They decide to carry on living together with their dog Fluffy in order to maintain an amicable divorce, but that is thrown into chaos when Mark decides to go for full custody of Fluffy.
Annie is outraged because to her, the dog is her baby. Annie is determined to win the battle between the pair as several shocking truths come out, and Annie's life is turned upside down...
Now I'll be honest and say that I don't particularly understand people substituting children for dogs, or indeed treating their dogs like they are humans, but I was prepared to let this go for the sake of the story! As I said, the cute cover of a little doggy clutching a Christmas stocking in his mouth was too cute to resist, and I hoped the story would be good enough to make me want to read it! The book started off quite well, introducing us to the character of Annie in her solicitors office discussing the demise of her marriage and terms of her divorce. I actually thought she was a bit of a sap at the beginning because of certain things she says, but thankfully my opinion did change a bit as the book goes on!
As the book begins with the divorce of the pair, I was wondering whether the author Judith Summers was going with the story after this, but thankfully all because clear. The majority of the book is told to us in flashback style, with Annie recounting the main reason for her divorce, and then as the story progresses, how she got Fluffy, how she met Mark and then later on the "custody battle" over the dog. As its told this way, we do cover a good time period in the book and therefore get to know the characters quite well too. Because of this, I felt I could enjoy the book more because I knew the ins and outs of the lives of Annie and Mark, and consequently felt something for both of them as the book progressed!
From the start, I could tell that the book was going to be quite funny and I was definitely right. It has me laughing throughout, albeit not huge bellows of laughter but still made me at least crack a smile on quite a few occasions! Summers writing style is incredibly easy to read and you really don't have to work too hard when you read this because it just flows so well and is thoroughly enjoyable to read. Summers has chosen to write in the first person from the character of Annie's perspective and this allows the story to become really in-depth about Annie's emotions and life, which I felt gave the comedy book a bit of a more grown-up edge.
The book is really a good read, and definitely falls into the chick-lit genre of books but for me that is not a bad thing! However, what I felt was a bit different about it was a few twists and turns that the book took towards the end that really surprised me. They weren't the sort of twists you'd expect in this type of book at all, and for me it sort of made it a bit more realistic and gritty than it otherwise would have been. The overall ending seemed a bit disappointing to me but did work well for the story and rounded things off in a nice way, not leaving any endings untied just like you'd expect from this sort of book. Summers' writing is great, very easy to read and just a thoroughly funny and enjoyable read. I'd highly recommend to anyone who is a fan of the genre, and I've already passed my copy on to my mum who I am sure will love it. Recommended.
Rating: 5/5
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