Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts
By: Lucy Dillon / Narrated By: Jilly Bond
Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins
A charmer with a cast of characters and different plot lines… Oh! And dogs! Lots of dogs!
In one fell swoop, Rachel has lost it all. Her job, her home, uhm, her MARRIED boyfriend (discovered he was cheating on her, not with his wife, but with a new hottie down at the gym). To top it off, her eccentric aunt has passed away, leaving her with a ramshackle house, a kennel, and a dog rescue facility. Oh, and a depressed herd dog, languishing for the aunt’s voice and caresses.
Rachel, not a dog person, has no intention of managing it all; she’s a city girl, after all, and her wardrobe, amongst other things, is NOT suitable for dog walking and kennel mucking. And the barking of all those dogs, desperate for homes, food, a cuddle, more foooooood! And don’t even get her started on how much the taxes she owes on the house and the rescue: Astounding, and where are all the hundreds of thousands of pounds to pay going to come from?!?
But there’s not just Rachel in this wonderful book, Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts. There’s an Aussie dog-loving phenom; there’s a single mom who would love to date, but it turns out, one of her sons is turning into a tantrum-throwing monster (and how do ya handle that when you’re all alone AND trying to make ends meet? Wait, what? Dad gave the boys a Labrador puppy too? One who chews and wees all over the place? Oh GOD!). There’s a couple, now into their thirties, who would very much like to have a baby of their own, but maybe that’s not in their cards (Perhaps a dog is?!?). There’s a bachelor doctor, spoiled by women throwing themselves at him (but there’s just something about that single mom!); there’s a curmudgeonly bachelor veterinarian, who cleans up very nicely, but might be stuck in his ways. And there are dog-walkers galore, all trying to save the dog rescue center and bring in some much needed cash.
Jilly Bond is one of my favorite narrators, and here she does magnificently well as always. She handles every single character author Lucy Dillon (one of my favorite writers!) throws into the mix, deftly manages emotion, smoothly handles each situation. Even the bouts of complete and utter chaos are handled well, with no slips of accents, and they become quite funny rather than toe-twisting nail-biters (which I appreciate because I haaaate it when a book leaves me stressing just as much as, or MORE, than the characters themselves).
This is the third time I’ve listened to Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts, and I think it just became my favorite Lucy Dillon (tho’ unfortunately, there are only two of her books available as audiobooks right now. I love her other one, Walking Back to Happiness, but that one has grief as a center pole, so there’s that, you see).
If you’re in the mood for a bit of fur-flying, a bit of romance, a whole lot of people just trying to do the best that they can as they can, give this audiobook a try. Just under 13 hours fly right on by when you’re having a good time!
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