Reviewed by Emma Crowley
Wanted: someone nice, normal and trustworthy to housesit a beautiful cottage in the Lake District while the owner is away on a business trip. Must like dogs.
Wanting to escape from crap bosses and useless boyfriends, Becky jumps at the chance of the perfect escape – rest, relaxation and dog-sitting a very cute pooch called Bella!
But looking after Bella comes with a catch, namely gorgeous, brooding, Chris Hemsworth-worthy Ash James, who claims Bella is his dog and will stop at nothing to get her back!
Becky’s not about to hand over lovely Bella to any Tom, Dick or Ash. She’s determined to watch every move Ash James makes…even if it gets her very hot under the collar.
Many thanks to Harper Collins UK via NetGalley for my copy of The Dog Sitter to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
I had never read anything by Zara Stoneley prior to reading The Dog Sitter and I have to admit it was this cute, gorgeous cover that made me want to delve into this book. It’s a lovely, light easy read packed full of humour with amusing incidents, a lovable but naughty dog, some angst and decision making and of course some romance. It’s an ideal quick read that I found perfect to slot in between some books I was reading with more darker and heavier themes. I think for my first book by this author I chose a good one as I got a real feel for the authors writing style and there was an interesting and, at times, divisive cast of characters.
One thing that was brilliant were the descriptions of the setting the Lake District, although I have never been there, came alive off the pages. The surrounding countryside where our main character was staying was just so beautiful and rugged and the author used this to perfection as a lot of the incidents that occurred happened out in the countryside. Our main character also draws inspiration for her art from what she sees around her and in a way it acted as a healing process for her as her love for drawing remerged having had doubts casted on her capabilities by someone who did not have her best intentions at heart.
With such an hilarious opening involving cow manure and straw, as our main character Becky travels to the Lake District from London, I just knew I was going to enjoy this book. If you have me chuckling along in the first few pages then you have won me over. The writing had a great flow to it and it was funny, quick and sharp. Becky was able to give as good as she gets when it came to sharp retorts. Over the course of the story we get a really deep insight into why Becky has on a whim responded to an ad looking for a dog sitter and why she has left behind the bright lights of the city. She has come seeking a place where she can shelter and take stock of her life. She made the brave decision to leave but doesn’t know where her life path will venture to next. Yes, she is on her way to do this job she has never done before but it’s a mere stop gap in her long term road.
Little does she bargain on meeting a cute little dog named Bella who gets into all sorts of scraps and is at the centre of a custody battle so to speak. Georgina is the owner of the dog and it’s not that I didn’t like her, I just thought she was such a flaky, false character. She was obsessed with her Instagram profile and we all know a lot of the influencers etc pretend to have the most glamorous of lifestyles and it’s not like that at all. Georgina’s demands and rules and regulations regarding the dog were ridiculous and silly. They were totally over the top and Becky could see this yet she didn’t want to loose the job so capitulated to what was asked of her.
When gorgeous Ash arrives on the scene, literally he stumbles out from somewhere, Becky’s head is certainly turned and this reader's was too. I hate using the word hunk but that’s what he was. I have built up an image of him in my head that I know in reality could never meet so many expectations but that’s what the author did. He was one of the hottest men that Becky had ever seen, big, strong and muscular and Ash will certainly get readers hot under the collar. The author described him so brilliantly and he had this way about him that Becky couldn’t fail to feel some attraction to him but the way she had been feeling mentally and emotionally on arrival had she really the headspace to investigate things a little further. Or was looking after the ball of energy that was Bella enough to keep her going?
She soon discovers with regard to the ‘custody battle’ of sorts over the dog, well there is an awful lot more going on there than meets the eye. It really was a case of don’t judge a book by its cover but rather delve a little deeper. To be honest I was more on Ash’s side than I was Georgina’s. She was too superficial whereas Ash seemed real and genuine and I got the sense he was keeping certain things close to his chest. Things he couldn’t tell Georgina so maybe with time and some funny mishaps and incidents with Becky he could open up a bit more. The incident with the boat springs to mind here and there were numerous others too which all added to the light humour and good feelings emanating from this book.
Becky was a character who I felt had no confidence in herself or her artistic abilities and who could blame her having been with a man, Teddy, who always undermined her with regard to all aspects of her life. She had come to the Lake District and took the dog sitting job as an opportunity for peace and tranquillity, a break from the stresses and strains in her life. Teddy was a horrible character. We never get to meet him bar on one occasion but we can tell what he is like from everything that Becky details and from simply the fact that her confidence has been knocked and is so low because all the time he told her work she turned in as a children’s illustrator was more or less rubbish. He was self centred, controlling, egotistical and destructive. He went over her head to editors and she was always forced to make changes to her work. If you are constantly treated like this of course you will doubt your abilities and you would want to give everything up. But drawing and sketching illustrations for children’s books has been Becky’s lifeline. Will her time away allow her to strengthen this connection once again and perhaps she make a go of things on her own? Or has Teddy done too much damage?
It was awful to see Becky so down on herself but you knew that Ash and Bella would take her mind off things. In fact she was kept so busy and so many funny things happened that she had no choice but to come out of her shell and in doing so maybe she could strive for the ultimate goal of getting her confidence back and finding some illustration work where her talents would be appreciated and valued. She had spent so long compromising when it came to her professional work and not doing the stuff she really wanted to do now was the time for all that to change. She just needed a little push in the right direction.
Becky when we first meet her is filled with tension and unease and don’t get me wrong it’s not all roses in the garden when she gets there. It’s not like there is an overnight transformation and everything is hunky dory. No the doubts have followed her and still clamour at her which just goes to show she really should have heeded her families warning about Teddy. I loved seeing how slowly Becky began to have more faith in herself and that she really got to know Ash. Yes there was a lot of misunderstandings between them, and they certainly rubbed each other up the wrong way, but there were lovely tender, caring moments between them too and Ash certainly helped in the hour of need several times over.
I really enjoyed The Dog Sitter, it’s an entertaining, funny read balanced perfectly with the drama that relationships can bring and it’s a story of one woman finding her way back to herself even if a lot of chaos does ensue along the way. Fitting other people’s expectations, Becky learns, is not the right thing to do rather she discovers love, loyalty, friendship and doing the right thing by following one’s heart are the way to go. This one is definitely worth a read. I know many new and old fans of Zara Stoneley will enjoy it as much as I did.
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