Published By: Piatkus
Pages: 288
Released On: 28/04/2026
Isabel Klee had always wanted to live in New York City. At age 20, she got her chance, ditching her college upstate for Marymount Manhattan and moving into a tiny basement apartment on the Upper East Side. Dog-obsessed since childhood, her first postgrad job was managing content for the incredibly popular account The Dogist, and something clicked into place: a career focused on helping dogs was the new dream.
Isabel quickly found a passion for using her own growing platform to help rescue pups find their forever homes. At the same time, she was caught up in a whirlwind of friendships, parties, fickle boyfriends and grand romances, which she recounts in honest, tender and sometimes devastating chapters about the search for love and belonging.
Isabel’s first true love, though, was Simon, a fluffy puppy who’d been saved from the meat trade. As the highs and lows of this turbulent decade hit Isabel, it was Simon who kept her grounded. Together, Isabel and Simon created an online community of dog-lovers, fellow foster advocates and girls just trying to get through the trenches of their twenties.
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Piatkus for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
Like so many others, I was introduced to Isabel via TikTok upon her fostering a little, terrified dog named Tiki, and again like so many others, I fell in love. And since then I have been following Isabel’s account and getting to know each dog she has fostered since. So I knew I just had to read her book. And Tiki is on the front cover ❤️
If you don’t own a dog, you might think that Isabel is a bit corny. But she has hit the nail on the head about everything. My Mum and I got out dog 11 months after we lost my dad, and he became our reason for getting out of bed. He might have become a pain in the backside at times, but he’s the best thing that’s happened to us in a long time.
Watching Isabel’s TikTok videos, how she is with every dog no matter their background or personality, is just gorgeous to watch and she almost feels like a friend.
She has been so honest in this book, which I know is the point of a biography, but she could have sugar-coated it, only shown the good stuff, the cute bits, but she’s been honest and that makes me love her even more.
I wonder if there will be photos in the finished copy? I hope so, if only to see all the cute foster dogs again.
It is a relatively short book but it’s packed with anecdotes. I finished it in a matter of hours as it was so easy to read and so absorbing.
I thought I’d only want to read about the dogs and would feel bored by the rest but I didn’t. She really grabbed me and I was just as interested in her life as I was in the stories I’m now familiar with.
If I had one tiny little issue it would be that it’s quite repetitive at times, particularly about her dating history, but it was still fun to read. And it is a memoir, so she’s got t put them in, regardless of how repetitive it may seem.
This book isn’t just for those who love dogs – although that is a big factor. It’s for anyone who is trying to find their place in the world, to find a purpose, to find love and friendship and community, whether that be with humans or dogs. Even if you’re not a memoir fan, I have a feeling this one will make you feel a bit different.
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