Review: But by the Grace of Dog (Four Legged Friends #1) by A.F. Henley

Thom Baron has been struggling with social anxiety his entire life. He's taken the medications, gone to the therapists, followed the programs, and concluded his best life is a solitary one. When he comes across a dog in obvious need at his local market, it rekindles the desire to have some company around. It may come with a dishevelled coat, a notched ear, and a refusal to respond to anything but its given name "Ugly," but it could still be a friend. 

However, Thom's new fur buddy has no such need to keep to itself and immediately befriends the man Thom has secretly coveted since he moved in -- Justin, Thom's gorgeous, bright-eyed neighbour. No matter how Thom tries to evade the man, the dog keeps drawing them back into each other's lives, and it doesn't take Thom long to recognize it's simply pursuing the demands of Thom's own heart. With the dog giving him the courage to try, Thom reaches out to return the love being offered. 

Until a stranger shows up insisting the dog is his and demanding its immediate return ... a loss Thom knows will take all of his efforts and newfound confidence with it.

Oh Dog, I would give you all the treats. All of them.

But by the Grace of Dog hits on some heavy topics in an approachable and honest way, given the level of Thom’s social anxiety, it really should have read more heavy than it did. Being in Thom’s head wasn’t always easy, but the author sure made the journey enlightening and worthwhile.

Thom has a severe case of social anxiety, being Thom isn’t easy and reading about what he went through to accomplish everyday tasks I handle with ease was a real eye opener. It was heartbreaking and exhausting just to read, so I can’t truly deem to imagine what it’s like to live like Thom on the daily.

Thom is destined to stay in his stressed out bubble until he meets Dog at the farmer’s market. Dog is a stinky stray, well, dog, whose future is the shelter where he probably won’t survive. Thom is a good guy to his core and there’s no way he can let that be a thing, so he adopts Dog and the two begin a journey that’s messy, ridiculous and just the absolute best.

Thom has a huge crush on his neighbor, Justin, and Dog manages to “create” scenarios where the two end up having to spend time together. It’s definitely not easy on Thom and the author did a really good job of balancing charmingly awkward moments with the true struggles Thom deals with. There was no magical peen that made everything miraculously better. Thom and Justin would take two steps forward and a step back, three steps forward and four back and so on and so on. But, they did move forward and the hard earned steps were like reading multiple meet cutes in one story.

Justin was the ONE for Thom, right from the get go. And the story could have been so full of angst if Justin weren’t so open, it was refreshing to read and was what made Thom and Justin (and Dog) work. I believe in these two (three) for the long haul and same goes for this series. If the next critter I meet in book 2 is half the critter Dog is, I’ll be a happy reader.

**a copy of this story was provided for an honest review**