They weren’t looking for love… until a four-legged friend came along.

After a devastating injury derails his military career, Logan Brock agrees to help his best friend run a dog rescue farm.

When vet tech Virginia Chapman brings her defiant son, Tyler, on her rounds, things initially don’t go well.

But the single mom appreciates Logan’s patience toward her child and recognizes an opportunity. Logan soon becomes the mentor Tyler needs as they all begin to bond over the care of a troubled stray dog.

But will rehabbing and training Bravo be enough to help them overcome old wounds…and consider a new future together as a family?

#41 in K-9 Companions

This is a no-spice romance, perhaps with closed-door or fade-to-black scenes. Tension and kisses might be involved.

Title:  Healing a Rescuer’s Heart
Series:  K-9 Companions #41
Author:  Ciara Knight
Published:  March 31, 2026
Publisher:  Love Inspired (Harlequin)
My Rating:  4.5 stars

Healing a Rescuer’s Heart is the forty-first title in the ongoing K-9 Companions imprint.  Some stories just hit me hard, for various reasons.  Logan, Virginia, and Tyler’s story hits hard with realistic situations, the consequences of those decisions or events, and a lovely story of acceptance, redemption, faith, and love that absolutely everyone deserves.  The fact that Logan lost both his legs in a military situation was definitely beyond his control… the way he reacted to that life change was very much within his control, and he lost that ability.  Yes, his situation was devastating, life-changing, but finding solace in the bottom of a bottle didn’t do him much good either.  In fact, it lost him a marriage and contact with his young daughter.  His former CO offered him a hand up out of that desperation, a way to find his own acceptance of his life now, a way back to his faith, and the chance to prove he deserves contact with his beloved little girl by working with the dogs at the rescue farm as he recovers his life.  It won’t be easy, but it will return him to a better place… and perhaps lead him to the woman and her son who can mend his heart and have him working toward a future once again.

Virginia is at her wits’ end with her defiant son, Tyler.  Once again, he’s in trouble at school, acting out in unacceptable ways.  She understands that his life has been upended, she’s divorced her abusive husband, taken Tyler far from the man’s influence, hoping to start fresh… but Tyler’s attitude is making that plan so difficult.  She’s brought her son to the dog rescue farm today to check on a few dogs, making sure he knows he’s there to work off some of the punishment for his actions.  She could never have imagined that meeting Logan there, and eventually a stray dog, Bravo, who needed help as much as any of the humans, would change her life, offer her a love that was solid, faith-based, and real, or that her son would bond with both Logan and Bravo in healing as well.  Miracles do happen, as Virginia is about to discover.

I loved everything about Healing a Rescuer’s Heart.  It’s a well-written romance full of emotions, decisions (not all wise), and the search for redemption and healing when it seems the world is against you.  The story is character-driven, almost painfully realistic, with a message of forgiveness and healing that so many need to hear.  Watching all the characters (yes, even Bravo) heal from the past and be ready to step into a different future was satisfying, emotional, and heartwarming.  If that sounds like your kind of inspirational romance (with dogs), then you’ll love this one.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley, and I sincerely thank the author or publishing house for their trust. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*

This title is available at Amazon