I absolutely loved this book!

I grew up across the lake from New Orleans (but visiting constantly), and reading about a town that you love is just an extra special experience. You can feel Farrah’s love for her city and her characters in her writing, and you will immediately love them too!

Thank you to the author + Hachette for my advance copy!

title: Pugs and Kisses

author: Farrah Rochon

publisher: Forever

publication date: July 15, 2025

pages: 352

peppers: 3 (on this scale)

warnings: pet death

summary: Finding her fiancé cheating on her is problematic for Evie Williams because she works at his clinic. After leaving her job, she goes to volunteer at the animal sanctuary she interned at in vet school, only to find that it's not financially sound. Her mentor brings her in to help save the place, but he also brings in the love of her life, who ghosted her eight years ago.

tropes:

second-chance romance
work together for a common cause
great friends
horrible ex
finding the fiancé with another woman
cute dogs
different backgrounds
unlikeable parents

what I liked:

lots of cute animals
clear insecurities about class differences
fun dialogue
great friends

what I didn’t like:

predictable (I don't mean just that it has a happy ending. I know that's a given. I mean that the way things worked out and the conflicts they faced seemed given.)

overall rating: 4 (of 5 stars)

second chance trope, it's short and features two black vets.
it's cute but nothing groundbreaking. also don't care for the narration either.

What a cute read! I haven't read anything like this. It was a happy, second change rom-com. Narrators did a fantastic job! Great Story

ARC and ALC review

Evie finds her fiancé cheating on her and then she has to quit her job at his practice (they are both veterinarians).
Bryson is her college crush (now a veterinarian surgeon).
They reconnect while trying to save an animal shelter.

I received an ARC from Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and an ALC from Hachette Audio (via Netgalley).
Opinions from this review are completely my own.

What you can expect:
- second chance romance
- veterinarian and veterinary surgeon
- forced proximity
- slow burn with spice
- cute dogs

This was a very cute and well written story.
I like a second chance romance with mature characters.
Even if there was a slight miscommunication that kept them apart 10 years ago, I think that they needed the time apart to be ready for this relationship.
This is a "right man, wrong time" situation as they were not mature enough before (especially him).
The fact that they were friends before and did not hurry to get together now helped create a healthy relationship.
They both have insecurities and just needed to comunicate better.

Overall there was a good romance plot, they had chemistry and also worked well together.

The audiobook is narrated by Marissa Hampton.
She has a very nice voice and I think that she did a good job bringing Evie's personality to life.
The story is told in 3rd person with dual perspectives.
It would have been better if there was also a male narrator for Bryson's chapters.
It felt like there was not enough difference between the male and female voice.

Please be aware of some content warnings specified at the beginning of the book (death of a dog - patient of the clinic, infidelity and strained parental relationship)

I enjoyed this story and I plan on reading other books from the author.

The narrator did an amazing job!
It really brought the characters to life and made the expirence super enjoyable.

4.25 stars
Pugs and Kisses makes me want to go to my local shelter and adopt a dog immediately! This is second chance romance about two veterinarians who, 8 years later, find themselves going back to the place they use to volunteer/do some clinical time at and reconnect after finding it’s going under.
I loved Bryson! He is basically famous among the veterinarian world. A hotshot surgical vet who has come home and is staying. He has always had a thing/loved our FMC Evie! Evie we find is just getting out of a long term relationship when she finds her partner in bed with another woman..
I loved the dogs in this story. I loved that they fight to keep the clinic open. It was a fast read and my first from Farrah Rochon but most definitely not my last! I see there is a whole bunch in Farrah’s backlog that I am interested in and will be checking out!
The audio was great. Though it is only one narrator I feel like they did a fantastic job. Doing both female and male parts, even though I have been listening to a lot of full cast duet and dual narrations lately this was refreshing to listen to and I 100 percent want to listen to more of Marrisa Hampton’s work!

Thank you to Hachette Audios for the complementary Aduio copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own

Thank you NetGalley and Hachette Audio for the audio ARC!

4 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

🎧 AUDIOBOOK REVIEW 🎧

First of all I loved this book! The audio was great the narrator did a great job I’ve never listened to a book by her but I enjoyed her alot.

The story. Ugh I loved it. This was my first book by this author will not be my last! I loved the second chance love with dogs mixed it!! Win win!

This was a light-hearted second chance romance between two dog lovers and vets who find themselves reunited in New Orleans after one catches her fiance cheating on her. Cute and short, this was entertaining but not my favorite in the series. Recommended for fans of authors like Denise Williams, Jasmine Guillory or Stefanie London. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review.