And what does a fully functional grown-up woman do when everything’s screwed up? She kicks off her shows and yanks the screw top off a bottle of wine and pours herself a massive glassful.

The Dog Share (From ARC, quotes may have changed in publication copy)

Thank you, NetGalley and Avon Books, for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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?

This was a cute read, but it wasn’t what I expected when picking it up. The Dog Share tells the story of two people navigating the twists and turns of life in their 40s. Suzy Medley is an obituary writer with two teenagers in college whose ex left her with a failing whiskey distillery in Sgadansay, Scotland. She’s set on closing the distillery, but when she finds an abandoned dog, Scout, she gets a new lease on life. She ends up falling in love with this island and decides to try to rescue the distillery. Her love interest is Ricky, a music teacher with a pre-teen son. While on a trip back home to Sgadansay with his son Arthur and his Instagram-obsessed girlfriend (who leaves early, thank God), Ricky meets Scout and ends up partially sharing him with Suzy to give Arthur a chance to play with him. However, this meeting doesn’t happen until well over halfway into the book. 

The romance wasn’t the main focus of the story but rather the lives of the two main characters. And although I picked the book up expecting a cute romance facilitated by an adorable dog, I still ended up enjoying the book. Suzy was a compelling character, and I found myself rooting for her on her quest to save the distillery. I also enjoyed watching Ricky fall back in love with his hometown. My only complaint is that the book felt a little misleading. Based on the title, cover, and description, I did expect more interaction and more actual dog-sharing between Suzy and Ricky. Although they do end up coming together at the end, it felt more like an “oh, by the way” than a significant plot point.