An Unlikely Alliance by Toni Shiloh
My blurb… Jalissa runs an animal shelter. The mayor appoints Jeremy, a firefighter, with her to raise money for the shelter and a teen center, where Jeremy volunteers, or both will close. The problem is … she can’t stand Jeremy. Will her emotional support dog, Flo, keep her anxiety low so that they are successful?
My review …
When I read the synopsis, I was intrigued. Jalissa has an emotional support dog; I have an emotional support dog. One doesn’t find many novels that involve an ESA. The description didn’t convey how much anger and anxiety she had. I could not identify with her and frankly, didn’t like her. I felt for her but didn’t like her. Fortunately, she mellows toward the end.
Characters are a key component of any novel. I have already conveyed my thoughts on Jalissa. Jeffery has his own issues and has developed a way to deal with them through a smile and jokes. Jalissa finds that annoying and after he is described the SAME way multiple times by the author — I begin to find him aggravating too. There are other supportive characters, but other than sweet Flo (the dog), I don’t remember most of them.
I wanted to like this book but struggled to finish it. Overuse of the same words or phrases. One in particular–smirk. Jeremy smirked. The mayor smirked. He wanted to smirk. And that’s only within several pages of the first Chapter. The definition of a smirk is a “smile in an irritatingly smug, conceited, or silly way“. No one smiles. They smirk throughout the book or at least it feels like it. Another word overused was snark.
Another major problem was TOO MANY plot ideas involving Jalissa. All are good ideas but dumped on one character weakens each idea. Because this is an ARC review, I cannot list them other than the one stated in the description.
I feel the author truly wanted to write a story about how an emotional support animal can truly help a person who needs that support. But Jalissa’s anxiety and anger issues needed more than just Flo. She *still* needed to be in counseling. She had been in the past and given some breathing “tools” but she was in need of more help and to learn to lay that anger aside (which always fueled her anxiety). Again, I found this a weakness in the story.
The lack of research — each person in the animal shelter must use a hand sanitizer before touching a dog or a cat. My dog sneezes his little head off if sanitizer comes even close to him. Not only is it unpalatable to pets, hand sanitizer is toxic! There is NO WAY they would be using hand sanitizer. Research!
For all the above reasons … Rating: 2 stars.
I received a complimentary e-ARC copy of An Unlikely Alliance via NetGalley from the publisher, HARLEQUIN – Romance (U.S. & Canada), Love Inspired. A positive review was not required; the opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
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