Dog Crazy by Meg Donohue – a Review
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Description:
As a pet bereavement counselor, Maggie Brennan uses a combination of empathy, insight, and humor to help patients cope with the anguish of losing their beloved four-legged friends. Though she has a gift for guiding others through difficult situations, Maggie has major troubles of her own that threaten the success of her counseling practice and her volunteer work with a dog rescue organization.
Everything changes when a distraught woman shows up at Maggie’s office and claims that her dog has been stolen. Searching the streets of San Francisco for the missing pooch, Maggie finds herself entangled in a mystery that forces her to finally face her biggest fear-and to open her heart to new love.
Packed with deep emotion and charming surprises, Dog Crazy is a bighearted and entertaining story that skillfully captures the bonds of love, the pain of separation, and the power of our dogs to heal us
Review:
Dog Crazy by Meg Donohue is a heartwarming story of a young girl, who is a pet bereavement counselor. Our heroine is Maggie Brennan, and we meet her from the start, as she counsel’s her patient, who thanks to her is well enough to no longer need these sessions. We learn from that point, that Maggie herself has her own issues, suffering from agoraphobia, which she hides from others. Maggie lives in an apartment where her friend Lourdes lives with her dog. Maggie has not left her apartment, other than to walk outside to the gate to escort her patients as they leave. Maggie lost her dog, Toby, who she had for 13 years, and since then she has not been able to go outside, having anxiety attacks. But Maggie is a great counselor, being patient, understanding, comfortable and even joking with them.
She gets a phone call from Henry, who wants to hire her to meet with his sister, who will not face the possible loss of her dog, Billy, who she claims was stolen. Anya is forced to meet with Maggie, and doesn’t think she needs help. She resents having to meet Maggie, and according to her, someone stole Billy and she will continue to search for him every day.
Something about this distraught and difficult young girl makes Maggie want to help her. She forces herself to try to go out, borrows Lourdes dog, and together they walk a block, adding on another each day. Finally Maggie goes to Anya, meets her brothers, and starts to help searching for Billy. This enables Maggie to slowly become more confident, which also results in Anya coming out of her shell. It is Anya, who begins to see that Maggie herself has worse issues than she does. The two of them end up helping each other, even if some of Anya ways are embarrassing.
This is a heartwarming story of two people that will find a way to rise beyond their own phobias, with very rewarding results. There is a slow to build romance that we begin to hope for midway between Henry and Maggie. There are also a couple of surprises that will bring tears. A very well written book that was a very different read for me. If you are a pet lover, and even if you are not, this is an emotional but wonderful story.
Reviewed by Barb
Copy provided by publisher through Edelweiss
