Wait . . . Did that dog just say something? Until she finds a stray dog in a parking lot, Ellen’s biggest problem is ducking her best friend’s attempts to set her up. Soon she’s immersed in questions like—what to feed him, why he’s chewing up all her shoes, and how she’s going to come up with enough money for a pet deposit. But Emmett turns out to be exactly what she needs and more. A lot more. … more. Unfortunately, a lot of other people think they need him too. People with power. People with guns. And some of them will stop at nothing. For Ellen, the worst part is not knowing whom to trust. But that’s okay because Emmett has the answers. If everyone will just listen . . .
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When I sat down to read Speak, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Familiar with Paddock’s work by way of Postcards from Gliese, I suspected it’d sucker-punch me right in the feels. I wasn’t disappointed.
I think we should start with what this book is like, or maybe who might have written it. It reads like a Gaiman novel – the way the prose rolls of the page feels very much like The Ocean at the End of the Lane. It’s urban fantasy, but not with vampires (sparkling or otherwise): Speak is about people you might know, in a town like that small one you vacationed at last year, doing marvelous things.
The story starts with Ellen in the firm grip of her ordinary life. She’s got a father who makes military school instructors look like Barney. Her mother has weathered the storm for years, and learned to sail under the clouds and avoid conflict. Ellen’s brother Peter is the Golden Child™, and for those of you with siblings who can do no wrong, you know what this means. Despite her low-wage job, she’s got two excellent friends, and an uncanny amount of luck leading to her adopting a stray dog, Emmett. It’s told in a diary-style, but with an immediacy I thought only possible in recovered-footage suspense films.
Emmett, for his part no fool, takes some convincing on the adoption front. Ellen woos him with fast food takeout, and stands as his protector against the world. It’s not hard to see the urge we have to look after the defenseless and the helpless in her actions, but the real surprise is how Emmett saves Ellen from a fairly horrific event. The dog has telepathy, which puts the government and big pharma on Ellen’s trail. She goes on the run, because the alternative is giving Emmett up to become a lab animal.
I found myself cheering her on and berating her in equal measure. Ellen could take a class called, “Life Choices: How To Make Bad Ones.” She stands up to bullies, but makes shady megacorps her business partners. While finding true love, she fumbles the catch on more than one level. The tale is a fun ride of emotion, and you can’t help but want to take Ellen out for a coffee. This isn’t because I want to know why she made the good and bad calls, but because Paddock’s writing of Ellen is inspired. She’s funny, insightful, and deals with all the things women of the world have to on a daily basis without really breaking stride. For all this is a story about Ellen and Emmett, it felt like a high-five to everyone working long hours, paying their dues, and dealing with the imbalance in society.
I mentioned the feels earlier, and this story is no exception. It’ll leave you bittersweet with its wonderful ending, feeling joy at the victories alongside sorrow for the fallen. Ellen and Emmett are worth it though, and I’d encourage you to check it out today. Easy .
I have never read a book quite like this one. While the telling of a story through journal entries is not unique, it is also not common. The characters are engaging and she is definitely quirky. Emmett is a wonderful dog and Don is a great friend. There are lots of interesting twists and turns in the story making it well worth the read.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
And the poem brought me to tears…
Holy Wow! I am blown away by this book. It’s a bit of science fiction set into today’s world, and the most unusual love story I’ve ever read. The heroine is a depressed young woman with no self-esteem, a too-perfect mother, a belligerently hypercritical father, a male bestie who is an ex-Ranger scientist alcoholic, and a female bestie who is her therapist. Piddly little job, no dates – she’s a sad sack who knows she’s unloved and unlovable. Until a rat crosses her path in a parking lot. The rat turns out to be a pathetic stray dog, and for some reason, she and the dog bond. That the dog turns out to be selectively telepathic takes her on a strange personal odyssey of self-transformation, along with life-altering and life threatening events aplenty. I loved this book! The heroine is so lost at first, and so changed by the love of a dog. I love the way her relationships shift and grow, as the dog’s transformative affection ripples out into their lives as well. It’s fantastic thriller/spy action. It’s deeply revealing emotional drama. And it’s fantastically almost-real science fiction. This one belongs on the “Read it again” shelf, for sure! This is a voluntary review of an ARC.