Right so I’m writing this just as I finished the book, thoughts very fresh. Side note I didn’t know this was a sequel, but surprisingly, I wasn’t lost, at all. At the beginning you get a pretty good summary of what happened before the book started, you could even say it seems like a good standalone book. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing, you can determine yourself, I think it’s not the best thing since it wasn’t marketed as a sequel, but that’s also my fault for not looking into it.

Rep
Anyways, main character Bridget is described as half Inuit, with frizzy black hair, and here’s the thing, I would’ve loved to hear more about her Inuit family tree, but it was brushed off to the side. The only time it pops up is when she mentions that her love interest Wes is white, and we’re talking about white blonde hair described every time he’s in a scene or raises an eyebrow (I wish I was kidding), and she says he looks like an Alaskan Prince. I’m not kidding, I had to take a second to think about it, laugh and tweet about it. It was…a thing. But I won’t talk more about the rep because well, it could’ve been discussed more in depth in the first book, and since I’m not indigenous, it’s not my place whether to say it was well done or not!

Romance
Next up, the romance, it was pretty well developed, we get a nice strangers to kind of friends to lovers situation. The characters get to know each other and the readers get to see how their relationship slowly develops into something more towards the end. I can’t say I enjoyed the plot twist that turns their relationship off course. I won’t say what it was, but let’s just say it was an odd placement and sure in the end it makes for a fine obstacle, but it wasn’t my favorite twist.

However something I did like was that when it all went downhill, her friends were there to support her, and give her the right advice. Now I say right advice because sometimes the truth hurts, in a kind of non spoiler description, they told her that she should stay away from him until she gets the full story. Although at times, they may have gone over the edge with what she had to do, as oppose to what she should consider doing, but that plays into the fact that she was the one that was babied in her friend group for being the youngest.

Sub Plots
So there’s two major sub plots: college/career frustration and the grieving of parent loss.

First one, that’s more discussed is the parent loss, I liked how this was handled. It shows how the process is truly different for each person, and how it takes a very long time to come to term with such a loss. Bridget keeps a box with memories of her mom, and it becomes the physical representation of that loss, and how it affects her. Something that’s also talked about is how this affects your relationship with those who are still around, i.e. another parent and/or siblings. We got to see how Bridget was able to take decisions to better her life and better her friendships/relationships.

Second subplot, school and career frustration. This isn’t as important until the end of the book, but it’s still appreciated. Dealing with adults going back to school finishing up the last few years of school, or even starting a career for the first time!

Final Thoughts
So after so many good opinions, why is it only a 3 star? I feel like it was meh in some parts, like I said, I didn’t like the plot twist, I felt like I was just missing something, maybe a bit more conflict or a little bit more development for the characters. I also would’ve liked to see more of her family and scenes where she was alone just thinking about some situations.

A wonderful addition to the series and perfect for some friends of mine. A truly enjoyable reading touching on the themes of love and friendship

I haven’t read the other books in this series so I was jumping right in as Bridget moves into a new apartment with three dogs. She is having a very hard time getting over the death of her mother, but gains comfort from her friendship with the three other women she met in the cancer ward while waiting for her mother to die.

It’s as if there is a heavy veil of grief hanging over the whole novel. Bridget starts out almost paralyzed by her mourning. She is having trouble at her job working as a vet tech when there are dogs who have to be put down. She is in overdrive at her volunteer work at an animal shelter. She ended up adopting two dogs from there in an effort to get all the dogs adopted. Somehow, it doesn’t seem right to keep three dogs penned up all day in an apartment.

Her only light is the jogging she does with her mysterious neighbor, Wesley, who has two big dogs in a tiny apartment. Then she finds out Wesley’s sad secret and has to decide whether to forgive him from hiding it from her.

I just found it hard to warm up to any of these characters. And I kept thinking about those poor dogs stuck in their apartments.

I voluntarily reviewed an advanced reader copy of this book that I received from Netgalley; however, the opinions are my own and I did not receive any compensation for my review.

Wow! Melissa did not disappoint. The Sunday Potluck Club continues. All the old gang has returned, this time the story focuses on Bridget . Trying to move on with her life, Bridget and her dogs move to a new apartment that is thankfully pet friendly. She meets a handsome, standoffish Wesley jogging with his dogs around the complex. Of course she and her dogs have other ideas about that. The story touches of Bridget struggle dealing with her grief from her mother’s passing. Trying to figure out how to go forward with her career, dealing with her meddling best friends and learning to reconnect to her family and love. Once again I am left wanting more, can’t wait for the next book.

Cute sweet romcom! I’m a sucker for pets in romance and this was no exception. Great romance that brought to mind the opening scene of 101 Dalmatians in a modern setting.

All Wesley wants to do is run with his dogs on an evening.
All Bridget wants to do is invite herself to Wesley’s run.

Together they form an unlikely friendship based on their mutual love of pets and running to avoid their real life problems.

Wednesday walks and wags is a beautiful story of growing up and understanding how pain and loss can change you and your outlook on life.

Bridget has never properly grieved the death of her cancer stricken mom and instead buries herself in new activities, taking so much on her plate that she may explode soon. Wesley on the other hand is standoffish and quite mysterious, avoiding the company of others.

With the help of her support system- Sunday Pot Luck crew, Bridget begins to accept that her future may take a different path than she originally intended and that it's okay to open her life and heart to new possibilities and maybe even her forever kiss.

Wednesday Walks and Wags is a heartwarming tale of what a family-napping, mint ice cream and a good cry can do!

My utmost appreciation to NetGalley and Kensington Books for providing me with an arc.

This review will be live on my blog from 26th June 2020 here: https://jesreadsit.wordpress.com/

I, sadly, was not able to get myself to finish this book. I read about 50% until I realized it wasn't my cup of tea. Despite that, I will still be writing a review on what I liked and what I didn't like.

The good

All the characters in this book were likable. The main character, Bridget, has recently lost her mother and is struggling to move on. The dogs were great. I absolutely loved them. The friends were kind, supportive, funny, and pretty much everything a friend would want.

The not so good

I, personally, had a lot of problems with this book. The first being: the ethics and morals this character had. She's a veterinary technician, which is a hard job. There is a lot of ethics and morale involved in it. I don't think the author was able to handle this very well. Firstly, Bridget decides to pay for one of her patient's medicine. This is problematic for many reasons. Firstly, how is it fair to do this to one special animal. and not to the rest? Secondly. and most importantly, the animal had late stage cancer. She was old, in pain, and miserable. The vet advised her to put the animal down, which she obviously didn't do. Yes the medicine she gave was a pain killer, but is it really fair for her to do something like that? She backed up by saying that she would have done anything for her mother, who passed away from cancer, to spend more time with her, which I found so incredibly selfish. Your mother is in pain, your mother is sick, and all you want is for her to be able to spend more time with you. Not about her pain, or how exhausted she is, but the fact that you just want to spend time with her and completely disregard her feelings hits me tough.

Secondly, this book was shelved as a romance, when there is no romance up until the second half of this book. I would call this book more womens-fiction oriented, since she's learning to move on after a big loss and re-invent her life. The genre this is shelved in is misleading, and it's not fitting either,

Lastly, I wish we could have seen Bridget in more situations. Whenever we saw her, she was either at home with her dogs gorging herself with ice cream, hanging out with her friends, running, or working. This made for a very boring plot and a book I didn't want to continue. I wish there were more situations where she was tested. Yes, she didn't know Wesley, and she had to take care of sick dogs, but nothing was really challenging. Hell, I'd even appreciate it if we saw her have a supermarket run, or go out to a restaurant with her friends, or a new setting. It felt very repetitive and one dimensional.

Thank you so much to net galley for sending me a copy of this book. It sounded so cute and I was really expecting to enjoy it but it really just fell flat for me.

Wednesday, Wags and Walks by Melissa Storm a five-star read that will have your tail a wagging. This is number two in the Sunday Potluck Club series and I enjoyed this one much better that the first, it just seemed more detailed and had more plot. Bridget is running from her grief and as anyone who has lost someone close to them its easy to empathise and understand where she is coming from, it was a nice add with the dogs as it helped deal with the grief and added a levity even with the shelter aspect. This is a good story and Wesley added something to the story, he added an extra twist to the story.

Bridget is going through a lot, her mom has died and she just moved to a new apartment. She meets Wesley while he is out running with his dogs, she joins him and starts running. The author did a great job of balancing Bridget’s storylines, her friendships, her family dynamics, potluck club and Wesley.

“Wednesday Walks and Wags” is the second in a series “Sunday Night Potluck Club”. It’s not necessary to read the first book to enjoy this one. This book is a heartwarming story involving friendship, forgiveness, starting over, grief and dogs. So many layers to the book and heartwarming.

I have voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this title given to me through NetGalley. This book was just absolutely wonderful. It was just so easy to get lost in and I just couldn’t put it down. I just lost myself within this amazing story. I most definitely will read more by this author.

This is book two in the Sunday Potluck Club series. This story is about Bridget. She recently moved into a new pet friendly apartment, and while unpacking her things, sees the box of her mothers things. Still grieving the loss of her beloved mother, she hides the box until she is ready to go through its contents. She hopes that her busy schedule and pets will help he to take her mind off her grief. Then Bridget sees a new neighbor with his two dogs preparing to run. When she sees him again at the vet clinic she works at, he invites to to go on his evening runs with him. She decides to take him up on his offer and joins him. She soon realizes that he too is running from something. The two decide become strictly running partners and nothing more. But soon its obvious that will not happen.

I absolutely love this series, and the stories of Hazel (which is included in a book called Home Sweet Home, with stories by Ferm Michaels and Donna Kauffman as well), and Amy's story in the first book in this series, The Sunday Potluck Club. I was so excited to receive an early copy of this book and hear Bridget's story. This was a sweet, heartwarming, and wonderful book. The characters are wonderful, and you feel like they are your friends as well. This book had be laughing and crying. And I feel that I can relate to this story. I lost my own mother, though not to cancer, and everything that Bridget seems to think and feel, I did as well. I loved this book. I 100% recommend this series, bit it will pull at the heartstrings. Another amazing story by Melissa Storm. Can not wait for Nicole's story.

Could this book have been any more of a perfect follow up to The Sunday Potluck Club? This time instead of following Amy the story follows Bridget. As Bridget continues to avoid the grief over the loss of her mother the "club" tries to find ways to help her out of denial and into accepting her mother's profound loss. Complicating the story more is Bridget's love interest who has walls up that Bridget can't seem to break. Melissa Storm has a wonderful way of touching your heart and making you feel for each of the women she writes about. I can't wait to see which character she follows in her next novel.

The second in a series called Pot Luck Club, this book centres around Brigit trying to put her life back together following the death of her beloved mother from cancer. A trainee vet, volunteer at an animal shelter and member of the pot luck club she fills her time so much so she doesn't have to deal with her overwhelming grief. Then she meets Wesley, an unfriendly but handsome man in her new apartment building. Despite his initial hostility they become running partners. However, her grief and his secrets threaten this friendship. Can they both learn to move on from the past before it is too late?
Although grief is a major feature of this novel it is not depressing in any way. It is easy to like Brigit and feel her pain and it was great to see grief dealt with as a journey or a rollercoaster with its ups and downs. I loved the dogs and the focus on the animal shelter and the growing relationship between Wesley and Brigit. Wesley's secret was a shock but liked how it was resolved and also glad that Brigit made the choices she did regarding her own life.
The ending is quite emotional but also finally explained the title which had puzzled me all the way through. A great read. I'm looking forward to Nicohle and Corey's story in the next book.