It is nice to read about a warm place when it is crazy cold outside! Magnolia Bay is about an hour from New Orleans and has a very sleepy bayou vibe. Abby has moved in with her Aunt Reva after a devastating breakup and loss of her job as an office manager. I think the blurb is a little misleading in saying that she has hit rock bottom - but she is definitely at a low point in her life. Her Aunt runs and lives on a haven for animals - Bayside Barn - basically a very small zoo. Reva is leaving for a few months to learn about wildlife centers and Abby is going to watch over everything while she is gone. When a new neighbor buys the house next door everything starts to go badly.

Quinn is also starting over in Magnolia Bay. After his divorce and fallout from his business imploding - he has sunk everything he has into the property next door to Bayside Barn. Only, he didn't realize the property had loud and stinky neighbors. He complains to his realtor and offers her an incentive if she can find away to get rid of Bayside Barn. Only - after he starts spending time with Abby and the animals at Bayside he realizes they aren't that bad and he starts to really be interested in Abby.

But, the chickens come home to roost when Quinn's ex-best friend and business partner takes steps to get rid of Bayside barn to support his own interest in developing the area into a tourist destination. So Quinn and Abby have to work together to find a solution.

Quinn really is a good guy - he is trying to make the best of a bad situation and balance his business interests with his heart. He makes a lot of mistakes - and has an big uphill battle to fight. He also maybe isn't the best businessman (I mean -dude - how did you not notice the zoon next door???). But I do like him - and his perseverance. He makes some really hard choices - but he does the right thing in the end. That being said - Abby is a difficult case for me. She is sweet and compassionate - but she is also really passive. Throughout the book you keep waiting for her to stand up for herself and take charge - but she never really does. Even the solution to the problem is something that happens virtually without her interaction. I saw Abby as someone who stand their and wrings her hands in an emergency - instead of taking steps to actively solve problems. She kept waiting for others to do it. Not that she doesn't help - but she really wasn't an active participant in making plans. Maybe her mental status at the time impacted her? I mean what kind of competent office manager lets the bills pile up and ignores the mail.

There is a lot of discussion of telepathic animal communication here - and I really liked the parts of the book told from the dogs perspectives. You can choose to believe in the communication or not - but it does add an interesting dimension to the story.

Overall - this is a good story - but with some tweaks it could have been a great one.

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, but these opinions are all my own.

I love the cover. I liked Abby immediately.. she's good with pets.. I like alge, descriptions and characters. I like name abby.quick good read with chemistry