Book Review: Like Cats and Dogs by Alexis Stanton

Like Cats and Dogs

Author: Alexis Stanton
Publisher: Hallmark Publishing
Publication Date: April 17, 2018
Kindle, 268 pages
Amazon   Goodreads

Summary
Laura is drifting through life.

Spencer has the next decade perfectly planned.

Laura loves her dog Frank.

Spencer pampers his cat Mozart.

Both humans have nothing in common, but when there's a mix-up with a vacation rental house, they're suddenly stuck together.

At first, they fight like cats and dogs. Yet they can't deny that opposites definitely attract. Can they find a way to share a roof without driving each other crazy...or falling in love?

This funny, feel-good romance contains a free Hallmark original recipe for S'mores Waffles.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review
Like Cats and Dogs has a very Odd Couple vibe. Laura is the Oscar to Spencer's Felix; she is messy and he's neat, she's a dog person and he's a cat person, she likes loud pop music and pizza and he likes Vivaldi on vinyl and is doing a raw diet. I love the opposites-attract aspect of this book, and I'm tagging it at enemies to lovers even though they're not really ENEMIES, but sort of, but not...?

I love the Laura and Spencer are both on a bit of a personal growth journey, and there's a lot of give and take and learning, both about each other and learning to love oneself. I love that they end up lifting each other up (but it's based on a Hallmark Channel Original Movie, so is that surprising?) It's a little tropey/cliché. They both rent the same vacation house and NONE of the hotels nearby accept pets/have an opening? Really? OK, fine, willing suspension of disbelief engaged... That being said, I really loved the personal growth both Laura and Spencer went through as they realized things about themselves and their pasts that were keeping them trapped, and then they both work to break free of the things that are binding them.

The bad: The last quarter or so of the book gets kind of messy, with him being mad at her and then suddenly fine at the exact second she's suddenly mad at him, and vice versa, which is lame and I didn't appreciate it. It also lost a star for me because they're sharing this house for two weeks and suddenly they're super in love? OK... Except SPENCER YOU HAVE A GIRLFRIEND. I don't care if your relationship is luke warm, I just don't appreciate a hero that lies to his girlfriend and then falls in love with another girl while he's in a relationship. Uncool. Also the epilogue events happened stupidly suddenly, which was a turn off for me.

Added back half a star for this bit of inclusiveness: "People of all genders had been matched together." Love the non-binary inclusive language there. I think there was also mention of a man and his boyfriend/husband buying some art that was super casually thrown in there, which again, I appreciated. It was enough to round my Goodreads rating up to 4 stars instead of down to 3 for the 3.5 star rating on this book. Honestly, if the epilogue hadn't been included, it would have been a solid 4 star read for me.

That being said, it was a fun read and engaging and well-written. This is definitely a fun summer romance for a beach read or a quick read while on vacation. Like Cats and Dogs is fun and light-hearted with main characters I found myself rooting for.