Kristin Von Kreisler

I am a sucker when it comes to dogs. I live with 3 incredibly spoiled canines who seem to rule my world. If I am out and about and see a dog, my heart melts just a little bit. So it is no wonder that I tend to be drawn to books that feature dogs on the cover. If they are a part of the story, that is even better. I just couldn’t resist this book once I saw the cover. It was a heavier story than I expected from the cover but it was so worth it. I am so glad that I gave this book a try.

Tessa show more works as a librarian driving a bookmobile all over San Juan Island. She is single but open to a relationship so when she meets Nick Payne through a dating website, she meets him for drinks and things seem to go well. They plan to get together again for dinner at his house. She wakes up the next morning having no memory of anything that happened after drinking two glasses of wine. She soon realizes something isn’t right and goes to the police to report a sexual assault. Will is a prosecutor assigned to her case. While he believes her accusation, he isn’t sure that there is enough evidence to win at trial. Will is Hope’s primary handler. Hope is a retriever trained to provide comfort to anyone going through something traumatic at the justice center. Hope has several handlers and stays very busy trying her best to make people feel better.

This was a rather emotional novel. Tessa goes through a lot in this story and it broke my heart that she had to deal with the trauma that she did. I thought that all of the women that were a part of her support group were incredibly strong and I thought that the author did a great job of showing just how much sexual assault can impact the victims. I also thought that the trial was very well done and I could understand how traumatic it would be to pursue justice after an assault.

I would recommend this book to others. It might be a difficult read for some because of the fact that it deals with sexual assault and its aftermath. I would definitely read more of this author’s work in the future.

I received a digital review copy of this book from Kensington Books via NetGalley. show less

3.5 stars

Lila was injured in a shooting at her workplace. She is invited to a friend’s place to help her heal, but her friend has also just taken in an abused dog until she (and her friend and fellow rescuer, Adam) find a home for Grace. Lila is terrified of dogs as a result of a bite when she was a child. Even worse is when Lila’s friend has to go away for a few months and Lila is left to take care of Grace until Adam can find her a home. She is also obsessed with finding out why the show more shooter did what he did.

I didn’t like Lila at all. Her attitude toward Grace was awful. I also didn’t like that her friend and Adam trusted her with the dog when she obviously hated dogs and had no idea how to take care of her! I thought there was no need for the romance in the book, either. However, I loved Grace! What a poor, sweet dog. I picked up the book because of the beautiful dog on the cover and I still love the cover, as well. show less

I enjoyed this book almost as much as I enjoyed An Unexpected Grace, the author’s earlier dog book. In this one, Anna and Jeff adopt a dog, Earnest, from the local shelter. Anna’s and Jeff’s relationship is not all that new, but is at a point where it needs to go to the next level if it is to survive, while likewise having other problems, which no one realizes until after the dog comes to the home. Jeff is a young architect, hoping to move up in his career. Anna owns and operates a show more plant/flower store in the town. The problem surfaces when Anna finds that Jeff is working on a project that will destroy her grandmother’s home and the location of hers and two friends’ small stores. The current owner of this historic house wants to use the area where the house is for development, after the house is razed. Jeff has made the big error of not telling Anna about this project, and she finds out by speaking to someone at his office. Their relationship, which probably was not on as steady footing as it should have been, falls apart.
The member who suffers most from their beak-up is Earnest. As the story unfolds, Earnest becomes more despondent, trying to understand what exactly is going on, while trying to return things to their original state. Throughout the story, Earnest is the main character. The reader is treated to his feelings and actions on every page, as well as to those of Anna and Jeff, as each moves through the angst of their break-up and separation. The story was an interesting one and one that tugged at my heart strings. However, I am a big dog lover at heart, and that may have colored things a bit. I loved the way the author provided such a solid, complete picture of Earnest and his reactions, so I could understand where he was coming from. Though his character was very well developed, I think the author could have done a better job with the couple, though, to be honest, Earnest is the star character and deserved the most attention. I could almost feel the way this poor dog did as things around him were routinely falling apart and as his regular hopes and dreams that things would revert to the loving family life he was familiar with were dashed to smithereens. The ending was okay, but seemed a bit forced and a bit unrealistic to me. Still, the book is well done and better than many I have read recently. If you love dogs and/or have one, you will definitely enjoy reading this one. Earnest is the dog we all would like to have. I received this from NetGalley to read and review.


I enjoyed this book almost as much as I enjoyed An Unexpected Grace, the author’s earlier dog book. In this one, Anna and Jeff adopt a dog, Earnest, from the local shelter. Anna’s and Jeff’s relationship is not all that new, but is at a point where it needs to go to the next level if it is to survive, while likewise having other problems, which no one realizes until after the dog comes to the home. Jeff is a young architect, hoping to move up in his career. Anna owns and operates a plant/flower store in the town. The problem surfaces when Anna finds that Jeff is working on a project that will destroy her grandmother’s home and the location of hers and two friends’ small stores. The current owner of this historic house wants to use the area where the house is for development, after the house is razed. Jeff has made the big error of not telling Anna about this project, and she finds out by speaking to someone at his office. Their relationship, which probably was not on as steady footing as it should have been, falls apart.
The member who suffers most from their beak-up is Earnest. As the story unfolds, Earnest becomes more despondent, trying to understand what exactly is going on, while trying to return things to their original state. Throughout the story, Earnest is the main character. The reader is treated to his feelings and actions on every page, as well as to those of Anna and Jeff, as each moves through the angst of their break-up and separation. The story was an interesting one and one that tugged at my heart strings. However, I am a big dog lover at heart, and that may have colored things a bit. I loved the way the author provided such a solid, complete picture of Earnest and his reactions, so I could understand where he was coming from. Though his character was very well developed, I think the author could have done a better job with the couple, though, to be honest, Earnest is the star character and deserved the most attention. I could almost feel the way this poor dog did as things around him were routinely falling apart and as his regular hopes and dreams that things would revert to the loving family life he was familiar with were dashed to smithereens. The ending was okay, but seemed a bit forced and a bit unrealistic to me. Still, the book is well done and better than many I have read recently. If you love dogs and/or have one, you will definitely enjoy reading this one. Earnest is the dog we all would like to have. I received this from NetGalley to read and review.


I enjoyed this book almost as much as I enjoyed An Unexpected Grace, the author’s earlier dog book. In this one, Anna and Jeff adopt a dog, Earnest, from the local shelter. Anna’s and Jeff’s relationship is not all that new, but is at a point where it needs to go to the next level if it is to survive, while likewise having other problems, which no one realizes until after the dog comes to the home. Jeff is a young architect, hoping to move up in his career. Anna owns and operates a plant/flower store in the town. The problem surfaces when Anna finds that Jeff is working on a project that will destroy her grandmother’s home and the location of hers and two friends’ small stores. The current owner of this historic house wants to use the area where the house is for development, after the house is razed. Jeff has made the big error of not telling Anna about this project, and she finds out by speaking to someone at his office. Their relationship, which probably was not on as steady footing as it should have been, falls apart.

The member who suffers most from their beak-up is Earnest. As the story unfolds, Earnest becomes more despondent, trying to understand what exactly is going on, while trying to return things to their original state. Throughout the story, Earnest is the main character. The reader is treated to his feelings and actions on every page, as well as to those of Anna and Jeff, as each moves through the angst of their break-up and separation. The story was an interesting one and one that tugged at my heart strings. However, I am a big dog lover at heart, and that may have colored things a bit. I loved the way the author provided such a solid, complete picture of Earnest and his reactions, so I could understand where he was coming from. Though his character was very well developed, I think the author could have done a better job with the couple, though, to be honest, Earnest is the star character and deserved the most attention. I could almost feel the way this poor dog did as things around him were routinely falling apart and as his regular hopes and dreams that things would revert to the loving family life he was familiar with were dashed to smithereens. The ending was okay, but seemed a bit forced and a bit unrealistic to me. Still, the book is well done and better than many I have read recently. If you love dogs and/or have one, you will definitely enjoy reading this one. Earnest is the dog we all would like to have. I received this from NetGalley to read and review. show less

#FirstRead ~ For a year, Will had imagined Hope lounging at his feet under his office desk between her appointments.

I loved this book so much. From the irresistible cover to the story contained inside, it was sheer love. You can tell that the writer lived and loved this story while writing it because it was evident in the attention to detail and the building of the characters and plot. It was all done so beautifully and seamlessly. It captures the love that dogs give and the power they show more yield. It was a story that was deeper than the cute cover and really touches on so many themes that the reader can relate to. A must read story to escape into!!! show less