We really didn't enjoy the film, but we do love our four-legged fictional friends ...
Alison Pace's Pug Hill has the most gorgeous dog-decorated cover and features Hope McNeill who copes with stress, by hanging out at Pug Hill - an area of New York's Central Park where pug owners gather to walk cute pot-bellied pups. I found Hope a little bit on the wet side, but Pace writes about both pugs and New York beautifully.
Anyone But You by Jennifer Crusie features Fred, an aged, depressed half-beagle, half-basset hound. Oh and Nina, recently turned 40 and divorced, and ER doctor Alex, about to turn 30 with no interest in growing up or settling down. But when Fred climbs through his window and leads him to Nina ... well, you can imagine. It's a lovely, charming, sweet and romantic book.
Our final book is The Dog Walker by Leslie Schnur. Nina Shepard is a dog walker by day and a sculptor of found objects by night. She is also in love with Daniel before she even meets him. He's the owner of one of her canine charges and each day when she lets herself in to his apartment to collect his dog, she lingers. And snoops. When they do meet she's not disappointed, but Daniel isn't quite who (or what) he appears, but then neither's Nina - she's only covering the dog-walking for a friend after being sacked from her much flashier job in publishing. So how can Nina and Daniel really fall in love when neither is who they seem? The kind of book that makes you feel warm inside.
