After a VERY public breakup with her longtime boyfriend, Willow just wants to hide away. Thankfully, she gets the opportunity when her brother Cruz asks her to dog-sit while he's deployed overseas. To make sure his sister's doing OK, Cruz asks his best friend Deacon to routinely check in on her. As Deacon and Willow talk through her recent breakup, she decides to make a "re-do" list for all of the things that she only ever experienced with her ex. Some are pretty innocuous, some are a bit spicier, and when Deacon volunteers to help Willow check some items off her list, he doesn't realize that he's soon going to be tempted to break the promise he made to Cruz to keep his hands off Willow.
There's usually something questionable about a happily-ever-after happening in a rebound situation, and on paper, that's what this looks like. However, Williams deftly avoids the trap of centering Willow's personal growth around yet another man — that's specifically addressed in a conversation between Willow and Deacon, with Willow stating that she's doing these things for herself and Deacon is simply supporting her. Similarly, Deacon's personal growth as someone medically discharged from the military coming to grips with his new (and unwilling) veteran status is his growth, and just happens to work well with his future with Willow. All in all, this was an excellently done romance, with complex characters and ridiculously loveable dogs. Two thumbs enthusiastically up!
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