Recently, I was in the middle of a riveting book, a book so riveting that I ignored basic human needs in order to finish it. While nearing the end, something unforgivable happened. Something that changed my life forever.
The dog died.
I went into a deep mourning period that has still lasted to this day. It may last a lifetime for all that we know. I never finished the book. To be honest, I don’t even care about the book. I don’t care about the ending. I don’t care about the characters. All that I care about is the fact that an innocent dog was killed.
Dogs are the purest creatures on this Earth. They were given to us as a gift, and we should not abuse or neglect this gift. It is your duty as a writer to protect dogs at all costs.
I am asking now that all authors make a pledge to no longer kill dogs in their books. In your books, please protect them, please love them, please give them extra head pats. They deserve better.
P.S. I would like to note that although I only say “dogs,” I am also including other creatures such as owls and house elves. Hedwig and Dobby deserved better.
If you’d like to read some feel-good books where no dogs are harmed, check some of these out:
Evvie Drake Starts Over
In a small town in Maine, recently widowed Eveleth “Evvie” Drake rarely leaves her house. Everyone in town, including her best friend, Andy, thinks grief keeps her locked inside, and she doesn’t correct them.
In New York, Dean Tenney, a former major-league pitcher and Andy’s childhood friend, struggles with a case of the yips. He can’t throw straight anymore, and he can’t figure out why. An invitation from Andy to stay in Maine for a few months seems like the perfect chance to hit the reset button.
When Dean moves into an apartment at the back of Evvie’s house, the two make a deal: Dean won’t ask about Evvie’s late husband, and Evvie won’t ask about Dean’s baseball career. Rules, though, have a funny way of being broken—and what starts as an unexpected friendship soon turns into something more.
But before they can find out what might lie ahead, they’ll have to wrestle a few demons: the bonds they’ve broken, the plans they’ve changed and the secrets they’ve kept. Dean and Evvie need a lot of help, but in life, as in baseball, there’s always a chance—right up until the last out.
The bookish life of Nina Hill
Meet Nina Hill: A young woman supremely confident in her own … shell. The only child of a single mother, Nina has her life just as she wants it: a job in a bookstore, a kick-butt trivia team, a world-class planner and a cat named Phil. If she sometimes suspects there might be more to life than reading, she just shrugs and picks up a new book.
When the father Nina never knew existed suddenly dies, leaving behind innumerable sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews, Nina is horrified. They all live close by! They’re all—or mostly all—excited to meet her! She’ll have to Speak. To. Strangers. It’s a disaster!
And as if that wasn’t enough, Tom, her trivia nemesis, has turned out to be cute, funny and deeply interested in getting to know her. Doesn’t he realize what a terrible idea that is? Nina considers her options:
- Completely change her name and appearance. (Too drastic, plus she likes her hair.)
- Flee to a deserted island. (Hard pass, see: coffee).
- Hide in a corner of her apartment and rock back and forth. (Already doing it.)
It’s time for Nina to come out of her comfortable shell, but she isn’t convinced real life could ever live up to fiction. It’s going to take a brand-new family, a persistent suitor and the combined effects of ice cream and trivia to make her turn her own fresh page.
Crazy Rich Asians
Crazy Rich Asians is the outrageously funny debut novel from Kevin Kwan. The story focuses on three super-rich, pedigreed Chinese families and the gossip, backbiting and scheming that occurs when the heir to one of the most massive fortunes in Asia brings home his ABC (American-born Chinese) girlfriend to the wedding of the season.
When Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she envisions a humble family home, long drives to explore the island and quality time with the man she might one day marry. What she doesn’t know is that Nick’s family home happens to resemble a palace, she’ll ride in more private planes than cars, and that with one of Asia’s most eligible bachelors on her arm, Rachel might as well have a target on her back.
Initiated into a world of dynastic splendor beyond imagination, Rachel meets a whole slew of characters: Astrid, the “It Girl” of Singapore society; Eddie, whose family practically lives in the pages of the Hong Kong socialite magazines; and Eleanor, Nick’s formidable mother, and a woman who has very strong feelings about who her son should—and should not—marry.
Uproarious, addictive and filled with jaw-dropping opulence, Crazy Rich Asians is an insider’s look at the Asian JetSet lifestyle. Experience the clashes between old and new money; between Overseas and Mainland Chinese; and a fabulous novel about what it means to be young, in love and gloriously, crazily rich.