Collar Me Crazy

This was my first book by Kay Bratt and now I'm keen to read more! I liked how there was a whole different story to what I was expecting. As we read about Emily getting to know her puppy we learn she is a ghostwriter who would dearly love to write something she is passionate about. When she meets Nora and Mari at the dog park with their dogs is where this story really takes off! I'm pleased that she was able to make friends with Mari as they both really needed someone at that point in time. The description of what Emily and Mari find on their road trip seemed so real. I had moments where I had the odd tear in the corner of my eye. People who like heartwarming stories, animal stories, romance and women's fiction will enjoy this story.

Quick Introduction To Bratt's Style. At around 1/2 to 1/3 of the length of a "normal Kay Bratt book" (at least in my experience reading them since 2019's Dancing With The Sun), this book serves as a perfect quick introduction to Bratt's (current) style of storytelling, with a solid small town, solid friendships, light romance elements (with about as much spice as a warm glass of milk, for those who need to know these things either direction), and with a central crime (or a few of them) based on real-world cases that Bratt largely expertly fictionalizes to work within the worlds she is creating while also (largely) faithfully recreating the crime inside that world.

In this particular text, the crime element centers around animal abuse, and it is here that Bratt can get a bit more preachy in this book than she normally gets. It is also here that certain elements bring forth wisps of the scent of James Rollins' books involving Tucker Wayne.

Ultimately this entire series centers around a love of dogs, and dog lovers are in for a true treat as we go through this entire series of largely short story/ novella length books (largely in the 120-160 ish page range), and this is a particularly strong book to kick off the "meat" of the series after Book 1 largely used the first chapters of all of the books to introduce us to the overall town and concept of the series.

Very much recommended.