Lots of Cute Puppies! (A New Leash on Love Review)

Before I start into my Halloween reading, I figured I needed to send The Dog Days of Summer out with a bang so today I'm reviewing a book I read over my 4th of July vacation.  It's a perfect choice for ending up the summer months!

TITLE: A New Leash on Love (Rescue Me #1)
AUTHOR: Debbie Burns
PUBLISHER: Sourcebooks, Casablanca
PUBLISHING DATE: July 4, 2017

FROM GOODREADS: When Craig Williams draws the short straw and has to take his daughter’s adorable new puppy to a shelter after the holidays, it’s just another painful episode in the fall-out of a miserable divorce. He needs to pick up the pieces of his life, and, after a fiery confrontation with Megan Anderson, the young woman running the shelter, he wants to put the whole episode behind him. However, when he keeps finding new ways to reconnect with her, he realizes Megan’s compassionate and caring nature just might be the perfect salve for his broken heart.

MY THOUGHTS: 
It's been a while since I read "A New Leash on Love" but I'm finding that two months later, I still love it just as much. It's funny how each year I associate my July 4th vacation week with a book that stuck in my mind and this year, this book is the one. It was a perfect way to spend a rainy day curled up on the couch with two lovable pooches reading about other ones.

Craig Williams is going through a divorce and as the book opens, he is having to take a puppy that his children adore to the local pound because it is too much for his wife and children. When doing so, he meets Megan Anderson. Megan has worked years at the shelter rescuing pets and finding them forever homes and she immediately thinks Craig is a pompous ass - and I'll have to admit, I agreed with her for quite some time. However, over the course of the book, Megan and Craig learn more about each other and he even becomes quite helpful to her in securing new funding sources to help the shelter grow. Megan takes Craig's daughter under her wing and shows her how to care for the dogs at the shelter in the hopes that eventually she will be able to take on the responsibility of another dog of her own.

One of the best things about this book to me was all the animals. There are lots of rescues and fosters and the reader is given insight to many of them. Also, all of the staff at the shelter have their own little quirks and foibles and I really liked getting to know all about them. I probably could have given this book 5/5 but since I don't read a lot of romance, it was hard for me to make a decision. The dogs alone scored a few points but I appreciated that the book wasn't one large case of insta-love and that there were no love triangles presented (things that immediately turn me off in books).

If you love dogs and enjoy seeing character development, this is a good book to pick up. In addition, I'm also sure any regular reader of romance books with absolutely be thrilled with "A New Leash on Love." I'm definitely keeping my eyes open for the next book in this series.

I received this book from Netgalley and the published in exchange for an honest review.

RATING: 4 PAWS

 

Can't Wait Wednesday - Dog Days of Summer Edition

Can't Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings to spotlight highly anticipated books.  It is based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme which used to be hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

So guess who's back?  It's me, Booker T!  And my brother Cassius is also helping out today.  Who better to preview some new "Can't Wait" dog books than us, especially since it's the Dog Days of Summer?  We hope you like our picks!

FROM GOODREADS:
When a woman unexpectedly loses her lifelong best friend and mentor, she finds herself burdened with the unwanted dog he has left behind. Her own battle against grief is intensified by the mute suffering of the dog, a huge Great Dane traumatized by the inexplicable disappearance of its master, and by the threat of eviction: dogs are prohibited in her apartment building.

While others worry that grief has made her a victim of magical thinking, the woman refuses to be separated from the dog except for brief periods of time. Isolated from the rest of the world, increasingly obsessed with the dog's care, determined to read its mind and fathom its heart, she comes dangerously close to unraveling. But while troubles abound, rich and surprising rewards lie in store for both of them.

Elegiac and searching, The Friend is both a meditation on loss and a celebration of human-canine devotion.

FROM GOODREADS:
Every dog has its day…

And for Lineker, a happy go lucky mongrel from Peckham, the day the world ends is his: finally a chance to prove to his owner just how loyal he can be.

Reg, an agoraphobic writer with an obsession for nineties football, plans to wait out the impending doom in his second floor flat, hiding himself away from the riots outside.

But when an abandoned orphan shows up in the stairwell of their building, Reg and Lineker must brave the outside in order to save not only the child, but themselves…

WHY BOOKER T AND CASSIUS CAN'T WAIT:  Mom found "The Friend" the other day and we're no fools, we know she's always secretly wanted a Great Dane.  Thank heavens Dad has some sense and realizes we can't very well accommodate  one.  We also know she's been waiting FOREVER for "The Last Dog on Earth" and with a tagline of "The world is going to the dogs..." we know she'll never resist this one.  

WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU WAITING FOR THIS WEEK????

TTT - 5 Hidden Gem Dog Books

This top 10 weekly meme is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and can be found HERE.  Each week they focus on lists which cover various topics related to books and reading. Since I am wrapping up my Dog Days of Summer feature this week, thanks to Jo's Book Blog and La La in the Library, I thought I'd share with you my top 5 hidden gems of dog-related books.  Here we go!

I can't say enough about this book.  Not only does this book have a great dog character in Maybe, but the adult characters are well developed as well.  Jane has went through a lot of loss in her life and this book really shows how sometimes dogs can be the best medicine.  Also, Maybe has the honorary designation of being Booker T's forever book-girlfriend.  Grab a copy and see why.  You can also see my complete review HERE.

In "The Dogs of Babel" Paul's wife is found dead surrounded by suspicious circumstances.  The only witness is their dog Lorelei.  Paul ends up trying to teach Lorelei to communicate with him so he can discover what happened to the woman he loves. This is a beautiful book.

This is actually a duology but since I never got around to reading the second one, a serious reread of this one is in order.  Rocky's husband is found dead and she heads off to Maine, taking a new job as Animal Control Officer, to start over and grieve in peace.  She ends up meeting Lloyd, a very large Lab and a wonderful relationship ensues.  This book sticks in my mind because the MC has a lot of nightmares and once Lloyd enters her life and sleeps on her feet every night, they stop.  She then believes that their contact is actually easing her sleep disturbances.  Are you convinced you need to read this yet?

My grandmother shared her love of Vincent Price with me as a youth and to this day, I still enjoy his old horror movies.  And that voice, how can we forget Thriller?  But did you know he was an avid dog lover - almost to the point of obsessed.  This tale focuses on his dog Joe, and how fulfilled he felt for having Joe in his life.  My review is HERE.

If you've ever had a dog that tried your patience yet filled your heart with so much love, you should pick up Surviving Henry.  Young fills the pages with tales of Henry's shenanigans and she jokes that her boxer suffers from Supreme Dictator of the Universe Syndrome.  I think it's a common boxer ailment. HERE'S my review.

I know I tend to share a lot of dog books so I've searched deep in my arsenal in order to share some ones you may not know.  I hope you've enjoy this Top Five and look for a few more Dog Days of Summer posts before the month is out.

Dog Days of Summer Reading Challenge

I just happened to stumble across a new-to-me blog recently and what perfect timing!  Seems there is a "DOG DAYS OF SUMMER" reading challenge going on.  This was put together by Jo's Book Blog and LaLa in the Library.  I just happen to have a few dog-related books on my COYER Summer Reading List Challenge so I thought I'd join in here too.  I mean who am I to miss a chance to showcase dogs?  So I'm going to show you the books I'm going to be reading and showcasing.

THE LUSTER OF LOST THINGS - Walter Lavender Jr. is a master of finding. A wearer of high-tops. A maker of croissants. A son keeping vigil, twelve years counting.

But he wouldn’t be able to tell you. Silenced by his motor speech disorder, Walter’s life gets lonely. Fortunately, he has The Lavenders—his mother’s enchanted dessert shop, where marzipan dragons breathe actual fire. He also has a knack for tracking down any missing thing—except for his lost father.

So when the Book at the root of the bakery’s magic vanishes, Walter, accompanied by his overweight golden retriever, journeys through New York City to find it—along the way encountering an unforgettable cast of lost souls.

Steeped in nostalgic wonder, The Luster of Lost Things explores the depths of our capacity for kindness and our ability to heal. A lyrical meditation on why we become lost and how we are found, from the bright, broken heart of a boy who knows where to look for everyone but himself.

AND

EINSTEIN - When Charlie wakes in the middle of the night to discover an alien in his house, he is more than a little alarmed. But that fades into insignificance when the alien tells him that a) it is the end of the world, and b) he has come to rescue Einstein from destruction.

Einstein is Charlie's pet dog.

Only Einstein refuses to leave without his master. So the alien offers Charlie a deal. If he can prove that he has performed one worthwhile act in his life, then he can be saved.

Einstein is an outrageous comedy of high anxieties and low morals embracing everything from modern art to motherhood, from battery hens to the meaning of life. It is a comedy classic from one of Britain's great humorists.

PLUS, YOU CAN LOOK FORWARD TO INSIGHT AND REVIEWS OF THESE FEATURING BOOKER T AND CASSIUS THEMSELVES!