Book Blurb
Cooper Reynolds's life is going to the dogs... literally. As if being a high school senior in a small Texas town wasn't hard enough, Cooper has bigger things to worry about than who he'll take to prom and whether or not the Poisonfoot Padres will win homecoming. He has less than a year before his eighteenth birthday, when a curse placed on his family will doom him to live in coyote form forever. The last thing he needs to complicate his already messed-up life is a girl, but fate has other plans in mind for him when it brings Eloise "Lou" Whittaker to Poisonfoot. She's grouchy, sarcastic and has no love for her new Texas home, but she might be exactly the right person to help Cooper break the curse. The clock is ticking, and Cooper will have to decide if he's willing to let Lou in on his dirty little secret before it's too late.
Toot's Review by Stacy Sabala
This is a Dog’s Day Novel. The main character is Eloise, or Lou, who is moving from Fresno, CA to Texas. She and her mom are moving in with her grandmother after her father dies of cancer. Grandma Elle is the mother of her father and Lou hasn’t seen her in years. She is very unhappy to be moving and leaving everything she knows behind. On her first day of school, everyone stares at her. She is the new kid and they rarely get them in such a small town. A girl named Marnie embraces her and takes Lou under her wing immediately. Lou also is paired with Cooper as her lab partner in chemistry.
Cooper Reynolds is a loner. Everyone stays away from him like he has the plague. The only time he is accepted at all is on the football field. Lou likes Cooper. He was nice to her from the very beginning and she can’t understand why everyone treats him the way they do. In fact everyone is warning her to stay away from him, but no one will say why.
On top of the weirdness with Cooper, she is having these dreams about a woman and her dead son. In these dreams, the woman blames the town for the death of her son and curses them. She said they will sleep with the dogs that they blame, which Lou can’t figure out.
The town also has a coyote problem. This coyote keeps coming up to Grandma Elle’s house. She chases it away with a shotgun and yelling that he knows better to come around there. Lou begins to think this small Texas town is crazy.
Lou grows more fascinated with Cooper. She decides to find out for herself if he truly is trouble like everyone says. Cooper is enamored by Lou. She actually pays attention to him and talks like he is a real person. Her kindness is what he craves and he falls hard, but he has a secret. He only has until his eighteenth birthday before the curse takes him, like it did his brother. He tries to stay away and ward her off, knowing his time is short, but he craves the love she can give him.
The town refuses to let them be together. The magic used for the curse hundreds of years ago is now embedded in the town. If the magic is unleashed by Lou and Cooper together, the town is doomed.
I really liked this first book. It was fun to read. I spent some of time trying to figure out why Cooper was a social outcast and why his brother turned into a coyote. The reader instantly feels sorry for him. I also really liked Lou’s character. She didn’t care what anyone thought, she liked Cooper anyway. Their relationship was the sweeter for it. His need for her human contact was so huge that they had an immediate connection, even before they knew the truth about each other. The reader roots for them to be together and overcome everything.
Unfortunately the book is in a series, so the ending sets the story for the next one. I didn’t like the way this one ended, but as I said the story continues on. I recommend this book. In fact, it is going on my book board for my students.
I give it a 4 out of 5
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