A Man of His Own

by Susan Wilson
Scott County Library hardcover 356 pages
genre: historical fiction, awesome dog story

I saw someone reading this and snapped a picture of the cover. Here's the blurb off Amazon (and the cover for the paperback is a German Shepherd pup sitting below a man's legs):

Rick Stanton was a promising professional baseball player with dreams of playing in the major leagues and starting a family with his young wife, Francesca, when World War II changed everything. Rick returns from the war with his body broken and his dreams shattered. But it was not just body and spirit he sacrificed for the war. He and Francesca volunteered their beloved dog, Pax, for the Army's K-9 Corp, not knowing if they'd ever see him again.

Keller Nicholson is the soldier who fought the war with Pax by his side, and the two have the kind of profound bond that can only be forged in war. Pax is the closest Keller has to a sense of family, and he can't bear the thought of returning him to the Stantons. But Rick and Francesca refuse to give him up. Instead, an arrangement is made: Keller will work as Rick's live-in aide. And thus an unlikely family is formed, with steadfast Pax at the center. As they try to build a new life out of the ashes, Keller and Francesca struggle to ignore their growing attraction to each other, and Rick, believing that he can no longer give Francesca what she needs and wants, quietly plans a way out.

All three of them need healing. All three of them are lost. And in Susan Wilson's A Man of His Own, Pax, with his unconditional love and unwavering loyalty, may be the only one who can guide them home.

What I loved:

• Pax, of course! Dogs are awesome and I'm quite partial to GSDs . . . my favorite breed.
• Not being sure where the story was going. I don't want to put any spoilers here, so I'll just say that I wasn't sure of how it would end. That said, I'm not at all shocked at the ending. You'll just have to read it yourself! 

What I didn't love:

• The author skips over so much of the characters' storylines. It was a bit disconcerting to go from the flirting of Rick and Francesca to him shipping out for war. There were many places where a storyline of several months or years were compressed into a few sentences . . . 
• The way Rick treated Francesca after his war injury. I'm a bit surprised she put up with it, but then I'm not that sweet and patient. 

Apparently, this author has written a lot of dog stories. Not sure if I'll track down more of them or not. I have a lot of books to read right now!