Doggone Delightful - Review and Giveaway (Giveaway Closed)

Dog Days by Elsa Watson

* Book provided by the publisher for review

4 gnomes and a gnome hat out of 5 gnomes for this dog-centric great tale.

This story puts a unique spin on the whole Freaky Friday type body switch scenario. In this story Jessica (who is intensely afraid of dogs and has been labeled the town dog hater since an incident) switches places with Zoë (a rather large dog).

Jessica is an interesting character because she's basically terrified of dogs, yet chooses to live in a town where they are celebrated. She's determined to make the Glimmerglass cafe, which she and her friend Kerrie own, work. She knows that the annual Woofinstock Festival is their only chance to turn things around and make enough money to stay open. She has all sorts of plans about how to make this happen but then things change when she meets Zoë.

The voices of both of the main characters are done very well, Zoë though is for sure my favorite character. Getting to see things from a dog's point of view is a lot of fun. There are definitely plenty of laugh out loud moments. One of my favorite moments has to be when Zoë is trying to show that she's dominant (this scene was extremely funny to picture).

At first I wasn't sure what to make of this book because it was hard to imagine one incident having such a bad effect on a person, but as I read it began to make more sense. In this kind of town it does seem like if you don't respect dogs then you're in for a lot of trouble. So Jessica's incident plus her attitude around people too just make her kind of close herself off from the world. She tends to work hard to please others and only look at some things from afar (like Dr. Max, the vet who she has a major crush on.)

I was a little worried that their might be an inappropriate/very weird love connection in this story but thankfully that doesn't happen. The most that does happen is some kissing/making out. It's more of a funny finding yourself kind of story than a love story this light tone though really makes for a fun book.

Zoë's story made me sad too because she has one goal the whole time but then learns the sad truth. This just really made me think because my family has two rescue dogs and you really don't know what they went through initially or why anyone would give them up. I did enjoy that the book introduces the concept of forever homes and that there are so many dogs out there that just want to be in happy homes.

Zoë's and Jessica's story intertwines in some unexpected ways and slowly they learn to work together. Seeing a dog's eye view is often hilarious and the longer the two are in each others bodies, the more they change and learn about themselves and each other.

This was an awesome story that I enjoyed a lot and the ending was extremely fitting. I can't wait to see what Elsa Watson writes next. If you're a fan of dogs and stories from the dog's point of view then this book would definitely be barking up the write tree for you.

My Favorite Line: “My happi-ness is like the meat inside a corn dog ̶ you can't see it from the outside, but it tastes best of all.”

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