Take a Chance on Me, by Susan Donovan

Take a Chance on Me (excerpt), by Susan Donovan generated a lot of buzz in the online romance community last year, and I'd been wanting to see what all the fuss was about.

A neurotic, hairless dog has witnessed his owner's murder, and it's pet psychiatrist Emma Jenkins's job to discover what he knows. Unfortunately, the dog has been adopted by Thomas Tobin, a pessimistic investigator who spends his life posing as a hit-man.

Emma soon discovers that the owner has more issues than the pet, and vows to steer clear of him. But there's something so appealing about Thomas Tobin and his imperfections...something so perfect...

From all I'd heard about Take a Chance on Me, I was expecting a LOL comedy. It didn't quite work for me in that sense (but then, my sense of humour is weird), but it did work very, very well as a steamy, tender and emotional romance. A B+.

The only thing I did find funny was Hairy, the Chinese Crested dog. Oh, that dog! The image of the little mutant rat dancing disco was incredible. I actually liked the device of giving him a voice and listening to his thoughts a lot.

The best, however, was Emma and Thomas together. After an awkward start, which I was a bit doubtful about, since it had Emma behaving like an idiot at times, because she was so blinded by lust, when they finally start getting together it was all very poignant and lovely.

Very enjoyable book. I'll have to see about finding this author's backlist.