Reviews

She's a Keeper by Ali K. Mulford

thebookishstephanie's review

Lark Lachlan is a zookeeper with a preference for helping around her family's zoo and taking care of the primates, and a bisexual with a preference for women.  But when Logan Anderson starts as a volunteer for the summer, Lark finds herself questioning what she thought she thought she knew about herself, and what the future might hold in store for herself. 

She's a Keeper has a fun family dynamic in the setting of a crazy zoo, with a bunch of cute animals!  You can see Ali Mulford's previous career as a biologist really come to light in this story.

I also instantly loved both Lark and Logan.  Lark is very relatable for me: highly strung yet caring, and she has such wonderful bi-rep.  Just because she ends up with a man doesn't erase who she is! I really love how much she loves and cares about her family and the zoo with all the animals.  

Logan is so delightful and fills the story with fun Kiwi slang.  I read through the "Kiwi Slang Guide" and had a giggle, because it felt so familiar as an Australian!  He is also a fantastic book boyfriend, really brining Lark out of her shell but never pressuring her.

All in all, this was a really fun romcom and I'll definitely be reading the other siblings' books when they come out!  Thank you to Ali K Mulford for the e-arc, all opinions are my own.

mbozarth's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

fernylace's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I loved their fantasy books and as soon as I found out they were writing a zookeeper rom com this keeper immediately signed up for an ARC. It didn’t disappoint. I LOVED this book. My only complaint - you know how people ask what is one thing about your career field that they get wrong in books/movies? Well this has one that had me yelling about federal laws and the Lacey act and injurious wildlife and lack of proper containment…. No it wasn’t the spider monkey incident. Other than this was pretty spot on about zoo life. Speaking of the spider monkey what keeper hasn’t caught a drink guest trying to steal a monkey or other cute animal to be a pet??? Who hasn’t been shoulder deep mucking out a drain or rescuing their dropped keys?? The love story was amazing. Logan was properly swoon inducing. The spice was steamy. There is a fine line with meddling families between the MC needs to cut that toxicity out of their life and this is how a close family is. Thankfully it was on the later side of the line. Nothing ruins a book for me faster than interfering toxic family members who never heard of boundaries. But Ali writes her large complicated messy families (both blood and found) really well. I just adored this book!! I can’t wait for the next one. Oh I do have one more complaint - the content/trigger warning didn’t include scenes of forgotten/missed locks in the list. That’s anxiety inducing, zookeepers beware. 

mrs_bear1230's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

leelee_reads10's review against another edition

5.0

Aahhh Ali K Mulford has smashed it out of the park with this debut Romcom!

I started it around 10:30ish this morning it’s just gone 8:45pm I couldn’t put it down! It was cute it was funny and a little spicy

Lark and Logan’s journey to each other was awesome I highly recommend reading this book

Family run zoo setting
Bisexual FMC
Grumpy /sunshine

mwright_sci's review against another edition

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

montylearoy's review against another edition

funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I found the characters were very loveable, I also like the queer and neurodivergent representation. 
The humour was great. The smutt scenes were nice not too extreme. 

nitrojenn's review against another edition

funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

If you love contemporary romance and you love animals, I think you will love this book!

Some things I liked:
-the banter 😍
-they are clearly both attracted to one another but he's the one who usually pushes for the relationship, so it feels like he falls first
-the content warnings the author included at the beginning. I'm stupidly scared of spiders so I appreciated the warning at the beginning

I can really take or leave spice, so this was pretty spicy in my opinion.

alicia_ann_reads's review

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Absolutely loved this rom com! 
The spice was excellent as Ali's usually is. I laughed and cried and just loved all the animals and even the messaging. 

Can't wait to dive into book 2!

crazyknitter's review against another edition

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0