Haylee and Mac both have had tragic pasts. This book covered so much- there was death of a child and parents, teenage pregnancy, adoption, the adoptive parents are horrible trope, animals are healing. There was so much going on. There were so many characters too. I had a hard time connecting with both leads. I probably would have given this a 3*, but then something happened that I really didn't like.

I read this for Romance-opoly Emergency Services Sun track square

Snopek writes the most beautiful stories. Incredible characters, emotional plots mixed with words of wisdom and bursts of humor, she's always a one click for me. A Dog Called Valentine is a sweet tale of hope wrapped in love. Valentine is an adorable mess that turns out to be a great matchmaker. Lily, Shane and Valentine speak to the heart with a charming grace that is classically Roxanne Snopek.

Driftwood Creek can be described in many ways. I choose to look at it as a tale of inspiration trapped in a world that is not always kind. Jamie and Gideon are dreamers learning how to dream. Their pain runs deep inside of battered and bruised souls. Despite the heartache, each needs someone to help heal all their broken parts. The tragedy will be, if they never try. Snopek taps into the still waters of a heart and bleeds them dry, before replenishing the human spirit with her emotional reads.

***copy provided by publisher through NetGalley***

The premise was good, the execution, unfortunately less so.

We only got bare-bones glimpses of the backstory that was at the "heart" of the heroine's stutter whenever the hero was around and his strange fascination with her, never really delving into their "issues" that were also at the heart of their day-to-day interactions with pretty much everybody.
The characters themselves were one-dimensional at best, with everybody and their cat (literally) chomping off "air-time" of the two leads...At least the step-sisters could've been evil and given a little oomph to the proceedings.

Instead, we got a sweet, feel-good, bouncy little story with no real bite, and no real story.