Review: Love at First Date

Reviewed by Janell
 

This is a cute fairy tale disguised as a contemporary novella. Ellen, recently turned 30, is ready to marry and have two children. Her mother, now on her third marriage, has drilled into Ellen the mantra that compatibility is the key to a successful relationship. To that end, Ellen has joined an online dating service to screen out anyone who might prefer paragliding over walks on the beach, and to include only honest, successful men ready for marriage.

As the story opens, Ellen has narrowed her choices down to two matches. She is prepared to meet them face to face and begin her lifetime of shared goals and political views. But wait! First she has to dog-sit for her best friend, which leads to an evening at the vet, which leads to dog-training school and Henry. Henry is an unscreened, unknown, dog-rescuing, gray-eyed hottie in sweatpants. What should Ellen do?

Ellen forces herself to meet the two appropriate men, all the while daydreaming about Henry. Because he has nice eyes and a nice dog. What’s not to love? Over three nights of dog training she dreams, she doubts, she focuses, she despairs. In the end, everything works out, yay!

This is a short romance, I read it in about an hour. It introduces other characters who have their own full-length novels in the series. Based upon the writing style, the other books should be light, breezy, and fun. This story was pretty much building up to a kiss at the finale, so the heat factor was almost zero. I wonder how steamy the other books are? I probably won’t read them because I felt this story was too fluffy, too “waiting for Prince Charming”. But I bet my fourteen-year-old self would have fallen for it completely.

Rating: B

Click to purchase: Amazon

Love at First Date

by Susan Hatler

Release Date: October 31, 2012

Publisher: Hatco