“The Seat Filler” by Sariah Wilson hit the spot after giving up on an overly wordy, tediously description-filled narrative that had been sent to me. I picked up this romance and within a few pages, I cared more about Juliet Nolan, the main character, than I had after reading more than 100 pages of the other book. While this is a light read, it’s cute and engaging. And there are dogs — plenty of dogs.

It’s about Juliet, who for reasons I won’t reveal, is afraid to date because she has an irrational fear of kissing. All her life, she’s had a huge crush on Noah Douglas, a child prodigy actor who has grown up handsome, ridiculously kind, and nice, as she eventually discovers. But when she first meets him at an awards show, she’s a seat filler. That’s what people are called who sit in empty seats at televised awards shows so that the audience looks complete. There are many rules about carrying out this particular strategy, and her best friend’s boyfriend’s mother is in charge, so Juliet doesn’t want to mess it up.

But when Noah Douglas, her heart-throb movie star crush, sits next to her and mutters that she must be a stalker, she’s pretends she doesn’t even know who he is. He’s intrigued. Through a series of missteps, they finally end up friends after she grooms his dog Magnus. Juliet has just started her own dog grooming business, and she loves dogs. Noah rescued Magnus and loves the huge, mischievous brute.

When Douglas proposes that he mjght help her get over her fear of kissing because she does want to live a normal life with a family, and this would help her immensely, she agrees. After all, he’s doing it as research, right? He’s an experienced actor, right? What could go wrong, right?

Well, the one thing that Douglas hates is a liar, and Juliet hasn’t told him that she really knew who he was that first night. And the longer she waits to tell him, the harder it’s going to be, and the more that is at stake. Wilson keeps the romance and the intrigue going, and in those pages, we almost fall in love with Juliet and Douglas as well.

While this is not a piece of literature that will keep you up nights thinking about it and reflecting on its deeper meaning, it will leave you with a warm, fuzzy feeling. If you enjoy cute romances that have snappy dialogue, a well-thought-out plot, and realistic main characters, you will certainly enjoy this one.

Please note: This review was first posted on Bookreporter.com.