Must Love Dogs (Volume 1)

I loved this movie when it first came out, especially being a John Cusack fan and was of course tempted to read the book and I'm glad I Did!! The book is hilarious as and I could not put it down. Sarah's character was so relatable yet not your typical female.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and highly recommend to anyone with a hopeless romantic look at life.

I decided to read this book after watching the movie. There are couple of scenes that are in both, but I found the movie much funnier. The banter is missing between the siblings in the book, BUT this doesn't make the book a bad read. It's actually an enjoyable quick read. A passage from this book makes me want to stir some white wine into boxed mac and cheese. Apparently it's delicious.

If you are looking for something to take your mind off of all the stress of the day! Try this funny quirky book! I love the way it makes you feel like it is happening in your neighborhood. I" sure you have family and friends that you can relate to the character of this book. Enjoy!

I was very disappointed in this book. I thought for sure the book would be better then the movie in this case that just isn't true. I wasn't sure how to take the ending. I really thought my kindle didn't download the entire boom because I thought for sure that a book couldn't end the way it did but low and behold it did...very very disappointing!!!

I listened to the audio version of Must Love Dogs while packing up for our recent move. I have to say that this was one of those books that I could have dropped at any point. It wasn’t that it was bad, it just wasn’t all that great.

The characters all seemed like characters I have seen so many times before (maybe they were new-ish when the book was published 12 years ago?). The main character’s story and attempt to date and find love just seemed to drag on and on. I vaguely remember seeing the movie when it came out so that may be why I didn’t enjoy the story quite as much. Although, honestly, I didn’t remember any of the details so I don’t think that was it. It also might be the narration that left me feeling a bit negative. There was just something about the narrator (especially her “child” voices) that I didn’t care for.

When I dislike an audiobook, I always wonder if I would have liked the book better without someone else’s narration and this is definitely one of of those books, but unfortunately, I’ll never know.

Sarah Hurlihy is forty years old, divorced, and a preschool teacher. She has started dating again, thanks to the personal ads, and her first date is so hilarious I woke my husband up laughing out loud. A great start to a funny and upbeat book.
Sarah is one of six children in a close-knit Boston Irish family. Everyone is involved with everyone else's business. Her widowed father, Billy, is dating at least two women, one is a raucous woman named Dolly who doesn't take "no" for an answer. Sarah's sister Carol convinces Sarah to place her own personal ad, including the words "Must Love Dogs"...although Sarah does not own a dog of her own. The ad produces multiple hilarious dates, many including her brother Michael's dog, Mother Teresa. Who will Sarah choose? John, the quiet dog lover? Bob, the handsome single parent? George from Hanover? Maxwell, the Hemingway look-alike? Can Sarah's family back off long enough to avoid scaring all of the men away?
MUST LOVE DOGS focuses on a family who just can't keep their noses out of each other's lives. Many scenes of the book had me laughing so hard my sides hurt. One that comes to mind is when Sarah is having a lonely evening at home, even the personal ad responses she calls aren't home. Then Dolly shows up looking for Billy. One by one Sarah's siblings show up with problems, then two of the men Sarah dated arrive. Next, the phone calls are returned. Her house becomes a three-ring circus. The interactions between the various individuals left me in stitches. The characters have true-to-life experiences with love and hurt, which give the book depth and meaning, as well. Sarah's brother Michael and his wife, Phoebe, struggle with their marriage. Carol and her daughter, Siobhan, strive to find common ground. The family is able to forge solutions without alienating, all the while meddling in Sarah's dating life.
I highly recommend MUST LOVE DOGS, which gives an optimistic look at re-entry into the dating scene with the help of family. It is the perfect summer read to share with friends

Sarah Hurlihy is forty years old, divorced, and a preschool teacher. She has started dating again, thanks to the personal ads, and her first date is so hilarious I woke my husband up laughing out loud. A great start to a funny and upbeat book.
Sarah is one of six children in a close-knit Boston Irish family. Everyone is involved with everyone else's business. Her widowed father, Billy, is dating at least two women, one is a raucous woman named Dolly who doesn't take "no" for an answer. Sarah's sister Carol convinces Sarah to place her own personal ad, including the words "Must Love Dogs"...although Sarah does not own a dog of her own. The ad produces multiple hilarious dates, many including her brother Michael's dog, Mother Teresa. Who will Sarah choose? John, the quiet dog lover? Bob, the handsome single parent? George from Hanover? Maxwell, the Hemingway look-alike? Can Sarah's family back off long enough to avoid scaring all of the men away?
MUST LOVE DOGS focuses on a family who just can't keep their noses out of each other's lives. Many scenes of the book had me laughing so hard my sides hurt. One that comes to mind is when Sarah is having a lonely evening at home, even the personal ad responses she calls aren't home. Then Dolly shows up looking for Billy. One by one Sarah's siblings show up with problems, then two of the men Sarah dated arrive. Next, the phone calls are returned. Her house becomes a three-ring circus. The interactions between the various individuals left me in stitches. The characters have true-to-life experiences with love and hurt, which give the book depth and meaning, as well. Sarah's brother Michael and his wife, Phoebe, struggle with their marriage. Carol and her daughter, Siobhan, strive to find common ground. The family is able to forge solutions without alienating, all the while meddling in Sarah's dating life.
I highly recommend MUST LOVE DOGS, which gives an optimistic look at re-entry into the dating scene with the help of family. It is the perfect summer read to share with friends

Sarah Hurlihy is in her forties, divorced and lonely. She spends her nights making new recipes (macaroni and cheese mixed with wine) and watching reruns of the Brady Bunch.

She takes out a personal ad and tries to find someone to date. After her first failure where she unknowingly answers her father's ad, you would hope that she would give up...but she didn't.

She now tries to balance the new men in her life: John Anderson: who is sweet, but it doesn't always quite work out. She also likes a dad from the preschool where she teaches: but she doesn't know if he is dating her co-worker or he is just overly charming. All the while she is trying to deal with the old men in her life: her brother Michael, who keeps getting kicked out of the house by his wife. Also her dad: who is looking for a "slow bloom of affection," and is continually running away from one of his psycho girlfriends Dolly, who thinks he is a "no-good alley cat."

I found the whole personal ad--finding love thing something to hold my interest at first, but Sarah doesn't like anyone and jumps back and forth between not-very-entertaining characters. I kept getting the names mixed up and found myself reading quickly to find something worthwhile. The other part of the book, she spends her time being lonely and hating her life because she is not as pretty as her co-worker, she has never been the "good looking sister," and she just wants to be with someone again. I found myself feeling more and more sorry for this woman who wants to fill the void by "finding a man."

I was attracted to the book because the cover caught my eye: the title written in black curly handwriting, two cute puppies held on leashes by two pairs of legs, but maybe I shouldn't have judged the book by it's cover.

"Must Love Dogs" is fun and light -- perfect to toss in your tote for a quiet read on the beach. The main character, Sarah Hurlihy, is a forty-something pre-school teacher who decides to drag herself out of her post-divorce depression and "get back out there." What Sarah finds "out there" is enough comic relief to fuel her through one disasterous encounter after another. With her large and colorful family trooping in and out of her life at inopportune times with troubles and demands of their own Sarah's challenges are huge and her privacy non-existant. Every failed encounter, foible and mis-step is grist for the family rumor mill. I thought the main character's sadness over the end of her marriage was very sensitively woven into the story and gave a nice counterpoint to the spirit and determination she showed to rediscover herself and find a new life and a new love. Nice and light -- an average reader could read this book start to finish in an afternoon or two.

It's every woman's nightmare. You finally decide to meet someone from a personal ad, only to arrive at the restaurant and find that you actually know the person.

Of course, for recently divorced pre-school teacher Sarah, it is an even more surreal nightmare, as the man on the other side of the table is her dad. After the initial shock of the situation comes the realization that her large and boisterous family will soon hear all about it.

"Must Love Dogs" is a cute story about a woman who finally makes the decision to take her own destiny in her hands, open her heart, and take a second chance on love. Her sister Carol creates an ad, and we soon are thrust into dating hell alongside Sarah, as she meets with several of her dates, and battling her nosy family that always shows up at just the wrong time. Of course, if given a choice, Sarah would rather eat wine-laced mac & cheese while watching the Brady's adventures on Nick at Night.

It is a cute chronicle of dating in the oh-so-busy electronic age, and I found myself curious about how it would all work out. And it is not until that last chapter that Sarah's destiny is revealed.

A movie based on the novel will be released in late 2005 starring Diane Lane, John Cusack, and Dermot Mulroney.

"Barely 40"-year-old, preschool teacher (and afterschool activity coordinator) Sarah Hurlihy is a delightful young woman with a sense of humor as well as a sense of adventure, as she takes the bold half-step (her sister, Carol, does some downright shoving to get Sarah half-willing to go along) to put a singles ad in the paper (which is pretty amazing, considering the results of her first bold half-step of answering a personal ad!)...
While Sarah is trying to deal with her divorce from Kevin, and trying to juggle the drama of her five siblings' busy lives as well as the Bradys' (I loved the tidbits from Brady Bunch reruns!), her mother's recent death and Don Quixote-type father, she accepts Mother Teresa's (St. Bernard puppy) leash and the challenges of dog-sitting, as well. Add to the mix several prospective Mr. Rights and you're in for a satisfying dish of vanilla humor with a dab of lemon soul-searching. Definitely a "pick-me-up," though the ending left me hungry for more.

I enjoyed MUST LOVE DOGS immensely.

Sarah is a divorced pre-school teacher who's too emotionally tired to do much more than eat macaroni-and-cheese (substituting wine for milk actually works) and watch Brady Bunch re-runs.

She has a wonderful, nosy family, including her widowed father, who must've kissed the Blarney Stone several hundred times. When Sarah finally decides to do something about her love life, she answers a personal ad. Too bad the ad she answered was her DAD'S. LOL. Her sister Carol decides Sarah should place her own personal ad and takes it upon herself to place the ad and record the phone calls (since Sarah immediately deletes them all and claims she got no responses).

Sarah is very likeable and even though she makes some mistakes along the way, she eventually finds the right guy. But even more important than opening her heart to new love, is how she finds the courage (and the energy) to get a new life.

Must Love Dogs
By Claire Cook

Divorced forty year old Sarah Hurlihy is finally ready to start dating again, after much urging from her rather large and obnoxious family. Her sister decides she needs to place a personal add in the local paper and then after much nagging she concedes, from here thing get a lot more interesting in Sarah's life and she soon has more male attention than she knows what to do with.

I fell in love with the Movie Must Love Dogs when it came out and I had, had no idea that it was based on a book when I found this out I of course had to read it. Unfortunately the book fell flat compared to the movie, the romance between John and Sarah was not very believable it just seemed she had decided after she exhausted her other two options to go with him. I had hoped for more details but we actually get less in the book than we do with the movie. I hate it when Hollywood out does a book but this is one of those rare instances.

Sarah Hurlihy is in her forties, divorced and lonely. She spends her nights making new recipes (macaroni and cheese mixed with wine) and watching reruns of the Brady Bunch.

She takes out a personal ad and tries to find someone to date. After her first failure where she unknowingly answers her father's ad, you would hope that she would give up...but she didn't.

She now tries to balance the new men in her life: John Anderson: who is sweet, but it doesn't always quite work out. She also likes a dad from the preschool where she teaches: but she doesn't know if he is dating her co-worker or he is just overly charming. All the while she is trying to deal with the old men in her life: her brother Michael, who keeps getting kicked out of the house by his wife. Also her dad: who is looking for a "slow bloom of affection," and is continually running away from one of his psycho girlfriends Dolly, who thinks he is a "no-good alley cat."

I found the whole personal ad--finding love thing something to hold my interest at first, but Sarah doesn't like anyone and jumps back and forth between not-very-entertaining characters. I kept getting the names mixed up and found myself reading quickly to find something worthwhile. The other part of the book, she spends her time being lonely and hating her life because she is not as pretty as her co-worker, she has never been the "good looking sister," and she just wants to be with someone again. I found myself feeling more and more sorry for this woman who wants to fill the void by "finding a man."

I was attracted to the book because the cover caught my eye: the title written in black curly handwriting, two cute puppies held on leashes by two pairs of legs, but maybe I shouldn't have judged the book by it's cover.

As always, in Must Love Dogs Claire Cook creates human beings that readers can relate to. They are not perfect -- but like all of us (or most of us), they are lovable with their imperfections and perhaps even because of their imperfections.

The story is filled with humor and touching moments. It's about how life goes on -- and we'd better make the most of it. Readers will end it and be able to start the sequel -- Must Love Dogs: New Leash on Life -- immediately! We get to continue to read about the characters we love! Thank you, Claire.

For movie lovers: As usual, the book is better than the movie. (With the sole exception of Gone With the Wind). This book is no exception. If you love the movie, you'll love the book even more!

I will say one thing for Claire Cook: her writing skills have improved immensely since her first novel, "Ready to Fall," which was a pointless series of e-mails from one neighbor to another. Cook's ability to paint characters has grown, and the main character is interesting enough. This is an ideal fast read if you need something that won't use up any of your brain power. It won't make you think and it really won't make you laugh, but you might smile a bit. The depiction of the Irish family (and the trailer-trashy Dolly) is a bit stereotypical and problems are tied up too neatly at the end, but there were two redeeming qualities which kept me reading when ordinarily I would have tossed the book aside: the subplot of Sarah's brother and his marital woes were actually more interesting than the main storyline, and I admit that I honestly didn't know which eligible bachelor Sarah would choose. (Major points to Cook for that: I can usually tell who Mr. Right will be the minute he's mentioned in a book of this genre!) Since I finished this book (I'm a big believer that you DON'T have to finish every book you begin, unless it's for a class!) it must have held my interest longer than the other single-girl-on-a-dating-binge novels out there, so I will give it a generous 2 stars. Pick it up if you need a quick diversion.

Must Love Dogs is a great book about family, love, or lack thereof and the dating scene for a 40 something divorcee. Although this books main plot revolves around Sarah Hurlihy's dating life, post divorce, I enjoyed more the interactions between her family. With a widowed, dating dad, 2 sisters and 3 brothers, not to mention numerous nieces and nephews, Sarah is surrounded by love and laughter mixed in with a few tears.

This book was a light read that I thoroughly enjoyed. I laughed often and before I knew it I was, sadly, at the end of the book. The characters were so well developed that I felt a part of the Hurlihy family and will miss reading more about them.

I really enjoyed this book! From the family dynamics, to the dating disasters, there was always something going on. It’s a fun, lighthearted read, and definitely one I’d recommend! Can’t wait to see what happens next in the series.