Nina Askew is forty, divorced, and newly freed from the last tie to her ex-husband--the stuffy suburban mausoleum of a house they lived in and she always hated. She has a small apartment she loves in the city, the third floor of a divided-up Victorian. She's swearing off men, at least in any way that involves commitment. And today, she's off to the pound, to get what she could never have while married to stuffy, ambitious Guy--a dog. A puppy. A bouncy, energetic, small-breed puppy, who will add joy to her life.
At the pound, there are indeed a whole bunch of happy, energetic, little puppies. And then there's Fred. Fred is a basset/beagle mix where the basset genes clearly prevail. He's a full-grown dog. He's definitely not small. He looks depressed--as if he knows it's his last day, and if he doesn't get adopted, it's the death chamber tomorrow. He's not at all what Nina wants, and she can't leave without him.
It's Fred, after she teaches him to use the fire escape to reach the fenced yard for potty trips, who accidentally introduces her to Alex, the handsome, ten-years-younger ER doctor in the apartment below her. They are both immediately attracted to each other.
She's convinced he's too young, can't be interested in an older woman whose body is starting to sag in a few places. He's convinced she can't be interested in a young guy she regards as a kid, who'll be dealing with medical school debt for some years to come because he's in ER, not some lucrative field like cardiology (his father), ob/gyn (his brother), or oncology (their sister).
What follows is a fun romp, with interesting characters and a great dog. Fred really is the hero here, though Nina's best friend, Charity, and Alex's brother, Max, as well as Norma, the very active and fit 75yo on the fourth floor who has her own "younger man" (in his 60s), also do their parts. It's just a lot of fun. Susan Ericksen, as always, is an excellent narrator.
Recommended.
I bought this audiobook.
No comments:
Post a Comment