It all started with a bet thrown down by my husband, Jimmy. If I ran thirteen miles, I could bring home our first family dog—any kind of dog I wanted. The perfect dog.

Like every other decision in my life, this required hours of research and planning, complete with a last-minute flight to Chicago in a blizzard. Countless emails to various breeders across the country eventually led me to Brody, a “show-quality” wire-haired fox terrier puppy with champion lineage. But my plans changed as Brody’s bad behavior and multitudinous medical mishaps took us for a wild ride.

BrodyMonster is a candid and heartwarming story that you’ll find at the crossroads of Marley and Me and The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k. How living with a “terrible” terrier taught me to embrace life’s imperfections.