** I received a free copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway. **

This was a lovely story showing the importance of second chances, both for humans and for four-legged people. The interaction between the main character and her 3-legged charge, an abused dog with serious trust issues is wonderful and watching the two of them learn to interact with and trust others was a beautiful thing. I would have liked to see more of Roman (the pit bull the main character is charged with training) but the story's focus was on Iris so I can understand why there wasn't more focus on him. All in all, this was a moving and enjoyable story that explores the issues abused and neglected people (both human and not) can have and the possibility of rising above both anger and fear. ( )

Strays was a believable book about a girl who lands -- she's not quite sure how -- in court-ordered community service. Since the story comes from her point of view, the reader is not sure either, but Caloyeras gives us enough clues to piece together the idea that Iris is not as fine as she wants to seem. ( )

After her mother dies, 16-year-old Iris is forced to grieve by herself when her workaholic father moves the two of them from LA to Santa Cruz, away from friends and familiarity. Like many teens, Iris uses words to vent her frustrations. Instead of journaling, however, she makes lists. When a teacher who is on her list of People I Want To Kill finds the notebook, Iris accidentally shoves the teacher while trying to get her notebook back. Though the list was just Iris venting, and the shove was unintentional, Iris’ actions land her in jail and she is sentenced to 100 hours of community service, along with having to go to summer school. Iris’ community service placement is at Ruff Rehabilitation, a program that pairs delinquent teens with dogs that need to be trained and made ready for adoption. Iris is terrified of dogs, and she is matched with Bruno, a pit bull who was used as a fighting dog and abused to the point of losing a leg.
An English teacher who shows her students how to think outside the box, a court-appointed therapist, and her fellow participants in the Ruff Rehabilitation program, along with Bruno, all play important parts in helping Iris learn how to handle anger and grief more appropriately, ultimately opening the doors to healing and empowerment. I absolutely loved this book and hope that Jennifer Caloyeras keeps on sharing her gift of writing with us.
I received a copy of this book from LibraryThing Early Reviewers. ( )

As an adult reading a book that is clearly for younger readers, I wasn't expecting to enjoy this story in the same way a young teen would. I was surprised to find myself caught up in it right away. The storytelling was compelling and the plot was not at all as juvenile as I expected. Of course, it is a serious subject matter, so it should be dealt with in a fitting way, but this went far beyond what I anticipated as far as storytelling.

The main character is going through a struggle in her life, having to deal with the loss of her mother and a desire to go to college though her father is trying desperately to make ends meet. She ends up in a juvenile work program, helping to train unwanted dogs to become adoptable through the animal shelter. The catch to all of this is that she is afraid of dogs and has to overcome that fear.

I enjoyed the characters and ate up the story. I don't think you have to love dogs to enjoy the book, though it certainly helps the feel of the story if you are rooting for the dogs to be adopted. This is a feel good kind of book that helps readers realize they can get past whatever trouble they are in and still focus on the positive things in their future. Some of the events feel a little pushed or contrived and I wasn't sure that I was comfortable with the ease in which some things were handled, but it was easy enough to look beyond all of that. There were just as many times when the author managed to tie life lessons into the story, or evolve the character's thinking through what was happening to her. Those connections were really very good.

This is a book about new beginnings and pushing through your fears that young readers should thoroughly enjoy. ( )

I've only just started this (up to Ch 2), but it's already clear that the storytelling is very easy to get into and will be fun to read. The book is definitely a "juvenile," though, not an adult fiction piece. That's okay for me, but not how it was described so others may take issue with it or not realize it's not a flaw in the author's command of the English language, just a stylistic choice in diction. Looking forward to reading more--sadly, to be fair, this is way down on my queue so it'll be a while (pout) I already like the teenaged girl protagonist enough that i don't want to leave this alone for long!