Must Love Dogs by Claire Cook is a cute read. I really enjoyed it. It was different from the movie, of course, but enough similar that it wasn't distracting to enjoy either apart from the other.

It's the story of 40-year-old Sarah Hurlihy, who comes from a large Irish family. She is a preschool teacher and enjoys her job very much. She's also divorced, and her family is always trying to set her up with a man. Her brothers and sisters want to see her happy, and in typical sibling fashion, they interfere waaaaaay too much. One of her sisters even puts a personal ad in the paper on her behalf, and she has varied responses on the voice mailbox.

The bulk of the story is how Sarah deals with rediscovering who she is, what she wants in a relationship, and how to be happy, all in spite of her dad's jealous girlfriends pounding on her door and dealing with people and their dogs.

I truly enjoyed the book, but I think I liked the movie more. Maybe it was the whole brooding-John Cusack-Dr. Zhivago thing. Maybe it was Diane Lane as Sarah, who gave her a lovable face and such expressiveness.

At any rate, I will definitely put Claire Cook on my list of authors to be read!

Have you read it? What do you think?