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NetGalley Review of Pugs and Kisses

Posted on July 10, 2025July 7, 2025 by caritagardiner
Screenshot 2025-06-17 at 5.33.33 PM

title: Pugs and Kisses

author: Farrah Rochon

publisher: Forever

publication date: July 15, 2025

pages: 352

peppers: 3 (on this scale)

warnings: pet death

summary: Finding her fiancé cheating on her is problematic for Evie Williams because she works at his clinic. After leaving her job, she goes to volunteer at the animal sanctuary she interned at in vet school, only to find that it's not financially sound. Her mentor brings her in to help save the place, but he also brings in the love of her life, who ghosted her eight years ago.

tropes:

  • second-chance romance
  • work together for a common cause
  • great friends
  • horrible ex
  • finding the fiancé with another woman
  • cute dogs
  • different backgrounds
  • unlikeable parents

what I liked:

  • lots of cute animals
  • clear insecurities about class differences
  • fun dialogue
  • great friends

what I didn’t like:

  • predictable (I don't mean just that it has a happy ending. I know that's a given. I mean that the way things worked out and the conflicts they faced seemed given.)

overall rating: 4 (of 5 stars)

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WHAT I DO

I serve as a class dean and teach English to high schoolers at a boarding school in Connecticut. I’ve earned a Bachelor of Arts (Amherst College), an Education Master in Learning and Teaching (Harvard University Graduate School of Education), a Master of Arts in English (Bread Loaf School of English), and most recently a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing with a certificate in the online teaching of writing (Southern New Hampshire University).

As a writer, I hope to capture the complexity and joy of life in the New England boarding school world. On this site, I share what I know about trying to write fiction while deaning, teaching English, coaching, and doing the other tasks associated with helping to raise over six hundred other people’s children.

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