REVIEW: New York, Actually by Sarah Morgan

Posted May 31st, 2017 by in Blog, Contemporary Romance, HJ Recommends, Review / 8 comments

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In New York, Actually (From Manhattan with Love #4) by Sarah Morgan, London transplant and relationship expert Molly Parker has a rather ironic job running a blog giving advice considering that she’s never held down a long term relationship herself. And neither is she looking to do so. Besides, she’s already found the love of her life in the rescue dog she adopted, a Dalmatian named Valentine. But Molly is thrown for a loop when a man jogging with his dog in Central Park asks her out. Persistently, day after day. She has to admit Daniel is pretty handsome. And the way he treats his canine companion tells her he’s a caring guy. Thinking she can keep things platonic since Daniel isn’t looking for anything serious either, Molly embarks on a casual fling. But love creeps up when she’s least expecting it and she’s sure it can only end in heartache.

“Who hurt you, Molly?”
Her mouth dried. “What makes you think someone hurt me?”
“You live alone, your best friend is your dog and you avoid relationships. Those are the actions of someone who has been hurt. Badly hurt.”

Daniel’s done a lot of things in his life to gain the attention of a beautiful woman, but borrowing a dog from his twin sisters who run Bark Rangers dog walking service might just be the strangest yet. He’s determined to catch the gorgeous jogger’s eye and eventually does with the help of German Shepherd Brutus. But while their dogs get along famously in the park, Daniel can’t get Molly to agree to a date even though he can see she’s interested. So explaining his stance on relationships and assuring her he wants to keep things casual–he’s a divorce attorney, after all–finally opens the door. Somehow, though, the man who has never fallen in love and doesn’t believe in it for himself gets smacked upside the head with his feelings. And Daniel’s not sure how to break the news to Molly.

‘Their relationship had been one long sequence of secrets and misunderstandings. He’d thought it was time to put the truth out there and see how it went down.
It hadn’t gone down well.’

A jog in the park has never been so much fun or so romantic as it was in New York, Actually where our hero and his borrowed dog both became smitten with a standoffish Brit and her Dalmatian.

“I’m not used to sexual innuendo this early in the morning. Or men like you. You’re–”
“Cute? Irresistible? Interesting?”
“I was thinking more of annoying, predictable and inappropriate.”

I always have the best time with Sarah Morgan’s romances. Her characters make me smile and laugh and wish I was included in their group of friends. That goes especially for the cast we’ve had in her From Manhattan with Love series. Here we had Molly and Daniel who, for their own individual reasons, had an aversion to long term relationships but who had a strong connection from the beginning. I loved watching how things changed over time, so slowly that neither Daniel nor Molly really noticed how strong their feelings had become until it was too late and they were already in love. Their reactions were completely different–but fitting given their personalities–and completely entertaining to watch.

I had to chuckle as Daniel tried everything in his comprehensive dating arsenal to pin down cagey Molly. That tug of war between them to see who would give in first made for some comical and rather flirty conversations that I think readers will love. I was a little worried at first that Daniel was taking things too far by borrowing a dog to meet a woman but I was fine with the way it all worked out. I also enjoyed getting to meet his sisters Fliss and Harriet (Harry) better and I adored their sibling dynamics. Daniel was a really caring, protective, attentive older brother to his sisters and it balanced out his hard-nosed lawyer personality quite well.

I ended up liking Molly a lot. Without giving away her backstory, I will say that I think that even though she was an insightful person, she was a prime example of it being easier to give advice rather than to take your own words to heart. I have a feeling some readers may think Molly was a tad hypocritical about keeping secrets but I thought it seemed genuine that she kept some details of her background from Daniel. She had been hurt badly in the past, Daniel had as well in a different respect, so their relationship had that hovering over it. Although it was a slightly predictable outcome (I’ve read a lot of Sarah Morgan’s work so I kind of know how her stories are going to go) I thoroughly enjoyed the fireworks between Molly and Daniel. And I have a feeling readers are going to fall head over heels for cutie pie rescue dogs Brutus (aka Ruffles) and Valentine. *Loved* them!

From the first sweet chapter (it was SO cute!) to the heartwarming HEA ending, Sarah Morgan had me hooked bigtime. Part ode to Central Park, part ode to the joys a dog can bring to our lives, and of course all about the romance, New York, Actually will be sure to warm any reader’s heart.
 

Book Info:

Publication: Published May 30th 2017 | HQN Books | From Manhattan with Love #4

Meet Molly

New York’s most famous agony aunt, she considers herself an expert at relationships…as long as they’re other people’s. The only love of her life is her Dalmatian, Valentine.

Meet Daniel

A cynical divorce lawyer, he’s hardwired to think relationships are a bad idea. If you don’t get involved, no-one can get hurt. But then he finds himself borrowing a dog to meet the gorgeous woman he sees running in Central Park every morning…

Molly and Daniel think they know everything there is to know about relationships…until they meet each other that is…

 

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8 Responses to “REVIEW: New York, Actually by Sarah Morgan”

    • Michele H

      Sarah definitely has quite a following. 😉 Even though each book is very different–based on the couple–her writing is always solid. (Plus who can resist a story celebrating dogs, right? lol)