Val Whisenand

Abigail Jones works to help kids who are living on the streets because she, too, left home when she was young to live on the streets to escape a bad home situation. When Abigail agrees to a meeting late at night at Coney Island with one of the kids, Abigail is attacked and ends up suffering from temporary amnesia, blocking out the traumatic events of the night. K-9 Officer Reed Branson, along with his canine partner Jessie, is the one who finds her after her attack at the carousel, and he show more decides he’s going to stick by her side till her memory comes back and she can identify her assailants.

This was another enjoyable entry into the True Blue K-9 Unit series. I thoroughly enjoyed the settings in this one, not only New York City, but in particular Coney Island, Brighton Beach and the boardwalk where much of the story took place. I loved the two dogs in the story—K-9 Jessie, who was so wonderful at her job, and also the sweet puppy Midnight who Reed was hoping to get Abigail to foster. Abigail tended to drive me nuts at times by not listening to law enforcement and continually running into danger and getting herself into more trouble. Overall though, it was a very good read with lovable dogs and an interesting setting. show less

I've read a number of Love Inspired books over the years, and enjoyed each very much. I feel like the Love Inspired series is the Hallmark-Channel equivalent of Christian fiction: you know pretty much what to expect in each book. Clean, romance, readable in under a couple hours, occasional suspense, and a happy ending! (Which I appreciated this weekend after watching Avengers: Infinity War -- I needed a happy ending.)

Valerie Hansen is a new-to-me author, and I liked her approach to both the show more plot and characters in Bound by Duty. Zoe struggled to avoid being labeled by association (who wouldn't, with a serial killer for a sibling?!) -- something I hadn't much thought about previously. What must family members go through when their relatives do bad things? Yeesh!

I chuckled a bit upon finding out Linc's full name (Lincoln); my mind immediately jumped to Agents of Shield. (Because, yes, I am that person that relates everything to AoS. #sorrynotsorry) His interactions with Zoe's son are absolutely adorable, too; I dare you not to swoon by the end.

Bound by Duty takes place mostly on a Colorado air-force base, and I learned quite a bit about on-base life and operations.

While not perhaps my most favorite Love Inspired book (that honor goes to any by Camy Tang), I still enjoyed Bound by Duty and would re-read again happily.

I received a free copy of the ebook from the publisher. All opinions are my own. show less

An enjoyable short story and sweet second chance romance between a former bad boy who returns to his hometown and the girl he left behind. My favorite in the story was an adorable dog named Stormy and her cute new puppies who through circumstance bring the couple back together.

It was better than I expected. I've read titles by Valerie Hansen in the past and usually enjoy her characterization etc. I read this one in a day.

As always, my biggest con is the short length of time the two main characters have before they're engaged/married. In this case, Brianna and Mitch meet and fall in love in what appears to be less than a week's time and are married by the end of the book. In real life, I'd say the couple was still in the infatuation stage. And while that can lead show more to true love, it doesn't always. show less