Mutts and Mistletoe by Natalie Cox

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Thirty-one-year-old Charlie isn't in the mood for Christmas cheer...

Her boyfriend has left her for his personal trainer, her mother has absconded with her latest husband for the holidays, and--adding insult to (literal) injury--her London apartment has just been destroyed by a gas leak. Single, mildly concussed and temporarily homeless, Charlie realizes there's only one place to go: Cozy Canine Cottages, where she'll spend the season looking after her cousin Jez's doggy day care center. And if she's not exactly a dog person, well, no one has to know...

But her plans for a quiet Christmas in a quaint country village are quickly dashed. Peggy the pregnant beagle and Malcolm the anxious Great Dane seem determined to keep her up all night. A strange man has been casing her cousin's house. And where is Cal, the unbearably patronizing but disturbingly handsome local vet, when she needs him?

As the days tick down to Christmas, Charlie's life has never felt so out of control--but with some help from her new four-legged friends, she just might learn a thing or two about living in the moment, embracing the unexpected and opening herself up to love...

Source: purchased

Mutts and Mistletoe had been sitting on my bookshelf for two years before I picked it up, determined to get more holiday reading in. 

Charlie is seriously a girl after my own heart. I love her dry humor even if she's a bit down on Christmas. There's no particular reason for it. She was recently dumped by her boyfriend but even that hasn't necessarily messed her up which surprises her. She's prepared for a low key Christmas but when her flat is destroyed by a gas leak, she has no choice but to stay with her cousin in the London countryside for the time being. It's a drastic change of scenery for this city girl, especially when she has to share her temporary digs with several dogs. Her cousin, Jez, runs a boarding kennel, and dogs are definitely not Charlie's thing. Jez calls in a major favor of Charlie who's roped in to help watch after the kennel while the former goes out of town for several days. Of course, Charlie thinks it'll be easy peasey but what's the fun in that? Nothing calamitous happens; it's all interesting locals and ridiculousness that keep things funny.

I enjoyed reading this so much! I laughed out loud, giggled and shook my head at all the weird stuff. Charlie takes things in stride and her time removed from her normal surroundings allows her to think. One of the things I loved most in this story is her relationship with her father. Her family dynamics are strange but her connection with her dad is so touching. He gets her and tells her exactly what she needs to hear in that moment. There's something about his perspective that opens her mind and he does it quoting Kant! I was so impressed with their conversations that I bookmarked those sections because they resonated with me. Plus, they were funny, too.

Charlie doesn't set out looking for romantic entanglements but the opportunities present themselves. Her initial rocky meeting with local vet, Cal turns cute and flirty even if there's an absurd misunderstanding. Then another possible love interest rolls in who strikes me as such a quintessentially quirky character that I delight in and that English writers do so well. Anyway, if Charlie thought she was in for a quiet time, she was mistaken!

I'm so happy I finally read Mutts and Mistletoe. It was the perfect read to add to my holiday cheer and I want everyone to add it to theirs! 

~ Bel