American Saturdays: Free to a Good Home by Eve Marie Mont
July 10th, 2010 by Danielle
FOR ADOPTION: Adorable, energetic Jack Russell free to a loving home. Previous owner could no longer meet his needs, which include lots of exercise and attention. But those willing to give him these will be rewarded with unswerving loyalty and love…
Noelle Ryan works as a veterinary technician at a New England animal shelter, helping pets find the perfect homes. If only it were as easy to find the same thing for herself. After discovering that she can’t have children—and watching her marriage fall apart after a shocking revelation by her husband—Noelle feels as forlorn and abandoned as the strays she rescues.
She can’t seem to get over her ex, Jay. Unfortunately, all Jay wants from her is a whopper of a favor: serving as a caretaker for his elderly mother, who still blames Noelle for the breakup. While Jay heads off to Atlanta to live the life of a bachelor, Noelle is left with only her Great Dane, Zeke, to comfort her. But when a carefree musician named Jasper gives her a second chance at life—and at love—Noelle comes to realize that home is truly where the heart is.
We are all searching, humans and animals alike, for a home…somewhere to call our own. Noelle is no different, in fact she’s more in need of a place to call home than most. After losing her husband in a way that was so damaging that it makes her question the motives of every man to cross her path she’s finding it’s difficult to move forward with life. In addition to this her quite personal struggle with infertility only adds to her heartache. Her only tie to reality, her dog Zeke, is also a tie to her past, but one that grounds her and helps her to know there is hope.
Noelle, recently divorced from her very charming husband Jay, can’t seem to disband herself from him. Though he’s moved on and taken up residence with another person, they still keep in constant contact and now with his charm in full swing he asks Noelle the impossible, to take care of his ailing and very rude mother. Jay was quite possibly one of the most annoying characters to begin with, granted a lot of this may have had to do with Noelle’s new distaste for him. He was definitely one of the most selfish characters I’ve ever read, but I was very glad to see him grow throughout the book. And despite my distaste for him, I was glad to see that in the end the connection with his mother for Noelle was a positive one.
Throughout Free to a Good Home Noelle struggles with the prospect of moving on with her life. Her debilitating struggle with infertility, enabled also by the rejection from her recent divorce, causes her to question the motives of all the men she comes in contact with. When she meets Jasper, a nomad band member by night and techie by day, she’s not sure she can take the chance on him. It was Jasper who truly stood out to me as one of my favorite characters; he was wonderful to Noelle and extremely patient. In fact there were many times I wanted to whack Noelle over the head for not just going after him! It was obvious to everyone in Noelle’s life that he was just what she needed to take that step towards the “home” she was constantly dreaming of.
Overall though, it was the infusion of animals along with Noelle’s journey that made me really love the book. I’m a huge Great Dane fan, they are just adorable dogs, and Zeke was a dog I could have brought home in an instant. You could tell from how Mont wrote about the animals in the story that she truly has a love for them. I only wish we were in a place where we could adopt a dog, because this book almost pushed me to the animal shelter!
Free to a Good Home was a delightful read. Noelle’s struggle to find who she is and where she wants to be is something we can all relate to. We all want somewhere to call home, a place where family is, and not always in the conventional meaning of the word family. In the end Noelle finds that no matter her challenges she is able to triumph as long as she’s willing to take a few chances.
Thank you to the Publisher, Berkley Trade, for sending me a copy to review!
Take a look at Eve Marie Mont’s website for an opportunity to win an entire “book club” set of Free to a Good Home and check back soon for your chance to win one copy here on Chick Lit Reviews!
Posted in 2010 releases, American Saturday, Book Reviews, Rating: 4/5 | No Comments »
