A Little Hair of the Dog by Jane McBride ~ review

• Paperback: 314 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (September 4, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1477625259
• ISBN-13: 978-1477625255

This book is also available as an ebook.

To purchase a copy of "A Little Hair of the Dog" click here.

Publication Date: September 4, 2012

27 year old Andalusia Bixby is still reeling from the sudden death of her father, with whom she had lived all of her life. The young Mormon woman decides to go back home, to the small town of her childhood in Western New York on the banks of the Erie Canal. Being reunited with old friends and meeting new ones is just the injection of hope for a real future she needed. One thing she did not expect was that she would encounter a very special orphan, or that she would adopt him. He is two years old. His name is Henry. He weighs almost 200 pounds. He is an unusually large Great Dane. She has never had a dog-indeed, has never had so much as a hamster in her life. During her journey of learning how to be a good mother to her new dog, she meets someone else who needs her-a reclusive and bitter young man who has sworn off other people, permanently.

My take on this book:

"A Little Hair of the Dog" by Jane McBride is the story of Ann Bixby and Henry.It was the death of her mother that had 15 year old Ann and her father moving away from her hometown and her best friend Kell, and ironically it's the death of her father that has her moving back home at the age of 27. Not only does she move home but she adopts Henry a 180 pound Great Dane. Ann a shy Mormon girl finds herself coming out of her shell with Henry and the duo is soon known all over town. While walking Henry one day she meets Kyle Mendez. He is dealing with issues from his past that has caused him to shut himself away from the world, but Ann soon finds herself falling for him, thing is he isn't a Mormon. When she and Kyle are out walking on the riverbank one day they stumble upon a dead body, and while the police seem to have come to a dead end, Ann finds herself becoming involved in something that ultimately puts her in danger!

As someone who loves reading stories that revolve around animals I found myself drawn to "A Little Hair of the Dog" because I knew that the story involved Henry a Great Dane, but once I started reading I became so invested in Ann's life that I couldn't put the story down.The author ,Jane McBride,allowed me to feel the loss of Ann's father and mother. I could understand why she wanted to move back to her hometown where there were people who knew and loved her.I loved Henry, I could just imagine that huge dog tooling down the highway in the back of a VW Bug! While Ann rescued Henry, he was also just what Ann needed! The tension that the owner might return and claim Henry was understandable after all Henry became Ann's family, and normally wherever she went so did he.There were so many stand out characters that kept the plot moving, a couple of my favorites were Ann's offbeat, sixty five year old  aunt Gertrude and her relief driver driver Penelope Hogwaller, who both loved playing football! It did take me awhile to get into the character of Kyle, and some of his friends, I think it was the poor language, but once I imagined him speaking as the Sly Stallone character of "Rocky" I totally got into the characters."A Little Hair of the Dog" is a wonderfully written clean read that provides plenty of laughs, great characters, mystery, a budding romance, along with a nice glimpse of the Mormon faith. Anyone who enjoys a good fiction tale where a dog is one of the primary characters shouldn't miss this one. 

Reviewed for Readersfavorite.com