Antonia Bernardin

Crocodile Tears is the fourth book in the Prickle Island Zoo series by Ali.K. Mulford and was my 14th read of the 2025. I am a huge fan of this author so this will be a fairly biased review, you have been warned.

You can read the review of book 1 here: She’s a keeper

Book 2 here: Easy Tiger

And Book 3 here: Party Animal

Plot summary

This story follows Dove, set a little bit after Frankie and Finch’s story in book 3. The movie set at the Prickle Island zoo, the very thing that saved the zoo from being sold off has finally arrived, and with it, her best-friend turned enemy Deacon Harrow. He might be a famous movie star now but Dove can’t let go of their past, or the fact he endorsed a product that has been doing unethical practices in its production process, which put an entire animal species at risk of extinction. The only problem is when she yell all this at his adoring fans waiting at the zoo gates, which causes a PR nightmare.

Deacon thought he hadn’t been swayed by the Hollywood lifestyle until Dove called him out on a lot of things and he realises it’s been a while since someone has done that. So he sets out to atone for what happened when they were teenagers and for his actions in the present. He sets up a non-profit dedicated to conservation and appoints Dove the interim director, hoping that by making her spend more time with him he fix both his image in her eyes and in the public’s eye. He’s helped by the Lachlan clan welcoming him in with open arms and after he saves the day when a Lachlan grand-baby is due (only spoiler free way I could think to say that), Dove begrudgingly starts to find herself caring for him again. She’s not sure she’s cut out for life with a movie star and he’s not sure he even wants to be a movie star anymore…

My review

I enjoyed this story but not quite as much as I did the first three because there just wasn’t as much tension here for me, it was kind of a foregone conclusion and the barriers between them weren’t really barriers. I liked Dove’s character though and her development, the male lead in this one was a bit meh. I think if the others hadn’t made me feel such big things, like laughing then crying and everything in between, this would be much more positive because it’s still a really enjoyable story and I absolutely love the setting and the family. I deserpately want to own the physical copies of these though, they definitely on the list for the dragons hoard.

Buy the book for yourself

*this is an affiliate link, you won’t pay any extra, but I might receive a small commission