Customer Reviews

Home Again

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When Sally's best friend since childhood, Deb, asks Sally to care for her newborn child "if anything ever happens," Sally says of course...just as most of us would, feeling honored even though we know it would never come about. However, one day something does happen -- and Sally is to have the care of fourteen-year-old orphan Micah and his high-energy dog, Sophie. Sally loves Micah as her own and has watched him grow up, but she's at a loss for what to do for a grieving teenage boy, and she dislikes dogs. A lot. Always has. Her three cats don't like them either.

Luckily Sally has some marvelous friends (most of whom we've met in previous books (written under the pen name Annie Kimberlin), so they feel like friends to me, too) who help her with Micah and Sophie and introduce her to Tanner Dodge, trainer extraordinaire, "The God of All Things Dog."

Although the spine of HOME AGAIN says romance, there is so much more going on here. I'm amazed at how much Ms. Smith is able to put into 381 pages. I just wish there could have been so many more, as this was one of those books that I didn't want to end! Obviously there are pets in the story -- and these pets are not just window dressing; they are secondary characters who affect other characters and the storyline. We get to see a sort of "Disneyland for Cats," service dogs working and being trained, pet dogs going to all kinds of fun places and competing in shows and obedience, and some really big goldfish (find out Sally's secret for getting them so big and long-lived!)

There are a lot of relationship interactions here: long-term friendship (between humans *and* animals); learning to trust others as new friends; parents who are no longer a part of one's life for various reasons; extended family; and of course the strange and strained not-quite-Mother/Son, not-quite-Aunt/Nephew dynamic between Sally and Micah.

If I had to choose one thing that has made Annie Smith one of my very favorite writers of contemporary novels, it would have to be her characters -- her human characters. I love books with pets, but even more than that, I love books with characters who are people I'd like to be friends with. Sally and Sylvie and Karen and Jessie are all people with great quirks that I can relate to -- Sally has magnetic poetry on her refrigerator and talks back to the television, correcting the grammar of the TV weather person. There are references to Star Trek, Monty Python, Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies, the Cat Who books, art dolls, and just how goofy-but-lovable Bulldogs can look while competing in Obedience.

But you don't need to be quirky nor a pet lover to enjoy HOME AGAIN. Anyone who likes novels with serious depth, a range of emotions, and many, many dimensions of real life will find Annie Smith an author to read and keep.

The previous review summed it up well but I just wanted to chime in since this is one of the most delightful and memorable novels of the last year. Smith's characters are so well drawn that they become real and the details about dog training are fascinating. This book truly was too short since I didn't want my sojourn into Hartley and visit with Sally, Michah, Tanner, and all the rest to end. Hopefully there will be a return visit soon.