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Creature Discomforts

Creature Discomforts

List Price: $6.99
Your Price: $6.29
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Creature Discomforts
Review: As a rule,I always love the books about Holly Winter,and her canine side kicks,Rowdy,and Kimi.I have read all of her books,and enjoyed everyone.Creature Discomforts,however,was a big disappointment.I really thought that it was long and drawn out more than it should have been.There were too many characters,not enough dog stuff,and Steve Delaney,has married a dog hating attorney.Holly was totally whimpy and out of character,the amnesia thing was hokey.I know you can do much better than this.I am a faithful fan,please don't disappoint me again. Bring back the Holly Winter we all know and love.Where was Kevin in this book? He was missed.Plus, Steve can't stay married to that dog hating person.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A real dog of a dog book
Review: Holly may have gotten the case of amnesia, but I wish I could forget this book. I rarely give up on a book, but I couldn't make myself finish this one. Evil Breeding and Creature Discomforts is a killer combo for my appreciation of Susan Conant's abilities.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Another fun book with Rowdy and Kimi!
Review: Holly Winter lovers rejoice! This is another wonderful book by Susan Conant. This time, Holly Winter awakes with amnesia in Acadia National Park. She discovers that she is the owner of two wonderful Alaskan Malamutes and slowly put the pieces together that led her to being pushed off a cliff. It's a quick read and you'll have a lot of fun. One warning: there's a surprise at the end.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Conant's best yet!
Review: How does she do it? How does Susan Conant keep turning out such entertaining mysteries with great characterizations? I don't know, but thank you, Ms. Conant! These books are a boon to dog lovers and mystery lovers, especially those who are both!

This book kept me on the edge of my seat. I couldn't wait to see how the mystery came out -- and I *really* couldn't wait to see how the relationship part came out. No, I'm not going to spoil the surprise. Let me just say that I hope the next book comes out very soon!

When Booklist says "It's easy to find faults with Conant: her stilted descriptions of Maine's Acadia National Park sound as though they were lifted from an old Fodor. Likewise, the indigestible trivia about breeds and training she drops into the text land like stale dog biscuits on the basement floor," well, the heck with that publication. I liked the descriptions and I **loved** the bits on dogs, because they ring of truth -- and great love for all dogs.

It's a delight to read this stuff. It's also given me some obedience ideas. Hmmmm . . . Katie, come!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Heavenly "Creatures"
Review: I am always on the lookout for Susan Conant's latest "Dog Lover's Mystery," and in Creature Discomforts, she has produced another howling good time. This time, the mystery is set in Maine's Acadia National Park rather than heroine Holly Winter's usual Cambridge, Mass., milieu, a change of venue I found refreshing. There, Holly faces an even greater challenge than usual: solving the murder of an environmental curmudgeon as she struggles with amnesia resulting from an accidental (!?) fall while hiking in the park with her beloved Alaskan malamutes, Rowdy and Kimi. Poor Holly doesn't recognize or remember most of the people she comes into contact with, and must carefully navigate a web of deceit to not only uncover the murderer but also reveal some financial shenanigans as well. As always, I was deeply impressed by the author's ability to weave together topical subject matter (this time, environmentalism) with loads of dog-related tidbits, and a barking good mystery! Loyal followers of Holly, Rowdy, and Kimi's adventures will appreciate the character development of Holly's warming relationship with her father and a rather shocking development in her ongoing romance with Cambridge vet Steve Delaney. One caveat: Some fans may miss some of the usual supporting cast of characters they've come to love, such as Holly's neighbor Kevin the cop and her upstairs tenant Rita the psychologist. All in all, I can't wait for the next Susan Conant "Dog Lover's Mystery"!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Writing in her sleep
Review: I found this book to be very disappointing. Ms Conant and her heroine were both suffering from memory loss with this book. Not up to her usual standards

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: What Happened to Holly?
Review: I have been a Susan Conant fan for several years and eagerly await her books. However, the latest, Creature Discomforts, does not seem to be up to her usual efforts. Holly seems to be very bitter and less of a "real" person than in previous books. I would have liked some explanation of why previous relationships have changed. The situation with her father also has lots of unanswered questions considering Holly's feelings (grief) over her mother's death many years ago. This book was not the usual well-told tale I've enjoyed in the preceeding books.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I have read each of Ms. Conant's books eagerly. I wish I had passed this one up. Disappointing is the nicest word I can find for it. It is not nearly as satisfying and coherent as her previous books.

Also, having followed Holly Winter's and Steve Delancy's "romance" through the books, I admit I was waiting for a doggone good wedding. This book, with its dropping of my favorite fictional vet and his unbelievable marriage to a shyster lawyer, is the last I will read of Ms. Conant's books.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: I love the dogs but what's Holly's deal?
Review: I have read every one of Susan Conant's books in the last two weeks, so maybe that's why I am so disappointed with her latest effort. Rowdy and Kimi are as intelligent and beautiful as ever but what happened to Holly? I understand that she's had head trauma but what's with the bitterance she seems to be displaying? I miss her old dog absorbed happy self. I also miss the old Steve. That whole Steve storyline just isn't believable, it's too farfetched for his in control character. I found myself wanting to reread her first book so I could remember the good times.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Holly sure was whacked! :-)
Review: I mean that in the best possible way. Really. It was fascinating to read Holly's account of how she rediscovered herself and to read the details of her life that she utterly forgot and confused her. How could anyone forget their own beautiful pooches? The rice in the backpacks was indeed a nice baffling touch, though I knew what its purpose was before Holly figured it out. Her account of her terrible handwriting was amusing to anyone who has gone back to reread something and found it mystifying. The details seemed so genuine to me that I even awakened after reading the book, afraid I had forgotten my own life!

Holly is a total dog nut, but comes by it honestly since her parents were, she has lovely dogs (enough to make anyone nuts about dogs), dated a vet. Her discovery of that, and the "tape recorder" that went off in her mouth when the Malamutes were mistaken for "huskies" was priceless.

What was not so priceless was the insidious crime committed by the dangerous, misguided villan. Anita isn't priceless either- her nastiness is bound to get her into even more trouble in later books. Poor Steve- the true mystery of the book was "what is going on with Steve and Holly? And why?" Sadly, we don't learn the answer, at least not in *this* book.

The amnesia provides Holly with an excellent opportunity to explore the nature of her relationship with her father, and ultimately, her mother. Most of us never get the chance to see our parents with all the emotional baggage associated with them; Holly is lucky to have that, even at such a high cost.


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