We Miss You, Abby!--A Letter to My Dog

Abby with her Daddy, Gerard

It is with great sorrow that we had to help our dog cross the Rainbow Bridge last Monday.  I thought about this book and the letter I wrote to our dog back in November of 2014 so thought this would be a good post to update and post again.    
 
A Letter to My Dog by Robin Layton is a happy, feel-good book that is a collection of notes from people (some well-known) to the dogs which show the value of rescue dogs.  Along with the notes are full-page photos of the dogs and in the back is a summary of the dog-owners with their dogs including smaller pictures of them together.  I enjoyed this book very much and found myself smiling all the way through.  It is a quick-read that I recommend to anyone who is considering getting a dog as well as all dog owners.  This book inspired me to write the following letter to our dog:

Dear Abby a/k/a Abby Dabby Doo or Abby Dabs,

You are the best dog we could ever have!  You won our hearts the first day we met you with your soft thick fur, your big beautiful brown eyes, your sweet personality, your curly fluffy tail, your big smile and your gentleness.  I am amazed at how well-behaved you were from the first day we met you.  You got along with our two cats just fine and fit right into our family with no problem at all. 

I love how all kinds of people are drawn to you.  It was so much fun taking you to dog training classes at PetSmart because you managed to make people laugh and still were the best at following commands most days.  You are so eager to please and easy to train.  We are so proud of you!  I love to watch you enjoy the outdoors and wish we had an area where you could run off leash like you did at the park the one day when the clasp broke off and you got in a good run.  I couldn’t believe how fast you could go and how happy you were that day! 

The bond you have with Gerard is heartwarming to me.  I know you will always be a daddy’s girl, but just hope you know how much I love you too.  I enjoy feeding you breakfast every morning and reviewing the commands you learned.  I like giving you big hugs and belly rubs too.  You are such a good dog and I am so glad we decided to look on Petfinder for you when we did.  You have certainly enriched our lives!

Addendum to letter--5/25/19:  We are so sorry you dislocated your shoulder January of 2017 and that you were in pain for a couple years.  You were so tough and stubborn and we just wanted to have as much time with you as possible.  It was so hard to watch you not be able to enjoy so many of the things you used to be able to do.  Yet, you were a trooper and still wanted to please us!  When you finally reached the place where you could not longer get up or walk through the house even, we knew it was time to say goodbye.  Tell Mr. Moe and Manny Boy we miss them too and say "hello" to them for us.  We know they would be ready to greet you as you cross the Rainbow Bridge.

Karen, Lucky Mom of a Rescue Dog

 (Karen's review 11-6-14, 5 stars)

A Letter to My Dog by Robin Layten is a collection of letters written by people to their dogs.  Some famous, some old, some young contributors all have one thing in common:  they love their dogs!  The pictures in this book alone are a reason to get this.  It is filled with full-page color glossy pictures of all kinds of dogs on every other page!  The letters are very touching, some funny, some sad.  If you are a dog lover, this is a must read!  I'm sure you can agree with most, if not all, of the letters.  I know I did!

What a great book to start off with for November!  I love you, Abby!
(Gerard's review 11-5-14, 5++ stars)

Also read and loved A Letter to My Cat.

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

"Nyxia Uprising" by Scott Reintgen (Last in the Series)

Nyxia Uprising by Scott Reintgen is the amazing final book in the science fiction Nyxia series. I loved it and what a page turner it is once you get into it. It took me a little while to reconnect with the characters because it’s been such a long time since I finished the previous book. It is chock full of adventure, suspense, heartbreak, and tender moments. Some characters die in it that was sad; however, that just made it more believable. There is some humor in this one but not as much as in the others. It is truly an awesome book about working together to accomplish great things. I loved this series—it is my favorite science fiction series! (Karen’s review, 5 stars)

Teaser from page 74: “Fear does nothing. Don’t spend time on it. Fight instead. Lead. When all of this ends, we’ll kiss our men and go home and live like queens.”


Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

"Resistance Women" by Jennifer Chiaverini

Resistance Women by Jennifer Chiaverini is a work of historical fiction.  Mildred and Arvid are newly married and enjoying life and teaching in Germany.  But the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party changes that.  They and their friends decide to do what they can to get the truth out about Hitler and help people to escape.  But how long until they are found out?

I thought this book was really good.  The book ran true to life for me and I enjoyed the characters.  At close to 600 pages, there was some down time but still had a pretty good pace to it and a good ending.
(Gerard's review, 5 stars)

Teaser from page 26:  "Then along comes this loud, angry man," Natan said, "promising to take them back to a mythical golden age of prosperity, swearing to punish Germany's enemies for wronging them.  Some people respond to that--in this case, vast numbers of people."

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

"The Art of Hearing Heartbeats" by Jan-Philipps Sendker

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker is a very unusual love story that is told to Julia. She just graduated from law school and then her father just left.  Her family lives in New York City.  She looks for clues and decides to try to track him down in Burma when she finds an letter from someone named Mi Mi at an address in Burma.  When she arrives, she meets an old man in a tea house who seems to know all about her and begins telling her the story of Tin Win, her father! His story is quite amazing!  You will have to read this for yourself to find out about it.

This is a very slow moving, tender love story between a blind boy and a crippled girl.  I liked Mi Mi and felt sorry for both Mi Mi and Tin Win.  I almost quit on this about a third of the way in; but decided to finish and I'm glad I did.
(Karen's review, 3 stars)

Teaser from page 165:  Waiting was so interwoven with the rhythm of her life that it almost disturbed her when anything happened right away.  She was mystified by people who were always hurrying things along. A time of waiting offered moments, minutes, sometimes even hours of peace, of rest, during which, as a rule, she was alone with herself.     

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!

"Run Away" by Harlan Coben

Run Away by Harlan Coben is about Simon Greene in search of his missing, drug addict daughter, Paige. One day he sees her singing in the park and almost catches her, but her boyfriend shows up and while Simon scuffles with him, Paige gets away. This story is full of murder, family secrets, hit men, drug dealers, and a cult. It is pretty complicated how these things are woven together to make for quite a mystery! This is a wild story that made me want to keep reading with an interesting ending.
(Karen’s review 5/15/19, 4 stars)

Gerard's review:
This novel is about a father, Simon, who is looking for his daughter, Paige, who ran away and got into drugs.  He wants to put her in rehab.  He gets involved in the drug culture with some not so nice people as he looks for Paige.  This book had some good parts, but not enough of them to me.  The story line jumped around too so did not really keep my interest.  (3 stars)  

Teaser from page 27: Sam said, “The video’s gotten over a million hits.” His son seemed both startled and impressed. “I can’t believe you punched out Aaron.”


Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. To find books on a specific topic, scroll to the bottom and click on the topic you want. Happy Reading!