CHRISTMAS IN BLUE DOG VALLEY - Annie England Noblin
Avon Books
ISBN: 978-0-06-304019-9 (Paperback)
September 2022
Fiction

Blue Dog Valley, Wisconsin - Present Day

The 3,411 residents of Blue Dog Valley have been used to Dr. Saltzman at Valley Veterinary for years. So when he informs the community that he's retiring, and is potentially selling the practice to a woman veterinarian from Los Angeles, the town folk get a bit upset. How will a person from the big city fit in? But Dr. Saltzman thinks he has found the right person. They've been friends on social media for a few years, and he thinks he's picked the right person for the job.

Dr. Marigold McKenzie, Goldie to her friends and clients, has flown into Milwaukee, praying that she's made the right decision. Leaving the veterinary practice where she's worked with her fiancé, Brandon, for ten years isn't easy, but leaving his cheating, narcissistic ways make it slightly better. And now, here she is, freezing to death in a strange place, after rescuing a cat left at the baggage conveyor belt, and greeted by a sullen man sent by Dr. Saltzman to pick her up who obviously isn't pleased about her arrival. 

The two hour drive to Blue Dog Valley hardly leaves Goldie feeling welcomed to her new home. That is, if she accepts the offer to stay. She has until the new year to decide if she wants the practice. That only gives her a few months to get to know the town, and its people. And the one driving her, Cohen Gable, sure isn't giving her good vibes. He clearly considers her an outsider. At the cabin behind the veterinary clinic where she'll live, Goldie finds a letter from the doctor explaining the clinic and its staff of one, Tiffany.

Tiffany, it turns out, is not happy with the turn of events either. But she needs the job, and her experience is invaluable to Goldie. They tiptoe around each other, and Goldie soon discovers that Tiffany, while a bit grumpy, is determined not to let the business fail. The town is in rough shape after, as Cohen told her, the state built a bypass around the community, practically isolating it from the world. Tiffany, and others that Goldie meets soon after, tell her about how they used to have a very popular Christmas carnival each year, but that so many people left the area, they stopped putting it on. Maybe, thinks Goldie, they can get together and try it again! 

CHRISTMAS IN BLUE DOG VALLEY is a sweet tale about new chances, new friends, and a new life far from the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles. Goldie is entranced by the locals who slowly begin to warm up to her. She also gets to meet the local animals, Large Marge, the horse, Alice, the cape-wearing alpaca, Kevin, the "worst sheepdog" around (who knows a good person when he meets Goldie!), and also Airport, the Sphinx cat that Goldie rescued at baggage claim. But can she get Cohen to warm up to her? He always seems angry, and she wonders why?

Have some fun and get in the holiday spirit with CHRISTMAS IN BLUE DOG VALLEY. 

Jani Brooks