This has to be one of the shortest love affairs I have had with an author’s work. Early this year I finally read Dog Days and loved it. It was funny, cute, and for a dog lover just adorable. So I was excited to see that I didn’t have to wait long for Ms. Watson’s next book. Out of all the books in my package I picked this one to read first, even over a more established author, but sadly this book didn’t wow me like the first.

Oversleeping is always a rotten start to a work day, but that is the least of Samantha Novak’s problems as her day progresses. As a paralegal, she is at the beck and call of her attorneys. So when Gene Camp, one of the managing partners, asks her to join him in an arbitration hearing, she picks up her bag and puts on her generic black blazer.

As a recently jilted bride, Sam is infuriated with men and their pitiful excuses. Listening to the opposing attorney belittle their client, Valerie Stonestreet, in the divorce proceedings, quickly erodes both Samantha’s tolerance and self-control, especially when Gene just sits there, saying nothing. Unable to keep her mouth shut, she ardently rebuts the opposing attorney’s statements. Of course, this flagrant break in protocol gets her fired with no chance of a positive reference.

Losing a job that she hated is not the end of the world. But losing the income that it brought in is, especially with her student loan debt. Samantha is panic stricken but attempts to look at this positively. Writing is her first love and passion. Could a door be closing and a window opening? She and two other woman write Unvarnished, a blog dedicated to ripping holes in the fantasy of true love, in the hopes that other women will learn from their mistakes. Samantha is proud of her article rebuking the drivel that the reality show, The Love Dog, is selling to the gullible public. Using her blog as an example of her ability, she sends her resume to Enchante, the largest women’s magazine in the country.

Two weeks later, as desperation begins to seep in, she gets a double-edged phone call. Telltale, a celebrity tabloid, is interested in her work. Since Enchante is their sister company, this is her foot in the door, except they want her to go undercover, and get the dirt on The Love Dog show. Still the money is outstanding, and would alleviate most of her pressing bills. Samantha is concerned about the ethics of doing this but convinces herself she is doing a public service for the naïve viewers.

Luckily, Valerie Stonestreet has an in with the show, and Samantha is hired on as an assistant to the show’s dog trainer. She will be helping to take care of Apollo, the canine star of the show.

After meeting Mason Hall, the host, and Apollo, the darling golden retriever, her second and third misgivings are harder to suppress. Mason is attractive, sincere and unaffected by the trappings of celebrity life. And he truly believes that Apollo has some magical ability to match up couples and mend broken hearts.

Apollo knows that he has a real talent for nosing out and giving love. In fact, every night he sends love to his favorite people and Mason is one of them. He also sends it to his owner Lucas, but it doesn’t seem to be working. After Kim, Apollo’s mom and Lucas’s wife left, Lucas changed. He is curt and abrupt with Apollo. Apollo doesn’t get tummy rubs anymore and has a strict regimen. Heck, he doesn’t have time to stop and smell the roses, much less the interesting shoes of the other employees. He really likes Samantha, but her smell confuses him. At times she has the same sour scent of fear as Lucas, but she is kind to him. More importantly though, there is a whiff of love coming from her and Mason. And if Mason thinks she is okay, then she must be.

Most of my issues with this book boil down to the conflict. While Samantha convinces herself to take the job, she still can’t quiet her conscience. Her quandary only increases as Mason shows an interest in her. How can she tell him what she has done? In my mind it was simple – just do it, before you dig yourself deeper in the hole. But this doesn’t happen, so the reader spends most of the book in Samantha’s head as she struggles with a solution to her predicament, and then, as that is not enough, because Apollo picks up on her mixed message, we then spend time in Apollo’s head as he wonders what is causing Samantha to act so strangely. The author’s solution to explain away her betrayal is weak, relying on the end justifying the means rationality. Maybe if the mea culpa had happened sooner than later, the author could have concentrated on the forgiveness and trust building aspect of it, instead of spreading out a weak conflict for most of the book.

There are some sweet moments – as a dog lover, I couldn’t help but be captivated by Apollo’s charmed ability. Still, overall the magic seemed very much diluted compared to Dog Days.