Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts by Lucy Dillon

Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts is the first book I have read by Lucy Dillon. I was given this book to read by a client and on first glimpse I liked the look of the book, girly pink and white with glitter snow balls on the front. It looks like your typical chic lit book and then came the title of the book and this put me off. I am not really what you would call your typical animal lover and I would defiantly not put a book about dogs on the top of my to read list. All this aside I had run out of books to read so I thought I would give it a go.

**Plot**

The book opens with the lovely Rachel whose life in London is falling to bits loosing her job, flat and her heart is breaking. Rachel's aunt Dot has past away leaving her home, Kennels and her dog Gem to Rachel. Rachel is not what you would call a dog lover with her London lifestyle. As Rachel starts working with the Kennels and starts to help Megan who runs the Kennels to re-home the rescue dogs, matching them up with perfect owners. She must make a decision if to stay in Dots house and carry on running the Kennels ,or to sell up for a nice tidy profit and head back to her life in London.

The book weaves in new characters as the book goes on. We meet Natalie and Johnny, a married couple who are desperately trying for children with no avail. We also meet Zoe who works full time and looks after her two children Leo and Spencer and is finding things very difficult when her ex husband decides to give their children a Labrador puppy. Also we meet single Bill the doctor friend of Natalie and Johnny who is matched up with his perfect dog but one he didn't expect!

**Opinion**
This book is a well written book once you get half way through. The first half of the book is quite slow and I did at a couple of points think about just putting it down. It certainly didn't grip me from the first page. However I am so glad I carried on as the second half of the book was brilliant. The way Lucy writes about Rachel makes you really warm to her and you want to see her happy. It is not the best book when it came to trying to bring in the characters together. It felt like I was reading three separate mini books and then it was all thrown together which was a shame as in the last half of the book when the characters are all together the book is endearing. It was unusual to read about a different relationship which was between man and their four legged furry friends.

**Information**
This book retails at £6.99, but when I was in WHSmiths the other day it was on offer buy one get one free.
ISBN9780340919200

**Recommendation**
I would recommend this book but I would just have to make people aware that this book will not grap you from the first page. It really does take a while to get into this book but it is defiantly worth the wait as the way the characters and settings are described you do feel as if you are part of the story. I will be interested to read another of Lucy Dillion books to see if her other books are written in the same way.