When Harry Met Minnie: A True Story of Love and Friendship

Well this book packs quite the emotional punch, at least for me. The story is not very long, only a couple hundred pages or so, but it draws you in quickly and you come to love the dogs, Harry and Minnie, plus the friendship between Martha and Carol (short though it was). I love the details the author added to describe Carol as the eccentrically fun lady with a full life and many friends. It made the ending even more sad as they all came to say goodbye to this wonderful lady. The dog's stories were good too and that is what gave me the hardest time, especially at the end with the goodbye of one of them due to kidney failure. I was reading that at work and had to stop and wait till I got home because that is how I lost my dog and I was a blubbering mess when I finally finished the book. Very well written though I recommend reading it not in public if you are prone to tears with touching dog stories or the loss of a great woman to cancer.

Thank you to Celadon Books for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. When Harry Met Minnie is a well-written and joyful story about how a chance encounter at a New York City farmers market resulted in Martha Teichner meeting a dying woman, Carol Fertig, and adopting her bull terrier Harry. Martha's bull terrier Minnie had been very lonely after the passing of her older bull terrier buddy. Martha had been thinking about finding her a friend for a while. She meets Carol who is dying from cancer which had resulted from exposure to toxic chemicals from the 9/11 attacks. Carol is very worried about what will happen to Harry when she is gone. Because of his health problems and idiosyncrasies, he is not an easy dog to rehome. As she spends time with Carol, so the dogs can meet to assess compatibility, a beautiful friendship results. Martha wishes she had known Carol for years, instead of the short three months they had together. Carol was a talented designer and had a real gift for friendship and bringing people together. This is an thoughtful account of bull terriers and their funny quirks, the human animal bond, friendship and dying with dignity. I admired Carol ability to keep her sense of humor during the most uncomfortable and painful moments of her illness. When Harry Met Minnie is also a New York and 9/11 story. It is a heartrending and powerful memoir. #whenharrymetminnie #celadonreads #partner @celadonbooks