Book Review: Love on Dove Street by Cherie Hart

When a streetwise Istanbul mutt named Çiçek befriends a circle of American expats and refugees, she becomes an unlikely Internet anti-war hero in a story of surprising twists and forbidden love.

Set along the vibrant cobblestones of Dove Street in old Istanbul, the sunny beaches of Turkey's Mediterranean coast, and the besieged cities of Eastern Ukraine, Love on Dove Street follows a group of exiles, war reporters, and free spirits whose lives fatefully entwine amidst the uncertainties of life abroad and the brutality of war.

At the center is Çiçek, a scrappy rescue dog whose connection to the street's inhabitants fuels an inspiring online campaign against Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But Çiçek has deeper mysteries of her own to sniff out, including the concealed passions and betrayals of her newfound pack.

GENRE: Contemporary Literary Fiction

PURCHASE LINK: Amazon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Cherie Hart is a writer and award-winning documentary producer from Virginia. She wrote for the National Enquirer, was a TV reporter, and a magazine writer. She worked as an overseas press officer for the United Nations Development Programme and traveled to more than 60 countries. She has two daughters and lives with her husband in Turkey and the US. She loves spy novels and that first cup of coffee in the morning.

Also check out this interview!

Review

Love On Dove Street is part of Your Paper Quest's February book box, with the theme Love Worth Fighting For. It's not your usual kind of love story, though — and not just because one of the POV characters is a charming dog named Çiçek!

The story mostly takes place in Turkey during the war in Ukraine, which we have all certainly have heard about. Despite that theme, it's not focused on violence and warfare (though there are plenty enough mentions and details to remind you of the horrors and why we must continue to condone it), but rather on the people who are trying to live despite its impact to society and the world. And they're certainly characters you'll learn to care about as the story progresses. The author did a wonderful job at giving us real people, not just caricatures or stereotypes of characters.

What I also found unique was the fact that the book didn't actually have chapters. Instead, the story simply shifted from one POV to another, which made the book impossible to put down 🙈 Given all the POVs, I worried in the beginning that the voices might end up being similar, but I didn't have to be concerned. The POV shifting also wasn't confusing to me, though I might just be a little more used to that being an avid fantasy reader.

Cherie Hart has created something beautiful and unexpected here. I highly recommend this book, and I thank Your Paper Quest for the privilege of sampling one of their book boxes!

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️️

About Your Paper Quest

Your Paper Quest is a US & UK based book-of-the-month subscription box that exclusively features books from self-published and independent authors. Each box is curated with a changing theme, offering a wide variety of genres and stories.

Check out their subscription plan and their social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.

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Hi! I'm Marie, a Filipino SFFH author and book reviewer currently based in the UK. I’m the co-author of The Prophecies of Ragnarok, a Norse myth new adult urban fantasy trilogy, and I also have several short stories published in anthologies and literary journals.

You can find more info about me and my books, and also subscribe to my newsletter for more content, here. And if you like what I do, please also consider supporting me on Ko-fi! 🩷 https://ko-fi.com/mariesinadjan

If you fancy a short read, I have a cozy reimagining of the Norse myths about Hel, but it's just under 70 pages and can be read in one sitting. ✨ Plus there's a swag kit coming soon! Includes a "membership card," a bookmark, a sticker, an origami dog, and an exclusive 500-word story 🫶🏼

All things end, and all must die.

But death is not always the end.

When Geiravor Lokisdottir was stripped of her name and cast out of Asgard, torn from her family and the life she had known, she thought she’d lost it all. But in the shadows of Niflheim she discovers the path to her destiny, and what it truly means to be queen.

This is a prequel short story to THE PROPHECIES OF RAGNAROK trilogy by Meri Benson and Marie Sinadjan, and a retelling of the myths involving Hel, the Norse goddess of death and the queen of the underworld.