Review copy was received from Publicity team. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Called Into Action by Paris Wynters Published by Carina Press on May 25, 2021
Genres: Romantic Suspense
Pages: 279
Format: eARC
Source: Publicity team
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Penelope Ramos has dreamed of being a K-9 search-and-rescue handler since she was a little girl. Armed with a quick mind and her German shepherd, Havoc, she rides into Maple Falls, Vermont, determined to get her certification. She isn’t expecting the gruff, unreadable park ranger assigned to evaluate her skills.
Park ranger Jay Gosling is a pro. It’s clear to him that neither Penelope nor her unpredictable canine has what it takes…although his boss feels otherwise. Whatever. Jay will never have to work with them and he has half a mind to escort them both right out of town. But when a young boy goes missing, he doesn’t have that luxury.
Working side by side tests their tentative peace, but Jay and Penelope are together on one thing: they’ll both do whatever it takes to find the missing child—before it’s too late.
I love reading about K-9 dogs and their handlers, so I was thrilled to be able to read Called Into Action. Penelope works for her uncle’s construction firm, and is working to getting her rescue, Havoc, certified. She has just come out of a relationship with an unsupportive guy. She goes on vacation in Vermont to get away, practice for the test and take the test.
Jay is a park ranger in Vermont. He lost a K-9 dog so he is sensitive about proper training. He is divorced and has a grandfather who is starting to fail and needs more care. He planned a safety program to help with finding people who get lost.
Of course, Penelope and Jay are attracted to each other and have issues to get to know each other and figure out to be able to have any relationship. But I didn’t like the drama; they seemed like silly adolescents. I wanted to see them be the smart professionals they are, working to make things better.
I expected and wanted more K-9 time, or at least as much time as the romance. I did appreciate the other characters like Gramps, Charlie the Sheriff, Nick the boss, and Mrs. Clover. It was wonderful to get a peek at Penelope’s father and uncle too.
The book had more plot and improved pacing in the last half when they did really work on the things which were important, and showed how competent they could be. There was also a search for a missing person, and more K-9 time so that was a win for me too.
Guest Post from Paris
Search-and-Rescue dogs locate the origin of a human scent and alert their human partner to where it is. Human scent can take various forms—it can be alive, dead, or it can be on clothing. SAR dogs can find people lost in avalanches or other natural disasters, they can detect human scent at crime scenes and they can find lost children or even lost older people with dementia. SAR dogs are strongly motivated to search, in part because the reinforcement for a find is play.
Havoc’s specialty is Air-scent. Dogs in this specialty will work with their nose in the air. They pick up human scent anywhere in the vicinity — they don’t need a “last seen” starting point, an article to work from or a scent trail, and time is not an issue. Whereas tracking dogs follow a particular scent trail, air-scent dogs pick up a scent carried in air currents and seek out its origin — the point of greatest concentration.
Most search and rescue personnel and their dogs are volunteers. Some ways you can support them are to donate to your local search and rescue team and to volunteer as a hider for the dogs. Handlers are always looking for new people to hide for their dogs. Plus, there is nothing more fun than to spend the day outside playing hide and seek with a dog, knowing that it will one day help save a life.
Tour Giveaway:
Open Internationally. Enter to win a $25.00 Amazon gift card and eBook copy of Hearts Unleashed by Paris Wynters. Ends June 3, 2021
Giveaway:
The author allowed me to offer a signed paperback copy of Called Into Action. Open US only.
About Paris Wynters
Paris Wynters is an adult romance author repped by Tricia Skinner at Fuse Literary. She lives on Long Island (in New York) with her family, which include a son who plays travel hockey and two psychotic working dogs. Paris is a graduate of Loyola University Chicago.
Paris and her son are nationally certified Search and Rescue personnel (she is a canine handler). She is a huge supporter of the military/veteran community. When not writing, Paris enjoys playing XBOX (she is a huge HALO fanatic), watching hockey (Go Oilers), and trying new things like flying planes and taking trapeze classes.
I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- C21-Spring
I love that guest post? Rescue animals are such a mystery to me and this included some interesting factoids. Great post, Anne!
Yes I wanted a little more of what was in the guest post in the book. There can never be enough dogs for me I guess.
I love K9 books so I probably would have wanted to see more of that in the book too. This sounds like a good romance for the most part. Great review!
More dog page time is always better. lol The book really improved as it went along.
I too expected more K9 time.
Whether I expected it or not, I always WANT more K9 time.
This series sounds great. I’d say my favorite k9 series is the Timber Creek k9 series. I love Mattie, Cole and Robo. Plus all the other great supporting characters !
Yes I love that one too. I have a LONG list of favorite K9 books, 12 of them made it into 2 separate Series on Saturdays posts and I keep looking at more. More dogs please.
I’m glad the second half picked up. It looks like from the cover the dog is a main character, but I guess the couple got most of the page time?
Yes exactly. The book improved as it progressed and more dog page time is a good thing.
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Thanks for hosting.
You’re welcome. I enjoyed the book and always love a K9 story.
yes
I didn’t know some of those facts about SAR dogs, so the guest post was interesting. I’ve only read a few K-9 books; the most memorable was The Search by Nora Roberts. I tend to be more of a cat person generally, but SAR dogs are amazing and admirable. I would definitely read more books about them… but I’m a little leery of this one; my tolerance for adolescent-style drama has diminished to near-zero, so this may not be the best fit. (I much prefer my romantic heroes and heroines to behave like intelligent, communicative adults.)
I really like the intelligent stories that give some realistic aspects of the dogs and their work. That is in the later part of this book. But I also have limited drama patience. But then I always want more dog time. I don’t know about cats so much as I am extremely allergic to them.
Also I think I have that Nora Roberts book but didn’t realize SAR was part of it so I’ll have to get on that one.
I haven’t read any of Paris Wynters’ books
This was my first but I see some of her other series also have dogs and so I’m likely to try them too.
It can be frustrating when characters act like children instead of the adults that they are. Glad to hear they finally got things together and you enjoyed the story. This is a great giveaway! Wonderful review, Anne! 🙂
Thank you Rachel. They got over it but I don’t like to see it. Things improved and that is great to see.