ARC Review – Loyalty, Love & Vermouth

Love, Loyalty and Vermouth by Eric Peterson is a contemporary novel about a man who comes home to find his dog stolen. This is the story of trying to find his lost dog but really, it’s a story about how much he loves her. I found it to be a very accurate portrayal of my love for my own dogs and gave it 4 stars. This title will be published on November 16th.

Goodreads Description

After a bitter and humiliating breakup, Charlie Vernon lives not-quite-alone in his Capitol Hill town house. He kept his beloved dog, Mamie, the cockapoo that he and Freddie adopted together, but he’s just arrived home to find he’s been visited by thieves…and they’ve taken Mamie.

For the next thirty-six hours, he and his family of choice—a pair of rhyming lesbians, a Georgia-born man who might be married to a sex addict, and the hostess of DC’s hottest Drag Bingo—will band together to search for Mamie. What’s at stake isn’t just a cherished pet, but whether Charlie will be brave enough to love anything or anyone, ever again.

My Review

This was such a fun read. The dog stories and love of dogs combined with a found family of gay men in DC came together beautifully for a quick, fun and in some ways, touching read.

I requested this on NetGalley because of the dog on the cover. She looks like she’d fit right in with the fluffy white dogs in my life. Turns out she’s supposed to be a blond cockapoo but she reminded me of my smart and stubborn westie who passed away almost a year ago. The way Charlie thinks and talks about his dog is just perfect and rang so true. He loved her completely, he called her “girlie girl”, he didn’t consider himself alone when she was there. It was done so well and I know other dog lovers will relate to Charlie and probably see other similarities to their own dogs.

The human characters were also a lot of fun. I didn’t love all of them or all of the side stories but they were overall a really fun group. But really, this story is all Mamie’s and she’s the star.

There were just a couple of things that took me out of the story that I didn’t love which kept my rating at 4 stars. The whole storyline with Bunny seemed like an unnecessary addition to have a little smut and I could have done without the whole thing (except they still needed Drag Bingo, that was gold). I also don’t really understand how the author wrapped up the story of the reward. It was an odd choice and felt a little forced and out of place, I just didn’t understand why it was ended that way.

Overall, if you love your dog, this is a really fun and quick read.

*I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.