A Home for Goddesses and Dogs by Leslie Connor

This is a story of a young girl who has to grow up fast.  Her father has left them and her mother is sick.  She has a bad heart.  She works on creating happy memories for her daughter.  It works even if she is so sad after her mother's death.  She still has her goddesses in artwork.  Now if she could just get in the mood to do some more...

Katherine Tegen Books and Edelweiss gave me the opportunity to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published February 25th.

Her mother's sister comes to collect her and her belongings and takes her back home.  She and her love, another woman, are living with an old man.  They keep the house clean, cook him meals and give him some company in return for rent free lodging.

Everyone in this house is an interesting character.  Eileen is jovial and loves her aunt.  The old man enjoys having a young one in the household.  But her troubles aren't over yet.

They adopt another dog and he's a handful.  He does his business in the house, tries to run off outside, and he's strong.  When he leads her down a trail in the woods, the neighbor threatens to shoot him for scaring his cows.  The fact that he is on the old man's land doesn't bother him but it bothers the women.

Then the dog has to have back surgery.  She can't have the neighbor bothering her dog when he comes home, so she peels out of the house after him with her aunts right behind her.  He gets the message to stay off their land.

Then her father comes to visit.  They talk a bit and then she asks him to go.  He goes.

When the dog comes home to keep healing, her family is complete again.  Her challenges aren't over but with her family and friends around her, she'll be OK.