Loved this book. This is John and Summer's story. John is running Santorini's restaurant and has a new puppy when a 5 year old girl runs up to the puppy and declares it is hers. Her Mom is Summer Jackson and has come to Bitter Bark to find a puppy for her daughter and to find a man she became friends with several years ago that was in the service with her husband. Instead she finds John and that changes everything. Cute dogs, cute child and a romance make for a great book. ( )

Hush Puppy by Roxanne St Claire

Dogmothers, book 4 which is a spin-off (continuation) of the Dogfather matchmaker series. Contemporary romance with all the emotional feels.
Always includes adorable dogs for adoption and generally sweet irresistible children. Not to mention firemen and pilots and singers and accountants. The whole swoon worthy extended family.

Oh, the singing contest! And then the dancing! So wonderful I was crying. It was perfect and so sweet.
Heat level low.
Love, love, love these heart-warming romances.

The last pages after the book includes a Dogfather/Dogmothers Family Reference Guide which recaps the two series and family connections quite nicely.

Excerpt:
“She just stared at him, keeping her mouth closed in case something really, really embarrassing popped out, like, Why, yes, I’m in love with you. With each passing second, she could feel herself slipping deeper and deeper, like she could actually drown in how much she liked him.
He leaned forward, looking a little pleased with himself. “Ella said she and Darcy used to play with it [the karaoke machine] as kids and thought it might be up in the attic at Waterford, and sure enough, there it was. I brought it back with a few cassettes and…” He glanced at Destiny as one of her many giggles floated over to them. “I thought you might want to let her play with it to learn and practice coming in on time.”
“That would be…awesome.”
“Maybe perform for us or a smaller group to get her comfortable before Monday. We’re having dinner Sunday at Waterford, remember? Maybe that would be a comfortable place to try it. Maybe she’d like to… What’s wrong? Summer? Bad idea? God, I’m sorry.”
“No, no.” She croaked the word and lost the fight against the tears in her eyes. One blink, and it was all over. “You just went way past sweet,” she said gruffly, barely able to talk because her throat was so thick.
It took him a second to figure out what she meant, making him laugh softly. “I thought I’d already reached sexy.”
“Past that, too,” she managed. “Teetering on irresistible.”
He reached over the table to touch her hand. “I’m going to take that as a yes, we can let her play with it.”
“Yes,” she whispered. “And you can stop right there.”
He lifted his brows in question.
“Because what comes after irresistible is…”
Excerpt From Hush, Puppy by Roxanne St. Claire ( )