A Heartfelt Christmas Promise

NANCY NAIGLE

Stats: Mass market paperback, St. Martin’s Paperbacks, 9/28/21.

How acquired: Bought.

First line: Vanessa slid her hand along the slick wooden banister as she climbed the stairs.

(Goodreads synopsis below.)

My thoughts: My third Naigle book and I loved it as much as the first two.

A bit of the stereotypical girl from the big city forced to go to a small town where she doesn't fit in but falls in love with the town and one of the locals, but not gonna lie, I'm a sucker for that trope, if you can call it a trope. In this instance, Vanessa works for a large company in Chicago, the company bought a fruitcake factory in Fraser Hills, North Carolina, and now Vanessa has been sent to the town to shut down the factory in preparation for the warehouse space to used for an athletic company. I've been grabbing her books whenever I come across them so I have six more in my TBR. A job that has never bothered her before, but this time she finds herself getting friendly with the locals, including Buck, an older man who gives her some business advice and provides his guesthouse for Vanessa and her cousin over the Christmas holiday, Misty, a sixteen year old who works in the fruitcake factory's retail store and has lots of ideas to improve the business, and Mike, who breeds and trains Percheron horses. Oh, and Scooter, an adorable Lab puppy. The ending is of course predictable for the most part, but it's the journey to that ending that matters, and it was a wonderful journey.

I've been collecting Naigle books whenever I come across them, and have six more in my TBR, and I anticipate several more wonderful journeys!

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Vanessa Larkin was supposed to be spending Christmas in Paris, France on a business trip. Instead, she’s been assigned to Fraser Hills, North Carolina—home of the Best Fruitcake in the USA—to convert her company’s property into warehouse space and shut down Porter’s, the fruitcake factory. 

Mike Marshall’s family founded Porter’s. For decades, the factory served as the lifeblood of the community until his grandfather sold the business to a Chicago corporation. The sale cost the town its independence—and the Marshalls their family ties. A horse farmer, Mike was never involved with his grandfather’s company, but news of the factory’s closing means losing another piece of the town’s legacy. And as a widower raising a teenage daughter, he’s suffered enough losses in one lifetime. 

Far from the skyscrapers and rapid pace of the city, Vanessa finds herself enjoying the easygoing rhythms of rural living. With Mike as her guide, she learns to appreciate the simple pleasures found in shared holiday festivities among friends. Fraser Hills is a town she is growing to love—and Mike is someone she is falling in love with. Can a Christmas miracle give her newfound friends and home a gift they’ll cherish for many New Years to come?

Dogtown: Tales of Rescue, Rehabilitation, and Redemption

 

STEFAN BECHTEL

Stats for my copy: Hardback, National Geographic, 2009

How acquired: Via Bookcrossing.com

First line: John Garcia is under attack.

(Goodreads synopsis below.)

My thoughts: I was not familiar with the TV show DogTown, not having cable and therefore not having the National Geographic channel, but of course the title of the book and the dog on the cover caught my eye. I follow so many rescue organizations on FB, and dogs are my spirit animal. So I was excited to dive into this book, and it did not disappoint.

Berendt

Each chapter is focused on one or two specific dogs, almost all of them having come to Dogtown from a bad situation – hoarding, puppy mills, even a couple of the Vicktory Dogs, as the pitties involved in Michael Vick’s dogfighting operation came to be called. But one dog’s story especially touched me. Knightly had lived his whole life in a safe loving home as part of the family, but his owners were elderly and eventually were unable to take care of themselves, much less Knightly. Long story short, Knightly found himself at Dogtown, where he was bewildered, anxious, and depressed. I could easily picture him, lost in his new world, and my heart just ached. I’m actually tearing up right now, just writing about him. My last dog experienced a similar situation, finding his way to me after his owner passed away. Unlike Knightly, he was unsocialized, having been around pretty much nobody but his one owner for six years. But like Knightly, he was bewildered and anxious. It took several weeks for me to gain his trust, for him to allow me to pet him, and thankfully I did break through his emotional barriers and win him over and I believe he was happy with me. Unfortunately, I only got four years with him, before he passed away. All this to say Knightly’s story struck a note with me.

But enough about me. I very much enjoyed this book, sad at times, but also uplifting and hopeful, and I truly admire the staff of Dogtown and their devotion to their charges.

Goodreads Synopsis: A national rescue organization with more than 200,000 members, DogTown is the area where dogs live at the nation’s largest companion animal sanctuary run by Best Friends Animal Society. This informative, inspiring book presents representative stories of dogs considered unadoptable by other shelters. They come from many backgrounds: some were abandoned; some prowled the streets as strays; others suffer from mysterious illnesses, serious injuries, or antisocial behaviors that discourage potential adopters. But good fortune led them to Best Friends and the dedicated people devoted to helping them recover and find welcoming homes.

These compelling, winningly illustrated true stories, each uniquely moving and inspirational, draw upon the experience of veterinarians, trainers, and volunteers to probe a range of tough, touching cases that evoke both the joy and the occasional but inevitable heartbreak that accompanies this work. Each chapter follows a dog from the first day at Dogtown until he ultimately finds (or doesn’t find) a permanent new home, focusing both on the relationship between the dog and the Dogtown staff and on the latest discoveries about animal health and behavior. We learn how dogs process information, how trauma affects their behavior, and how people can help them overcome their problems. In the end, we come to see that there are no "bad dogs" and that with patience, care, and compassion, people can help dogs to heal.

Sunrise (Sky King Ranch, Book One)

 

SUSAN MAY WARREN

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, Revell, 1/4/22.

How acquired: Revell Reads Blogger Program

First line: By the time Dodge got to the hospital, he’d already broken his first promise.

(For Goodreads synopsis below.)

My thoughts: I’d not previously read anything by Susan May Warren, but I have a fascination with Alaska and the Antarctica, and reading about snow and ice, despite the fact that I hate to be cold and don’t leave my house when it snows here (which thankfully isn’t often). So the cover and the synopses (“When one of Echo’s fellow researchers goes missing, Echo sets out to find her, despite a blizzard, a rogue grizzly haunting the woods, and the biting cold.”) drew my attention. And wow, was this book good!

The characterization is wonderful. The story is action packed, but at the same time it’s a riveting character study. And not just regarding Echo and Dodge, but Alaska itself. Alaska is definitely one of the main characters of the book. Along with the actual story line, the author provides a ton of detail about the Alaskan wilderness, mushing/dog sledding, and flying. Echo has a team of dogs and when she is out on her sled behind her dogs, the author goes into a lot detail about the terrain, her route, her handling of the sled and the dogs. Dodge is a pilot, and when he’s flying, the author goes into a lot of detail about all the steps he takes to check over the plane before taking off, the terrain below him, his route, and his handling of the plane. I’m talking step by step detail. And it was all completely fascinating.

Then you throw in the thoughts and feelings of the characters. Echo and Dodge had been friends since a young age, which grew into love. But then Dodge left, and now they haven’t seen each other for ten years. At first we don’t know why he left, but eventually the author gives us that backstory, which I’m not going to reveal here. But the incident that drove Dodge away has had a profound effect on both of their lives, so now they have a lot of baggage to unpack. In addition, Echo has abandonment issues from her mother leaving when she was very young, and Dodge has issues with his family and a father who he believes does not love him. Oh, so much beautiful angst for both of them!

Don’t get me wrong, the book isn’t all just detailed narrative. There’s lots of plot, action, suspense and thrills rushing across the pages at a quick pace. It was all very enthralling. I’m already a little disappointed that the next book in the series is not set in Alaska, but I can’t wait for it, and I anticipate the author will make me fall as in love with Nigeria as I am with Alaska.

*I received a free copy of this book from the publisher and have voluntarily reviewed it*

Synopsis from Goodreads: Pilot Dodge Kingston has always been the heir to Sky King Ranch. But after a terrible family fight, he left to become a pararescue jumper. A decade later, he's headed home to the destiny that awaits him.

That's not all that's waiting for Dodge. His childhood best friend and former flame, Echo Yazzie, is a true Alaskan--a homesteader, dogsledder, and research guide for the DNR. Most of all, she's living a life Dodge knows could get her killed. One of these days she's going to get lost in the woods again, and his worst fear is that he won't be there to find her.

When one of Echo's fellow researchers goes missing, Echo sets out to find her, despite a blizzard, a rogue grizzly haunting the woods, and the biting cold. Plus, there's more than just the regular dangers of the Alaskan forests stalking her . . .

Will Dodge be able to find her in time? And if he does, is there still room for him in her heart?

Two Good Dogs

SUSAN WILSON

Goodreads synopsis: Single mom Skye Mitchell has sunk her last dime into a dream, owning the venerable, if run-down LakeView Hotel in the Berkshire Hills. It’s here where she believes she’ll give her fourteen-year-old daughter Cody a better life. But being an innkeeper is more challenging than she imagined, and Cody still manages to fall in with the wrong crowd. In addition, Cody is keeping an earth-shattering secret that she’s terrified to reveal. The once loving, open girl has now become completely withdrawn, and Skye is both desperate and helpless to reach her.
When Adam March and his pit bull Chance check into the hotel, it becomes the first of many visits. Here in these peaceful mountains he finds an unexpected relief from his recent bereavement. He and the beleaguered innkeeper form a tentative friendship. Adam knows the struggles of raising a difficult teenager and Skye understands loneliness.
And then there is Mingo, a street kid with a pit bull dog of his own. When Cody discovers an overdosed Mingo, Adam takes the boy’s dog not just for safekeeping, but to foster and then rehome. But the dog isn’t the only one who needs saving. A makeshift family begins to form as four lost people learn to trust and rely on each other, with the help of two good dogs.

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, St. Martin's Griffin, 2018.

How acquired: Bought.

First line: Human emotion is a deeply fascinating thing for me.

My thoughts: I'm going to preface this review to tell you that I started writing it, then set it aside, then went out of town, then came back for a few days, and then remembered I'd never finished the review. And now unfortunately so much time has passed that I don't remember what else I wanted to say. So, my review is gonna be short and end abruptly!

This book started out as a bit of a challenge for me, and I considered DNFing it pretty quickly. The prologue is in first person, italicized, from the point of view of Chance, one of the two good dogs. Chapter one introduces us to Cody, with the narrative in third person, present tense. Ugh, my least favorite tense, but it's fine, I can deal with it. Then a few pages later, we meet Cody's mother, Skye, and the narrative changes to first person, past tense. Ok, we're going to be alternating. Fine, I can deal with it. Then chapter two, Adam is introduced, and the narrative changes to third person, past tense. Um, ok, so each of the main characters gets their own distinctive voice. And then on the next page Adam meets Skye, and the narrative suddenly shifts back to present tense, and then on the next page back to past tense. At this point I was only on page 20 and the narrative had changed four times. Just pick a style already!

Despite the specific narration for each of the main characters, there were several times when I wasn't sure for a few seconds who the focus had shifted to. Fortunately,the story was compelling enough that I stuck with it, and I enjoyed it.

And then looking at the author's other books, I realized this is a sequel to ONE GOOD DOG, which I have in my TBR pile, so I'm gonna have to pull it out to read soon, but not too soon.

A Dog Year: Twelve Months, Four Dogs, and Me

JON KATZ

Goodreads synopsis: In his popular and widely praised Running to the Mountain, Jon Katz wrote of the strength and support he found in the massive forms of his two yellow Labrador retrievers, Julius and Stanley. When the Labs were six and seven, a breeder who’d read his book contacted Katz to say she had a dog that was meant for him—a two-year-old border collie named Devon, well bred but high-strung and homeless. Katz already had a full canine complement—but, as he writes, “Change loves me. . . . It comes in all forms. . . . Sometimes, change comes on four legs.” Shortly thereafter he brought Devon home. A Dog Year shows how a man discovered much about himself through one dog (and then another), whose temperament seemed as different from his own as day from night. It is a story of trust and understanding, of life and death, of continuity and change. It is by turns insightful, hilarious, and deeply moving.

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2003.

How acquired: Bought.

My thoughts: I've never had a Border Collie, but I've heard stories and heard that they are very energetic and high maintenance. I really enjoyed this book for the most part.

But. I love dogs. I am a dog lover. I want all the dogs. I would love to foster dogs, but my resident dog lived in a backyard for six years and was completely unsocialized when I adopted him, and since I do have to work outside the home full time, I don't feel I'm in a position to be a good foster home. While the author loves his dogs, I didn't get the sense that he is a dog lover. For one, his labs came from a breeder. I will never buy a dog from a breeder. I wish breeders no longer existed. There are so many millions of dogs in shelters, living on the streets, or being euthanized because nobody wants them, that it seems unethical to me for dogs to purposely be bred. And yes, I realize that there are so many children in foster care that need to adopted that maybe I shouldn't have bred my own. But dogs are my passion so I don't care how unreasonable it is, that's how I feel.

Then there was this passage:

For the noblest of reasons, it had also become popular – and immensely rewarding – to go to the local pound and bring home stray and abandoned animals. Many were lovely, companionable dogs, but some were mixed breeds unsuitable for suburban families, tense and unpredictable around other animals, kids, even their owners. This can also be true of purebred dogs, some of whom suffer from overbreeding and don't live up to their TV commercial images.

I don't know why that paragraph rubs me the wrong way. It's an innocuous three sentences. There's truth in them. Maybe it's the phrase “become popular”, as if he's dismissing adopting shelter dogs as being beneath him, or being a fad. And of course, as I got further into the book, his descriptions of Devon certainly prove “This can also be true of purebred dogs”.

I did love this quote though:

Dogs live on a scale that I can comprehend; their lives are an outcome I can affect. They make me happy, satisfy me deeply, anchor me in an elemental way. Sometimes it's hard for me to trust people, or to find people I can come to trust. I trust my dogs, though. They would do anything for me, and I for them.”

When one of the author's labs begins ailing and is euthanized, I cried. It's a hard decision, and it's one I've had to make myself, more than once. It's been two years since I lost my dog Max to cancer, but sometimes the grief is still fresh, as if it just happened last month.

But other than the occasional wince or incredulous “did this guy know nothing about dogs” reaction to some of the things he did (throwing a choke chain on the ground next to the dog to get his attention or correct his behavior? Seriously?), I loved the stories about Devon himself, about his personality. I could read about that kind of stuff all day long. 

Sweet Tea and Sympathy (Southern Eclectic, Book One)

MOLLY HARPER

Synopsis from Goodreads: Beloved author Molly Harper launches a brand-new contemporary romance series, Southern Eclectic, with this story of a big-city party planner who finds true love in a small Georgia town.

Nestled on the shore of Lake Sackett, Georgia is the McCready Family Funeral Home and Bait Shop. (What, you have a problem with one-stop shopping?) Two McCready brothers started two separate businesses in the same building back in 1928, and now it’s become one big family affair. And true to form in small Southern towns, family business becomes everybody’s business.

Margot Cary has spent her life immersed in everything Lake Sackett is not. As an elite event planner, Margot’s rubbed elbows with the cream of Chicago society, and made elegance and glamour her business. She’s riding high until one event goes tragically, spectacularly wrong. Now she’s blackballed by the gala set and in dire need of a fresh start—and apparently the McCreadys are in need of an event planner with a tarnished reputation.

As Margot finds her footing in a town where everybody knows not only your name, but what you had for dinner last Saturday night and what you’ll wear to church on Sunday morning, she grudgingly has to admit that there are some things Lake Sackett does better than Chicago—including the dating prospects. Elementary school principal Kyle Archer is a fellow fish-out-of-water who volunteers to show Margot the picture-postcard side of Southern living. The two of them hit it off, but not everybody is happy to see an outsider snapping up one of the town's most eligible gentleman. Will Margot reel in her handsome fish, or will she have to release her latest catch?

Stats for my copy: ebook, Gallery Books, releasing November 21, 2017.

How acquired: NetGalley.

My thoughts: I previously read SAVE A TRUCK, RIDE A REDNECK, Book 0.5 in this series. I’m not a big fan of novellas, just because I like to get more story, more characterization, than the shorter form allows. But I enjoyed it, so I was eager to try one of Ms. Harper’s full length novels and see how much deeper she can go. And she did not disappoint. 

Our heroine this time is Margot, a big city event planner who finds herself out of a job and shunned by the event planning community after a disastrous flamingo incident. We met Marianne, and her brother, Duffy, in SAVE A TRUCK. Margot is their cousin, though she’s never met any of the family. Her mother left her father when she was three years old, and her father has been completely out of her life since then. But Tootie McCready,, her father’s aunt and the matriarch of the McCready clan, contacts Margot out of the blue and offers her a job in the family business, McCready Family Funeral Home and Bait Shop. With no other prospects on the horizon, and about to not have anywhere to live, Margot reluctantly accepts.

I very much liked Margot. She’d pretty much had the rug pulled out from under her, and her whole world turned upside down. Settling down to life in Lake Sackett, Georgia, was quite a culture shock for her. Not to mention meeting her biological father, for whom she, understandably, harbors a lot of resentment. She didn’t plan to stay permanently, just until she found a job that would take her back to Chicago or some other civilized city. Watching her navigate her new life was at times eye-wincingly funny.

I loved Kyle, a widower with two young daughters. After a scorching make out session in his truck, he thereafter runs hot and cold with Margot. He doesn’t date much, and he never brings his dates around his daughters. Which is fine with Margot, for while she lusts for him she has no intention of becoming emotionally involved with him. She doesn’t know how to talk to children, and of course she plans on leaving town at the first opportunity.

The first time Margot saw Kyle, she was drawn to his sad eyes and haunted countenance. It was a great way for Ms. Harper to introduce him, because he ticked my boxes also. Of course Margot ends up spending more time with Kyle and his daughters than planned, and some of her interactions with young June were hilarious. I also enjoyed her interactions with Marianne and another cousin, Frankie, who also worked at the funeral home. I really hope Frankie will be the heroine of a future book.

As with the novella, I sometimes had a little trouble keeping all the family members straight at times, but that didn’t really impede my enjoyment of the story. There’s plenty of humor, which I love in a romance, but there was also some angst and ultimately some soul searching for Margot when she finally has an opportunity to leave Lake Sackett.

Very enjoyable, and I’ll be keeping an eye out for other books by Ms. Harper.

Always a Cowboy (The Carsons of Mustang Creek, Book 2)

LINDA LAEL MILLER

Synopsis from Goodreads: Drake Carson is the quintessential cowboy. In charge of the family ranch, he knows the realities of this life, its pleasures and heartbreaks. Lately, managing the wild stallions on his property is wearing him down. When an interfering so-called expert arrives and starts offering her opinion, Drake is wary, but he can't deny the longing—and the challenge—she stirs in him.

Luce Hale is researching how wild horses interact with ranch animals—and with ranchers. The Carson matriarch invites her to stay with the family, which guarantees frequent encounters with Drake, her ruggedly handsome and decidedly unwelcoming son. Luce and Drake are at odds from the very beginning, especially when it comes to the rogue stallion who's stealing the ranch mares. But when Drake believes Luce is in danger, that changes everything—for both of them.

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, HQN Books, 2016.

How acquired: Bought.

First line: The weather just plain sucked, but that was okay with Drake Carson.

My thoughts: I loved the first book in this series, ONCE A RANCHER, so when I stumbled across this book I snatched it up and started reading it almost as soon as I was back home.

Drake definitely appealed to me. Cowboy, cares about animals, stoic, stubborn. I liked Luce, but I understood completely why Drake was exasperated about her suddenly being on his ranch, interfering with his life. But I loved that when Luce wanted to wander around on her own, thinking she was immune to the everyday dangers of ranch wilderness, Drake resigned himself, gritted his teeth and took time out of his day to be sure she was safe. 

They both fell hard a little too fast. I would've liked the story drawn out a bit more so they could actually have time to get to know each other better before suddenly realizing they loved each other. But I loved the descriptions of the wild stallion and his herd, which included several mares stolen from Drake. And I loved how the tough cowboy was such a softie when it came to his dogs. As in the first book, the banter between Drake and his two brothers made me laugh, as did several other scenes.

Not quite as good as the first book, but still very enjoyable, and I look forward to the next two books in the series, both of which I've already ordered. 

  

Lone Wolf (F.B.I. K-9, Book 1)

SARA DRISCOLL

Synopsis from Goodreads: When a madman goes on a bombing spree, an FBI K-9 team of one woman and her dog is the key to stopping him before more innocents die and panic sweeps the Eastern seaboard.

Meg Jennings and her Labrador, Hawk, are one of the FBI’s top K-9 teams certified for tracking and search and rescue. When a bomb rips apart a government building on the National Mall in Washington D.C., it will take all the team’s skill to locate and save the workers and children buried beneath the rubble.

More victims die and fear rises as the unseen bomber continues his reign of terror, striking additional targets, ruthlessly bent on pursuing a personal agenda of retribution. Meg and Hawk join the task force dedicated to following the trail of death and destruction to stop the killer. But when the attacks spiral wide and no single location seems safe any longer, it will come down to a battle of wits and survival skills between Meg, Hawk, and the bomber they’re tracking. Can they stop him before he brings the nation to the brink of chaos?

Stats for my copy: Hardback, Kensington Books, 2016.

How acquired: Fresh Fiction Box Not to Miss subscription

My thoughts:  This book sucked me in and had me mesmerized from the first few pages. We meet Meg and her search and rescue dog, Hawk, and immediately follow them into a tense trek along a river and over a railroad trestle as they track a killer. But that case is just our introduction into Meg's world. In the second chapter Meg and Hawk are called back out to a bomb site, and that's when the action really takes off.

The book is also a fascinating crash course into the world of K-9 search and rescue and the relationship between the dogs and their human partners, a subject I'd not really read about until now. And one flashback scene describing how Meg's first K-9 partner was killed in the line of duty had me crying buckets.

In addition to Meg and Hawk and their co-workers, we meet Clay McCord, an investigative journalist with whom Meg makes an uneasy alliance, newspaper reporters not normally being trusted and/or relied upon.

Great writing, an intricate plot, three dimensional characters – it all adds up to a gripping and emotional  page turner. I can't wait for book two! 

OLD DOGS ARE THE BEST DOGS

BY GENE WEINGARTEN; PHOTOGRAPHS BY MICHAEL S. WILLIAMSON

Synopsis from Goodreads: Featuring sixty black-and-white photographs of old dogs shot by Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Michael S. Williamson and narrated by washington Post staffer and columnist Gene Weingarten, this is a perfect collection for dog lovers that celebrates man's best friend.

Stats for my copy: Hardback, Simon & Schuster, 2008.

How acquired: Bought.

My thoughts:  Beautiful book. Filled with portraits of dogs, all 10 years old or older, with a brief little story or anecdote about each dog. 

MAX. HE WAS MY SOUL MATE.

Reading through this book made me happy and sad at the same time. My Max was 14 when he died on April 18, 2016, and I still miss him like crazy. I'll never get a puppy. I want the older dogs that nobody else wants. 

The Loved Dog: The Playful, Nonaggressive Way to Teach Your Dog Good Behavior

TAMAR GELLER with ANDREA CAGAN

Synopsis from dust jacket flap: Every dog owner must make a choice: Do you want a fearful and submissive pet, or do you want a happy, joyful, and well-mannered member of the family?

Tamar Geller's mission in life is to teach her cruelty-free method of "life coaching" for dogs and their people. Her revolutionary play-training uses mutual understanding and respect -- and puts an end to outdated methods that rely on physical exhaustion, choke chains, prong collars, dominance rollovers, or stressful aggression of any kind.

A former Israeli intelligence officer who witnessed the horrors of military dog training methods, Tamar went on to observe wolves in the wild. She discovered that wolves educate and socialize their cubs with games, bonding, and body language, not dominance or punishment. As a result, she developed teaching systems that address a dog's authentic nature, part wolflike and part toddlerlike. Learning can be a positive experience that dogs enjoy and look forward to, and we can actually make it fun for our dogs to listen to us and behave as we want them to.

Tamar's insights have brought dog training into the twenty-first century, and her groundbreaking techniques have won the approval of the Humane Society of the United States, for which she is a longtime advisor. Her celebrity clients include Oprah Winfrey, Ben Affleck, Courteney Cox-Arquette, Owen Wilson, and the Osbournes, and she has appeared as an expert on the Today show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Animal Planet, and more.

In The Loved Dog, Tamar gives you all the instruction, insights, and tips you need to teach your dog good manners, as well as to troubleshoot specific problems and unwanted behaviors. She helps you and your dog learn a common language, resulting in a loving, respectful relationship that will bring you years of joy and companionship. Tamar's play-training approach is so gentle, even children can get involved.

Whether you use Tamar's methods to raise a puppy or teach an old dog new tricks, you'll love The Loved Dog.

Stats for my copy: Hardback, Simon Spotlight Entertainment, 2007.

How acquired: Thrift store find.

My thoughts:  I was browsing through the books at a thrift store yesterday when I came across this book. My daughter has a hyper pup who she loves to death, but who is driving her up the walls. They attend a training class each weekend, but he seems to forget everything as soon as he learns it. This book sounded interesting, so I thought she might like to read through it.

After eating dinner last night, I picked up the book and flipped through it, and this passage caught my attention:

Most people think of socialization in terms of taking a dog outside and introducing her to people, kids, and other dogs, but that is far from the truth. Just because your dog is exposed to different life experiences does not mean that she's ready to tackle any challenge. Exposure does not equal socialization.

I adopted an older dog a few months ago, after his previous owner passed away. For six years he had lived in her backyard, having very little contact with anyone but her. He wasn't abused or treated badly, and he's very well behaved. But he was completely unsocialized, and very fearful and timid. When I went to her home to meet him, where he was still living in the backyard while her daughters were slowly packing up and removing her possessions, he ran underneath a shed and refused to come out. He eventually had to be given a sedative with his food in order to be caught and brought to my house (after being taken to a vet for checkup). While he was still woozy that first day I petted him a bit. But after that, it was several weeks before he would allow me to touch him. It's been seven months now, and I can pet him and have finally been able to take him out for short walks, but he still has a long way to go.

Anyway, I turned back to the beginning of the book and began reading. I'd never heard of Tamar Geller, and until now Victoria Stillwell has been my dog training idol. But I liked what Ms. Geller had to say, and the methods she uses. The book starts out more like a memoir, as the author talks about her abusive childhood and her military training. But those periods of her life are important, because they laid the foundation for who she would be as an adult, and helped her to develop empathy for dogs.

After those chapters begins going through basic training techniques, such as sit, down, and stay, as well as potty training, leash walking and issues with jumping on people. Apparently Ms. Geller is a big name in dog training circles, and she works with a lot of celebrities – there is quite a bit of name dropping throughout the book, and stories about her clients and their dogs.

Overall, I really enjoyed the book, and I plan to try some of her tips and instructions with my boy. As my daughter has struggled to overcome her pup's potty training issues, separation anxiety and nipping, we've talked a lot about using positive reinforcement over negative, i.e., rewarding good behavior and not physically punishing bad behavior. Ms. Geller's methods are very much about positive reinforcement, and making training into a game for the dog. I'm eager to see if my daughter can start applying some of her methods and what kind of results she'll get.  

The Taste of Air

GAIL CLEARE

Synopsis from Goodreads: A simple phone call disrupts Nell Williams’s well-ordered life. Her mother, Mary, is in a hospital in Vermont. But her mother is supposed to be safely tucked away in an assisted-living facility in Massachusetts, so Nell can’t fathom why she would be so far from home.

After notifying her sister, Bridget, Nell hops on a plane and rushes to her mother’s side. There, she discovers that her mother has been living a second life. Mary has another home and a set of complex relationships with people her daughters have never met.

When Nell and Bridget delve deeper into their mother’s lakeside hideaway, they uncover a vault of family secrets and the gateway to change for all three women.

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, Red Adept Publishing, LLC, 2016

How acquired: Received from the author

My thoughts:  When the author contacted me and offered this book to me, I was a little leery, as two of the last three books sent to me by authors I'd ended up DNFing because I just did not enjoy them and couldn't get into them. But I crossed my fingers and accepted, and I am so glad I did.

The narrative, all in third person POV, bounces around between adult sisters Nell and Bridget in the present, and their mother, Mary, at different times in her life. Nell receives a phone call that her mother is ill and is hospitalized in a small town in Vermont. But her mother lives in Massachusetts, in a senior community where staff are supposed to check on her from time to time. So why was she in Vermont?

When Nell arrives in Vermont, she learns that her mother owned a lakeside cottage, still has her car but with Vermont tags on it now, has a dog, and has neighbors who appear to be very close friends. While Nell is visiting her mother's hospital bedside and meeting her mom's friends, her older sister Bridget is making plans to divorce her husband while trying to get a flight to Vermont.

The story has a very coming-of-age feel to it, despite the fact that Nell and Bridget are in their 40's. As the sisters begin unraveling their mother's secrets, they also begin coming to some realizations about their own lives. Meanwhile, the chapters that focus on Mary give us, the reader, some insight into her character, and we learn things about her past that the sisters don't know or have not yet discovered. It was an interesting balance, as it sometimes put us a step ahead of Nell and Bridget.

The only sour spot for me was in Bridget's quest to find the daughter she gave up for adoption when she was a teenager. 

“Many years later,” Bridget said quietly, “I found out I would probably never have any more children. It was the punishment I earned for giving her up.”

I work in the adoption field, and seeing adoption portrayed negatively, well, when I read lines like that I just cringe. I have to remind myself that it was different times than now. I'm still not sure if I like the way that subplot played out in the end or not. It isn't feasible that an adoption could happen that way today, at least not with the agency I'm with, but I guess thirty years ago it could have.

When Nell and Bridget finally figure out the biggest secret, which the reader will have already learned from reading Mary's chapters (and when I was pretty sure I had it figured out I got kind of an icky feeling which I can't explain here without giving away too much plot) it seemed to suddenly come to them a little quickly, but I was sure glad they finally knew the complete truth. You grow up thinking you know your mother, and sometimes you forget that she had a childhood and a life before you came along. It made me wonder not only about my own mother, but also wonder what my daughters would think about my life if, for instance, they came across my old diaries and learned things about me that I've never told them. Things I probably won't ever tell them, not necessarily because they're bad things, but just because they're in my past.

Overall, I very much enjoyed the book and was happy with the way everything wrapped up. A quite engaging story. 

Here Today, Gone Tamale (A Taste of Texas Mystery, Book 1)

REBECCA ADLER

Synopsis from back cover: After losing her newspaper job in Austin and having her former fiancé unfriend her on Facebook, Josie Callahan scoops up her Chihuahua, Lenny, and slinks back to Broken Boot, Texas. Maybe working as head waitress at Milagro—her aunt and uncle’s Tex-Mex restaurant—isn’t exactly living the dream, but it is a fresh start.

And business is booming as tourists pour into Broken Boot for its famous Wild West Festival. But when a local jewelry designer is found strangled outside Milagro after a tamale-making party, Josie’s reporter instincts kick in. As suspects pile up and alibis crack faster than taco shells, Josie needs to wrap up this case tighter than her tía’s tortillas—before another victim calls for the check…

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, Berkley, 2015.

How acquired: Bought.

My thoughts:  When I was offered an ARC of the second book in this series, I had to rush out and buy the first book so I could read them in order. I believe these books are what are commonly called “Cozy Mysteries”, a genre I have no real experience with as of yet. But HERE TODAY, GONE TAMALE was a good introduction.

The story is told in first person POV by Josie Callahan, an ex-newspaper reporter whose career pretty much went down in flames. She moved back home and works in her aunt and uncle's Mexican restaurant, and she and her dog, Lenny, live in an apartment above the restaurant. When a local jewelry maker is found dead outside the restaurant, her reporter instincts can't help but kick in, and she makes it her mission to solve the murder, despite the fact that the local police would prefer she mind her own business.

Josie is a fun, fresh and somewhat self-deprecating narrator. She describes her friends, family, and other townsfolk in vivid colorful detail, which is good because there are a lot of characters to keep up with. Her love and loyalty to both her family and the town shine through. The restaurant, Milagro, sounded like a place I'd enjoy visiting. I definitely began to crave some good Mexican food, especially tamales (and I generally prefer enchiladas), while reading.

Some people catch all the breaks, and the rest of us eat too many tamales.

I particularly enjoyed Josie's interactions with her ex-boyfriend's beauty queen girlfriend, as well as with her aunt's mother-in-law, Senora Mari. Not to mention the stoic Deputy Quint Lightfoot, who Josie's best friend practically falls all over and who Senora Mari practically tries to pimp Josie out to. 

“Of course,” Senora Mari continued, “if you decide you want to try something new before you settle down and have babies, you could ask Josie. She'd give you a run for your money.”

Great. Now I was a racehorse.

The mystery at times was a little confusing to me, though I usually managed to catch up again within a page or two. That probably had more to do with me being tired all the time and only able to concentrate for short stretches at a time than with the writing and/or plotting.

Fun and breezy, despite being about a murder investigation. I'm looking forward to the second book.