Puppy Christmas (Service Puppies #2)

Gilmore’s enchanting, laugh-out-loud second Service Puppies contemporary (after Puppy Love) is grounded by serious themes. Lila Vasquez runs a service dog academy with her sisters, who convince her to wear a fluffy pink dress to an elegant gala. She’s ready to disown them, but then sobbing six-year-old Emily decides Lila is a real-life princess—and Lila realizes that the girl’s father, Ford, would make an ideal Prince Charming. Ford, a lighthearted illustrator, has one priority: helping his beloved daughter cope with going deaf. When a charity connects them with Lila’s business, Lila pairs Emily with a darling cockapoo puppy and falls in love with Ford. Readers will be completely satisfied by the sensitive yet unsentimental way in which Gilmore portrays a young girl’s disability, a divorced father’s fretfulness about relationships and his own worth, and a beautiful woman’s insecurity. Gilmore’s generous novel is as appealing as a puppy. Agent: Courtney Miller-Callihan, Handspun Literary. (Oct.)