GONE TO THE DOGS
MARIANNE STEPHENS
ISBN# 9781419914881
February 2008
Cerridwen Press, Inc.
www.cerridwenpress.com
E-Book
$6.49
154 Pages
Romance Contemporary
Rating: 5 Cups

When Katie O’Hara is jilted by her fiancée and demoted by her employers, she leaves New York and moves back home to Kansas. Katie’s previous employers arrange for her to take up a new role, advertising and marketing the drink Whoopsie, for the Yipsey Dipsey company in Kansas. Sent to save the company from going bankrupt, determined, Katie works hard at achieving successful results.

The dashing, Mike Marino is a local fireman. Mike meets Katie while he responds to the emergency to put out a fire at the house Katie is sharing with her aunt. Mike becomes an instant handyman and friend to Katie's aunt who instantly warms to Mike but, Katie disapproves of Mike’s regular visits.

Katie’s decision to return to Kansas is not a permanent one and plans to return to New York as soon as an opportunity presents itself. Developments at the Yipsey Dipsey company are getting complicated. Sabotage and strange accidents are starting to occur and Katie is finding it difficult to differentiate the real from the unreal. Events are gravely escalating as someone in the company is attempting to kill her.

Unconventional, Gone To The Dogs is in a class of its own. Stephens skilfully hones a witty and quirky imagination. This is a romance novel with ambitious ingredients of suspense, mystery and comedy blending well. The characters are wonderfully developed and very individual, each demonstrating unique idiosyncrasies. Katie entertains with humorous self-deprecations and her aunt’s chanting and naming her beloved, pet dog, Precious Percy Wellington III I’d found hilarious. On a more serious note, Stephens illustrates a true picture of Katie’s low self-esteem going through the motions of pain, loss and dejection associated with the double blow of being jilted and demoted. The novel is an enchanting love story and surprising developments made it an exceptional one to read.

Delores
Reviewer for Coffee Time Romance
Reviewer for Karen Find Out About New Books