[finished 7/14/14] 
This novel was a nice summer read—moving but not too strenuous. The novel begins as Rocky, a psychologist, finds her veterinary husband, Bob, dead on the bathroom floor. In the subsequent months, she struggles to deal with his death and ends up taking a leave of absence from her job and fleeing to Peak’s Island off the coast of Maine. There she takes on the job of Animal Control Warden—something as far away from her old life as she can think of.
As you might expect, the island contains an interesting cast of characters that Rocky meets and learns from—including a large Lab named Lloyd. The mystery surrounding Lloyd—who was his previous owner and why would someone shoot him with a bow and arrow—is one that leads Rocky to, of course, an attractive archery instructor. However, this isn’t a “romance” novel. It’s much more about how one person grieves and about all the hidden hurts that everyday people carry within them. Even though we never meet Rocky’s husband in life, he comes alive in her memories and her struggle to move beyond the loss of a soul mate—not an idealized soul mate but a real one, warts and all, is one of the best parts of this book. And, of course, Lloyd.
