This Dog's Okay!

Anyone who has read my blog for long, especially on Random Dozen days, knows that I can't stand am not especially fond of animals. Due in part to my best-friend-growing-up's gargantuan German shepherds, which would jump on me when I wasn't much bigger than they were, as well as a few other childhood animal traumas, I will paraphrase a favorite line from Fiddler on the Roof if I am ever asked to bless an animal:

May God bless and keep the animal. . . far away from me!

Betty Kowalski wasn't real thrilled, either, about the dog that showed up in her backyard. Especially since it came through from the rotting fence that divides her yard from her new neighbor, that strange Jack Jones. He can't be up to any good, the way he's tearing up that beautiful old house and piling up the junk in the yard. And he won't take his dog back - in fact, he claims it's not even his! How in the world is she supposed to love her neighbor when she's not even sure she trusts him?! As if she didn't have enough to worry about, her missing granddaughter shows up on her doorstep. She's never considered her a step-granddaughter and loves her deeply, but the family drama that is escalating is trying her patience. Between the dog and the neighbor and the family dilemma, Betty has more worries than she can shake a stick at. Will there ever be peace on her little corner of the earth? This is a charming novella. A perfect gift for the dog lover in your life, The Christmas Dog even worked its way into my heart. (Especially since he stayed tucked in the pages of the book!)

Read the first chapter here:

The Christmas Dog


Melody Carlson is the award-winning author of over two hundred books, several of them Christmas novellas from Revell, including her much-loved and bestselling book, The Christmas Bus. She also writes many teen books, including Just Another Girl, Anything but Normal, the Diary of a Teenage Girl series, the TrueColors series, and the Carter House Girls series. Melody was nominated for a Romantic Times Career Achievement Award in the inspirational market for her books, including the Notes from a Spinning Planet series and Finding Alice, which is in production as a Lifetime Television movie. She and her husband serve on the Young Life adult committee in central Oregon. Visit Melody's website to learn more!

Many thanks to Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, for providing me a copy of this book to review.