Alex
Halstad, a childless-by-choice interior designer and dog mom, is a true
perfectionist. But her orderly life turns chaotic when the teenage daughter her
husband, Barry, never knew he had shows up on their doorstep...with a baby girl
of her own in tow. While Alex’s dog enthusiastically welcomes the new arrivals, Alex struggles with the loss of her steady routine. She desperately needs peace and quiet to get her business back on track before Barry finds out she’s spent most of their savings.
Meanwhile, the arrival of the girls stirs up old insecurities, and Alex can’t help but worry that Barry’s ex will make an entrance too. With her tidy life a distant memory, will Alex be able to learn from her dog the true meaning of love and acceptance?
From bestselling author Jackie Bouchard comes a humorous and heartwarming look at how life creates opportunities to love in surprising ways.
Rated by me - 4.5 out of 5 stars
This book engages you and draws you in
right from the very first line! It is
laugh out loud funny (definitely that first line and many others!), the
characters and the plot are all well thought out and it is a highly enjoyable
read.
It covers subjects like
childless-by-choice, blended families, running your own business, financial
hard times and personal insecurities with humour and insight, and is very well
written.
Those with blended families (and that’s now
a very large percentage of the western population) know how there’s no manual
to tell you how to adapt. Jackie covers
lots of the small, but not insignificant, challenges faced by step families,
keeping the story light but not making light of the issues faced.
Those who are childless-by-choice also know
how that can cause rifts and confusion within families who don’t understand how
to deal with what they see as “odd” or “un-natural” behaviour. Although we as a society are happy to accept
lots of things as our freedom of choice, somehow it is still difficult for some
people to deal with those who choose not to have kids.
It also deals with running your own
business and the challenges presented by that, especially in uncertain and
difficult financial times. I believe
it’s written in a fairly realistic way – lots of the time it’s about hard work
and perseverance, sometimes it’s just about dumb luck!
All those with fur babies will appreciate
how well Jackie obviously knows dogs and how to behave around them. The dog in the story is a vital part of it,
just as dogs are in most families’ own stories.
We can all learn much from animals, and particularly when it comes to
unconditional love.
Many times the reader has to wonder, what
would I do if I were in that situation?
Other times they will be glad it’s not them lol.
Have a read of this extremely enjoyable book
by Jackie Bouchard. It is a story about
life and love, with the fair sprinkling of everyday chaos thrown in. It’s fun, very observant and entertaining,
and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
