Lori R. Taylor

Baker’s Dozen is the first book in the ‘Soul Mutts’ series. It stars Maeve, a woman who dreams of owning her own bakery, and Baker, a boxer that has been living at Pretty Paws, a no kill shelter for quite some time. This story is told through Baker and Maeve’s povs.



First, I’ll start with the cover. I like it. It fits the story and follows the theme for the series with dogs on the front.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author. It’s also the first time I’ve read something from the Chick Lit genre. Somehow it’s listed as Mystery Thriller/Cozy Mystery. I would say it’s not a mystery at all. It’s really about Maeve trying to overcome her fear of dogs, bonding with Baker, and learning to let go of the past, all the while achieving her dream of owning her own bakery. For Baker, it’s also about overcoming her fear of people because she’s had a hard life with many people abusing or neglecting her. Both Maeve and Baker learn to trust and grow with each other. What I especially liked about this book, was that there wasn’t a romance involved. So many books and movies with woman protagonists lead to the woman having to find a man to make her whole, and I strongly dislike stories like that.

This story is told from the pov of both Baker, the dog, and Maeve. I’m not sure what to call the povs. There was an odd first person pov that slipped in that wasn’t corrected during betaing or editing. What I mean is, I spotted quite a number of instances where the word ‘my’ was used instead of the word ‘her’. With the frequency I found the errors, I suspect the author wrote this story in first person at first, then switched it to third. I would say the narrative errors were the biggest problem. They seemed to fluctuate numerous times.

I enjoyed the characters. I think the author did a great job of showing both Maeve’s and Baker’s fear and anxiety. Maeve was an exceptionally anxious, worried woman, but she had also just gone through a rough patch with her ex, was having trouble with her job, and couldn’t find financing for her bakery. She certainly wasn’t perfect. I particularly didn’t care for her ghosting of a client. She didn’t have the courage to refuse his job and move on. That told me she could be irresponsible of people she didn’t find worthy of her time if she didn’t like them. I liked reading how Baker saw events around her. I’m used to reading paranormal or fantasy books with sentient animals, so Baker ‘speaking’ wasn’t unfamiliar to me. Both Baker and Maeve made a good pair after both of them overcame their fears.

Baker’s Dozen is a fluffy, fast read with amusing human and dog interactions. I found this book entertaining, and I’ll continue on with this series even though I had issues with the narration. I give this story 4 Stars.


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Reign of Terrier is the second book in ‘The Soul Mutts Series’. It stars Tessa, an aspiring vet tech, and Princess, an anxious terrier mix pooch. The story is told in third person from both Tessa, and Princess’ povs.



First the cover. This second book cover continues with the theme of showing a dog on the cover instead of a human. I like it.

The blurb does a good job of describing what the plot is about so I won’t go into that. I liked the plot; however, I think book one was better. This story focused more on Tessa rather than giving equal time to Princess. In book one, it was almost 50/50 between human and dog pov. There are returning characters from book one in this story, but I don’t think it’s necessary to read the first book in order to understand this one. However, reading the first one will give you a better view of what’s happening.

One thing the author did again that she did in the first book, is it appears that she wrote this story in first person, then changed it to third before publishing. There are still instances of first person pov pronouns that weren’t changed. However, they weren’t as frequent as they were in book one.

Most of my thoughts have to do with the characters and some of the messaging the author gave in the story. Tessa’s fiancée died, so I understand Tessa’s anxiety and depression tied to that and why she couldn’t function well after the death. What we learn as the story goes on, is that Tessa was that way even before her fiancée passed. That Tessa depended on Livy to get Tessa through her episodes. In fact, Tessa was so anxious ridden, she’d have constant panic attacks, sometimes more than one a day. What I don’t understand, is why wasn’t she on medication? Because she was having serious trouble functioning. I thought it unusual that the author didn’t even bring up the topic of medication to help Tessa, and that’s not good. People don’t have to ‘tough it out’ and in the end hurt themselves. The author missed an opportunity to create a positive message that sometimes medication is necessary and it’s okay to ask for help from a doctor.

Next issue was about Eliza, the other young woman who was in competition for the extern position at the vet’s office. Tessa was trying to be friends, but there was something off with Eliza. She didn’t take criticism or help well. She called Tessa one night frantic, and then raged and blamed Tessa even though she never told Tessa what was wrong. The final straw was she threw Tessa under the bus and blamed Tessa for something that Eliza did, and Tessa rolled over, took the blame and lied that she did it. Then Tessa later tells Eliza she wants to be friends with her. Is Tessa so masochistic, so hard up for friends that she wants to be friends with someone who emotionally abuses her and then sticks a knife in her back? The fact that the author passes this off as ‘forgiveness’ and ‘water under the bridge’ is wrong. No person should subject themselves to someone else who doesn’t treat them well. The message the author gives by Tessa’s behavior is that it’s okay for someone to treat a person badly, but remain friends. This is not right and ends up damaging a person’s self-esteem. Eliza is the kind of person who is a taker, and those friendships don’t end well.

Lastly, when Eliza blamed Tessa for the accident at the vet’s, after it was over, the vet mentions that he knew Eliza lied. Instead of confronting Eliza when everyone was there that he knew she lied, the vet tells Tessa after: “Yes, I knew Eliza was lying. But you didn’t argue, you didn’t pick a fight, you didn’t try to shift blame. That’s the kind of responsibility and willingness to take one for the team that I need in my techs.” WHAT? He’s saying, be a good girl, don’t say anything, keep quiet even though it’s someone else’s fault. Tessa had no reason to take the blame because it wasn’t her fault. I don’t understand the messaging this author is giving. Tessa’s actions are perpetuating a lie, not the truth. The author is telling women to be quiet, don’t rock the boat, don’t make the boss mad, even though Tessa had to lie that she did it. Tessa had to lie to take the blame and the vet was okay with that. The author’s message is ‘take the blame if someone throws you under the bus or stabs you in the back.’ That has to sound warped to other people besides myself. It’s so wrong. I think the author needs to seriously rethink some of the ideas she has before writing them in a book, because they are messages to readers and she shouldn’t be sending the wrong ones.

And regarding the accident that happened at the vet's. That was a continuity problem that the author, betas, and editors did not catch. Would a vet keep the medical and chemical supplies in the same area as the food supply? In fact, the food supply would have to be out in the open, not in a cabinet or closet, in order to drop medical/chemicals on the food. That is so illogical. It's a simple enough problem to figure out if that is true. Do people keep cleaning supplies with their food supplies at home? Of course not. Why would they at a vet office that is mandated to keep everything properly stored and locked away. The author clearly didn't think this through.

I liked the dog, Princess, although the author never explained how she ended up at the shelter. Was she abandoned? Did they find her? Even in Princess’ own memories, there’s no indication of where she was before she was at the shelter. It’s like she was created out of thin air and popped up at the shelter. The author needs to fill in the dog’s background better.

Overall, I liked the plot. The author does a good job of creating humans and dogs with anxiety, and abandonment problems. Unfortunately, the messages the author conveyed in this book were poor ones. That’s why I don’t feel that this book is as good as book one. Reign of Terrier was entertaining, but the messaging was bad. I give this book, 3 Stars.

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