Pretty Dogs by Riley Nash
Dirty Strays #2
LGBTQ+/Contemporary Romance
Published December 8, 2023

Pretty Dogs, the second book in the Dirty Strays series by Riley Nash, was so refreshing to me.  Class is a variable thing in romance novels.  We’ve got all the millionaire/billionaire books, with their Ferragamo shoes and Tom Ford suits.  With the penthouse apartments where the furniture is in minimalistic black or white leather and the wall to ceiling glass windows that look out on whatever city the novel takes place.  There’s certainly plenty of middle-class books, often with characters with entrepreneurial bents, starting a bakery or a bookstore or some other retail shop. But the smallest subset must be the books about truly poor people, of which Pretty Dogs is one.

In Pretty Dogs, Riley Nash creates a setting so real and tangibly impoverished that it seems almost impossible that love could thrive there but thrive it does.  The main characters, Dallas and Beck, and their roommates survive on carefully budgeted meals, for example beans and rice where the beans have been counted out for the meal.  Only one burner on their stove works, and the shower surround is dirty. The characters carve out moments of joy, though, in creative ways.

Dallas and Beck are so different.  Dallas is a trans-man who grew up in a supportive middle-class home until he was tossed out by his mother’s transphobic boyfriend. Beck’s turn in life happened much sooner, and he became vulnerable to a gang’s recruitment when he was just a kid. They are best friends at the beginning of the novel: Dallas wants to help Beck get out of gang life and Beck wants Dallas to apply for a more fulfilling job at a clothing store.  This a dual perspective book, and the first-person narration for both characters is so honest.  I really liked Beck’s because of the way he grappled saying how he thought and felt. His grappling on why he has so much trouble imagining a better future for himself was really moving to me.

Dallas and Beck start the novel as friends, as each other’s “home”, but a precipitating event leads to a kiss, which then leads to more.  Dallas has never kissed anyone.  He’s had top-surgery and hormone therapy, but his feelings about his body and what another man might think about his penis are clearly a concern.  I found Dallas’s thoughts about dysphoria and his reactions to his growing intimacy with Beck helpful in understanding his character.

I loved this book, but I was aware as I read that it was a long book.  The parts that seemed more like setting up the next book in the series might have contributed to that.  

I had not read the first book in the series, but now I will. This book stands up fine on its own.

Grade: A