Free to a Good Home

Noelle Ryan is at a crossroads in her life. Should she remain stuck where she is or try to push forward even though she doesn’t know what is to come? Noelle is recently divorced from Jay. During their marriage, she learns she’s unable to conceive. It’s about this time Jay discloses he’s gay. He married Noelle for stability, however he cannot deny who he really is. Noelle is devastated by this, but somehow she remains close friends with Jay.

When Jay comes back to town to ask Noelle to take care of his mother, Margaret, by giving her daily injections (Margaret has MS), Noelle is stunned. Margaret didn’t care for Noelle when she was married to her son, so imagine how she’ll be now.

It’s about this time that Noelle meets Jasper. During their first meeting, Noelle quickly makes assumptions about Jasper (which she later finds out are wrong) and her wall immediately goes up. Jasper is so obviously into her, that it frightens Noelle. As their friendship develops, Noelle is forced to make decisions she has feared for awhile. Can she let go of past hurts and disappointments and allow happiness to find its way to her?

Free to a Good Home is a wonderful book about finding one’s way to love again after feeling broken and bruised for so long. At first glance, it’s easy to judge Noelle and write her off as being weak and insecure. Mont does an excellent job of keeping the reader engaged with Noelle, that you want her to keep moving forward and be vulnerable with Jasper, even though it’s absolutely terrifying for her to do so. Through Noelle’s relationship with Jasper, Mont shows how difficult, but yet necessary, it is to enter into a new relationship and allow someone into your personal space.

Noelle’s relationship with Margaret changes as Noelle grows patient with the physical and medical changes that Margaret is facing. Margaret, in turn, encourages Noelle to find life after the divorce from her son. After all Jay has moved on, and she wants Noelle to do so as well. Noelle begins to lean on Margaret, which in turns helps her to be with Jasper.

What brings comfort and peace to Noelle is Zeke, her Great Dane. Noelle feels so much love for her dog and the other animals at the shelter where she works. At times I wanted her feel this intensely for Jasper.

Free to a Good Home is a great read about healing, growth and finding the courage to love again. It’s one I highly recommend! ( )

Noelle Ryan finds herself mourning the loss of her husband who leaves her for another man, and aching for the child she is unable to conceive. She lavishes love on her huge, Great Dane Zeke, and throws herself into her work as a veterinary technician at a Rhode Island animal shelter – raising funds for the shelter’s expansion and finding homes for abandoned animals. When her ex-husband, Jay, manipulates her into caring for his mother Margaret who has been recently diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, Noelle wonders how she will manage this new responsibility – especially since Margaret has never tried to contain her dislike of Noelle. But what begins as a year of sadness, evolves into a year of healing…and the discovery that love is still possible if you just keep moving forward.

Eve Marie Mont’s debut novel explores infertility, homosexuality, animal rescue, disability, women’s friendships, and the ambivalent nature of familial love. Structured to take the reader through the twelve months of one year, the story revolves around Noelle’s conflicted feelings toward her ex-husband, and her torturous journey from heartbreak to recovery. Noelle is a character who typifies many women: the nurturer who is unable to say “no” when someone needs her, the dreamer who longs for children and the perfect home, the betrayed who is afraid to become vulnerable again. There were moments when I found myself wanting to reach into the pages of the book and shake her. Luckily, Mont has a wry sense of humor which she puts to good use in the novel, and she rescues Noelle from becoming the stereotypical female.

Free to a Good Home is an enjoyable read. Many of the issues central to the book are serious, yet Mont keeps things fairly light. My favorite character was Margaret, Noelle’s ex-mother-in-law, whose sharp tongue and sharper wit made me like her despite her difficult personality. I found the sections dealing with Margaret’s physical decline believable and heart-felt. I also liked the push-and-pull relationship which develops between Noelle and Margaret.

Free to a Good Home will appeal to readers who enjoy women’s fiction and light, fun books; as well as for those readers who love animals (specifically dogs). ( )

This is a very simple "beach read" kind of book, likely falls into the "Chick Lit' department, so I did not expect it to be Pulitzer material. That said, it was cute. It was recommended to me because I do humane association work (intake, foster and adopt abandoned dogs and cats). On that level, it was pretty honest about what it is like to do this kind of work. The main character, Noelle (a vet tech at a humane association), suddenly finds herself single at 33 after a failed marriage. However, after a year, she finds herself still obsessing and helping her ex-husband in ways that are often against her best interests. However, some of those things end up being blessings in disguise. There are flashes of true honesty, what it feels like after a divorce, the fear of dating again after being hurt, feeling out of place, etc. The novel is easy to read, really predictable, simple and everything wraps up with a bow at the end (with all the flawed people looking kinda too perfect), but if you are looking for a beach read with a happy ending (and like dogs), you might enjoy this one. It did make me think a time or two, why on earth can't we all get along, like the people ultimately do in this book? ( )

Eve Marie Mont‘s Free to a Good Home is a delightful read about Noelle Ryan whose husband, Jay, has finally told her his deepest secret — he’s gay — effectively obliterating her dream and forcing her to reassess her life. Noelle has a successful, if stressful, career as a veterinary technician, but she occupies most of her time with her family and the dogs at the shelter, rather than coping with her own problems. She’d rather solve everyone else’s problems and be the good person that everyone leans on when they need consoling or help.

“‘Sure,’ I say, handing him my cup. He’s cute. Messy brown hair, crinkly eyes, and that sexy clenched jaw thing. Too cute. A turn-your-brain-to-clotted-cream cute.” (page 32)

Noelle is passionate about saving animals and finding them homes, but she’s also passionate about helping people, including her WASP ex-mother-in-law, Margaret, who made her marriage miserable. However, what will get to readers is how much of a doormat Noelle is when it comes to Jay; he asks her to do many unthinkable favors including taking care of his mother. Many readers will want to scream at this character and beat her back to her senses. While Jay is not a bad guy per se, he crosses the line in his relationship with Noelle, which effectively prevents her from moving on with her life even after she meets a gorgeous musician named Jasper.

Read the review: http://savvyverseandwit.com/2010/07/free-to-a-good-home-by-eve-marie-mont.html ( )

All Noelle has ever wanted is a home to call her own, and a family to fill it with, so she’s devastated when she discovers that she can’t have children and her marriage ends in divorce. With her self esteem at a low point, she agrees to take care of her ex-husband’s grouchy mother. Things seem to get worse when she finds out that her brother’s girlfriend is pregnant, and her boss puts pressure on her at work. Noelle meets a musician named Jasper, but that seems to be going nowhere fast. He seems flighty and he still has issues to resolve with a possessive old girlfriend. The only good thing in her life seems to be her dog.

Free to a Good Home by Eve Marie Mont is a cute, fun book. It spans a year in the life of veterinary technician Noelle, with a chapter for each month.

Noelle is an agreeable, earnest character, but she’s also very frustrating at times. She wanted to please everyone and allowed them to take advantage of her. Sometimes I just wanted to shake her and tell her to stand up for herself. She was also pretty quick to jump to conclusions and I found that frustrating too. Having said that, I really liked the way she grew and learned to love and trust as the book progressed.

Noelle’s ex-mother-in-law is a great character, too. She’s grouchy and crusty, but has to learn to accept help from someone she was cruel to in the past. Her growth was fun to watch as well.

The story in Free to a Good Home is sweet, but somewhat predictable. It’s not one that will stick with me for a long time, but I did enjoy it while I read it. I think it’s a great light summer read. ( )