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

Posted January 7, 2016 by meezcarrie in contemporary, Kate James, mystery/suspense, romance / 20 Comments


On Tour with Prism Book Tours.

Now More Readily Available in Print

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

When Love Matters Most (The K-9 Trilogy, #2)When Love Matters Most
(K-9 Trilogy #2)
by Kate James
Adult Contemporary Romance
Paperback & ebook, 368 pages
January 1st 2016 by Harlequin Heartwarming

Keeping her safe at all costs

Could their backgrounds be any more different? Rick Vasquez, a K-9 unit sergeant with the San Diego Police Department, fled drug-related violence in Mexico as a boy. Madison Long, who recently became primary veterinarian to the SDPD’s canines, is the privileged daughter of a judge. Rick has dedicated his life to curtailing cross-border drug trafficking and preventing other young boys from being drawn into the dark world of the cartels.

But everything Rick and Madison value, and the growing love between them, is threatened by the dangers of Rick’s job, and the risks he’s determined to take…

my thoughtsI 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.

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Concerned for the dogs

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

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Happy for the dogs!

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.)

About the Author:

Kate James spent much of her childhood abroad before attending university in Canada. She built a successful business career, but her passion has always been literature. As a result, Kate turned her energy to her love of the written word. Her writing has been recognized with a number of awards, including first place honors for Silver Linings in both the First Coast Romance Writers’ Published Beacon Contest and Ancient City Romance Authors’ Heart of Excellence Readers’ Choice Award. Her November 2014 Harlequin Heartwarming release, A Child’s Christmas, received first-place honors from Southern Magic, the Birmingham Chapter of the Romance Writers of America, for the 2015 Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, placed second in the Ancient City Romance Authors’ Heart of Excellence Readers’ Choice Award, and was a finalist in RWA’s Desert Rose Chapter’s Golden Quill Award and the Colorado Romance Writers’ Award of Excellence. Finally, her October 2015 release, When the Right One Comes Along, the first book in her K-9 trilogy, has received a Best Book of 2015 award in the contemporary category.

She and her husband, Ken, enjoy traveling and the outdoors with their beloved Labrador Retrievers, Harley and Logan.

Kate would love to hear from you! You can connect with her by e-mail, through her website, her Facebook page, Twitter, or mail at PO Box 446, Schomberg, ON, L0G 1T0, Canada.

Tour Schedule

– $40 Amazon eGift Card & signed copies of The Truth About Hope and When the Right One Comes Along
– 3 winners of signed copies of When the Right One Comes Along
Open US/CAN only
Ends January 23rd

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20 responses to “Review (and Giveaway): When Love Matters Most by Kate James

  1. Carrie, thank you very much for hosting me on your blog today, and for taking the time to write a review. I’m glad you enjoyed When Love Matters Most. I am equally happy that Zuzu liked it! You can assure Zuzu that in my stories furry, four-legged characters will have their own HEA!

    Yes, book 3, When I Found You, is Logan’s story along with the San Diego international airport’s chief of security, Ariana Atkins.

    Thanks, again!

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