So, overall, a nice read and I will pick up Allie Larkin's other book, but this wasn't the excellent read I was promised.

Pros:

I like fucked-up main characters. And Van is very fucked up indeed, drowning her sorrows in booze, drunk-buying a puppy, pining after her best friend's husband. She's messy, foul-mouthed, and can be pretty mean sometimes. I enjoyed all of that.

I liked the wide supporting cast of characters, and the interesting and unusual dynamic between Van, her best friend, her best friend's mother, and her own late mother. It was arguably more emotional than the main "romance" plot, and I appreciated that. For many women, their relationships with other women are incredibly important and more enduring than romantic relationships and it's nice to see a commercial fiction book where that is recognised. I think this gave the book a bit more depth than your archetypal chick-lit novel (and I'm not trying to be sexist or dismissive of the genre, I read a lot of it.)

Cons:

I thought this book had a rather unrealistic view of what it means to randomly end up with a large, high-energy breed like a German Shepherd when you're not prepared for it and you don't know anything about the breed. Van and Joe the dog bond instantly, and apart from a single turd on her floor, Joe doesn't really misbehave. He's beautifully brought up, incredibly intelligent, and the only people he doesn't get on with are the people who turn out to be baddies or semi-baddies anyway. He's the Mary Sue of dogs. I was hoping for all sorts of hi-jinks, but Joe caused very little to happen apart from introducing Van to her boyfriend. Speaking of whom, Van's fairytale courtship with Alex and their lame and tenuous last-act Big Misunderstanding were both highly unsatisfactory.

I think Allie Larkin is a good writer and this book is a pleasant read but I hope that future books by her have something more substantial in the way of plot.