Stay: Four paws up

So this post is way, way, way overdo, but I didn't want to sit down and write it until I had legitimate time and brain power to give it the focus it deserved. You may have read on some other awesome blogs about Allie Larkin's new novel, Stay, but just in case you didn't, I wanted to introduce you to Allie and Stay! Really, even if you know about Stay and lucky enough to know Allie, I think you should still read :)

Almost three years ago I got to reading Allie's blog about all things green, then known as Allie's Answers (now The Greenists, and yes, the same Greenists that I contribute to ... P.S. I posted there yesterday about green wedding dresses, feel free to give it a look-see.). The thing that set her blog apart from all other green-oriented blogs was her voice -- it was incredibly clear, personal and warm, despite Allie's Answers not being a personal blog per se. Through mutual blog commenting, Twitter exchanges and e-mails, I found about Allie's passion for writing and her love for her dogs, Argo and Stella.

Like all of Allie's friends, real and internet-related, I was cheering her on big time as she wrote, sold and edited Stay. When the time came for me to get my hands on Stay, I absolutely could not wait! It arrived at the new house just as I was moving in, and it was the only thing that distracted me from my duty of unpacking the new place because it was THAT GOOD. (Seriously, when I move to a new place I let nothing interrupt my quest to get settled in.)

Stay in its now permanent spot on our now unpacked bookshelf

It's a story about a gal named Van, a grape KoolAid and vodka-fueled drunken impulse purchase, a dog named Joe and the puppy love -- both the human-to-human kind and the human-to-puppy kind -- that ensues. This video will say it better than I can:



Tomorrow I'll have an interview with the author herself, so stay tuned!