Review (and Giveaway): When Love Matters Most by Kate James

This is an exciting time for Harlequin Heartwarming. Thanks to the loyalty of our readers, for the first time, our January releases, including When Love Matters Most, are available as mass-market paperbacks through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Harlequin.com. Also, When Love Matters Most will be available in select Walmart stores in the United States in February! Please check the Harlequin website for the location nearest you. Thank you to all our readers who made these advancements possible for us!

— Kate

I love the characters in Kate’s K-9 Trilogy! (And oh please tell me that Logan’s story is next!) When Love Matters Most focuses on Sergeant Rick “PitBull” Vasquez and veterinarian Madison Long, both of whom we met in the first K-9 book When The Right One Comes Along (which, incidentally, made my list of Best Books of 2015!).

Rick is fierce and tough-guy sweet. Madison adds a little southern sass and class. The two of them together produce a chemistry that sizzles with electricity and heart. Their relationship is not without some pretty serious pitfalls though, and the issues raised between them are far more worthwhile than the typical conflicts that derail blossoming love in romance novels. No jealous exes or miscommunication here.  Instead, with grace and grit, Kate James forces her protagonists to debate border security, illegal immigrants, and drug cartels.  Topics so timely, and I very much appreciated how Ms. James directed the discussion toward a balance of law and compassion.

But I did say this was a K-9 trilogy, didn’t I? Which means dogs.  So I brought my blog mascot Zuzu (pictured here) along as a consultant. She and I were a bit nervous when we started reading When Love Matters Most – as we always are when dogs could potentially be in danger.  There were a couple of times where we thought we would have to put the book in the freezer (obscure Friends reference for any fans out

there) but Kate was kind to us and to the dogs that trot across her pages.  Zuzu decided her favorite character was Sniff – though she was quite happy to see Scout (from book 1) making some appearances from time to time as well.  She thought that Kate James did an excellent job giving all the dogs their own personalities, including Owen and Nitro, and she found the therapy and research that Madison employed to be quite fascinating, as did I.

Bottom Line: A sweet romance with a dash of suspense, When Love Matters Most gives another fascinating peek inside the world of police dogs and their handlers.  While it starts out a bit heavy on narrative, the dialogue eventually evens out and the pace flows smoothly from there.  Kate James has obviously done her research, and readers will appreciate K-9 officers on a whole new level after reading When Love Matters Most. 

(I received a copy of this book in exchange for only my honest review.)

My Review: 4 stars / Enjoyed it!

KissingBook Level: 3 stars / May forget to breathe on occasion

(Reviewer’s Note: To my Christian fiction readers – This is a general market book and, while absolutely clean, it does have a few instances of minor profanity.)

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