Dog Tags For Christmas

by
Lindsay McKenna
JM Madden
KaLyn Cooper

Noel’s Puppy Power
by KaLyn Cooper

I want to thank KaLyn for the opportunity to read an ARC of Noel’s Puppy Power so I could review it here for Release Day.

I really loved the opening of this story. A perfect introduction to our main characters. Tanner you may remember from Unrelenting Love since he trained both Damnit and his owners. He trains service dogs for veterans and Apollo and Chrys are his mating pair. Apollo has provided him with several male service dogs and it looks like this latest birthing will be more of the same.

We meet Bailey while Chrys is giving birth. She’s on her way to meet up with her military friends, but stops by with information for Tanner on the latest Vets approved for his dogs. She is thrilled to be involved in the birthing process of these new pups. Of course Case, Tanner’s friend and vet has to show up just as things were about to get interesting.

However, his arrival leads into one of my favorite scenes as Chrys gives birth to her sixth pup.
Chrys was tired. She’d been at this for hours.“You can do this,” Bailey reassured the puffing dog.As though believing the words, Chrys sucked in a deep breath. When she moaned, Bailey looked to Case for help, but he was smiling, staring at the lifted tail.

“Good girl, just a little more.” Case applied pressure to the pelvic area. “One more.”

In the dog’s next breath, Tanner exclaimed, “Yes. She did it.”

Chrys exhaled and laid her head down.

“Tanner, throw me that towel.” Case nodded to the cloth next to him. “Let’s help her out a little. I’m not sure she has it in her right now to tend to this little one.” Together the two men dealt with the mess of the newborn puppy.

Yip.

The high-pitched tiny noise shocked Bailey. Her gaze flew to the men and the tiny squirming bundle in their huge hands. Deep laughs filed the lobby.

“Well, aren’t you a feisty one?” Case said to the pup. It had an angry look on its tiny face, that couldn’t be any bigger than a quarter. It yapped again, this time louder. Bailey and the two men laughed. Her heart warmed at the delightful sound of the adorable new, tiny animal.

“Well, let’s see what we have here.” Case rolled the new life over and rubbed the towel on its belly. “Well, I’ll be.”

“Wow. It’s a girl.” Tanner rubbed the hair on Apollo’s head. “Congratulations on your first daughter.”

A thrill welled inside Bailey. She’d been there. Watching and comforting the mother had been a huge delight, but to be there for a first, filled her to overflowing joy.

Tanner’s smile was ear to ear. “You must be good luck, Bailey. Why don’t you do the honors and name her?”

Bailey’s mind went instantly blank. She couldn’t think of a name. Sure, she had lots of girlfriends, but it didn’t seem fair to use one of those. The others would need dogs named after them, too, and at the lack of female pups around there, it would take a lifetime. Tanner often waited to name the puppies. He liked their personality to dictate the name.

“Oh, I don’t know if I could.”

“Sure you can,” Case encouraged. “I can see the gears grinding in that pretty head of yours.”

Bailey’s phone started to play the “The First Noel”. It was her military friends checking to be sure she was still coming. The words ran through the back of her mind, silently singing along to the tune she’d heard three times already that day. She smiled. “Noel. She’s the first Noel.”

“Works for me.” Case thrust the towel and Noel toward her.

“Say hello to her, doc. I’ve got to check Chrys.”

Bailey took the precious little life into her cupped hands. She ran her thumb over the back that seemed to be in constant motion. “Welcome to the world, Noel.” She showed the mother her newest arrival and allowed her to lick, just as Tanner had instructed earlier. Then, she placed the smallest of the litter in the middle, hoping her brothers would keep her warm.
KaLyn Cooper. Noel’s Puppy Power (Kindle Locations 220-245).

Love is born in those few minutes and not just between Bailey and Noel. Tanner definitely has more than a professional interest in Bailey. Proving it as he escorts Bailey to her car by asking, or was he telling her she is his date for Case’s New Year’s Party.

With Bailey training for the Paralympic Team and Tanner going back to school they have difficulty coming together. Once they do, it is both an emotional and sensual explosion. Fan’s self, and there is no sex in this book!

We also see many puppy antics that will make you giggle just like I did.

KaLyn makes you feel everything her characters are going through and this book is emotional with highs and lows. There is a lot of information hidden in it about PTSD and Veteran Suicide. Rough topics that need to be brought out in any forum we can get them in. Every book is a big Thank You to all our Serving and Veteran Military for their service and sacrifices.

5 Contented Purrs for KaLyn!

I can’t wait to read the other two stories, which I will be doing today as it magically appeared on my Kindle. I will post a review on Amazon covering all three when I finish.

Lindsay McKenna is the pseudonym of award-winning author Eileen Nauman. With more than 145 titles to her credit and approximately 23 million books sold in 33 countries worldwide, Lindsay is one of the most distinguished authors in the women’s fiction genre. She is the recipient of many awards, including six RT Book Reviews awards (including best military romance author) and an RT Book Reviews Career Achievement Award. In 1999, foreseeing the emergence of ebooks, she became the first bestselling women’s fiction author to exclusively release a new title digitally.She is releasing a new family saga-series, Delos, in October 2015. NOWHERE TO HIDE, 10.13.2015 will be published by her. Morgan’s Mercenaries, 45 books strong, has been the longest running saga-series in publishing history. She is now creating another family and Delos Series will bring romantic suspense, which she is famous for writing, to her many readers. For more, go to her website.

In recognition of her status as one of the originators of the military adventure/romance genre, Lindsay is affectionately known as “The Top Gun of Women’s Military Fiction.” Lindsay comes by her military knowledge and interest honestly–by continuing a family tradition of serving in the U.S. Navy. Her father, who served on three different destroyers in the Pacific theater during World War II, instilled a strong sense of patriotism and duty in his daughter.

So, upon graduating high school, Lindsay–already a student pilot–continued the family custom by enlisting in the U.S. Navy and serving three years (1964-67) as an AG3–Aerographer’s Mate Third Class (meteorologist).

Since that time Lindsay has kept up her interest in test piloting and training as research for her military romance novels. In pursuit of authenticity, she has undergone high-altitude hyperbaric chamber training at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, flown an Air Force T-38 “chase plane” out of  Edwards Air Force Base in California, undertaken two missions (a 12-hour day mission and a five-hour night mission) in an Air Force Strategic Air Command  (SAC) B-52 bomber out of K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base in Michigan, flown in a Falcon Coast Guard jet from Coast  Guard Miami Air Station in Florida and participated in search-and-rescue helicopter and training missions out of the Coast Guard Port Angeles in Washington.

Naturally, Lindsay’s military experience is the backbone of her writing–in addition to being credited with writing the first military romance novel (Captive of Fate, 1983), she has created a thriving sub-genre within the romance field. It is, therefore, no surprise that her many experiences in the U.S. Navy are a backdrop for her upcoming Operation: Shadow Warriors series.

Of course, Lindsay’s interests don’t end with the military. Research for other novels has pushed her into becoming intimately acquainted with other professions that serve the common good. From 1981 to 1983, she served as a volunteer firefighter with the West Point Volunteer Fire Department in Ohio and helped pioneer the role of female firefighters. And from 1996 to 2000, Lindsay was registered as an Emergency Medical Technician-Basic in Arizona–expertise that is reflected in emergency and accident situations in her books.

Lindsay loves to hear from her readers and loves to know what they’d like to see her write next.

J.M. Madden writes compelling romances between ‘combat modified’ military men and the women who love them. J.M. Madden loves any and all good love stories, most particularly her own. She has two beautiful children and a husband who always keeps her on her toes.J.M. was a Deputy Sheriff in Ohio for nine years, until hubby moved the clan to Kentucky. When not chasing the family around, she’s at the computer, reading and writing, perfecting her craft. She occasionally takes breaks to feed her animal horde and is trying to control her office-supply addiction, but both tasks are uphill battles. Happily, she is writing full-time and always has several projects in the works. She also dearly loves to hear from readers! So, drop her a line. She’ll respond.

KaLyn Cooper’s romances blend fact and fiction with blazing heat and heart-pounding suspense. Twenty-two years as a military wife has shown KaLyn the world, and thirty years in PR taught her that fact can be stranger than fiction. She leaves it up to the reader to separate truth from imagination. She, her husband, and bird dog live in Tennessee on a micro-plantation filled with gardens, cattle, and quail. When she’s not writing, she’s at the shooting range or on the river.