Love, Chocolate, and a Dog Named Al Capone [Book Review]

I’ve been in such a different type of reading mood. From historical fiction and now to romance, it seems my reading tastes have changed a bit lately. Today, I am here to share with you an adorable romance novel called Love, Chocolate, and a Dog Named Al Capone by Abigail Drake.

Book Summary

Capone, the newly acquired puppy of Miss Josephine St. Clair, owner of Bartleby’s Books, is a literature-loving Labrador. Obsessed with Jane Austen, and cursed with a terrible name, Capone hopes to change his doggie karma and prove he’s just as much a gentleman as the heroes in his favorite books…by finding the perfect Mr. Darcy for the lonely and bookishly adorable Miss Josie.

Unfortunately, the only men Miss Josie seems to encounter aren’t Darcys at all. They’re Wickhams, Churchills, and Willoughbys. Even worse, there is trouble afoot. Someone has been sabotaging Miss Josie’s business, and all signs point to her evil ex. Can Capone find a way to save Bartleby’s Books, help Miss Josie find her true love, and earn, at long last, a name befitting a true gentleman?
What I Thought

First of all, I love the idea of the setting being a bookstore (it goes along with my daydream of owning one someday). This book is written from the perspective of the pup, Capone. He desperately wants two things 1) Miss Josie to meet her Darcy and 2) to get a new name (he’s a gentleman, not a criminal, after all!). I love the fact that the pup Capone identified with being a gentleman and so desperately tried to be one, even in the midst of eating the wrong things and pooping out non-food items.
I’m not normally one for romance, but this one took me by total surprise. I LOVE the voices of each animal in the book. One scene that was my favorite is that Josie was on a date and – without revealing any fun details – a scary situation happens. Well, there was a tough acting dog there and the moment things get scary this tough dog acts frightened. It definitely made me smile to hear the dog’s voice responding to the scary moment, especially one so tough-guy acting after all. The cool thing is that Capone comes to the rescue! 
Oddly, while there are Pride and Prejudice references, it isn’t a requirement to be familiar with that book at all to enjoy this book. Actually, I’ve read Pride and Prejudice before and didn’t like it and I still enjoyed this book a lot. Also one funny thing about this book is that there are definitely some bowel movement descriptions (well, it’s a book written from a dog’s perspective). I thought that made it funny and realistic to me.
Overall, I recommend this book so much! If you love dogs and love romance, you’ll love this book. You can purchase it now on Amazon.com and add it to your GoodReads list.
Quotes

“Now I faced a moral dilemma. I knew the rules, and the right thing to do would be to decline his kind offer and go to my crate. Alone. But I heard the voice inside my head, the one always telling me to do naughty things.”
“A quest could be the thing to push me into the realm of true gentleman status. The only question was where to begin?”
“Acting on instinct, I placed my head on her lap and stared up at her with my big, puppy eyes. I wanted to physically convey my sympathy to her, and it seemed to work.”
About the Author
Award-winning author Abigail Drake has spent her life traveling the world and collecting stories wherever she visited. She majored in Japanese and Economics in college, and is a book hoarder, a coffee drinker, a linguistics geek, and an eternal optimist. She writes women’s fiction and young adult fiction with smart, sassy, funny heroines, and she also enjoys blogging about the adventures of her mischievous Labrador retriever, Capone.

Abigail is the winner of the prestigious 2017 Prism Award for her book Traveller, and the International Digital Award for her young adult novel, Tiger Lily. In addition, she was named a finalist in the Golden Pen, the Golden Leaf, the Dante Rossetti Book Award, and the Cygnus Award for Science Fiction and Speculative Fiction. Learn more about http://abigaildrake.com.

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