For those who don’t know me, I’m a huge animal lover. I currently own (or am owned by) 4 cats and 3 dogs. But one is particularly close to me. My German Shepherd, Shyera, is my furbaby. She’s my best friend and an amazing dog. I honestly can’t imagine my life without her. So when Lily and the Octopus popped up on my book club list, I knew it was going to hit me hard. In fact, I’ve never had a book affect me so much.

In Lily and the Octopus, we’re introduced to Ted and his dachshund Lily. They have a routine and a close relationship. They even carry on conversations with one another. But in the midst of their day-to-day life, Ted notices an octopus on Lily’s head. How it suddenly came to be there, he doesn’t know but it’s there now and he must do something about it. Steven Rowley does an amazing job of bringing the reader into the struggles of trying to save the one you love from something that’s so hard to fight. How do you decide between what your heart wants and what is right? And how do you handle the consequences of your decision?

I’m not kidding guys. You will need boxes upon boxes of tissues. Lily and the Octopus explores all that it means to fall in love with a four-legged friend, to have them integrate themselves so completely into your life, and the trials and tribulations that come when an octopus decides to visit. I highly recommend picking this book up the next chance you get!

My puppy, Shyera