On San Julian Island, across Puget Sound from Seattle, Tessa Jordan works as a bookmobile librarian, recommending books and poems to her patrons. In her spare time, she cares for a colony of feral cats. But Tessa’s simple, satisfying life is shockingly upended after she meets Nick Payne, a respected community leader, and he invites her to dinner.
Far from a pleasant first date, Tessa’s evening with Nick leaves her feeling confused and upset. After deep soul-searching, she decides to step forward and accuse him of assault. Her distress grows when local prosecutor Will Armstrong declines to pursue her case, citing lack of evidence. Her main solace is Hope, a courthouse dog, trained to comfort victims through the difficult judicial process. As she lays her head in Tessa’s lap, her gentle brown eyes seem to say, Don’t worry. Everything will be all right.
Will, who is Hope’s primary handler, longs to get justice for Tessa, yet knows how rocky the path will be. It’s Hope who, true to her name, shines a bright ray through the darkness. With Hope by their side, Will and Tessa find surprising strength in each other as they learn just how resilient a heart—whether human or canine—can be.
In this story we meet librarian Tessa, a 36 year old who feels the need to tray dating again. She registers at an online site and pretty soon has a request. Nick Payne is someone everyone knows in the San Julian island they live in, and Nick is even campaigning for a public position. However, after a successful first date, they meet again at Nick's house for a wine tasting and Tessa doesn't feel well until she wakes up the next morning, aware something is wrong. After a few days she does go to the police and what she believed would be pretty simple takes a long time and is dependent on a lot of legal matters. The prosecutor Will is eager at first, then tells her the case can't go on, which Tessa struggles to understand. The only help is taking care of some cats and Hope, the working Labrador at the courthouse, trained to help victims of abuse. Can Hope help Tessa long enough until something can be done?
I had not heard of this author before when I saw this title in the list of deals from the site I subscribed to, two years ago. The cute dog on the cover drew me in and I liked the summary of the blurb enough to feel like trying the book. I knew from the start the theme would not be easy and I was fully prepared for drama and for some unappealing discussions throughout, but I will say that, in this aspect, the book wasn't that hard to read because, I feel, the author toned down a lot of the content.
By that I mean that the narrative "voice" wasn't as emotionally draining as I imagined it would, considering the theme. In fact, the story is told in a competent and easy manner, almost a bit too detached in relation to the reader. The theme is hard and I can see how it might trigger some readers, but nothing here is descriptive, and it feels as if the author took care to be as politically correct as possible, so the focus would be on healing, and processing things and having animals to help. I can see the idea behind this plot, the supposed "uplifting" content, but to me some moments of the story seemed a little too superficial.
I'm not saying this had to be filled with bad moments or the characters suffering all the time, of course not! But I did expect the healing process to be more obviously gradual. Most of the plot is Tessa going through the legal and technical motions until her courtroom moment, and how things aren't always easy to accomplish. In the end there's a sudden twist that kind of solves what had been presented as more complicated, but even then Tessa isn't able to be at peace with the proceedings. I can accept this reaction, but certain exchanges, certain conversations and attitudes felt more like a manual on how people might react and/or cope rather than a fictional story about a woman overcoming her negative feelings so she can have a life outside of her trauma.
Basically, I expected a cozier story where the animals would be featured more or in a different way. I mean, I don't think I can truly complain about this, Hope is on the page often, or she is mentioned a lot, as are the cats Tessa helps. I think their presence does justify a few scenes and why we see the animals in them. I will also admit, my hopeless expectations, that a romance would be included here too. Reading the blurb, it was so easy to picture where the story might lead to, and in a way, my guess was correct. The only thing is, the romance is a bit like a final afterthought and was not romantic enough to me. I also think the road there between the two of them could have had better, stronger hints.
I believe the author might have intended to write something that can be devastating in a more positive way, without a lot of the negativity that one links to the theme. Everything is mentioned properly, without much tension, and the characters behave mostly in an understanding way too. The issue is that this feels a bit underdeveloped and I missed stronger emotional complexity, I wish there had been more interactions between the key characters (namely Tessa and Will, the prosecutor).
The cover is so cute!!! Then you read your review and the seriousness of the matter does not seem to match the tone of the cover at all?? I'd feel ill prepared after the cover for the emotional issues in story.
ReplyDeleteI think the story lacked a bit more depth, actually. So the cute dog on the cover is sweeter than the content, obviously, but nothing is overwhelming I'd say!
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