Ellen Cooney

2.5 stars

Evie has travelled to work (or volunteer?) at a dog rescue at the top of a mountain. However, she lied and said she had experience training dogs. Meanwhile, she looks things up online to help herself out. She is delayed for a while at the bottom of the mountain where she meets Mrs. Auberchon, who is in charge of the lodge she is temporarily at, and “Giant George”, a teenager who also works/volunteers at the rescue. And she meets a few of the dogs on their way to the rescue.

I listened to the audio. Although I liked the idea of the dog rescue and some of the issues that the book brings to light as to some of the awful ways dogs are sometimes treated and why they might end up at a rescue, I wasn’t impressed with this rescue – seems to me this is a pretty disreputable place. They let Evie go straight in and start training without training her themselves? They stole at least one dog (the new Evie and teenager George were sent to do this), probably more. I didn’t really like Evie, and I wasn’t interested in her background, so I mostly tuned that out. The 2.5 stars is for the dogs and the general information about dogs included in the book.… (mer)

No one ever expects a mystic corporate novel...but here it is. Trisha Donahue, happily married with two sons, is on the verge of a big promotion at her company, to head up her all-male department. But then two events collide: she does not get the promotion, and she is named Employee of the Year. The annual celebration is being held at an old banquet hall, The Rose & Emerald, which becomes a character in the story. There are some lovely moments, where Trisha contemplates her childhood in the central Massachusetts town, when she got to act out as one of the bad girls in the low rent district; when she rightfully rhapsodizes about her still-lively sex life with her husband; and when she escapes the party and flees into the hidden upstairs rooms of the Rose & Emerald. There, she encounters familiar people from her past and from her company, all of whom provide caring support. The novel doesn't fit into any specific genre, and is there magical realism afoot? Not sure, but it's a purely pleasurable read. PS – there’s also a comet. Or is there?

Quote: "The thought of getting my family to relocate for a job for me would be the same as if I'd helmed the Titanic, as if I'd stood at the steering wheel and said to myself, "Okay, I'm taking us into that iceberg."… (mer)