Guiding Emily

 

Description

Sometimes the perfect partner has four paws....

Emily Main had it all: a high-powered career with a leading technology giant and a handsome fiancé bounding up the corporate ladder. Their island wedding and honeymoon were idyllic, until a tragic accident causes her retinas to detach.

Her well-ordered life is shattered as all treatments are unsuccessful and she slips into blindness. How will those around her cope with her tragedy? Can she rebuild her life in this most unwelcome new normal?

Meanwhile, a black Lab puppy named Garth fulfills his destiny to become that most esteemed of all creatures: a guide dog.

Guiding Emily is a heartwarming tale of love, loss, and courage as Garth and Emily make their way to each other.

My Review

In the beginning I struggled a bit to find my footing with this book. In fact, I had only gotten a few chapters in and stopped listening. I came back to this book a few weeks later. Something happened and I was feeling this book. I finished listening to it in one day. 

The narrators Julia Whelan and Fred Berman were great. Mostly this story is focused on Emily and her journey from losing her sight to learning to live a normal life with vision impairment. I enjoyed most of the characters in this story. I hated Emily's husband, Conner. Every time that he made an appearance in the story, I would cringe. Kids are so adorable in stories. Zoey was no exception. The way that she wanted to help Emily was cute. 

Garth is training to be a guide dog. I loved his voice in this story. I wanted him to be featured more. The moments when he was, were so funny and great. There is a moment in this story were Garth has an encounter with another dog that was very real like and got me very emotionally charged. The way that his trainer, Katie reacted to the other dog owner is justified. I actually trained a guide dog many, many years ago. So, I know how important the training is to these dogs and to have a moment like the one Garth and Katie encountered can be very traumatic. 

If you were looking to this book to learn something about training a guide dog, you won't learn from this book. However, this dis not discount the fact that this is a good book that is worth your time to read or listen to the audio version. 

Barbara Hinske is an attorney who recently left the practice of law to pursue her career as a full-time novelist. Her latest novel, Guiding Emily, was conceived during a tour of The Foundation for Blind Children. She was inspired and moved by their mission and is donating half of her proceeds from the book to the Foundation.

Barb is also the author of the bestselling Rosemont series and the murder mysteries in her ‘Who’s There?!’ collection. Her novella The Christmas Club was made into a 2019 Hallmark Channel Christmas movie.