Blog Tour – St. Francis Society for Wayward Pets by Annie England Noblin

If you love heartwarming stories about finding yourself that includes dogs, you will love this wonderful Harper Collins novel publishing today January 14, 2020:

ST. FRANCIS SOCIETY FOR WAYWARD PETS

by Annie England Noblin.

About St. Francis Society for Wayward Pets

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (January 14, 2020)

If you love Susan Mallery and Jill Shalvis, you won’t want to miss this new novel of second chances, dogs, and knitting, from the author of Pupcakes and Sit! Stay! Speak!

Laid off, cheated on, mugged: what else can go wrong in Maeve Stephens’ life? So when she learns her birth mother has left her a house, a vintage VW Beetle, and a marauding cat, in the small town of Timber Creek, Washington, she packs up to discover the truth about her past.

She arrives to the sight of a cheerful bulldog abandoned on her front porch, a reclusive but tempting author living next door, and a set of ready-made friends at the St. Francis Society for Wayward Pets, where women knit colorful sweaters for the dogs and cats in their care. But there’s also an undercurrent of something that doesn’t sit right with Maeve. What’s the secret (besides her!) that her mother had hidden?

If Maeve is going to make Timber Creek her home, she must figure out where she fits in and unravel the truth about her past. But is she ready to be adopted again—this time, by an entire town…?

Review

Don’t let the dog on the front cover fool you.

St. Francis Society for Wayward Pets tells the story of a woman who hits the wall of loss at an alarming speed. She loses her job, her boyfriend and then her birth mother (who she’s never known) all at the same time. Not to mention she also gets robbed. When she (Maeve, her name is Maeve) heads to the small town of Timber Creek to accept her inheritance of a small house her mother has left her, she starts to unravel the story behind her birth mother, and the reasons of her adoption. There are friends, neighbors, dogs, cats and knitting needles all entangled in this story helping Maeve face this major turning point in her life and answer the questions she’s longed to have answered.

What a story. This (in my opinion) is a coming of age story for a lady who needed to come of age long ago, but life just wouldn’t go her way. Sounds like most people I know. There is some mystery type twists and turns, a little romance, and a little humor along with some difficult topics such as adoption, domestic violence and grief. The band of characters in Timber Creek were wonderful and just the kind of people you want to live around yourself, and I found myself consumed by this story and had a hard time putting it down. There is no better way to read about starting over and finding yourself than a book based in a small town with memorable characters and pets. It has pets. Did I mention the pets? Yes, that dog on the cover. Don’t let it fool you, the book is not centered around animals, but it does have them included. Once you read the book you will understand the novelty of the wayward pets (or at least you should). I truly enjoyed this heartwarming read. I hope to read more about this wonderful little town and the people who reside there.

Thank you to Annie England Noblin, TLC Book Tours and Harper Collins Publishers for the gifted copy of this book for my unbiased and honest opinion.

Purchase Links

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

About Annie England Noblin

Annie England Noblin lives with her son, husband, and three dogs in the Missouri Ozarks. She graduated with an M.A. in creative writing from Missouri State University and currently teaches English and communications for Arkansas State University in Mountain Home, Arkansas. She spends her free time playing make-believe, feeding stray cats, and working with animal shelters across the country to save homeless dogs.

Find out more about Annie at her website, and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.