Lucky Dog by Dr Sarah Boston

I feel like I haven't done a book review in ages! I go through stages of really loving reading, and will do it in every spare (and un-spare that I make spare) minute and then I won't read again for months. Recently, I got back into reading but it was more crime novels and nothing that I felt related to Daisy Pets. That was until I picked up Lucky Dog by Dr Sarah Boston. The tagline for this book is 'How being a veterinarian saved my life', which really grabbed my attention. If you didn't know, my job goal all my life was to be a veterinarian, right up til 16 when I realised I was not in the top 5% of the population.

The problem I have with book reviews, is trying to give you enough information on my thoughts on the book, without giving away the whole book so you don't want to read it yourself. I believe there is a fine line between this and I am not sure which side I border most of the time. We'll give it a go though.

Sarah writes this in first person prospective, and I really appreciate this style of writing. She writes in a way which you truly can grasp her personality, and like myself, I feel she writes how she talks. I find this really engages me in the book, I feel like I become friends with the writer and makes me want to read more. Let me tell you, once I started reading, it was gone within a day or two as I needed to know more about her story.

The book travels along the narrative of Sarah being diagnosed with cancer, while incorporating a lot of stories from life as a vet. It is a wonderful way of writing the story, as you really can see the similarities between the health care system for both humans and canines. If you are looking for a book directly related to pets, this is probably not your book. It definitely follows Sarah's life more than any canine star. However, the sprinkling of animal tales still make it a book worth reading and enjoying for a dog lover.

There are points in the book where I found it hard to read because she is so descriptive in her tales that I felt like the pain or discomfort was appearing on me. Maybe I am just a little weakling, but near the start of the book I was cringing with every word hoping that she would be less descriptive in parts. This doesn't take away from the story, if anything it does enhance it because as I said above, it makes you relate to the writer so much more.

Apart from the parts which made me cringe, it is super easy reading and very easy to read before sleep when you are only half awake. The words are of decent sized, and apart from the medical lingo, I didn't find the English too complex or overwhelming.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book and found it very engaging. If you aren't into medical, death or disease, I would stare well clear. But if you don't mind that kind of stuff, and are interested in the life of a canine cancer vet, this book is 100% for you. I learnt so much that I never previously knew and found it so interesting how cancer in dogs can be treated, but also how it compares to human cancer.