I'm a big fan of the author but to be honest it wasn't one of her best. I can say you'll love this book if you're a big fan of dogs, as it's almost a love story between lesbians and their animal children. You won't be a fan of this book if you're not into the whole straight woman not knowing she's a lesbian, which I'm admittedly not. It would have been nice to have that in the description, just in case the reader is like me in that regard. 

That being said, it wasn't my biggest gripe. This book has a lot of character issues that I couldn't get past. To understand my rating, I'll go a little more in depth of those and warn of minor spoilers (nothing huge). 

The whole Mel role confused me. First thing was her views of "straight" women came across as super old school. I think it's a lot more common for people now to realize that sexuality is on a spectrum and it's very common for those who may have only dated men to discover an attraction to women. For Kass it's even more realistic considering she's barely dated anyone. To constantly put her down for that seems ridiculous and over the top. It made me not like her character at all. And then there was the whole bit where she would send women over to Jayden to seduce her. When it's mentioned several times that Jayden has no problems with women and can have anyone she wants, why would she need her best friend to send women her way? It seems like she does fine on her own..

Which leads me to the big issue with Jayden's character. These women are being sent to her BUSINESS where there are troubled children learning from her. That seems like such an unprofessional thing considering Jayden is extremely professional and worries about setting a good example for the children. Wouldn't she have freaked out and been pissed the FIRST time it happened? And this is such an ongoing thing that she doesn't question when it's happening? It just seemed like a ploy to get the two main characters to meet and character consistency be damned. 

Again I really enjoy this author, I just think the characters were lacking in direction.

This is a story with some interesting aspects, other are more common and  the ending it is a little bit rushed, in my opinion. The two protagonists have not been completely appealing to me. Kassandra is too fearful and insecure, given that her best friends are lesbian, she is completely clueless about her feelings. Jayden is the typical lesbian unable to commit herself but, she just knows Kassandra and changes completely. Their friends are quite anoying, the kind of support they give to them doesn't seem too wise. And the dogs sometimes are completely forgotten. Also, there are some situations too forced, to complicate matters, but perhaps the author intended to lengthen the book a little, maybe. In short, I think it's a quick and uncomplicated reading, not bad, not outstanding either.

Ronica Black wrote a sweet, funny, endearing story. Kassandra & Jayden each come from different backgrounds, but the way Ronica Black weaves in a story that has warm, humor and emotional connection is a delight to read. The story backdrop is set between a library and dog shelter. The author manages to weave in beautiful story lines with at risk youth that compliment the vulnerability and connection with Kassandra & Jayden.  I highly recommend this book.

While the prospect of a novel featuring an animal rescuer, the descriptions of her work running a shelter and the initial introversion of the character intended to become her romantic counterpart appeared to be an ideal novel formula, the final product lacked the thrust necessary to distinguish it from other recent releases in the genre.  Two particular detractors were the lack of context offered for Kassandra's social withdrawal and the need for more emotional depth from Jayden, considering her profession.  I wanted greater layering to the tale of the romantic development between the two, which Ms. Black has accomplished in earlier publications including "The Midnight Room," which was an unexpected favorite in 2012.

I’m a fan of Ronica Black. I like the way she writes, and that most of her books are a little different. I always look forward to one of her books, but I was a little more leery about this one. The few ratings/reviews already posted were not great, so my expectations going in were lowered. I did enjoy this more than I expected, but this book did have some issues.

Kassandra is a loner, but really enjoys working with kids as a librarian at the local school. Jayden owns a no-kill shelter for dogs and does anything she can to save them. When their lives collide, an attraction is instant. But Kassandra has never dated a woman, and doesn’t want to let anyone close. Is there a chance at a relationship or are they destined to be just friends?

I did like both characters almost immediately, but I found them hard to connect with beyond a very surface level. Jayden is supposed to be a player, but we see no real evidence of this, only are told by other people. I also didn’t get if she is such a player, why is her friend always trying to fix her up with women. You will see this fix-up storyline plays a large role in the book. Jayden doesn’t want to be fixed up. If she was such a player, you would think she would roll though all these women. I just felt like we are shown how Jayden is but told she is another way. When it came to Kassandra, she is very secluded and doesn’t trust anybody. Okay I can work with that. But the problem is we never really find out why. Something happened with her father and something happened with her ex-husband. Questions are asked what these people did to her, but she never really explains it. I felt like I was missing out on the link I needed to understand and connect with her.

When it came to the romance, it was okay. Parts I like, but sometimes I felt like their relationship was built on just physical attraction. While they worked together well and had similar interests, they never really talked. Not about anything deep, to really get to understand each other. I was just really missing a solid connection I expected them to have.

This book has some angst, some of it I didn’t mind, but towards the end, I was like WTH. I really think this final angst “issue” should have been pulled out of the book. The characters already went through enough; it was time to see them really connect and start a relationship. Instead it made me question if they should really even be together.

On a better note, I really enjoyed all the scenes at the rescue. I’m an animal lover so I ate these parts up. I liked that Jayden not only took care of the dogs, but she actually rescued them.

This book was actually on the shorter side, and I think that is part of the issue. I wonder if Black edited out some parts she had previously put in. This book needed more pages. I needed more about Kassandra’s background to understand why she is the way she is. I needed to know more about Jayden. I needed the two to connect more than just based off of physical attraction. I just needed more.

If you are an animal lover, there are parts of this book you will enjoy. I like Ronica and am going to assume this is just an anomaly. I want to make clear this wasn’t a bad book, just not up to the standards I am used to with Ronica.

An ARC was given to me by BSB, for a honest review.

I'm a huge fan of Ronica Black.  I've read all her previous work twice over.  This book,, though it's well written and the characters are likable, seemed to struggle a bit.  The romance was nice and the story was enjoyable.
There did seem to be a difficulty between the characters that made the story seem a little forced.  The book was more rational than I like when reading.  Don't get me wrong, I will certainly be suggesting this to my students for our book club.  I just felt the relationship between the main characters was lacking meaning or emotional sustenance.

ARC provided by NetGalley in return for an honest review. 

The romance and characters were quite enjoyable in this book but there were some aspects thrown into the story to build up tension between the characters and make roadblocks but it seemed very uncharacteristic for the characters as they were described and seemed unrealistic in some ways. It felt like a way to prolong the storyline but cost some of the credibility of it.

Jayden Beaumont is a lover of dogs. She is so caring and concerned that she will put her life in danger for the four legged buggers. jayden also cares about troubled young people. Kassandra Haden is a lover of her little furry Lula. When Lula comes up missing it is a race against time to find Lula before something unfortunate happens. Jayden to the rescue. Both women have big hearts and a love for dogs and young people. This read is about caring for others and finding love in the most unexpected place. A memorable scene is when Kassandra first meets Jayden at the shelter. If you enjoy a light-hearted romance with young people putting their life together with the help of caring people and furry dogs, then this is the read for you.

I’m a huge Ronica Black fan.....been a fan since In Too Deep. But this book just didn’t feel like a Ronica Black book to me. Her other books are very deep, raw, sensual, powerful, and real. This one was just okay. The mains were nice gals, one straight, one gay. Naturally there’s a connection when they first met. Kassandra spent the rest of the book denying her feelings for Jayden. There were some plot twists thrown in but they were predictable and contrived. The best part of the book were the boys they helped and the dogs. Overall it wasn’t a bad book but it just wasn’t what I’m used to from the amazing Ronica Black. I am looking forward to reading her next book.

This was not a bad romance but it wasn't a very good one either. I found several very contrived spots in the story just to create artificial tension between leads and in general. That made everything less credible, the leads less believable and appealing, and scattered the story all over the place. Too bad, the idea was a really good one with lots of potential.
Tentatively recommended if you aren't very picky about logical plots and believable characters.

Under Her Wing is an interesting title choice for a book about a dog shelter. Anyway, Jayden and Kassandra meet when Kassandra's dog goes missing and ends up being rescued by Jayden. Their initial meeting is an awkward and hilarious affair of misunderstandings that ends up insulting Kassandra and embarrassing Jayden. Despite Jayden's goofball antics Kassandra is intrigued and forges ahead. While I loved that both characters worked tirelessly to rescue dogs while nuturing troubled teens, I became increasingly frustrated with the seemingly endless amount of angst these two had to overcome to find their happen ending. Still, this author always manages to write a polished story with a solid plot and characters you grow to love and care about. And there's lots of puppies, and who doesn't like puppies?

Kassandra, a librarian, is emotionally cautious.  She is surprised by but reluctant to disclose her attraction to Jayden, an animal shelter director.  Jayden, initially misunderstanding the reason for Kassandra’s arrival at the shelter, comes on strong until she discovers the mistake.   While rescuing young people and dogs the women work through their emotional responses to the dynamic initial attraction.  As it evolves, their relationship is challenged by internal and external conflicts.  Though coming from different places in life, they both fantasize about the hot attraction and long for finding emotional comfort.  Good storytelling and engaging characters create an enjoyable read.

ARC provided by NetGalley in return for an honest review. 

I haven’t read anything by this author before, but I’m a sucker for books that feature dogs, so I thought I’d give it a shot. Unfortunately, I just could not get into it. 

The story is about Jayden, who runs a dog rescue shelter and Kassandra, a librarian who loses her dog. Well, that the catalyst for them meeting anyway. The story is all over the place and suffers from not picking a direction and sticking with it. There’s the rescue shelter, which Kassandra also ends up working at, and both women counsel teens, even though neither is a counselor. There’s also a stalker storyline, and Kassandra is also straight(ish), so it’s a first time coming out story.

The two women don’t actually spend any time talking to each other about anything that matters, their relationship seems to be based on mutual attraction from the first time the lay eyes on each other, but Jayden comes on like gangbusters in a case of mistaken identity (which frankly would have been creepy even if Kassandra was who Jayden had thought she was), and Kassandra hasn’t ever had feelings for a woman and isn’t sure what to do about them. There’s also annoying one-step forward forward, six-steps back situations where Kassandra or Jayden back off from the other for ridiculous reasons because they can’t be bothered to talk about what’s happening like actual adults. 

That’s not counting unnecessary side plots of Kassandra’s friends trying to set her up with a guy (the outcome of which you could see coming a mile away, even if a huge mountain was in your way), and Jayden’s best friend’s inexplicable dislike for Kassandra. The standard contrived mix-up at the end was just eye-roll inducing. 

The basic premise was interesting, but with so many tangents it was way too fragmented for me. There’s hints about Jayden having a murky past, but we never really get into it. Kassandra is either completely wish-washy or able to handle aggressive teens without missing a beat. I couldn’t really get a handle on either character, and as a result didn’t care about either of them.