Title: Sophie and the Rich Grumpy Veterinarian
Author: Reva Davenport
Date: 2023
Publisher: Reva Davenport
Quote: "I need a birthday present for my mother, and I need it now."
That's the first thing the arrogant young man she and her employees tag as "Mr. Cute Suit" barks at Sophie, who has not yet opened the shop and is setting up a one-year-anniversary party for her co-workers at her cute little hippy-dippy boutique. (Sophie is new to self-employment, lacking the training one gets from being an employee. Otherwise she'd know to ignore people pounding on the door until official opening time, even if wind is blowing snow right onto the entryway, forming a layer on their coats.)
He is, of course, grumpy because his mother is grumpy, and why wouldn't she be, already in a nursing home before she's even a grandmother. The nature of her disability and concerns about its heritability are passed over quickly. Anyway, Sophie is especially annoyed by his impatience because she likes him and wants him to like her, and Burt (Mr. Cute Suit) is especially grumpy because he feels the same way about Sophie, and you know how this kind of thing goes. It's a sweet romance. They'll have another lovers' quarrel or two and be married by the end of the book.
What's not to love? Well, the characters in this book are White but not Irish. All they ever drink is stuff that nature obviously intended us to use as cleaning fluid. Burt, Sophie, and their friends all drink alcohol for consolation (Sophie puns on "wining" and "whining"), drink alcohol until they pass our when their sleep is disturbed, drink alcohol until they're sick the next day when they think they're having fun. This is not technically classified as alcoholism but a difference between it and alcoholism does not come easily to my mind. There's no mention of a sober driver taking them home when they drink alcohol in public places, either. My experience of "If you're drinking, I'm driving" interferes with any possibility of imagining these people's parties as very much fun. I suspect they're just pouring down the alcohol to postpone being sick, and they'd do better to go home and be miserable for a few days and try to learn how people enjoy life without drinking alcohol. Burt and Sophie and their friends all seem to have so much to enjoy, it's a pity they're sloshing through it in what the author admits is a booze-muddled, brainfogged, probably nauseated condition.
Still, whatever's driving them to drink, Burt and Sophie live in a nice place and enjoy nice stuff. Readers may enjoy a virtual visit to their homes and will probably enjoy their demonstration of how people who made each other bristle, on first meeting, can become friends.
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