BEAUTY AND THE WIENER – Casey Griffin
A Rescue Dog Romance , Book 2
St Martin's Paperback
February 2017
Romantic Suspense

Present Day San Francisco, California

Addison Turner calls her dog grooming business Pampered Puppies. She gets pure bred dogs ready for dog shows. The Western Dog Show is coming in two weeks, and she hopes before then to introduce her new service to her customers: Fido Fashions. That is just what it sounds like, fashionable clothing for dogs. She was on stage behind the curtain at a cocktail party after getting ten dogs (belonging mainly to her customers) ready to introduce her fashions to the guests—two legged and four—when she joins the party. Addison has dreams, and not just about her business. She fantasizes meeting that perfect man, so she looks around while talking with the bartender and suddenly sees a man who fits her dream. He's Phillip Montgomery, III, and he asks her to dance. When the time comes to start the fashion show, however, she discovers seven of the doggie models have disappeared from behind the curtain. Everyone blames her!

Addison loses most of her customers; so much for her dreams. The only bright spot is an invitation from Phillip to attend a fundraiser at his home. Three more dogs are stolen . . . . This time Felix Vaughn, the handsome bartender she has come to know in spite of mixed feelings, is also under suspicion. He is definitely not the Prince Charming who stars in her fantasies. But they both set out to solve the mystery and clear their names.

MUST LOVE WIENERS, the first in the series, is a book I thoroughly enjoyed. It took longer for me to really get into BEAUTY AND THE WIENER. It's full of characters to keep straight, many from book one. And as it's told only through Addison's point of view, that wasn't always easy. I also found Addison and her fairy tale fantasies hard to identify with. Luckily I persevered. There was fun give and take in her relationship with one of the men from the party, and the suspense over the missing dogs kept building.

The trilogy stars three girlfriends, Piper, Addison, and Zoe, all very different from each other. I can't wait for Zoe's tale . . . and all the furry tail-waggers.

Jane Bowers