A cute collection of sapphic novellas surrounding an animal rescue.

The Lonely Hearts Rescue is more than just an animal rescue; it's a secret matchmaker. This book is a collection of 3 sapphic novellas all centered around the rescue. Something About You by Morgan Lee Miller is the story of Hannah adopting a timid cat named Apollo and reuniting with her high school teammate turned crush Reese. Force of Nature by Missouri Vaun follows Rebekah adopting a challenging dog and getting assistance from dog trainer Rory. Test of Faith by Nell Stark follows Faith proving that she can "commit to commitment" and also fall for the rescue vet Del.

All 3 novellas had crazy pets at the center of the story and playing pivotable roles in matchmaking. As you might expect with 3 different authors, the tone of each book varied quite a bit as well. I think the first novella, the one by Miller, was my favorite. Hannah and Reese were so cute and awkward. The story by Stark was the hardest to read, since Faith and Del both had some pretty major issues that were only sort of worked through during the book.

Overall, if you enjoy stories with animals or sapphic novellas, I definitely think you should give this collection a try. It's a fun, quick read that's perfect to enjoy wrapped up with a blanket and a cup of tea.

Trigger warnings: loss of a loved one, emotional abuse by a parent, loss of a pet, hurricane damage, emotional abuse by a partner, cheating (not by a main character)

This heartwarming little book was exactly what I needed in this gloomy weather. The Lonely Hearts Rescue contains three stories by three authors and they’re all delightful.

Each novella is set in Fairhaven and centres around adopting pets from the lonely hearts rescue. They’re about rescue pets bringing people together, people! What’s not to like?!

The first novella by Morgan Lee Millar is a little more fleshed out than the other two, which made me like that the most. Plus it’s the only one in which the rescue is a cat, and I’m a cat person before all else. The other two stories are pretty good too, but the first is definitely the star in terms of storytelling and characters.

This title will be released on October 11th (less than a week from now!), and if you’re looking for a cute, light read then I’d highly recommend The Lonely Hearts Rescue.

(Thank you NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for the ARC!)

When I was browsing Net Galley and saw that this anthology was about sapphics finding love while adopting rescue animals I was in even though I don’t read much romance because that premise is chef’s kiss 👌🏻

I have to say the first story by Morgan Lee Miller was my favourite because it’s the story that featured a cat! And also the romance in that one was my fave. High school crush coming to fruition years later? 👌🏻 It also featured a character who realised they were queer as an adult and I live for that rep!

I think dog lovers will enjoy the other two stories because they’re all about figuring out what works when adopting a new dog, including having a dog for the first time. The romances in those are dislike to love, and a general meet cute.

One thing I do wish the stories had was a connection to each other. One half of each of the pairings worked at the Lonely Hearts Rescue but they never interacted in any of the stories. I would have loved to see that because it would have tied them all together so they felt connected and more within the same world.

Other than that, I think if you’re looking for some quick and cute reads about queer women finding love with people and animals then The Lonely Hearts Rescue has got you 🙌🏻

Three novella set in the fictional town of Fairhaven and around the Lonely Hearts animal rescue.

Something About You: Is about Reece who doesn’t like to see animals in pain when she recuse Apollo she determined to get him a forever family. Hannah just realizing she bi although hesitant to put herself out there she decides to adopt a pet and falls instantly for Apollo and surprise to see Reece who was fostering him. They reconnect and starts to fall for each other.


Test of Faith: Faith wants to prove she can commit and decides to adopt a dog that’s name Buffy. Faith meets Delphine who I actually like because she help me somewhat like Faith I don’t know she was just self absorbed.


Force of Nature: Rebekah has no troubling lending a helping hand but she thinks she way over her head when she decides to foster daschund Cotton but rising to the challenge. She gets help from Rory and romance between them happens. I like them they were cute and although I thought the fight they had came out of nowhere but ok read.

I enjoy all three but my favorite is Reece and Hannah I just felt their nature chemistry was organic and plus little Apollo intrigue me how slowly he grew to Reece and Hannah.

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.

I love animals - all my cats are rescues and I have helped foster many cats, and have rescued some dogs (even rescued a dog during Hurricane Andrew when I lived in New Orleans). I was very excited by the premise of this set of short stories.

I found them very enjoyable. The stories are set in the fictional town of Fairhaven and around the Lonely Hearts animal rescue. The stories include people who are all pretty self aware (or trying to be), communicate pretty well and are all likable. The attraction and thrill of new relationship energy is very well described, and the sex scenes (not a ton) are very well done without being pornographic. The little town of Fairview seems to have a lot of lesbians, full of nice people, with a thriving arts scene and nearby is rural enough for farms. Sounds idyllic, tbh. I look forward to spending more time in the world created by these authors.

My big notes on continuity issues:
- changing an adult dog's name, esp one who has been well trained, is not easy
- in the last story, Rory mentions that her landlords bought their home in the forties -- which is about 60 years ago, and would make them in their 80s? Seems unlikely -- why not say "have lived there for 40 years" and don't mention a decade?

The Lonely Hearts Rescue ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Being the owner of a rescue dog, I couldn’t resist reading a short story collection centred around an animal rescue centre. Even better when each story is a sapphic romance!

Each story in this book is written by a different author but they all have the same setting of Fairhaven, which is where the Lonely Hearts Rescue is based. We watch three different romances unfold, all of which involves its very own central rescue animal. This book shows just how animals bring people together, and how sometimes animals really rescue us as much as we rescue them.

I absolutely loved reading this book. It felt so warm, fuzzy and wholesome throughout. I loved that even though each story was written by a different author, we see some of the characters involved with the Lonely Hearts Rescue pop up in more than one storyline. Each story was totally different: one was a childhood team mate to lovers, one was fake dating and the last was polar opposites to lovers. They all brought me so many smiles, and laughter too. I could definitely see myself coming back to read this again as a comfort read.

I have to say my favourite story in the book was Test of Faith - the fake dating story. I haven’t read any other fake dating romances but that one short story has made me want to read many many more.

It's a 3 short stories collection revolving around the Lonely Hearts Rescue shelter. There's a good diversity within the romances and adoptions, even if I would have liked to have one of the character's names mentioned in one another stories as 3 out of the 6 MC works there and yet seems to not know each other...


[Something About You by Morgan Lee Miller : 4.5/5 ⭐️]
The story I liked the most. I loved Reese's character and her story, how she helps with the shelter. I also loved Hannah and how she had to struggle to now try to meet with women after doing her bi coming out (also liked her mom!). Maybe it was because they knew each other from high school, I think the relationship and how they got closer together was well done, not rushed, without doing anything wrong with the poor cat Apollo who were rescued. The romance was cute and would gladly read a whole book on them!


[Test of Faith by Nell Stark : 2/5 ⭐️]
First there's a need of a TW on the lost of an animal to a vet, even if it's not described. I'm extremely sensible on this, so it was real torture to read these passages about announcing bad news and losing a pet through a surgery, even if nothing were described but just talked about (but on the spot, not 4 years after). Then, I only liked Delphine as a character. Faith was just horrible, even though it was explained why, I still couldn't stand her at all. The romance was hard to appreciate considering I disliked one of the couple member... At least Faith wasn't neglectling Buffy. Also by saying the dog's name, it was really bothering me on how the shelter told Faith could change Buffy's name when she's not a puppy and is already well trained to respond to her name. Of course she won't listen to a new name. I felt like the author didn't researched that basic knowledge just to make a little interesting thing to the story...


[Force of Nature by Missouri Vaun : 3/5 ⭐️]
I think the reason why Rebekah got the little daschund Cotton was extremely irealistic wth??? I don't think that kind of situation would happen in real life and it clashes a lot with how Hannah (and even Faith) was thoroughful examinated before adopting a cat, how could they just... give a dog to foster when the person doesn't even THINK about taking out the dog to walk?? Anyway, it didn't started well. I however liked Rory and the romance between her and Rebekah, even if it felt rushed due to the length of the story, we didn't got to see them together much. Also the fight they had and how reckless Rebekah was with Cotton made my rating lower than I wanted because the romance would have been nice and cute without that.

I'm sorry about the seemingly harsh review for 2 of the 3 stories, but as a dog lover, someone who's learning about cats and dogs to make her job, it's hard to appreciate things like that...

Although this was not the strongest collection of novellas from Bold Strokes Books in my view, I enjoyed reading it as I'm a big animal lover. My favourite story was Something About You, because you could clearly see the chemistry between the two leads and the story was well-developed despite being novella-length. I did not particularly like Rebekah in Force of Nature and found it difficult to feel the chemistry between the characters. I am very glad that Nell Stark is back (she is one of my favourite authors), and although Test of Faith was a well-written novella, I struggled to connect with Faith. Overall, this was an enjoyable way of spending a couple of hours, and I liked reading about the animals, although I have seen stronger anthologies from the publisher.

This collection of novellas is so cute!! The first one with the cat was my favorite. I loved that they were able to reconnect after being friends in high school. I had such a fun time reading this.

I received an arc through netgalley.

I really enjoyed that it was 3 short stories that all take place with people who are somehow connected to the animal shelter. All the stories are unique and can be read separately but it was nice reading them together.

Three sapphic romances all revolving about adoptions of pets? Sign me up immediately! This was a fun read with the expected slightly rushed feel of the romance and while I can't say I loved all three of the books, it's still a collection I would recommend to any animal lover out there.

*** Thank you Netgalley and Bold Stroke Books for giving me the chance to read and review this book. ***

I don't read short story collections often, but animals and LGBTQ+ main characters, sign me up! I have never read anything from any of these authors so I went in with fresh eyes. I'll break this review up into a paragraph for each story.

Something About You was really cute. I liked that it felt very natural between Reece and Hannah. I thought especially the author did a great job of showing Hannah's first time dating while out. I felt the exact same way. Messaging women with romantic intentions is hard lol. I also thought Reece and Hannah were really cute together. I would read a full novel about them if the author ever decided to expand or do a short sequel.

Test of Faith was my least favorite story. Honestly, I didn't even finish it. Faith was just so awkward and I thought the author used it as an excuse to say mean things. When Faith made a joke about someone not being a real queer because that person didn't know some famous gay icon I literally just skipped the rest of the story. Even though I'm sure the story ended with a happy ending, I have no interest in Faith as a character.

Force of Nature was my favorite of the trio, so I'm glad it was the last story I read. I thought Rebekah and Rory were very cute and just a little bit funny. I thought seeing Rebekah doubting herself in being a pet parent but still put in the work and really tried. I remember being a first-time pet parent. Way different than growing up with animals as a child. Lost of scary adult responsibility. The only thing I wasn't a fan of was their one fight that made them question the relationship. It felt like it came out of nowhere. I think a build-up confession would have been nicer.

Overall, this was a fun read. I wouldn't personally purchase a copy for myself as I wouldn't want to own a book where I skip a complete story if I were to re-read it, but I do recommend it for those who are curious. Maybe you may like Faith and her story.

I enjoyed the three novellas. My favorite was probably Morgan Lee Miller's. I friggin' love animals so it was nice to see a couple stories where pets played a big part. As with novellas, everything seems rushed and it's hard for me to remember that aspect when reviewing. Overall, for all three stories, I think they're worth the read.

It was a fun read, I loved that the animals played such a big role in the stories and also allowed me to learn a bit about how this centers work. The characters seem well rounded, social anxiety and dealing with other aspects of mental health were present which I'm always happy to read. My only "problem" with this is that the stories seemed a bit rushed, which, considering the lenght of the book, is to be expected. But overall, a very pleasant and fun read.

I really liked the first two stories. The third one felt like it wasn’t needed, and it was too much like the others. But overall: good book! The right amount of romance, drama, fluff and smut. It’s always refreshing to read wlw story’s! And the animals made my heart melt. Definitely worth reading if you like animals, wlw romance and an overall good feeling book!

Three novellas about adopting a new pet and making one’s heart less lonely.
This anthology is aptly named, the cover is cute and depicts the pet of every novella.

My favourite is the first one by Morgan Lee Miller. I have some theories about that: while I love all pets, I’m most definitely a crazy cat lady (hence the picture). With the star of this novella being a tuxedo cat it’s a sure winner. This novella feels the most like a fully fleshed out story which has me craving more. I think this story is the cutest and most believable as well.
The other two novellas or ok as well. But they are just that. And with Vaun’s story (the third) I don’t even see the attraction/ connection between the leads, so that’s the hardest to like. I just like that one for the dog.

Anyway, cute collection with rescued pets and rescued hearts.

An anthology containing three romance novellas. Each of the romances includes fostering or adopting an animal from the Lonely Hearts Rescue Shelter. First the cover is cute and accurately portrays the animal star of each story. I could easily have read longer versions of any of the novellas. The first one has two people who knew each other in high school so it makes sense how quickly they connect. The second one is a fake dating scenario where they need to share backgrounds quickly so they can appear to be together. (And kudos for the Faith and Buffy homage.) The third I didn’t see the connection between the two main characters as easily. But one is helping train a dog while the other is planning a fundraiser for the shelter. I think it would have been fun to include an overlapping character in each of the novellas since they all get their animals from the same place. If I was rating individually I would give 4 stars to the first two and 3 to the third but I’ll round up. And my ratings are more storyline preferences and character likability. Thank you to NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books, Inc. for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Three short stories that are about rescued animals and the rescuer. Enjoyable reads. Always wish short stories were longer.
Goodreads

3 separate stories centred round the lonely hearts animal rescue centre. All the stories are worth reading. How both people and animals find their lifelong partners. Humorous and sad in parts but always HEA ending.

* I received an ARC of this book from Net Galley. Thank you NetGalley and the Bold Strokes Books, Inc. for this book. All thoughts are my own.

This book is made up of 3 sapphic short stories, which were individually good and would recommend them on their own. I’m just a little confused as to why they’re all in the same book and not full stories because I did like the idea that each one is about the Lonely Hearts Rescue. The good thing about short stories is that we really don’t need to understand the characters’ backstories and they aren’t very complex.

In each relationship, there is one person who works/volunteers at the rescue and helps out with all of the animals, and I like that they have separate roles. But how do they not know each other? Or have any sort of conversations? This book would have flowed much better of the characters popped into the other stories. I also felt that Test of Faith and Something About You seemed a little too similar to me (the ‘oh she’s looking at you’ ‘no she’s not’ happens in both). It doesn’t really seem like the authors connected on much while writing these stories.