Book Review: It's NOT Just A Dog!

Book: It's NOT Just a Dog! (Project Madison book #2) by Pam Torres

Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review

Publication: Available now

Description:

School's out for the summer and straight-talking Madison and her friend Cooper have big plans for the summer: working at the kennel, training service dogs and creating a dog-walking business—besides writing her dog-blog. Her stepdad has agreed to make Lilly, Madison's foster puppy, a permanent member of the Morgan family, and Madison wants to make the adoption special.

When an injured dog is abandoned, Madison's determined to discover the truth about the orphaned dog. To crack this crime she'll have to sneak around some shady characters. It'll be tricky since her dad isn't happy about her animal detective activities. Her promise not to get into trouble won't be easy. Madison convinces Cooper to strike out on their own, but finds herself locked in a shed with no way out and Lilly is dognapped. She regrets her crime-fighting obsession and realizes her snooping has endangered everyone she cares about. Cooper rallies an unlikely group of rescuers to bust her out.

In the end Madison learns she can depend on her friends and her stepfather. And when it comes to people and dogs, relationships are never simple, and a dog is never—JUST a dog!



Rating: 3 stars

Review:

This was a really cute book that follows 12 years old Madison Morgan who is a total dog lover but also has this ability to know what dogs are thinking and feeling.

She is also training a puppy to be a service dog and is taking classes with her friend Cooper. Those two are also trying to figure out a way to help raise money for the struggling dog shelter that Netta runs. She not only Madison's late mother's good friend but also Cooper's guardian.

Madison and Cooper were hoping to raise some extra money with their dog walking business but first they need to get more clients. So, with that plan on the back burner, Madison decides to turn her upcoming 12th birthday party into a dog rescue/adoption party. Now she just had to run it by her dad Henry first.

The party went great (meaning people showed up) but at the end of the party the donation box was stolen. Now, Madison and Cooper are trying to find out who took it.

And in the middle of all that, Madison just might be developing a crush on her new neighbor Jonah. Jonah and his family were Native American and I like that the author included information about the family. There was also a good explanation by Jonah's uncle that describes a possible reason for Madison's ability.

Madison is also involved in another mystery, she is trying to find out where an injured dog that's at the kennel came from. She's also trying to figure out what to do about a neglected dog that chained up outside of a house.

Something, I found a little distracting was the hashtags at the end of some of the sentences and paragraphs. Again, it most likely won't be a bother for younger readers but just something I noticed.

There are a lot of good life lessons throughout the story and I like that they don't seem to preachy (which kids can easily spot) they were just part of the story.

I think this book will be a great read for tweens and teens who may be interested in mystery books as well as a dog lover. It might move a little slow for me in the mystery solving department but I don't think a younger reader will mind. Especially since this is an interesting story that has interesting characters.