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My Three Dogs–rescue dogs

My Three Dogs

by W. Bruce Cameron

If you enjoy a good dog story, you’ll like this one. Three rescue dogs—Riggs, a miniature Australian shepherd; Luna, a Jack Russell; and Archie, a Labradoodle puppy—take center stage in My Three Dogs. Their humans are Liam, a builder, and Sabrina, a schoolteacher. Liam’s brother Brad has a major role too. He has been Liam’s rock since Brad was sixteen and is still trying to protect him. Their parents were unstable and in and out of their lives. 

The author does a good job of describing what the dogs are thinking, what motivates their actions. The book gives the perspective of the dogs as they navigate life in the shelter, on the streets, and with adoptive parents. None of the options are good, and they all just really want their people back.  Life changes dramatically for all of the humans and the dogs after there is an automobile accident. The dogs, unfortunately, learn that not all humans are good and kind and safe. If you are not drawn in by the dogs, which I think you will be, there are some plot twists that will keep you reading.

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Rating: 5/5

Category: Fiction

Notes: 1. Contains four instances of minor swear words and is clean otherwise.

      2. Cameron has written a lot of books, and most have dogs as the main characters. Humor abounds in many of his books. His website says, “Cameron is most famous for his novel A Dog’s Purpose, which spent 63 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.” That book and several others have been made into movies. Although this book is written for adults, Cameron also has several series of children’s books about dogs.

Publication:   October 29, 2024—Tor Publishing Group

Memorable Lines:

Sabrina was on what she called a keto diet, though she still ate several small squares of chocolate fudge every night, and Liam had learned that to comment on this fact was considered treason.

The dogs went on full alert when the doorbell rang. It didn’t ring very often, and when it did, it was incumbent upon the dogs to alert every human in the room that there was something going on that needed their attention.

Liam wasn’t here and might never come back—a dog’s singular most dreaded fear, but one that occupies all canine minds when they’re alone without their people. 

39 Winks–cozy mystery with a scientific edge

39 Winks

by Kathleen Valenti

39 WinksIn the first book of this series, Protocol, Maggie O’Malley gets drawn into a complicated and deadly abuse of power in her job as a pharmaceutical researcher. I assumed that in the second book in the series she would continue her work in the pharmaceutical industry. The author explains what happened: “Blame for the downturn was laid not only at the feet of the guilty but the person who had revealed their culpability. Coworkers stopped collaborating. Managers ‘forgot’ to invite her to meetings. Invitations to after-work drinks dried up and blew away with the prairie wind. It was The Great Corporate Freeze Out.”

As 39 Winks opens, Maggie is working at a lingerie shop when she learns that her boyfriend’s Aunt Polly, found her husband murdered and is asking for Maggie. Meanwhile, Maggie finds herself jobless again as she stands up for a coworker. Free to help Aunt Polly, Maggie is thrown in the middle of an investigation that gets more and more complicated. I couldn’t imagine how the author would tie up all the loose ends, but she does it masterfully.  39 Winks is a really good cozy mystery. It involves many serious social issues as well as medical issues. Maggie’s pharmaceutical expertise, her common sense, and courage are all called into play. She also has help from her computer genius boyfriend Constantine. This is a mystery I did not want to put down.

I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Henery Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 5/5

Category: General Fiction (Adult), Mystery

Notes: #2 in the Maggie O’Malley Mystery Series and not really dependent on reading  the first book in the series

Publication:   May 22, 2018—Henery Press

Memorable Lines:

She’d built the Wall, the secret place at the back of her mind where she corralled uncomfortable feelings, when she was eleven. She fortified it at every opportunity. She knew it was getting crowded back there, that she was quite possibly a hoarder of denial. She shoved that knowledge behind the Wall, too.

A look of revulsion crossed her face. “Is that a mouse?” Constantine looked down. Miss Vanilla peered from her tiny fabric lanai, whiskers dancing. “Hamster,” he corrected, “but she thinks she’s a gerbil.” He winked. “We humor her.”

“Another report? What do they plan to do, fend off the bad guys with paper cuts?“