Closet Geeks and Slow Mo

3.5 Stars

A book that took me by surprise.

Beauty and the Wiener is a book that took me completely by surprise.
And I'm not saying this just about one aspect but about several.
First it's not really what I would seek out to read. But frankly I liked the cover and the summary sounded fun. So on a whim I decided that I would like to give it a try. I made sure that it can be read as a standalone, since I haven't read the previous book in the series.
So it's my first book by Griffin as well. And let's just I am sure it won't be my last.

The plot was captivating. I was totally into the mystery. Though I did guess who the culprit is, I kept wavering and wondering if I was wrong. I more than enjoyed the covert missions of Addison and Felix. All the mishaps and all the sneaking around was beyond entertaining. And there were a couple of things, I didn't solve completely.

The character building is interesting. As I said I haven't read Must Love Wieners (yet) so I didn't know any of the cast. My first impression however was, somewhat of shock. I felt Addison was dizzy and superficial, and possibly a bit delusional... Very quickly however I changed my mind. I grew to like her and understand her. Felix, on the other hand had me at the first go. I loved him right from the beginning, As the story went on and we got to know both MCs better, both gained depths and I felt beyond smug that I was always right about the "bad boy". Griffin did a great job and showing Addison's weakness and her past hurts, without dwelling too much on it. And I love how she subtly changed and how she slowly realised what she really wanted.
I liked the interactions between Addison and her friends. But I would have liked some more of it, I felt like it was too little to understand their relationship. Maybe this is because I haven't read the first book yet?
Basically we get little about Addison's personal life despite the fact that this is written entirely from her POV

The romance left me divided. Because I totally adored their "slow" burn romance- that wasn't that slow burn. But I really couldn't relate to Addison's Cinderella dreams. Then there is the nearly love-triangle. It wasn't that bad mind you. I didn't really mind it. Except for Addison's blatant ignorance. It infuriated me, actually. I found the end, while completely satisfying, lost it's swoon factor by talking about how this was so forever. It was a bit too much for me

On another note; the biggest surprise for me was the show dog world. See, I am not much of a dog person, I never owned a dog nor do I have a great affinity to them. I think I am more of a cat person. I know very little about the dog shows. Mind you not that I would know more about cat show, or any other pet for that matter. So I was a bit overwhelmed by that aspect of it. But Griffin did a great job at conveying the world, it's draw backs and it's great sides. At least from my layman's point of view. Because of this I found myself immersed in it and totally enjoying that aspect of the book.

I am definitely going to read the first book and am looking forward to the next.
An interesting discovery for me. I think lovers of the genre and dog lovers will really enjoy this one.