Cinque Cuccioli Sotto L'albero (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
a nice read. I am a big dog lover so always enjoy reading another book about dogs. This is a sweet story about a man named Josh who has never owned a dog before. A neighbor all but forces Josh to take care of a dog named Lucy claiming an emergency. Lucy turns out to be very pregnant one thing turns into another now Josh has Lucy and puppies. this takes place two months before Christmas. Kerri who has been assigned to help Josh with six unexpected dogs. over the next eight weeks Josh grows attached to these darling puppies and Lucy. Will he get to keep any of these dog and puppies? what will become of Lucy and the puppies? a fun quick read. I have read other books by W. Bruce Cameron I like "a Dog's Purpose and A Dog's Journey' a bit more,{ I think because they are scene through the dog's eyes} but this one is a good one too. I had previously read A Dog's Purpose, which I thoroughly enjoyed, followed by A Dog's Journey, a sequel to A Dog's Purpose, which did not live up to its predecessor. So I was of mixed mind when I saw the Dogs of Christmas at the bookstore, but then it was the Christmas season, a time of schmaltz, so I thought what the heck... While not up to A Dog's Purpose, it was an enjoyable, even delightful Christmas fantasy. Josh Michaels, who has never owned a dog, suddenly has one dumped on him by a neighbor, Ryan, who he hardly knows and doesn't particularly like, because Ryan is leaving the country. He leaves the dog with the protesting Josh and goes. Josh, doesn't know how to take care of a dog, and so calls on the local animal shelter for help. There he finds out the dog, Lucy, is pregnant, but Kerri, one of the workers, tells him not to worry, she/they will help him and he can get rid of the puppies in one of their programs called "the dogs of Christmas." The puppies, of course, come early; Josh rushes to the Vet, where they are born stillborn. Dejectedly he and Lucy return home and he discovers a box in the back of his truck, which he didn't put there. He drags it into his home in Evergreen Colorado, and discovers five puppies, which are nearly dead from the cold. He calls Kerri, who tells him to place them on Lucy's teats immediately. He does so. He and Lucy adopt the five puppies. Josh now has six dogs which he struggles to learn how to raise (fortunately, he just lost his job, so he can devote full time to the enterprise). Having been left as a teenager by his mother and sister when their family broke up, then his father who went to live with the woman his parents fought over, and very recently by his live-in girlfriend, Amanda, shortly before Ryan left him with Lucy, Josh is a lonely soul. And dogs are a guy's best friends. Also the gorgeous Kerri comes over often to help him with them. There are two females, Lola, the smallest cuddly dog, and Sophie, the least discussed, and three males, Oliver the alpha male, and Cody, who turns out to be blind, and Rufus, who turns out to be a guide dog for Cody. Lots of loveable humorous activities occur during the months that Josh learns to live up to his responsibilities. Kerri continues to search for forever homes for the puppies, even as Josh becomes more attached to them, telling him that he will have Lucy. Property owners in Evergreen Colorado can apparently only own three grown dogs--a good reason to never go there. Josh is also falling for Kerri, so he tries to please her by pretending to be willing to give up his puppies. In the meantime Amanda calls, and Kerri, who answered the phone, overhears Josh telling her the speaker is no one important. She goes off in a funk and lets other people at the shelter talk to Josh. But she also finds attached to the bulletin board underneath a lot of other papers, a lost/stolen report for Lucy. Josh does not want to give Lucy up, but when the owner, a former girlfriend of Ryan, comes over, and he sees how much Lucy loves her, he does. All the puppies are now spoken for and now Josh is faced with going from six to no dogs. Even Kerri feels sorry for him. All the puppies except Cody, the blind dog who was given to a couple who had previously had a blind dog and so took him earlier, are to be given to their new owners Christmas Eve. They come by one by one, but one of the cars is not someone looking for a dog, but Amanda, who decided to rejoin Josh for Christmas. Josh rejects her in front of Kerri, who now is willing to join with Josh. And the fourth family does not come by to pick up Rufus. Furthermore, the couple who took Cody discover that it is not the same having a dog blind from birth as one who becomes blind after knowing the house. They return him and so Josh and Kerri not only have a blind dog, but a blind guard dog as well. Syrupy, sentimental, yes. But also humorous, and heart-warming. What better Christmas doggy book could you ask for?
What do You think about Cinque Cuccioli Sotto L'albero (2013)?
Very cute, uplifting story. Not necessarily a Christmas book.
—fdavies
Great Christmas read especially for us dog lovers
—Bonnie
Cute story even though it brought some tears.
—Jewelunicornz
