Quick Synopsis – Harold may be an aging mutt—but Amelia May, the romance novelist who adopted him, taught him a thing or two about the human heart before she died. And she left Harold with a final task: to help her partner, Miguel, find love again.

Trouble is, the grief-ridden recluse rarely goes out, not even to the bookstore he and Amelia owned together. Now it’s in danger of going under, and when a renowned author doesn’t show up for his event, it pushes the store’s already precarious finances into the red. In a final attempt to save the bookstore, Miguel and Harold set out to find the no-show and insist he fulfill his obligation. But instead they’re greeted by Fiona, his sunny yet secretive sister.

Fiona is intent on protecting her brother’s privacy—and to Harold’s horror, she doesn’t like dogs. But her precocious eleven-year-old daughter, who’s also named Amelia, immediately befriends Harold . . . and he can’t help but wonder if his Amelia was right when she said there are no coincidences in life.

Harold is quickly running out of time to accomplish his mission, but if he can just convince his infuriatingly stubborn person to let Fiona in, he’s certain Miguel will find something far more important than a missing author: his own happy ending.

Song This Reminds Me Of – Dog Days are Over by Florance and the Machines (too on the nose?)

Publication Date – April 7, 2026

Bookshop Link – Dog Person by Camille Pagan

Content Warnings – This book deals heavily with grief and finding love again after the death of a partner. It also deals with the sunset years of an aging dog. There is off page death of a partner, death of a parent, and child abandonment.

Rating – ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5

Review – This book is incredibly sweet and made me cry. It also has a fun plot device where the story is told from the point of view of the dog. Harold is our narrator and it’s so cute. Hearing how much the dog loved his owner Amelia and is now set on helping Miguel (Amelia’s partner) find love again is truly heartwarming. I want to believe that my dog would help my husband find love again if I died. But my senior citizen dog is more likely to eat poop than look for love.

The crux of the book is that about a year and a half after his partner’s death, Miguel is about to lose the bookstore they started together. Harold, their beloved dog, promised Amelia he would help Miguel find love again. A botched author signing where the author doesn’t show up and can’t be found, threatens to take the store down. When Miguel (and Harold) travel to Chicago to track the author down, they’re surprised to meet his sister and his niece. The actual romance is pretty syrupy. To me the real love story is how Miguel is reconnecting with the people in his life who love him and who loved Amelia.

Even though this book has some pretty heavy subject matter, there was so much love and joy between the characters. I loved how much Miguel took care of his employees. I didn’t love some of the backstory. This book takes place in the early 2000s and has kind of a weird throw away plot about 9/11. Riley, one of the workers in Amelia and Miguel’s bookstore, moved to the area because she lost someone in 9/11. There’s a little discussion, but no concrete details. I get that it was supposed to showcase her grief and how she could relate to Miguel, but it felt weirdly shoehorned in. Not to mention Riley lost someone in a national horrific event whereas Miguel lost Amelia to a heart murmur. I just felt like so many of the other characters had backstories also centered around grief, but Riley stuck out.

This was a cute, quick read, but a bit of a tearjerker.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine – Delacorte Press for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.