BOOK REVIEW: Home Is Where Your Bark Is by Debbie Burns

If you’re in the mood for some sweet contemporary romance, Home Is Where Your Bark Is by Debbie Burns is a new release from Sourcebooks Casablanca. (The title is a clue: there is also a lovable dog.)

Jenna Dunning has devoted far too much of herself to supporting her younger sister (just 15 months younger) ever since their mother died. Even the fact that her sister married the man Jenna had once been in love with couldn’t shatter their bond. But when her sister asks her to take the border collie she’d just adopted a couple weeks ago back to the shelter, this seems to be the last straw. Jenna had warned her the high energy dog was not the right fit for her family (two boys not even school age, a baby on the way, and a radiologist husband who spends more time working than at home, not to mention their expensively decorated house.) On the way to the shelter with the dog, Jenna is hit by a drunk driver and her car crashes into another.

Jake Stiles is the driver of the other car (not the drunk guy.) He rushes to help, holding her hand until the ambulance arrives. And then, he agrees to take the dog where it needs to go, not realizing the phone number he finds is for the shelter. Unable to surrender the trembling border collie, he finds himself fostering the dog.

A few of the chapters are in the voice of the dog, who comes to be named Seven.

Jenna and Jake bond over Seven, and despite their mutual decision to take things slowly, (Jake has just gotten out of a long-term relationship; Jenna is wary of jumping into a relationship with a stranger she met in a car crash when she had a concussion) there is strong momentum driving them along – especially when it seems they might have lost Seven.

This is a heartwarming love story, highly recommended if you need a lift.