The Reading Bud

Book Details:

Author: Meghan Parks
Release Date: September 1, 2026
Series:
Genre: Magical Realism
Format: E-book
Pages: 229
Publisher: Next Chapter
Blurb:
That’s right, it’s me, Julian Blaire! The Contemporary King and world-rocking musician.
Or at least I was until some crazy run-in left me looking like an ass. No, literally. I’m a donkey. And to make it worse, I got mistaken for a real donkey and roped like a wild bronco.

Review

Love Is a Donkey by Meghan Parks is a comic contemporary fantasy about fame, self-absorption and the rather humiliating journey towards becoming a better human being. Julian Blaire, better known to his adoring fans as pop sensation JB Kahn, is talented, theatrical and almost magnificently insufferable, treating employees, friends and relatives as supporting characters in the grand production of his own life. When a mysterious elderly woman enrols him in an unusual programme intended for men who are tired of being called an ass, Julian awakens in the body of a donkey and learns that he must perform a genuinely selfless act before his transformation becomes permanent.

The novel’s greatest strength is Julian’s first-person voice, which is vain, sarcastic and consistently entertaining, even when his behaviour makes him almost impossible to like. His outrage at being treated as an ordinary animal is particularly amusing because he remains oblivious to how closely his new owners’ selfishness, exploitation and hunger for attention resemble his own former conduct. The sections involving Byron and his aspiring social-media entourage offer a lively satire of influencer culture, performative charity and the ease with which animals, or people, can become content rather than companions. Parks also demonstrates an evident understanding of equine behaviour, allowing Julian’s physical limitations, expressive ears, powerful kicks and growing awareness of human body language to become essential parts of the story rather than decorative consequences of the spell.

Beneath its absurd premise, however, the novel gradually develops considerable emotional weight. Julian’s beloved lyre provides an especially effective thread, connecting his childhood, his concealed vulnerability and the musical identity buried beneath the calculated spectacle of JB Kahn. His time with Fred and Carol introduces tenderness, ageing and grief into the narrative, while his relationship with Sadie becomes its emotional heart. Sadie does not value him because he is famous, useful or profitable; she sees a frightened and neglected creature who needs companionship, just as she does. Their shared music gives Julian something the applause of thousands never could: the experience of being trusted without being idolised. As the danger surrounding Sadie becomes clearer, his movement from reluctant tolerance to protective love feels convincing and genuinely affecting.

Love Is a Donkey is imaginative, warm-hearted and far more emotionally substantial than its playful title initially suggests. Parks understands that Julian’s true transformation cannot be achieved through one convenient good deed performed in exchange for becoming human again; he must learn to recognise love as responsibility, presence and protection, even when there is no audience to applaud him. The revised meaning of his signature song provides a satisfying culmination to that growth, while his eventual willingness to confront the relationships he previously avoided gives the conclusion additional emotional resonance. Readers who enjoy humorous animal fantasies, flawed narrators and redemption stories with a strong emotional centre should find this an engaging and unexpectedly moving read.

You can also read this review at: