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Book Review: One Hot Knight by Christy Gissendaner


Title: One Hot Knight
Author: Christy Gissendaner
Genre: paranormal romance
Published: 2013
Rating: 3 ½ stars

Dog salon Regina’s had an…interesting day. While in the park on her break, she finds a stray Saint Bernard. He’s filthy and clearly hungry, but friendly—to her, anyway—so she decides to take him back to work with her to get him cleaned up and fed. Then she decides to sneak him into to her apartment, since his soulful eyes made her feel sorry for him. First, though, she needs to stop at the park again. He’ll need to be walked before being cooped up for the night. Except she no sooner gets him back to the park when he takes off at a run for the woods…and digs up an unusual jeweled collar.

Sir Yves Sucat has been a Saint Bernard for nine hundred years, thanks to a ticked-off witch named Maeve. His curse has an escape clause, though. Maeve’s apprentice, knowing Yves had been wrongly accused, used her own powers to create a magical collar that when fastened around his neck will turn him into a man again. Only it’s been nine centuries so far, and no luck yet. Until today; until Regina. But can he make the cure permanent? Or will he be cursed forever?

One Hot Knight was a cute story. I really liked seeing things from Yves’s perspective, especially when he was in dog form. He really enjoyed it when Regina first gave him a playful scratch under the chin at the park, for example:

His right leg gave an embarrassing jiggle as she continued scratching him. He hated when that happened.

Too funny—I never thought about how that reflexive action would feel from a dog’s point of view. Makes sense, though. And then there was his reaction to seeing Regina’s shop, Puppy Love:

Yves peeked inside the open doorway and froze. What self-respecting man, or dog, would willingly enter a shop decorated all in pink? Dogs might be color blind, but he was not.

He of course gives in—the combination of food, bath, and attractive woman being a bit too much for him, but there are conditions:

The bath was fine by him, but the first person who came at him with a ribbon or nail polish might draw back a nub. He hadn’t survived nine hundred years on the streets by giving up his masculinity.

Scenes like this were a hoot to read. The author obviously knows–and loves–dogs well! Yves had fortunately spent his time well since being turned into a dog—he was familiar with a lot of aspects of modern city life already, which made his transition easier. It was fun watching him adjust to walking on two legs again and trying to fit into Regina’s life and heart.

Some things in this book were a little too easy, though. There could have been a whole lot more drama and suspense—the confrontation with the witch, Regina and Yves’s declarations of love, their big moment at the dog show—it all felt a bit flat. At times while reading I felt like we were just grazing over the top of the story, glossing over the meatier bits.

Still, it was an enjoyable way to spend my reading time. I’ll be interested to see what Ms. Gissendaner writes in the future.

In a nutshell: a pleasant read with some very funny moments. 3 ½ stars.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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