Starting From Here

by Lisa Jenn Bigelow

[Angie]

Starting From Here is about a gay girl, her three legged dog, and her trucker father. Colby's mother died two years ago, her father is always on the road, she's failing chemistry, and her girlfriend just dumped her for a guy. Then one night, Colby comes upon a stray dog who gets hit by a car, she takes him to the vet, and now she has someone to keep her company at home. But Colby is still failing at school, missing her father, and pushes away a girl who may actually care about her out of fear.

I really enjoyed Starting From Here! I immediately liked Colby, even though she's so different from me. She's quite prickly, so much so that her BFF called her a cactus. But she is. She pushes people away for one reason or another, sometimes hypocritically. But you can definitely tell that she's a good person who's just hurting. The way she immediately takes care of Mo when she finds him is sooo sweet! She's doesn't just dump him at the vet. She takes him home, makes sure he has food, water, toys, and love. She even takes his behavioral training seriously. Colby is just a bit off with people, which is understandable.

Starting From Here has a much stronger focus on Colby's relationship with her dad rather than the budding romance. Colby hates that her dad spends so much time on road, especially because he's doing it so she has a roof over her head and can go to college. Colby just wants her dad home, but those two cannot communicate! She's not even out to him, which she keeps making up flimsy excuses for. I really loved their bonding trip at the end. It was sweet, and nice to see a father-daughter relationship like that.

Starting From Here is really great. It's definitely about the importance of communication, at least that's what I took from it. People say things that they don't really mean, or people hear something totally different than what someone is saying to them, or no one says anything at all, or says the wrong thing. We need to talk to each other! Open and honest communication! And cute dogs. Dogs bring people together,

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.