St. Francis Society for Wayward Pets
by Annie England Noblin
Amazon US / UK / CA / AU
HarperCollins / B & N
Paperback: 384 pages
William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (January 14, 2020)
If you love Susan Mallery and Jill Shalvis, you won’t want to miss this new novel of second chances, dogs, and knitting, from the author of Pupcakes and Sit! Stay! Speak!
Laid off, cheated on, mugged: what else can go wrong in Maeve Stephens’ life? So when she learns her birth mother has left her a house, a vintage VW Beetle, and a marauding cat, in the small town of Timber Creek, Washington, she packs up to discover the truth about her past.
She arrives to the sight of a cheerful bulldog abandoned on her front porch, a reclusive but tempting author living next door, and a set of ready-made friends at the St. Francis Society for Wayward Pets, where women knit colorful sweaters for the dogs and cats in their care. But there’s also an undercurrent of something that doesn’t sit right with Maeve. What’s the secret (besides her!) that her mother had hidden?
If Maeve is going to make Timber Creek her home, she must figure out where she fits in and unravel the truth about her past. But is she ready to be adopted again—this time, by an entire town…?
My Rating:
Favorite Quotes:
Your kids ought to be on a birth control commercial or something… I’m pretty sure their high-pitched shrieks would be enough for anybody to beg for the pill.
I made a big production of rummaging around in my purse before Holly sighed and handed over her platinum card… “Well, it wasn’t like that dude was going to accept the hairy Tic Tacs in the bottom of that gross purse of yours…”
The man standing before wasn’t ugly or anything-he was just… odd looking. With his curly red hair and smattering of freckles combined with his crisp black suit, he looked a bit like how I imagined Carrot Top would have looked if he’d picked a nine-to-five job instead of steroid use.
Well, her father is about fifteen pounds of crazy in a five-pound bucket.
My Review:
I adore this author and always enjoy and revel in her emotive and heart-squeezing tales, clever wit, engaging storylines, and insightful observations of complex social issues. Annie England Noblin is a master storyteller and St. Francis Society for Wayward Pets deftly tackled a variety of thorny and unfortunately all too common situations and did so with agility, thoughtful awareness, and profound sensitivity for such complicated issues as family violence, addiction, adoption and identify issues, teenage pregnancy, poverty, physical disability, and small-town living. The characters were curiously compelling, quirky, well fleshed out, and highly accessible though not always likable. The well-crafted storylines were easy to follow, thoughtfully written, unpredictable, and squeezed my heart between giggle-snorts and smirks with the various threads miraculously came together to form an uplifting and highly satisfying conclusion. I am already eager to see what Ms. Noblin comes up with next.
About the Author
Annie England Noblin lives with her son, husband, and three dogs in the Missouri Ozarks. She graduated with an M.A. in creative writing from Missouri State University and currently teaches English and communications for Arkansas State University in Mountain Home, Arkansas. She spends her free time playing make-believe, feeding stray cats, and working with animal shelters across the country to save homeless dogs.
Find out more about Annie at her website, and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Okay, I’m sold!!! The pups face was all I needed…besides your review 😉
Beautiful cover , and I loved your review , never heard of it until now
Oh my gosh!!! That puppy 🥰. This isn’t something I would normally pick up but I really enjoyed your review and I am now intrigued
This was the first book I read from this author and I really, really enjoyed it! Thank you for being on this tour! Sara @ TLC Book Tours
Every time you write a review you make me want to add another book to my TBR. Good going.
I am all about the dog on that cover.
I love stories about small town and add in pups. I am sold. Great review!
I’m so glad you loved it! It sounds like a book I would love as well.
Thanks for being on the tour!