Dawg-Napped! by Anne Kane

Dawg-Napped! by Anne Kane
(Holiday Howlz 1)
Publisher: Changeling Press
Genre: Erotic Romance, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Holiday, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

When one of Santa’s elves stops at the Prairie Dawg Saloon on his vintage motorcycle, Cyndi can’t resist taking a closer look at the classic bike. Then Bruce comes back outside unexpectedly and Cyndi panics, shifting to hide in one of the saddlebags. She doesn’t realize the bike is a matchmaking reindeer in disguise. Comet knows all about the sexy little critters of Dawg Town, and he’s decided the cute little prairie dawg is just what Bruce needs to cuddle up with him in his North Pole cottage.

Even the busiest weeks building up to Christmas should still leave room for a little fun, right? All work and no play will leave any elf feeling dull.

The dialogue was witty and delightful. I enjoyed the way the characters reacted to each other’s quips and thought of new ways to keep their conversations going and the heat building up between Bruce and Cyndi. They all had great senses of humor that worked nicely both together and with this lighthearted and sexy storyline.

Yes, this was a short story, but I still would have liked to see more world building in it. There were plenty of questions I had about how the North Pole worked that weren’t answered. For example, Santa’s opinion of the extra-curricular activities of his elves could have been explored better, and she also could have shown how the reindeer learned how to talk and what they thought of what certain elves get up to on their downtime! While I don’t know when the author is planning to write any sequels, there is a lot of room for expanding the audience’s understanding of such things if she does.

Cyndi and Bruce had fabulous chemistry. Sometimes two people – or, in this case, a person and an elf – click immediately, and that’s exactly what the plot needed to work. Everything happened so quickly that these two had to immediately be interested in each other, and they most definitely were. Bravo for pulling that off so successfully.

Dawg-Napped! was a playfully erotic Christmas tale.