The most uplifting rom-com you’ll read this year – a fresh take on the friends-to-lovers trope, brimming with heart, joy and puppies!
Sera loves owning a pet shelter – even if it’s often tricky to make ends meet, and her mother thinks she’s wasting her life. Thankfully, she can always rely on her steadfast best friend, Toby, who just happens to be the local vet.
And then famous actor Ethan James enters the scene. After Sera ‘saves’ Ethan from a friendly German Shepherd, he confesses to a terrible fear of dogs. A canine co-star is all that stands between Ethan and the role of a lifetime – and he wants Sera to help him overcome his fear. As they bumble through a series of training sessions together, sparks fly and Sera’s surprised to find herself falling for Ethan. But not half as surprised as she is when
Toby starts acting like a jealous boyfriend.
Now Sera’s juggling six dogs, a litter of kittens, a horse, a sheep, and two men intent on outdoing each other. But she’ll have to figure out what her heart truly wants… before her life goes completely to the dogs.
Mix the joyous chaos of Bridget Jones with the heart and kindness of All Creatures Great and Small, and you have a sense of the treat you are in for with Sit, Stay, Love. It’s an utterly charming yet refreshingly grounded rom-com.
Set on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, the author’s stomping ground, provides a wonderful setting. One of the many qualities of Amy Hutton’s upbeat writing is her skill with elevating the everyday into magic.
Hutton is an award-winning television producer and writer of contemporary romance, with a gift for writing comedy. Without giving too much away, there’s a description of her protagonist, Sera, watching star-on-the-rise and current crush Ethan James in a steamy scene onscreen, whilst sitting beside her other potential love interest offscreen – it had me in stitches! And that’s the skill in Hutton’s writing; it’s joyous, companionable and has the ability to turn a grey day into blue skies and sunshine.
Sera is relatable and loveable, and each of the characters are likeable. This is a story about love, not about villains. Hutton also touches on the challenges of working with animals and their too short time in this world with compassion.
Sit, Stay, Love is a pleasure to read, generous and delightful. It’s impossible not to smile as you think of it. Read it with your favourite furry friend close by… or, in my case, on your lap.
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