August 11, 2009

Review: Mad Dash by Patricia Gaffney



Late one night Dash Bateman finds an abandoned puppy cold and all alone on her front porch she immediately falls in love and wants to keep the poor girl. When her stuffy husband of twenty years, Andrew, balks at the idea she gets a wild hair and leaves him on the spot.

Over the next few months Dash lives in their cabin in the mountains commuting to her photography studio all the while keeping their daughter, who’s away in college, in the dark. Without Dash at home Andrew is lost. Eating ice cream for dinner and wearing one blue and one black shoe to work yet he’s gone after Dash other times she ran in the past and this time he’s not about to go chasing her again.

Feeling restless Dash yearns for time alone but now that she has it she doesn’t know what to do with herself. She alienates her studio assistant by being too motherly and her best friend is so promiscuous Dash can’t really relate to her. Just when her despair is at its lowest, she makes two friends in the mountains. One is Cottie, wife of the elderly handyman who takes care of the cabin. The other is Owen, Cottie’s son-in-law who is currently estranged from Cottie’s daughter.

With mixed feelings about what’s going to happen between her and Andrew and Owen in her life Dash has some hard choices to make while getting through her mid-life crisis difficult time.

Mad Dash is a sweet tale of love and lasting friendships but boy does it drag on. I really enjoyed all of the characters but especially fell in love with Andrew for his stuffy proper attitude and Cottie for her humor. Told in alternating view points from Dash to Andrew the book was filled with lots of funny moments and I think that Gaffney really hit the nail on the head with the empty nest syndrome but I just wish the book was just a few chapters shorter. Other than that this was a fun, breezy read that would be perfect for the beach.

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2 comments :

bermudaonion said...

This one sounds like it could have used a strong editor. Thanks for the review.

Heidi V said...

After a lot of thrillers this would be a good book for me!

Thanks for the review!