Review: Dogs and Goddesses by Jennifer Crusie, Anne Stuart and Lani Diane Rich

One of my all-time favorite author is Jennifer Crusie. I love her characters and the wacky situations they get into :) As a result, I pick up everything that has her names on it... even collaborations.


Dogs and Goddesses by Jennifer Crusie, Anne Stuart and Lani Diane Rich
published by St. Martin's Press in February 2009

Abby has just arrived in Summerville, Ohio, with her placid Newfoundland, Bowser. She's reluctantly inherited her grandmother's coffee shop, but it's not long before she's brewing up trouble in the form of magical baked goods and steaming up her life with an exasperating college professor.

And then there's Daisy, a web code writer, and her hyperactive Jack Russell, Bailey. Her tightly-wound world spins out of control when she discovers the chaos within and meets a mysterious dog trainer whose teaching style is definitely hands-on.

Finally there's Shar, professor of ancient history at Summerville College, who wakes up one morning to find her neurotic dachshund, Wolfie, snarling at an implacable god sitting at her kitchen table, the first thing in her life she hasn't been able to footnote. What on earth is going on in this unearthly little town? It's up to Abby, Daisy, and Shar to find out before an ancient goddess takes over Southern Ohio, and they all end up in the apocalyptic doghouse...

Genre: paranormal romance, mythology
Series: none

The Story: Hmmm, the backgrounds in the synopsis are correct, but I find the summary a tiny bit misleading. Let see if I can do a better job.

Basically, Abby, Daisy and Shar are brought together along with 3 other girls to the "Kammani Gula Dog Obedience Course" under different circumstances. Turns out that Kammani Gula is a goddess from the Mesopotanian era who has been 'revived.' She plans to reunite her seven prietess and take over the world.

Abby, Daisy and Shar are descendents of the priestess who used to serve Kammani Gula and actually discover that they are demi-goddesses. After drinking Kammani Gula's tonic, they seem to come into their powers which include being able to understand what their dogs are saying. Thing is, Abby, Daisy and Shar have no intention of aiding Kammani Gula to rule the world or to serve her... as a result, they have to find a way to send her back...

My Opinion: To tell the truth, the only reason I bought this book is because of Ms Crusie. I really enjoy her writing and I think it's unfortunate that she's been writing collaborations instead of coming up with solo books. Holly told me it's because Ms Crusie does not think she could surpass Bet Me... however, to be frank, none of her collaborations have come close to her older books, let alone Bet Me.

Anyway, Anne Stuart wrote Abby's storyline, Lani Diane Rich - Daisy's and Jennifer Crusie, Shar's. None of the storylines were perfect, I had issues with all of them ^_^; Then, when put together into the greater story... well let say the result is a bit confusing.

So let see... Out of the three, I enjoyed Abby's storyline and dog the most. Abby is new to town and seems to never have fit anywhere. She's looking for a place of her own and she finds it in Summerville. I think it would have been better if we were given a bit more of a background on Abby. I dislike how her mother said negative things about Abby and to stranger no less! Don't know though if what her mother said was true or not, since we were not given much on her background. Abby's hero was Christopher, a math college teacher who's a genius and socially impaired. He follows Ms Stuart's hero mold; however, didn't have time to be a complete jerk. My issue with this storyline was the relationship between Abby and Christopher. See, Abby was a virgin when she had sex with Christopher... and well, he reacted dumbly and as a result, Abby didn't want to have a relationship with Christopher and he had to try to win her back. Bleh...

Daisy's story was a bit meh... Basically, her mother skips town as soon as she hears about Kammani so Daisy will be chosen as the priestess instead of her. Talk about a selfish mother!! Thing is, it was never explained how Daisy's mother knew that Kammani was revived. There was no specific dates for Kammani's revival... so how did she know? I liked Daisy's relationship with Noah though... however, dislike how Daisy didn't trust Noah. In addition, I think Daisy's story was the one that had the most holes... like why did Mina (another prietess - the only one willing to serve Kammani and aware of the whole story) hate Daisy so much? In addition, I have to agree with Noah that Daisy was a bit self-centered :(

Finally, Shar... I think her storyline would have worked better if she wasn't 48 y.o. ^_^; All right, all right, I admit it, I've never been fond of older heroines. I like it when the heroines are between 25 and 35 y.o. I find I can relate with them better... At least, Shar wasn't a divorcee with kids, small blessings. Anyway, Shar is the lucky heroine and gets the god as her hero, Sam. Basically, Kammani needs to sacrifice a king (who also turns out to be a god) to start taking over the world. So when Kammani is revived, Sam is as well. Sam was yummy, but a bit superficial... I'm not sure how I feel about Shar and Sam together... I'm not sure they fit well. See, my problem is in the beginning, it was a big deal for Shar to be older... then as the story went, it seems like it was forgotten. I didn't feel like Shar was older by the end... and if you go through all the trouble to write about an older character, it shouldn't be forgotten right? Then, there's the fact that Shar thought that Sam was sleeping around, but she still went to him... because she loved him. Ugh. Woman, stand up for yourself and ask! Make it clear you don't want him to look at other women... So a bit frustrating.

Finally, I have to say that the overall plot was a bit confusing and felt like it was rushed. Actually, the pacing didn't feel right, probably because there are three authors trying to work on their own storyline. It didn't take too much time for the women to figure out what was happening... then, it seems the book went on pause in order to develop the characters and their individual storyline. Once it was "settled," the ending was rushed to wrap everything.

Personally, I could have overlooked a lot of things if at least, it's been funny... but it wasn't really. In the end, Dogs and Goddesses was a meh book, not as funny as I expected and with a few plot holes that left me wondering.

Grade: C-. If you didn't care for The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes, then you'll be disappointed with Dogs and Goddesses, because it's not really better :(

It seems like these collaborations aren't really working. Lucky for us though, it seems that Ms Crusie is working on a solo book. That, I'm looking forward to... but I think that I'll skip any other of her collaborations.

Some not so recent reads...

Hello everyone,

I'm a bit behind in my blogging... not that I've been reading a lot lately. it's more like books that I've finished a while ago and forgot to blog ^^; So I'll catch up on those. Lately, I've been so busy... started the new job. it's quite interesting, but I'm still figuring out what time I should work. The schedule is flexible, as long as you work 8 hours + 30 min. if you take lunch... The thing is the traffic... it would probably take 40 min. from my house to there if there wasn't any traffic... but instead, it takes me 1h15. To come home, it's even worse... can take me 2 hours ^^; One of my co-worker lives near me and she works 6:30 am to 2:30pm... It sounds strange, but at least, she misses all the traffic... but can I wake up that early? no idea... and then, I still didn't get the pass to get access to the building.

So yeah, I've spent most of my time in my car lately, not fun. Esp. since I can't read. Then, once I get home, I do this, watch that... and end up having no time for reading. sigh... if this is the work life, I'd rather remain a student.

Okay, enough about me...


The Comeback Kiss by Lani Diane Rich: 3/5

This book was a decent read, but I was a bit dissappointed by it. I've read some reviews of it in blog land and everyone seemed to enjoy the book a lot. Maybe I was expecting too much or maybe it was the mood in which I read it. So many stuff seemed unreal as I read the book. I know, it's fiction and it's romance... not realistic often happens, but in this book. I think it's because the author tried to tell a story and she wanted it to be realistic, but what she came up with... It really didn't grab my interest and makes me want to read it again. Howeever, the characters are quite attaching and likable and the book made me laugh at some point.

One Forbidden Evening by Jo Goodman: 3.5/5

So I bought this book after reading Kristie's good word for the author and review of the book. I've been reading a lot of historicals lately, much more than I normally do. So what to say about this book? I liked it because it was quite original... For once, the main character (female) wasn't a virgin! Yes! She even seduced Ferrin :P Anyway, the setting was quite a surprise for me and I have to say, it worked. What didn't work tho was the part where Cybelline went to the countries and Ferrin followed her, but under his best friend's name... The whole country part was a bit unnecessary in my opinion... Also, I don't agree with Tara Marie's opinion that the intrigue was superfluous. I thought it was a nice and interesting twist. I also liked the Cybelline's brother, Viscount Sheridan and so I'll probably look for that novel.

So basically, the story was quite good, altho perhaps a bit dragging in the middle. I enjoyed it and liked how different this book was from the zillions other historicals.


You Made me Love you by C.J. Carmicheal: 2.5/5

This book wasn't bad, but I think it wasn't enough. It seems she had so many characters that the author tried to develop that she neglected the plot a bit. I liked the characters because they all seem quite realistic. The setting of the books wasn't bad either, but quite frankly, I didn't like Simone, the dead wife. I didn't like the ending, because it was quite predictable. The murderer turned out to be the only one in the group of friends who didn't get any attention.... no much suspense.

Anyway, not a bad book, but could have been better. Also, quite a forgettable book. It doesn't impact the readers much.


So, last but not least...

Match me if you can by Susan Elizabeth Phillips: 3/5

This is the book I managed to read this week and quite frankly, I didn't read it all. Why? Well, I read the ending, which I quite enjoyed. Then start the book over and didn't really like the beginning. So basically, I've read from the middle to the end :P
I liked Annabelle, but poor girl... to be stucked with that kind of family? Argh... I understand the parents, but even the big bros... all her family makes her sound like she's mentally retarded instead of , not independant, but rebellious. As for Heath Champion, he was an okay guy.... but what a work-alcoholic. Lucky they had that prenup contract :P So yeah, the story wasn't so bad, but the beginning wasn't so interesting either. You have the usual: guy's looking for a wife and he has an image in mind, but he ends up falling in love, altho he can't admit it, with the complete opposite of what he was looking for.

By the way, I know ppl like to read series and I guess it's easier for the author to write them, but please... when is it too much. I mean, how many couples did we have to re-visit in this book? 4-5? man... and she keeps introducing football players! argh! Oh, and Pippi (altho, very ugly nickname) and her cell phone fetish was hilarious. So was the Smurf part too.