3.5 stars. (Rating shown may vary depending on site).

This would have rated 4 stars but I can't get past the reincarnation aspect of it. Had it just been animals, I might have gone ahead with the extra half star, but at the end of the book, the author also seems to imply that people come back too . . .

I did not read the previous two books from this series. The story is told from the dog's POV--which is interesting. I thought the author did a good job of staying in that POV and the times when the dog just didn't get what was going on around him were sometimes humorous. ( )

Continuation issues - more of a sequel to the movies. Less about the dog, more about the humans’ complicated lives. ( )

There, now I have read all three books in the series and really, what's not to love? Cameron managed to successfully continue a series, something other authors hesitate to do, fearing that the sequels will not measure up. Cameron manages to write books that are almost page turner fast with the enormous variety of problems the dogs run into. ( )

So I did read this novel more than once, and have a lot of very strong opinions about it.

First, it seems to me the author is losing his hair. He keeps combing it to try to hide this incipient baldness, but I’m not buying it.

Plus, he’s never been particularly attractive, but since he went on this big “diet” he talks incessantly about, he’s been opening the refrigerator and stuffing cheese in his mouth. He’s gained about ten very unsightly pounds.

When he sneaks the cheese, he creeps around, not making any noise, but someone by now must have noticed that we’re down about 12 ounces of cheese every day plus a commensurate amount of crackers. Oh, and what happened to that slice of apple pie that he put in the refrigerator for “later?” Later was like four minutes.

Worse, he gets his dog Tucker in on the cheese embezzlement, so now they are both tip-toeing around at night. Tucker gets a very tiny piece of cheese.

Now that we’ve dispatched with my complaints about this author, let me tell you about my problems with A Dog’s Promise.

First, it is really intense! Bailey Bailey Bailey is now an angel dog, sent back to the farm to help a boy with special needs. The plot twists keep it paced like a thriller, and the point of view of the dog has matured because this particular canine has a wise, old soul from having been reborn so many times.

Cameron, the balding fat author, clearly loves dogs and feeds them cheese.

This novel takes place in the near future, which makes sense because when the second novel in the A Dog’s Purpose series, A Dog’s Journey, ended, we were basically already a few years in the future already—by which time it can be assumed the author will have eaten a lot more pie, since he bought one and stuck it in the fridge behind a bowl of lettuce, like that’s going to fool anyone. So in the near future, we see that Hannah’s daughter Rachel is now a grandmother, and her son Chase owns Ethan’s farm. And we know this because our angel dog finds his way there.

Bailey has a purpose that not even he knows about—just like I have no idea what the author’s purpose is, other than snacking out of the refrigerator. But it’s an extraordinarily important purpose, so important that Ethan has sent Bailey back over the rainbow bridge to fulfill it.

I forgot about another complaint I have about this author, which is that he never follows the same formula twice. The second book in the series, A Dog’s Journey, had a very different structure than A Dog’s Purpose. And this one, A Dog’s Promise, completely changes conventions again.

Here’s a note from the author:

Hi, I’m Bruce, I don’t eat cheese every night, I am not going bald, and the pie wasn’t even that good. I want to ask you a favor, which is: if you think you are going to want to read A Dog’s Promise at some point, would you please consider pre-ordering it? Publishing has changed, in that pre-orders are considered pretty much the whole game, like opening weekend for a movie.

You can purchase from any online vendor, you can visit your local bookstore, and even more fun, I am going to be visiting a lot of book stores in October. You can pre-order the book from any one of those stores, and tell them you want it personalized. As in, “For Sally, the best sister in the world.”

Because we are headed into a season where gift-giving is common, this would be a great way to take care of some of the people on your list. And, of course, take care of yourself—do you want a signed, personalized, first edition of A Dog’s Promise?

Even better: pre-order a book from any of the stores listed, and I will personally give 20% of the cover price to Best Friends Animal Society.

Thank you for doing this, for following my reviews and for supporting authors. Let’s keep books alive! -- Bruce (list of stores follows)

October 12
Second Star to the Right
1545 South Pearl Street
Denver, CO

October 14
Rainy Day Books
2706 W 53rd St
Fairway, KS

October 15
Stevenson Hall, North Central College
Hosted by Anderson’s Bookshop
131 S Loomis St
Naperville, IL

October 16
Elm Street Theater
Hosted by Foxtale Book Shoppe
8534 Main St
Woodstock, GA

October 17
Eldersburg Elementary
Hosted by A Likely Story
1021 Johnsville Road
Sykesville, MD 21784


October 21
Towne Book Center & Café
220 Plaza Drive #B-3
Collegeville, PA

October 23
BookPeople
603 N Lamar Blvd
Austin, TX

October 24
Tattered Cover
2526 E Colfax Ave
Denver, CO

October 28
Rakestraw Books
3 Railroad Ave
Danville, CA

October 29
Vroman’s Bookstore
695 E. Colorado Blvd
Pasadena, CA



( )

This was at times hard to listen to. As a dog owner and having recently lost my grandpa, ive cried through a good bit but I also appreciate my dogs even more. ( )