfect companionship so she adopts a retired military dog and moves to Colorado.

Bomb technician Grant Calloway is medically retired from the military after he and his dog, Mojo, are injured in an explosion. Not only does Grant lose his military tribe, but when he tries to get Mojo back, he finds out his best friend has been adopted. Not willing to lose his dog for good, Grant tracks him to Bear Creek, Colorado where he’s been adopted by a gorgeous doctor. Despite his attraction to Mojo’s new owner, Grant will do anything to get him back.

I’m not, in general, a romance reader. That said, I realized I’d been reading a lot of mystery/gothic/paranormal literature lately and needed a break. So while I’m not a huge romance fan, I AM a Chloe Holiday fan and I jumped on the chance to read an ARC copy of A Boy and his Dog, part of the All American Boy series.

While this is technically a novella, it’s still fulfilling. It’s a classic enemies-to-friends story that’s a tad predictable (simply because it’s a romance and you know there’s going to be a Happily Ever After), but the twists and turns to get there kept me happily reading on. Hope, like most of Holiday’s female protagonists, is a strong woman, trying to succeed in her career and balance her life. Grant is a wonderful alpha male that steers clear of jerk territory and Mojo…well, I wish I had a dog like that in my life. It’s obvious the author is writing about what she knows – the medical and military details are fascinating and I’ve added Colorado to my bucket lists of places to visit.

I’ve read all of Chloe Holiday’s books and most are stand-alones that feature reoccurring characters and settings. A Boy and His Dog is the first book in the Alpha Med series and I’ll be keeping an eye out for the next one. If you’re not familiar with Chloe Holiday, she has a wonderful novella free on her website (and it happens to be one of my favorites).

While I wavered between a four and five star rating, I landed on a very solid four stars which, if anyone who reads my reviews knows, is most reader’s five stars.

Until next time, thanks for visiting.

My rating system:

5 stars – Wow, I could not stop thinking about this book and/or I wish I’d writtn it.

4 stars – This was an awesome novel, I’d recommend it to friends.

3 stars – This was a good novel, I will look for more by this author.

2 stars – An okay novel, but I probably won’t look for anything else by the author.