Maine Books

This is one of the finest debuts I've ever read. Blanchard's voice is crystal clear and powerful. The book seems to come from a genuine knowledge of the circumstances. Complex characters and situations that arrive on the page from depth of experience. I am often left so cold by these banal, calculated police procedurals; they are so dull. Not this one. There's a beating heart at the core of this wonderful book. Do yourself a favor; read Darkness Peering by Alice Blanchard. It's a sure thing.

This book is a must-read for everyone who has tired of the formula "thrillers." The conclusion is a total surprise, even to those of us who paid attention and usually can guess the end. The character development was reasonably thorough and the plot progression was filled with unexpected twists and turns. The complexity of the relationships added credence to the conclusion. This is a book that will haunt its readers for awhile. Alice Blanchard has a unique gift that leaves her readers wanting more.

Blanchard's "Darkness Peering" is one of the single best debut thrillers I've ever read. It's original, powerful and utterly brilliant, with that raw energy of a writer discovering their talent right in front of our eyes. Great book.

This was an awesome read. Constant suspense. Characters were all believable. The author led you to believe that there were several possibilities of who the killer was. I did not even suspect the actual culprit. Well done in keeping the reader guessing and then surprising them at the end. I would definitely recommend this one.

Just a great, great, great piece of writing here. A freakin' amazing twist at a totally unexpected point in the story only pushes my thumb's up even higher toward the sky. This is a writer of rare talent and insight into the darker aspects of humanity.

This is a simple book of a Little Sal, and Little Sal's mother, and Little Bear, and Little Bear's mother, who get mixed up with each other on Blueberry Hill.

It's very realistically written and illustrated, and the exciting part isn't too scary for little ones.

I will note that it's a bit long - maybe better for kids with longer attention spans than shorter ones. If they're as young as Little Sal is, it might be better to wait a year before reading :)

I don't understand the positive reviews here or the caldecott award. The sketchings are artistically done, true, but in a way an adult can appreciate intellectually; they don't really evoke emotion. The story is a yawner.

I loved this book as a child so I got it for my
grandchildren. They aren't as impressed with
the pictures from 1950 as I was, but still is
a good story.

She has hundreds of books and everytime I visit she would ask me to read her this book. She loves the illustrations... especially the seal!

sweet book for little kids. It is an excellent book to read aloud to your children and grandchildren. It is about a girl out picking berries for her mom and it shows a baby bear doing the same for his mom.

By way of revealing and often-humorous anecdotes, Kate tells how her job as a Maine Game Warden Chaplain helps her adjust to widowhood.
This was a very good and thought-provoking narrative. It seemed choppy at first, but all the pieces came together later on and really made sense.

I couldn't stop thinking about Kate Baestrup's powerful book for several days. How incredible for her to have such an intimate role in the experiences of families who may be -- or may not be -- struck by tragedy. I was on the edge of my seat several times hoping beyond hope that the child who was lost in the wilderness, or one of the other real life characters lost in the Maine wilderness and chronicled by Kate, would be found.
But There If You Need Me is much more than an adventure book. It sheds light on spiritual truths about life and death with a caring yet totally real sensibility. Kate may be a minister, but she isn't afraid to talk about the saltier side of life, to record the off-color humor of her partners in the Maine Warden service, or admit to her all-too-human frailties. This is a book you'll remember for a long time, and want to come back to for further reading and reflection.

I stumbled on this book at the bookstore as I was looking for a good non-fiction book that was easy to read. Kate's story is about a wife and mother of four whose life is turned upside down when her policeman/husband dies suddenly in an auto accident. She finds an outlet for her own grief by following her husband's dream of becoming a chaplain. Her journey leads her to theology school and instead of being a police chaplain, she becomes a chaplain to the game wardens in Maine as they search for missing persons. Kate uses a few Bible stories in such a refreshing way. My favorite is the story of the ten lepers and what a real miracle is. You will be amazed at the answer! I thought the audio version was a different story when I ordered it but was not disappointed in getting the same story as the author, Kate Braestrup, reads it ... her voice was so soothing and expressive! I recommend both the book and the audio book.

Kate Braestrup has every reason to be mad at God. Her husband, a Maine State Trooper, was killed in a car accident, leaving her widowed with four young children. Instead, she took the opposite tack and went to seminary, eventually finding herself as chaplain to the Maine Fish and Game Wardens, accompanying officers throughout the state as they patrol remote areas, arrange search and rescue efforts, and aid lost and injured hikers.

Far from being a "come to Jesus" tale of renewed spirituality, this book shares Braestrup's own struggles with spirituality (I loved the phrase, "I'm religious but not particularly spiritual.") and the dogmatism of her required courses, at the same time sharing a glimpse into the grace and beauty of the wilderness of the Northeast.

Easy to read, moving, enthralling, this book made me respect these men and women in a whole new way.

Because the author's husband was killed in a car accident, Kate Braestrup decides to pursue her husband's dream of becoming a minister (not a great reason or calling). Kate Braestrup's stories about her work as a game warden chaplain in Maine are interesting. HOWEVER, Kate Braestrup's theology is extremely frustrating. As a Unitarian Universalist minister, she readily tells people who had lost loved ones that their loved ones are in heaven (she claims because this is what Unitarian Univeralists believe she can provide this assurance). Later in the book, she admits to not believing in heaven at all. She believes when people die, there is nothing more. She attended Bangor Seminary yet suggested erroneously that Christians believe Jesus was the reincarnated Elijah. With such weak theology, I found her role as a chaplain very disconcerting. I threw the book away after reading it because I did not feel it was worth passing along to others.

Strange Fits of Passion is my second Anita Shreve read. I bought it simply because she wrote it and then realized it was about an abusive husband and a battered wife that flees with his child....After I realized that I was not too thrilled... I'm not too keen on that sort of plot.... I have to admit though it was much better than I expected - simply because of her descriptions. Shreve is a talented descriptive writer and her prose draws you in. Each chapter of the book is an interview of sorts of the characters in the story which is performed by a reporter that covered the story after it took place. This format kept me interested and the reader gets to see the story in the light of each character's opinion. I did enjoy this book, but it was one of those that after you finished reading it you are like....o.k. it's over lets start reading something else - I enjoy things that make me think a little more or at least wish it wasn't over...

I just discovered Anita Shreve and so far all of her books are great!

I am a big Anita Shreve fan and was overjoyed to see there was a novel I'd overlooked. I love her main character's perspective in this novel. We forget how different things were for women back in the '70s. This may seem like a short while ago but reading this book made me realize how far we've come and yet how far we still need to go. I particularly like how the author allows each of her characters to narrate, giving the small town a collective voice.

Domestic violence stories are so difficult to read. Anita Shreve is such an outstanding writer, and she presented Maureen/Mary's plight in a wonderfully compassionate manner. I was on the edge of my seat reading the events as they unfolded and was saddened that Mary didn't receive the justice that she deserved. I think had this been in current times instead of the 1970's, the outcome would have been different. An excellent, thought-provoking novel from one of the best authors of our time.

Anita Schreve is one of my favorite authors-- commencing the day I read The Pilot's Wife--there was no way that I could have anticapated the ending of that book--a complete surprise. Following that read, I purchased her book Fortune's Rock's --another great read
Strange Fits of Passion was so good that I had difficulty putting it down.
I highly recommend it.

Fudge a Mania by Judy Blume is a fiction book. I think that this book was really interesting because I didnt expect Fudge to like Sheila and try to marry Sheila. I think you should read this book because it is funny and its interesting. By Jamilex Dones

Fudge-A-Mania ,a fiction book by Judy Blume, is all about this five year old boy named Fudge. He plans to go to Maine and spend three whole weeks with the Tubmans. Peter is Fudge's brother. Fudge, his mother, father, Toosie, and Muriel all went to Maine because they are going on a family vacation.

This book is good because it's funny. I also like it because my favorite parts are when Sheila was trying to tie a ribbon around Turtle's neck but Turtle kept drooling. Also when Fudge ate to many raspberries and he got sick.

I think other people will like the book Fudge-A-Mania because it's silly and fun to read. La'Lonnie W.A

This story is called Fudge-a-Mania by Judy Blume. It is a fiction book. It's about a 5-year-old named Fudge wanting to get married to Sheila Tubman! Plus Fudge's big brother hates her. I also think it's a funny book like when Sheila calls Fudge "Fudgie-poo." I think you'll like it because it's a comedy. -Jade Juliano

Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner is a realistic story about a kid named Little Willy and his Grandfather who live on a potato farm. One day Grandfather gets sick because he didn't pay his rent. So Little Willy, who's ten years old, takes care of Grandfather and his farm.

StoneFox is a good book because it tells an excellent story that will make you cry. I recommend Stone Fox
because you will want to read it over and over again. -Mondy Cameau

Do you like funny books? Then this is a book for you. There is a lot of events going on like will Fudge get married? Read to find out. For readers who like funny books.

Antonio
3rd grade

That Camden Summer contains a vicious rape scene. I will never buy another book by this author. I do not read romance novels for violence. And to think she writes Harlequin romances!

This was a "romp", which I thoroughly enjoyed and hated to see it come to an end.

Description from the back of book:

The year is 1916. The place is a tiny New England village called Camden - where a newly divorced woman learns that love can be more special the second time around...

When free thinking divorcee Roberta Jewett returns to her hometown of Camden, Maine, she discovers that small-town folk consider a divorced woman little more that a prostitute. Condemned by her mother and scorned by neighbors, she nonetheless perseveres in her struggle to forge a good life for her little girls and herself. Behaving like no "respectable" woman would, she gets a job as a county nurse, learns to drive, and buys her very own Model T. Embittered by her painful marriage to an unfaithful husband, she has no intention of being any man's victim again. So when widowed carpenter Gabriel Farley begins work renovating her house, Roberta's first response to him is blatant resentment. But Gabriel's quiet, vibrant masculinity soon finds a way to soothe Roberta's heart.

And in the ultimate test of will and devotion, she must depend on the man she has grown to love and summon the courage to stand up to the entire town.

* This book was so great. I can't tell you how many times it brought tears to my eyes. I couldn't put it down & it's a definite keeper. The story is wonderful & sad at times but Roberta doesn't let the bad things overrule the life she's worked so hard to keep exciting for her girls. I don't see how anybody wouldn't love this book. I HIGHLY recommend.

I can't exactly pinpoint why I didn't LOVE this book. I guess it took a long time for me to start to like Roberta. I thought she was too abrasive at first to Gabe, who was sweet, strong and understanding (a trademark of Spencer's men it seems), but it was still a good story.

This was one of the "newer" novels from Ms. Spencer I read and I was a little hesitant because it was newer..But so far I have read this book TWICE and would read it again in a heartbeat. I always like writers who can pull a reader into the book or novel to the point you see yourself there. That is what happens with this one. I traveled back in time and lived with Roberta and the kids and laughed and cried with them. I would have to say the most enjoyable parts of the book were when Roberta wanted to buy a car (how scandalous!!) and her first driving lesson. This is a love story, but it is also an adventure. Buy this, you will enjoy it.

I was excited to know that there was another X-files book make by Kevin Anderson because I love how well he writes his novels.

I was disappointed when I finished the book. Here are the positives and the negatives I found.

On the positive side it was detailed.

On the negative side I found that the main plot of the story seemed a long way away from what was happening. I felt lost and confused at the end.

I really wish that it had not been drawn out so much. I understand that it was meant to build suspense but I didn't understand anything until the last seventy pages.

If you are going to read Kevin J. Anderson's novels read: "The X-files Antibodies

I enjoyed this book but i thought i could have been better. While reading this book i felt like Mulder was left out alot. But the book kept my attention. Although i thought it could have been better i reccomend this book.

Now having read 7 books either written or co-written by Kevin J. Anderson,(3 Star Wars, 3 X-Files and 1 Dune) I can say that the man has good ideas, I just don't think that his writing is all that absorbing. As with his Star Wars books, his X-Files books never quite ring true of the characters. As for the cases, they are pretty good, but it isn't Mulder and Scully who are chasing down the monsters. Of all the new X-Files books, Charles Grant's "Whirlwind" nails the characters of Mulder and Scully, but the case isn't particularly involving.

Of the three X-Files novelizations by Kevin J. Anderson, I think I like this one best. The plot is fast-paced and the story line is mysterious.

It's a shame that there are only a few X-Files novelizations by Anderson and other authors. I loved the show and am just discovering these books.

Now, it's too bad there aren't any "Millennium" novelizations!

This is a review of the audiobook version of Ground Zero by Kevin Anderson read by Gillian Anderson.
Set against the world of government sponsored nuclear weapons research , Ground Zero has agents Mulder and Scully investigating the death of a researcher who is blown to bits - but the rest of his office is intact. There is no known personal sized nuke- so what happened? The audiobook is read by Gillian Anderson , and the abridgement has the focus on Scully's part of the investigation and the unlikely supernatural conclusion that takes the agents to the south pacific and the site of a planned above ground test of a new super weapon.
Anderson's reading is great! I got a good chuckle out of her comments about how that Mulder's theories were bound to be way out there and not grounded in science. Well paced, the book moves along with action and theory and some cool supernatural mysticism concerning a lost tribe , wiped out by an above ground nuclear test in the 50s and their long journey to retribution and vengeance from beyond......

Each book in this series is better than the one before it. All I can say is I'm reading this series in order and it's alot of fun.Good gory fun. Read. Enjoy.

John Connolly's THE KILLING KIND is the third in his series of crime novels dealing with former NYPD detective-turned PI Charlie Parker. (First was EVERY DEAD THING and second was DARK HOLLOW.) These novels are first-person tough guy narratives told from Parker's perspective, in the tradition of such hardboiled crime writers as Ross Macdonald and James Lee Burke; however, the Parker novels definitely have their own distinct twist and flavor and are not at all clichéd. Parker is a man with an extremely troubled past that includes the brutal murder of his wife and children, as well as killings committed by Parker himself as he pursued and finally caught his family's killer (chronicled in EDT.) Along the way, he's found a new love interest, psychologist Rachel Wolfe, and he's gotten lots of help from friends named Angel and Louis (a gay, interracial couple of semi-retired criminals.)

In this third installment, Parker, stilling living in Maine, is hired by a wealthy, powerful man named Jack Mercier to look into the circumstances of the alleged suicide of the daughter of a former friend. As he delves deeper into the case, Parker finds connections to a shady evangelical group called `the Fellowship,' which may also be linked to violence against abortion providers; he also discovers links to a fringe religious group known as the Aroostook Baptists who had disappeared in northern Maine decades before and whose mass grave is accidentally uncovered at the beginning of the book. Along the way, Parker crosses swords with a spider-loving killer known as Elias Pudd, and faces competition from a Jewish assassin known as the Golem. It all ends messily, which is the norm for a Connolly novel.

A supernatural element, which mostly consists of Parker seeing dead victims, is once again in the foreground. The supernatural continues to play an increasingly large role in subsequent Parker tales, too. In doing so, Connolly blends elements of horror into the hardboiled crime genre, which no doubt turns off mystery genre purists, but delights people like me who enjoy crime, horror, and originality. What's really great about Connolly's usage of the supernatural in these books, though, is that he often employs it ambiguously - for example, we're never quite sure if these visions are real or if Parker's imagining them.

As always, Connolly writes superbly, painting settings, and nailing both dialogue and Parker's internal monologue - something that's doubly impressive when you take into account the fact that Connolly's an Irishman and most of his settings and characters are American. Connolly's main characters - protagonist Parker plus sidekicks Angel and Louis - are very intriguing and well-drawn. Connolly's `good guys' have an ambiguous morality - they're not clean-cut do-gooders, just a lighter shade of gray than the truly evil people they face. I find Rachel Wolfe much less interesting. She seems like a stereotypical academic/feminist pacifist, who nags Parker about his past violent acts even though most of them were justified, who feels guilty about killing someone herself back in the first novel even though it was totally justified, and who doesn't want armed protection even when she knows dangerous people may be after her. (This latter tendency often makes her a ready-made damsel-in-distress, predictably.) Fortunately, she's not as central of a character as Parker, Angel, and Louis.

Last, Connolly knows how to make a good villain. His villains tend to be almost like comic book or James Bond bad guys (Connolly himself cites the latter as a big influence on his baddies) in that they sport physical deformities or abnormalities which mirror their internal evil - however, Connolly succeeds in avoiding the `campiness' often associated with Bond and comic villains. KILLING KIND's Pudd is a great example - he loves spiders and often uses them to kill, but he also looks and acts a bit like them, with long, hairy fingers and such. The Golem too, though less of a clear-cut `bad guy' (I often found myself rooting for him,) is also a weird-looking, disfigured character. In future Parker novels, Connolly continues to devise the types of bad guys who stand out from the herd of fictional killers.

If you like hardboiled crime novels and you're not a mystery genre purist who's going to be bothered by having some horror elements mixed in, you'll love this series - though I recommend reading them in order from EVERY DEAD THING for maximum enjoyment and understanding. I just finished reading this book for the third or fourth time, if that tells you anything about how much I like the Parker series. I'm eagerly awaiting my pre-ordered copy of Connolly's latest, THE REAPERS, which is coming out later this month, and to kill time I'm rereading all the preceding books in the series.

Don't get me wrong, I love John Connolly as an author and have purchased almost all his other books, but I guess I just don't get to excited about spiders.

I am a lover of horror films and thrilling novels, none of which have EVER given me nightmares. This book, however, honestly haunted my dreams. The incredible detail that Connolly uses puts vivid pictures in your head that last hours after putting the book down.

This was my first Connolly book, and I absolutely loved it. Although I realized after a few chapters that I was coming into the middle of an ongoing chain of books, I was easily able to grasp what was happening and didn't feel left out at all. I will certainly go back and read the stories before this one as well as the ones after!

I enjoyed this one as much as Every Dead Thing and The Book of Lost Things. There were some very powerfully graphic scenes that offered the most suspense in this Charlie Parker series. What made my copy even more exciting was that it turned out to be an autographed copy!
Since spiders do completely frighten me, this book certainly had its moments of giving me that creeping feeling and turning up the lights to make sure that spiders hadn't crawled out of fiction and into reality in my room! This one was certainly the most horrifying, at least in conjunction with my particular phobias.
I am quite anxious to read his other books!

I greatly enjoyed this book, which gave a truly unique and rare perspective into female life in early Colonial New England. Thoroughly absorbing the chapters is truly co-dependent on simultaneously reading through the footnotes at the back, so know in advance that there will be a lot of flipping back and forth, but that this will enrich and enhance the interpretation and absorbability of the diary. I love firsthand historical accounts, and now have a renewed appreciation for early colonial life, particularly that of the female voice in this era, and even moreso women in childbirth in rural Maine in the winter (!). It almost seems voyeuristic to read Martha's diary, knowing that she likely never intended for it to be read by anyone else, let alone 220+ years later, but her voice is fluid, peaceful, humble, and dutiful to her family and her society. If you enjoyed this, also rent or buy the PBS documentary video of it by the same name, which has period re-enactments, and live narration by the author as she explains the journey of putting this work together. A fabulous read, ripe for discussion particularly in examining the parallels between this life so long ago, and our own today.

I know this is a well respected book but in all honesty I found it to be very repetitious and boring. There are only so many times you can listen to complaints about colic and very similar sounding births before you get bored to tears. While writing the history of ordinary people is important, Ballard lived a boring and uneventful life. Unless you want to hear about the stories of dozens of births steer clear. And i'm a phd student used to dry books.

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's A Midwifes' Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 demonstrates that an ordinary person's life can shed light and produce a more rich historiographical picture of a time period than solely focusing on prominent figures and events of history. The main thrust of this work is to debunk previous opinions of the diary that found the work not very useful in presenting important matters of historical interest of colonial times such as historian James W. North's comment "brief and with some exceptions not of general interest" or Charles Elventon Nash's comment ""trivial and unimportant...being but a repetition of what has been recited many times" and concluded "Like many diaries of farm women, it is filled with trivia about domestic chores and pastimes." (pp. 8,9) Ulrich debunks these previous interpretations of Martha Ballard's diary by showing that the diary exposes the social history of not only women in rural colonial times but addresses the bigger picture of colonial life in general through the daily activities of herself, her family, and neighbors in the community. Ulrich compares Martha Ballard's diary with three other documents from the community and time period Martha Ballard lived in. These documents were specifically from Daniel Cony who was a medical doctor, William Howard a wealthy businessman, and Henry Sewall who was the town clerk. She uses these documents to fill in information not mentioned in Martha Ballard's diary and also as a counterbalance of the men's perspective of events in Hallowell and what they felt was important to document verses a women's perspective of what Martha Ballard thought was worth documenting in her diary. Ulrich then extrapolates from these sources an interpretive picture of colonial life. On the one hand the heavy interpretive nature of this book forces the reader to wonder if this interpretation is close to the mark of accuracy or flawed in someway. On the other hand Ulrich heavily used other documented evidence to support her interpretation which lends credibility to her interpretation. An amateur historian would have a difficult time painting this picture of colonial life; however, Ulrich seems to do this with great expertise and eloquence. The expertise and eloquence is obviously derived from her academic career which has focused on the social history of women during the United States colonial era.

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's academic life has consisted of previously being a professor of American history at the University of New Hampshire and is currently a Phillips Professor of Early American history at Harvard University. Ulrich's main research area has been in the fields of early American social history, women's history, and material culture. Some of Ulrich's work in this area include Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Early New England, 1650-1750 (1982), A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 (1990), In The Age of Homespun: Objects and Stories in the Making of an American Myth (2001), and Well-behaved Women Seldom Make History (2007). Ulrich certainly has over twenty years of research in the area of social history in the colonial era to make her an authoritative author on the subject and this is demonstrated in her work A Midwife's Tale in which she not only used evidence from documents from that particular community in the time period, but also used her historical imagination, (sometimes used to heavily), to interpret the diary entries to give a vivid depiction of both Martha Ballard's life and colonial rural life in general.

Ulrich formatted each chapter by presenting excerpts from Martha Ballard's diary and then spent the remainder of each chapter comparing these entries with the other written accounts from that time and using an interpretive approach to decipher what the significance of Martha Ballard's entries meant with regards to the life of Martha Ballard and the community she lived in. Ulrich didn't include the entire diary of Martha Ballard in her book and selectively pulled excerpts from different parts to illustrate the different social factors playing out in the daily life of Martha and the Hallowell community, but did include other entries from the dairy within her evaluation to support her interpretation. Obviously Ulrich could not have included all the entries of Martha Ballard's diary and analyzed all sections due to the constraints a book length imposes, however, some interpretations were based on an entire reading of the diary and the reader is not privy to this broader context of information. Ulrich acknowledges this fact when she stated, "Someday the dairy may be published. What follows in no sense is a substitute for it; it is an interpretation, a kind of exegesis." (p. 34) Ulrich admittedly states this is only an interpretation in which Ulrich seems to read in between the lines and/or provides an interpretation based on what was not said verses what was explicitly said due to the fact the entries were brief, mostly lacked an opinionated tone, and were mostly matter of fact daily details. Even though the other sources of evidence backing her interpretations were thorough there is no true way to know if Ulrich's interpretations are mostly correct, somewhat correct, or completely flawed unless the reader had read the entire dairy and other documents she consulted herself. This leaves the reader to just take Ulrich's word for it that her interpretation of the diary entries are as accurate as they can be. Ulrich in some cases may have used her historical imagination a bit excessively, but overall she presents enough evidence from other sources to make her interpretation for the most part as credible as it can be and never the less very enjoyable to read.

Please disregard the 2 stars in the rating. It is a 5 star book. The system automaticaly put 2 stars and would not let me change it.

I can't say enough about how wonderful this book is and how much I enjoyed reading it. This book would be a wonderful gift for anyone in the medical profession. It is a fascinating account of an amazing woman facing the challenges of life in early Maine as well as the every day facts of life necessary for survival. She contributed immensely to life itself as she was the midwife to hundreds of, if not more, women and the birth of their children.

For myself, I used it as a genealogical tool because that is the area of the country where all of my ancestors came from. It is facinating to know the trials and tribulations as well as the joys of our ancestors.

Priscilla Paul
Memphis

Interesting diary of a Maine midwife. Not the easiest read but enjoyable.

this is a very good book... even though it is fiction, so its not "true", it knida hits you right in the heart, in the way that matters. i'd recommend this to anyone who likes stories about love and animal bonds.

This story seemed to me to be more about the woman than the dog. It was still a short story that kept my interest.

A beautiful book. Other reviewers have summarized the plot. There's a magnificent description of grief as Rocky deals with the shocking loss of her husband. I loved the way Rocky relates to the people in her new world, especially the teenager. And I loved the way the plot unfolded, with the author moving easily across viewpoints. She even got inside the head of the dog without degenerating into mawkish anthropomorphic sentiment.

This novel fits a sub-genre of women-oriented books: the woman who's reinventing herself and starting over. It follows plot conventions of the "smart woman in small town" genre. Having lived in a small town myself, I am amazed at how easily these single women find soulmates and romantic relationships so quickly and easily. But here it's plausible.

I didn't want this book to end. It feels like the first in a series and I hope that turns out to be the case.

Animals have a way of finding that void in your heart. They can teach you to love for the very first time, or to trust your heart and love again. This story does just that. It draws you in from the very first page and never lets you down. Great read.

I just loved this book! Once I started reading it, I couldn't put this book down until I finished it. My favorite character was Lloyd, of course, but everyone in it was likeable and memorable. I could wholly relate to Rocky and thought Sheehan did a marvelous job making you care about her. Don't be afraid to buy this one. It's a good entertaining read!