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jmj697mn's review
3.0
I liked this one better than the last one, except for a few weird things. First of all, the author acts like she is trying to be British OR she is British and is trying to cover it up. Some really strange words are used in a lot of different places. Second, the main character refers to Mustafa as the father of Simba in The Lion King, when in actuality, his name is Mufasa. I can't believe that anyone would refer to this character incorrectly. If it was supposed to be a mistake on the part of the main character, it was very un-believable, especially since she lives in New York. Lastly, I had the mystery figured out less than 100 pages into the book and can't believe that the main character didn't. A little bit too easy. I did enjoy this book; it was much faster paced and easier to read than the first one. Those few small issues just annoyed me.
beastreader's review
3.0
Hope McNeill works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She is caring for her boyfriend’s pug, Max, while he is gone.
Tonight in honor of famous celebrity and philanthropist, Daphne Markham; the museum is hosting “Pugs Night”. This will be the first time that “officially” Hope will get to bring Max to the Met. Though, if it was not for this party and the fact that Hope got to bring Max, she would be at home. Hope is more of a home body. After a disastrous situation involving Max and Daphne’s pug, Hope and Max are excused form the party. On her way out of the Met, Hope uncovers a lost painting. It is up to Hope and Max to solve the mystery of the lost painting.
I have not read any of the other pug novels by author Alison Pace. Though, I enjoyed getting to know Hope and Max. I felt that Max is the star and Hope is his sidekick. Hope started out timid but as the story progressed, she emerged out of her shell. She was trying to be a modern date Nancy Drew, only her best friend was a pug. Not to give away the ending but I did feel a little sorry about the way things ended for Hope. She is naïve but Hope has a heart of gold. A Pugs Tale is a nice cozy mystery read. It brings the bark without the bite.
Tonight in honor of famous celebrity and philanthropist, Daphne Markham; the museum is hosting “Pugs Night”. This will be the first time that “officially” Hope will get to bring Max to the Met. Though, if it was not for this party and the fact that Hope got to bring Max, she would be at home. Hope is more of a home body. After a disastrous situation involving Max and Daphne’s pug, Hope and Max are excused form the party. On her way out of the Met, Hope uncovers a lost painting. It is up to Hope and Max to solve the mystery of the lost painting.
I have not read any of the other pug novels by author Alison Pace. Though, I enjoyed getting to know Hope and Max. I felt that Max is the star and Hope is his sidekick. Hope started out timid but as the story progressed, she emerged out of her shell. She was trying to be a modern date Nancy Drew, only her best friend was a pug. Not to give away the ending but I did feel a little sorry about the way things ended for Hope. She is naïve but Hope has a heart of gold. A Pugs Tale is a nice cozy mystery read. It brings the bark without the bite.
jetlaggedjanet's review
5.0
Hilarious! I loved this book, if only for her excellent depiction of Pugs. The more pug, the better she writes!! The heroine is funny, if a bit frantic, but her thoughts about a dog's view (Max's and pugs', to be exact) strikes a funny chord because it just might be true. It is definitely a chick-flick read, but all us girls enjoy that from time-to-time. A lighthearted romp through the MET and uptown NYC that made me smile. I recommend it if you are a dog lover, highly if you're a Pug lover.
beths0103's review
5.0
This is by far Alison Pace's best book to-date. Her quick wit and penchant for writing humorous tales revolving around dogs and art have come together in this magnum opus.
While I loved and adored Pug Hill, what left me wanting more from that story was that the pugs of Pug Hill were not in it enough. A Pug's Tale most certainly remedies the problem of not enough pugs. While Hope is the protagonist of this story, her pug Max is most certainly the star, for without Max, it would be impossible for her to solve the strange mystery of the Fantin-Latour painting that has gone missing from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
And what Pace has mastered so beautifully is her ability to make a non-talking, non-narrating dog feel like a real character. Max is just a dog in this book. He has no special powers (well, other than intuitiveness) and yet, there would be no book without Max.
I don't think I've ever read an author describe the mannerisms and spirit of a pug so deftly as Alison Pace has. The whole book is full of perfectly pugnacious passages like this:
"I left the envelope on the desk and carried the contents with me back to the couch and say back down next to Max, who snorted at me. Spend as much time with your pug as I have and you will one day be able to differentiate between all their different snorts. This last one was not appreciative like the one before it but much more along the lines of, "Um, excuse me?" (277)
There are so many different hats this book can wear for different types of book lovers. If you love mysteries, you'll love this book. If you love chick lit, you'll love this book. If you love dog books, you'll love this book. Heck, if you loved From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler as a kid, you'll love this book as a grown up. Just go out and read it. More than likely it will appeal to who you are as a reader because there are so many different types of readers it will appeal to.
While I loved and adored Pug Hill, what left me wanting more from that story was that the pugs of Pug Hill were not in it enough. A Pug's Tale most certainly remedies the problem of not enough pugs. While Hope is the protagonist of this story, her pug Max is most certainly the star, for without Max, it would be impossible for her to solve the strange mystery of the Fantin-Latour painting that has gone missing from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
And what Pace has mastered so beautifully is her ability to make a non-talking, non-narrating dog feel like a real character. Max is just a dog in this book. He has no special powers (well, other than intuitiveness) and yet, there would be no book without Max.
I don't think I've ever read an author describe the mannerisms and spirit of a pug so deftly as Alison Pace has. The whole book is full of perfectly pugnacious passages like this:
"I left the envelope on the desk and carried the contents with me back to the couch and say back down next to Max, who snorted at me. Spend as much time with your pug as I have and you will one day be able to differentiate between all their different snorts. This last one was not appreciative like the one before it but much more along the lines of, "Um, excuse me?" (277)
There are so many different hats this book can wear for different types of book lovers. If you love mysteries, you'll love this book. If you love chick lit, you'll love this book. If you love dog books, you'll love this book. Heck, if you loved From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler as a kid, you'll love this book as a grown up. Just go out and read it. More than likely it will appeal to who you are as a reader because there are so many different types of readers it will appeal to.
wardegus's review
2.0
Meh, I read this on vacation...Hope is an idiot. I found her to be oblivious and was annoyed by her naivety. .
tellemonstar's review
4.0
Cross-posted at Book Reviews With The Blogmonstar
A Pug’s Tale was a fun read. Hope was a real sweetheart, and it was fun to read about her adventures trying to solve the mystery of the painting with Max, her boyfriend’s pug.
The mystery was well written, especially because it had you guessing as to who did it and how was it done in the first place. I enjoyed the fact that pretty much everyone involved in discovering the crime was a suspect – and they were all quite capable of having committed the theft, and that it really could have been any of the three people who were tied together, including Hope.
Since the book is called A Pug’s Tale, there was plenty of info about pugs, but just shared in conversations between Hope and one or two other characters, instead of major info dumps. This gave it a very natural feel, and obviously Alison Pace knows a lot about pugs, and showed that through Hope’s love of the breed and her absolute adoration of Max. That said, it didn’t over take the main plot of the book – the art theft, but helped to give Hope something else to focus on when she got a bit freaked out once or twice.
Daphne is your typical slightly-batty rich older woman, who is definitely not used to not getting whatever she is after. So I kind of pity the fool who does one day tell her she can’t have what she wants. Madeline is her somewhat spoiled, but well-behaved pug. She is the reason for the Pug Night party, and takes Hope under the wing a little bit when they meet again later in the book.
A Pug’s Tale is part love-song to pugs, part mystery, and a great summer/weekend read. If you love dogs or even if you just like dogs, this is a fun one to read.
A Pug’s Tale was a fun read. Hope was a real sweetheart, and it was fun to read about her adventures trying to solve the mystery of the painting with Max, her boyfriend’s pug.
The mystery was well written, especially because it had you guessing as to who did it and how was it done in the first place. I enjoyed the fact that pretty much everyone involved in discovering the crime was a suspect – and they were all quite capable of having committed the theft, and that it really could have been any of the three people who were tied together, including Hope.
Since the book is called A Pug’s Tale, there was plenty of info about pugs, but just shared in conversations between Hope and one or two other characters, instead of major info dumps. This gave it a very natural feel, and obviously Alison Pace knows a lot about pugs, and showed that through Hope’s love of the breed and her absolute adoration of Max. That said, it didn’t over take the main plot of the book – the art theft, but helped to give Hope something else to focus on when she got a bit freaked out once or twice.
Daphne is your typical slightly-batty rich older woman, who is definitely not used to not getting whatever she is after. So I kind of pity the fool who does one day tell her she can’t have what she wants. Madeline is her somewhat spoiled, but well-behaved pug. She is the reason for the Pug Night party, and takes Hope under the wing a little bit when they meet again later in the book.
A Pug’s Tale is part love-song to pugs, part mystery, and a great summer/weekend read. If you love dogs or even if you just like dogs, this is a fun one to read.
bosoxamy's review
4.0
A Pug’s Tale by Alison Pace (Berkley Trade, 2011) follows Hope McNeill who works in the Conservation Studio at the Metropolitan museum of Art. When a valuable painting comes up missing (mysteriously, with a fake left behind) Hope and her colleagues decide to try to find it on their own. They hire a detective but do not go to the police. Hope suspects everyone and feels like everyone suspects her as well.
This all happens at a time when her boyfriend, Ben, is living out of the country and she is left to care for his pug, Max. Max is all Hope has at the moment and she feels very alone with no one to confide in. Without Max, however, Hope would never be able to piece together the clues that lead to the person responsible.
Ms. Pace does a beautiful job of setting the various scenes. Having never been to New York, let alone Central Park or the Met, I am given a picture of words that allows me to experience it as if it were my own backyard. She develops a likable character that I can relate to in Hope. I can sense her anxiety and her obsession with the mystery. Of course, when you add in a lovable, snorting Pug, that’s a bonus!
A Pug’s Tale was a fun read and a page turner. Many times I didn’t want to put the book down but was forced to. I always looked forward to being able to get back to it and read some more. Ms. Pace has written several other books with dogs playing prominent roles, I suspect that I’ll be picking those up as well!
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher after winning it from Goodreads.com. This in no way influenced my review of the book. My thoughts here are my honest review.
This all happens at a time when her boyfriend, Ben, is living out of the country and she is left to care for his pug, Max. Max is all Hope has at the moment and she feels very alone with no one to confide in. Without Max, however, Hope would never be able to piece together the clues that lead to the person responsible.
Ms. Pace does a beautiful job of setting the various scenes. Having never been to New York, let alone Central Park or the Met, I am given a picture of words that allows me to experience it as if it were my own backyard. She develops a likable character that I can relate to in Hope. I can sense her anxiety and her obsession with the mystery. Of course, when you add in a lovable, snorting Pug, that’s a bonus!
A Pug’s Tale was a fun read and a page turner. Many times I didn’t want to put the book down but was forced to. I always looked forward to being able to get back to it and read some more. Ms. Pace has written several other books with dogs playing prominent roles, I suspect that I’ll be picking those up as well!
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher after winning it from Goodreads.com. This in no way influenced my review of the book. My thoughts here are my honest review.
gingerfoot's review
2.0
Better than Pug Hill, in that our protagonist now owns a pug rather than just sitting around wishing she had a pug. And Lord love a psychic, mystery-solving pug!
Pug lovers will chuckle at the charming descriptions of pug interactions and of our enthusiastic Max; mystery lovers will perhaps be puzzled by the plodding plot and the infuriating ending.
Also: the Hootie & the Blowfish and AOL instant messenger shout-outs are replaced with the Skype. Progress!
Pug lovers will chuckle at the charming descriptions of pug interactions and of our enthusiastic Max; mystery lovers will perhaps be puzzled by the plodding plot and the infuriating ending.
Also: the Hootie & the Blowfish and AOL instant messenger shout-outs are replaced with the Skype. Progress!
severina2001's review
1.0
An art restorer and her pug set out to solve the mystery of a missing painting.
This is not particularly the type of book I would normally read. I was searching for books to meet some reading prompts, and this one fit prompts for "about art" and "to celebrate the grand museum." It seemed cute, and how could a story with a pug as an assistant amateur detective go wrong?
Alas, the author is going for a light and breezy, dare I say quirky, tone. But the heroine, Hope, merely seems incredibly dense. Written in the first person, there's a break after practically every sentence in every conversation for Hope to internally muse over something. It takes a full page to get through a conversation that consists essentially of Hello / Hello / How are you. The conversations she does have are insipid and repetitive. The secondary characters are uninteresting and bland. I mean, the bones are there. She's got an eccentric philanthropist, a boss who she used to crush on, the strange private investigator. But literally *nothing happens*. And there's not even a twisty plot to fall back on, because the clues are not exactly difficult to crack.
*sigh* Maybe the next mystery I try will be better.
This is not particularly the type of book I would normally read. I was searching for books to meet some reading prompts, and this one fit prompts for "about art" and "to celebrate the grand museum." It seemed cute, and how could a story with a pug as an assistant amateur detective go wrong?
Alas, the author is going for a light and breezy, dare I say quirky, tone. But the heroine, Hope, merely seems incredibly dense. Written in the first person, there's a break after practically every sentence in every conversation for Hope to internally muse over something. It takes a full page to get through a conversation that consists essentially of Hello / Hello / How are you. The conversations she does have are insipid and repetitive. The secondary characters are uninteresting and bland. I mean, the bones are there. She's got an eccentric philanthropist, a boss who she used to crush on, the strange private investigator. But literally *nothing happens*. And there's not even a twisty plot to fall back on, because the clues are not exactly difficult to crack.
*sigh* Maybe the next mystery I try will be better.