Thursday Book Review

Abby has just arrived in Summerville, Ohio, with her placid Newfoundland, Bowser. She’s reluctantly inherited her grandmother’s coffee shop, but it’s not long before she’s brewing up trouble in the form of magical baked goods and steaming up her life with an exasperating college professor.

And then there’s Daisy, a web code writer, and her hyperactive Jack Russell, Bailey. Her tightly-wound world spins out of control when she discovers the chaos within and meets a mysterious dog trainer whose teaching style is definitely hands-on.

Finally there’s Shar, professor of ancient history at Summerville College, who wakes up one morning to find her neurotic dachshund, Wolfie, snarling at an implacable god sitting at her kitchen table, the first thing in her life she hasn’t been able to footnote.

What on earth is going on in this unearthly little town? It’s up to Abby, Daisy, and Shar to find out before an ancient goddess takes over Southern Ohio, and they all end up in the apocalyptic doghouse…

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I was really surprised when I began this book, thinking it was an anthology. It is in fact, more of a round-robin style of writing. The three stories start at three different points within the same town, at the same time, and quickly converge. I've never read a book with three couples but found this one to be highly engaging and hard to put down.

There's a lot of doggie loving in these stories, which is what drew me to the book to begin with. By the end, the whole book has gone to the dogs, in a good, wonderful way. I thoroughly enjoyed the out of left field personalities and antics of the canine companions.

Shar is the oldest and most logical female, turned upside down by Samu-la-el, or Sam to us mortals. Abby is independent, with no experience with love. Her life is an utter puzzle to Christopher, who is even more logical than Shar. Daisy has a maturity issue that almost breaks her and Noah up, but his patience with her is endearing and it was a real pleasure to see all three couples find their happily-ever-afters.

There's a lot of historical references in the book. How much is factual? Don't know, don't really care to investigate, but the underlying bits made it all legit in my mind to make it a very fun read. The magic gave me goosebumps at the end when they face down Kammani Gula. Very well written and descriptive. Overall, a lot going on because there's essentially three romances but nothing is lost as the plot moves the three forward, the action moving them toward finding love.