Friday, March 2, 2018

Dear Abby - Favorite Dog Movies: The Fox and the Hound

Dear Friends,

When I asked for favorite dog movies, several people mentioned the Disney movie The Fox and the Hound.  I have not seen this movie, but enjoyed learning more about it to share with you.
The Fox and the Hound is a 1981 Disney movie.  It tells the story of the unlikely friendship of a young fox and a hound puppy.  The fox is named Tod (voiced by Mickey Rooney) and the hound is Copper (voiced by Kurt Russell).  As the fox and hound grow up they are separated.   When they reunite as grown animals, Tod is living in the wild and Copper is owned by a hunter -- who wants to hunt foxes.  The movie is about the strength of friendship.   (And it sounds like a tearjerker, despite a Disney ending!) 


Trivia:

The movie is based on the book The Fox and the Hound by Daniel P. Mannix.  The book sounds much, much sadder than the movie.

Tim Burton did some uncredited animation work on this movie.

The producer's son had a pet fox who visited the Disney studio and met the animators.

Phil Harris and Charo voiced cranes in this movie, but their parts were cut from the final film.

Here is the original trailer for the movie:



Have you seen The Fox and the Hound?   I would love to hear from you about this movie, or other favorite dog movies, in the comments.

Love,

Abby xoxoxo

Book Review and Giveaway - Look for Her by Emily Winslow

Book Synopsis
Lilling might seem like an idyllic English village, but it’s home to a dark history. In 1976, a teenage girl named Annalise Wood disappeared, and though her body was later discovered, the culprit was never found. Decades later, Annalise maintains a perverse kind of celebrity, and is still the focus of grief, speculation, and for one young woman, a disturbing, escalating jealousy.

When DNA linked to the Annalise murder unexpectedly surfaces, cold case detective Morris Keene and his former partner, Chloe Frohmann, hope to finally bring closure to this traumatized community. But the new evidence instead undoes the case's only certainty: the buried body that had long ago been confidently identified as Annalise may be someone else entirely, and instead of answers, the investigators face only new puzzles.

Whose body was unearthed all those years ago, and what happened to the real Annalise? Is someone interfering with the investigation? And is there a link to a present-day drowning with eerie connections? With piercing insight and shocking twists, Emily Winslow explores the dark side of sensationalized crime in this haunting psychological thriller.


Book Details:

Genre: Psychological Thriller
Published by: William Morrow
Publication Date: February 13th 2018
Number of Pages: 304
ISBN: 006257258X (ISBN13: 9780062572585)
Series: Keene and Frohmann #4 | Each is a stand alone novel

Purchase Links: Amazon 🔗 | Barnes & Noble 🔗 | Goodreads 🔗

My Review
Look for Her is the story of Annalise Wood.  Annalise was a teenager who disappeared in 1976 from a small English village.  Her body was found later, although the murder is never solved, and she becomes famous in death in this small town. 

As the book opens, a therapist has two patients who are obsessed with Annalise.  One seems to want to be her, and the other believes she is Annalise's child.

Then some new evidence is found, and the cold case is open again.  Former detective partners Morris Keene and Chloe Frohmann reunite to find the murderer and finally solve the case.

Look for Her is a unique book, told from several different perspectives.  The therapist Laurie Ambrose puzzles over the women who have presented with obsessions with Annalise.  The transcripts of their therapy are important to the story.  There are also the perspectives of Morris and Chloe.  It took me a bit to sort out the characters, but as I did I became very interested in this complex story.  Emily Winslow does a good job at delineating a number of very strong, unique characters.

The pace starts slowly and builds as the book continues with several surprising twists and turns.  This book kept me guessing to the extent that I was truly surprised by the ending.  

The tone of Look for Her is dark with a sadness that pervades the book, just like it does the small town in the novel.

I have not read the other books in this series, but this worked as a standalone.  I think that fans of dark, twisty thrillers like Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train will enjoy Look for Her as well.

Author Bio
Emily Winslow is an American living in Cambridge, England. She trained as an actor at Carnegie Mellon University’s prestigious drama conservatory and earned a master’s degree in museum studies from Seton Hall University. For six years she wrote for Games magazine, creating increasingly elaborate and lavishly illustrated logic puzzles. She lives with her husband and two sons. She is the author of four novels and a memoir.

Catch Up With Our Author On:
Website 🔗, Goodreads 🔗, Twitter 🔗, & Facebook 🔗

Giveaway
This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for Emily Winslow and William Morrow. There will be 1 winner of one (1) physical copy of each of the 1st three books in the Keene and Frohmann Series: The Whole World, The Start of Everything, and The Red House AND there will be 5 Winners of one (1) physical copy of their choice of ONE of the 1st three books in the Keene and Frohmann Series: The Whole World, The Start of Everything, and The Red House. The giveaway begins on February 12 and runs through March 18, 2018. This giveaway is open to US & Canada residents only. a Rafflecopter giveaway

I received a copy of this book from Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours.