Pages: 333
Genre: Fiction/Animals
Publication Date: May 9, 2017
Story Perspective: First-Person
Themes: Pet Adoption, Love, Home, Animal Mistreatment, Human-Dog Relationship, Hope
This book was given for free, courtesy by NetGalley
and Macmillan-Tor/Forge.
Puppy Bella first experiences a connection with stray cats. However, the pull a human has over her is hard for her deny. When she meets human Lucas, they instantly fall in love. Though Bella brings such happiness to both Lucas and his veteran mom, there are those who want to get rid of the sweet dog.
After being captured once by Animal Control, and with the risk of it happening again, Lucas brings Bella to a safer house. Though his plan was to come back for her, Bella doesn’t know that. Facing a myriad of obstacles, Bella will stop at nothing to get back to her Lucas.
Such a cute story of the love dogs have for their human parents and was definitely written for those who love dogs. The voice of Bella seemed believable as a dog as she tries to rationalize what is happening around her. Being a dog lover and having a fur baby of my own, I definitely felt for Bella’s confusion.
For most of the story, I found my eyes glued to the book’s pages as I saw things in Bella’s perspective. Seeing her caged up with so many other confused dogs saddened me, seeing her living in the wild made me feel scared for her, and the reuniting filled me with joy.
The animal love theme made me miss my dog even more as she is at her grandma’s for a while. Also, the theme of home was so strong that it even caused me to long for my home, as well. I love when authors can cause you feel a number of emotions just in one book.
One of the major things that I questioned throughout was the perspective. When there were inner thoughts, they were definitely Bella’s, however, when dialogue between people happened, it seemed out of place. Bella clearly didn’t understand most of the words that were being said, yet the reader gets to read all of the words. If the book is in Bella’s perspective, how would she be able to pick up on the dialogue? Perhaps, if the book was written from an outsider perspective, in the third-person, would make this more believable.
Overall, this was a quick and sweet read. I will definitely be looking for more of W. Bruce Cameron’s works!
I would recommend this read to those who love and can sympathize with dogs and other furry friends.
Was this a book of my choosing or one for review?
46 out of 50 books of my choosing for 2018!