#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 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!!! ( )

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 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. ( )