Review: To All the Dogs I've Loved Before

To All the Dogs I've Loved Before by Lizzie Shane
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. 

If a man was going to declare that he didn't want to marry you after the world's longest engagement, he ought to at least have the decency to leave town. 

From childhood friends, sweethearts, breaks for college, and family tragedies, Elinor and Levi have been through it all together. It's been three years since Levi suddenly broke the engagement off with Elinor but since he's the chief of police for their small town and her nine month old Australian Sheppard is a Houdini of escaping her home, she still sees him almost everyday. Elinor is still so angry with him but Levi wants them to be able to be friends again, it's a tension filled situation that the whole town can feel, especially the local newsletter that loves to gossip about their relationship. 

It would be so much easier if she could just hate him properly. 

To All the Dog I've Loved Before was another sweet, emotional pitfalls addition to the Pine Hollow series. Set in a small town in Vermont, the series follows a group of friends that have either grown-up together or been welcomed into the circle because of the dogs they have adopted. Elinor grew-up in the town with Levi, she was the smart overachiever that everyone just knew was going to do big things and he was the bad boy that was always in trouble. The story does a lot of character exploring, Elinor lost her mother young to Ovarian cancer, supported her sister when she had her own scare with cancer, and became the pseudo-mother to their youngest sister. Levi has dyslexia which caused him to act out in school to hide the fact that he couldn't read and deals with emotional abuse from his father at home telling him that he's worthless. There's some reminiscing about their past relationship when they were kids but the bulk of their past is mostly discussed in terms of how their emotional traumas cause them to act now; why Levi broke off the engagement and how Elinor has dealt with that emotional fallout. There is a lot of heavy stuff in this but the author keeps the tone from falling into the depressive, I'm not quite sure how she does it but I never felt dragged down. It's not chik-lit light but more serene and hopeful that these two can work through their emotions to find their way together again. 

He never showed weakness. He kept it together for the town. 

Around 40% the two have a blowup and the walking on eggshells between them cracks and we get more on Levi. He's still dealing with blaming himself about a drug overdose he thought he should have stopped and readers learn more about why he felt he needed to break it off with Elinor, he essentially didn't feel good enough for her and didn't want to hold her back. A chunk of the book is dedicated to Levi working through these feelings, he goes to therapy, and we get a deeper look at the strong, silent, “I'm not good enough” hero trope. Elinor has her own journey of coming out of the grief fog, not only did she lose her mother, help her sister through her cancer scare, but Elinor also lost her bestfriend to a car accident just after Levi broke off the engagement with her. Again, I know this all sounds depressing as heck but the caring that you can still feel between Elinor and Levi and even the secondary characters, bring the love and friendship to uplift the tone. 

Things had been so much clearer when she was trying to hate him. Now it felt like the only thing she knew was that she didn't. 

There were maybe a couple times where I felt like I started to grumble that Levi so obviously loved her and his breaking up with her but not letting her go, got repeated one or two too many times but at 60% we get Elinor confronting him and this having it out created a shift between the two that had them moving forward. Levi's knowing that Elinor loved him but thinking she was wrong too was heartfelt and had the foundation that I think this trope lacks a lot of the time, making it's heroes feel more cardboard cutout, Levi felt stoically sexy real. 

He'd listened to Jane Austen with her dog while driving around Pine Hollow. Her knees melted a little. 

As a reader of the series, I enjoyed revisiting the town and seeing our favorite couples, there is a wedding and more hints at possible future partners. Elinor's dog Dory was adorable and added to the story, especially with how she got Elinor and Levi together. This was a kisses only story, I find myself likening it a lot to a less sex and chik-lit vibe Jill Shalvis. From the beginning you'll feel Levi's trying to hide and restrain love for Elinor and her anger over how he could push her away and then fall into the emotional journey these two go on to get back to each other.

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