Book Review: Rescue Me by Sarra Manning

‘Rescue Me’ by Sarra Manning was released in 2021, it is one of a vast catalogue of published books Manning has released in her career. This novel follows the story of Margot and Will, two strangers who meet by chance at an animal rescue centre and fall head over heels in love with the same dog, a traumatised tawny and white staffie, Blossom.

Now, I am a simple girl, if I see a dog on a book cover, I will definitely pick it up and read the blurb. I loved the concept of a romance novel that stems from loving a dog, one specific dog. As someone who has rescue dog, this story really spoke to me, and I was determined to go ahead and read it as soon as I could.

While the first few chapters of this book were really hard to get through, as both Margot and Will grappled with the clear trauma that Blossom had undergone, prior to imprinting on her co-pawrents, I was quick to get invested in the events of the story.

It was clear from the start that Manning is a dog person. From the puns, to the way she described the dogs and their movement and the nuances of their behaviour, as well as the extent to how much they will take the piss, push their boundaries and be absolute menaces when they want to be, to the way she described Will and Margot’s respective love for Blossom, there was no doubt in my mind that this woman loved dogs.

This book handled a lot of talking points for modern-day London living in stride, from losing friends to the cost of living in the city, to the struggles of pet ownership, and being obligated to carry your pet on the tube, to being surrounded by open, busy roads, to simply loneliness. I loved how Manning was able to explore these aspects of her character’s lives. I also loved how she was able to tackle tonnes of mature, and modern elements to life like the idea of men going to therapy and completely normalising it, even though, it was clear that Will wasn’t most receptive to the process, and the idea of fertility struggles and the pressure on women to be mothers.

Furthermore, I loved how instead of the accidental pregnancy trope, which I was convinced was going to twist Will’s arm into accepting the concept of fatherhood, readers get to see an intimate, private moment between Will and his mother, Mary, a victim of domestic abuse, talking about how Will was not his abuser, and he shouldn’t be afraid of fatherhood because of his past. It was a really empowering moment.

I absolutely adored how the miscommunication trope was utilised in this novel, instead of the miscommunication causing an unnecessary third-act breakup, the miscommunication takes place in the midst of an attempted third-act break-up. I thought that was a very fun take on the trope and the genre convention which took me by surprise.

I absolutely loved this book, and if you are a dog lover, you’re bound to love it too!