- Narrated by: Cathleen McCarron, Robin Laing
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Release date: 04-03-21
- Language: English
- Publisher: Avon
Description
The next gloriously uplifting book from the #1 bestselling author of The Mum Who Got Her Life Back.
Suzy Medley is having a bad day…
… when a shabby terrier turns up at her door. Just like Suzy, Scout has been abandoned, although only Suzy has been left with a financial mess and a business in tatters thanks to her ex.
Suzy takes Scout in and her chaotic world changes in unexpected ways: strangers have never been more welcoming and her teenage kids can’t wait to come home to visit.
Then a chance encounter on a windy Hebridean beach makes things more complicated because Suzy isn’t the only one who needs a friend.
Scout has plenty of love to go round… but does Suzy?
A wonderfully funny and uplifting story about friendship and second chances (and whisky!), perfect for fans of Gill Sims and Jill Mansell.
This really is such a lovely and heartwarming story about friendships and second or even third chances at life and love.
When I first glanced at the cover I immediately and wrongly thought this book was going to be about two people who find a dog and have to share ownership; a sort of enemies to lovers rom-com. Sharing of the dog doesn't take place until after the halfway mark of the book. The Dog Share is more of a buildup of events leading up to people sharing the dog. And it is such a lovely read.
At the beginning of the novel, Suzy is in a relationship with an utter eejit or an absolute gobs***e as he would be called here in Inishowen. Ricky is in a brief relationship with someone completely not right for him. She was not very nice and completely indifferent to Ricky's son, Arthur. On a small side note, I didn't really like that 'the childless woman' was yet again portrayed in literature as heartless and lacking in warmth. Ricky's own mother did something terrible but she had issues and reasons for her awful actions to explain it away.
The dual narration of this audiobook was very effective. We got the best of both worlds with a mild Scottish accent for Ricky and the English accent for Suzy. Both narrators were excellent and complemented each other nicely.
I love the main characters in the book. Ricky's grumpy father is annoyed with Suzy but he is the one person she needs on her side. Luckily Scout, the dog, helps to break the ice here. I couldn't help but cheer Suzy on as she tried to make things better at the distillery and slowly win over the locals. Ricky and Suzy also seemed perfect for one another so their burgeoning romance was a delight to read.
What I really loved about the book though is how Suzy grew as a person. She took on a new and scary venture when she knew the possibility of failure was very high. She began to understand herself better and where she'd gone wrong in the past i.e. masking her true self in a relationship in order to fit into a man's perception of her.
I loved that Suzy's move to the island actually made her world so much bigger. With the help of Scout her social contacts grew, she had a new love interest and new friendships were formed.
The setting of the story made me want to get a wee dog and put the Hebrides on my list of places to go visit next.
The Dog Share is available now on all platforms.
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