I originally thought I wouldn't give this book more than 2 stars. when I was more than halfway through the book, I was only mildly taken in by the storyline. I felt that the author sometimes took the easy option of relaying full conversations between humans, even though the dog doesn't understand, when she felt it was too complicated to relay the human version of events to the reader through the understanding of the dog. I also didn't really understand the point of the book. 
 However, once I'd made the decision that I shouldn't expect too much from this book, I actually started to enjoy it a little more. since expectations had been reduced, I took it as light, easy reading and was satisfied with the somewhat "Disney" happy ending, even though this is something that usually annoys me.