Blind Faith

Blind Faith Series, Book 1

By: N.R. Walker

Narrated by: Michael Pauley

Starting a new job in a new town, veterinarian Carter Reece makes a house call to a very special client.

Arrogant, moody, and totally gorgeous, Isaac Brannigan has been blind since he was eight. After the death of his guide dog and best friend, Rosie, his partnership with his new guide dog, Brady, isn't going well.

Carter tries to help both man and canine through this initiation phase, but just who is leading who?

©2013 N. R. Walker (P)2019 N. R. Walker

Blind Faith

Carter - Veterinarian, and all around animal lover.
Issac - Blind. Teacher. and freaking stubborn as all hell. LOL

I loved how straight forward Carter was right from the beginning, He says it like he sees it and doesn't hold back how he feels. Which makes him absolutely perfect for Issac. Issac is so freaking stubborn and determined to do everything himself. He tries so hard to hold himself back from everyone including his new guide dog. Although Carter's lack of wanting to discuss Issac's issues with Brady was a little confusing and frustrating, I just didn't understand why he was so nervous to bring up the topic. But eventually Carter breaks right through all his heavily constructed barriers, making him (kinda/mostly) see what's right in front of his face.. He loves his dog. And he loves Carter.

This book was so good. The story line and plot were well thought our and flowed along nicely. The characters were likable, including all the animals, and smaller characters like Carters friend Mark, and Issacs sister Hannah and even Ms. Yeo (sp?) It was easy to fall in love with these guys as the story went on. You really get a bunch of different emotions coming off the page with this book, it was fun, and funny, and frustrating, with a tiny bit of angst, but also sweet, and cute. Right from the start you can feel the chemistry and connection these two guys have with each other. I cannot wait to see what happens in the next book.

Audio - Michael Pauley did a great job capturing Issac and Carter, But Issac's stubborn personality really came across well in the narration for this book. I really enjoyed listening to this one.

Only weird thing

The author referred to Brady as a Golden Labrador. That isn’t a thing. There are yellow labs and golden retrievers, not golden labs :-).

A sweet romance and two cute dogs

Blind Faith is one of N.R. Walker’s early stories. It’s a first person narrative from one character’s perspective and has all the fluffy elements the author has come to be known for in her stories.

The two main characters are ideally matched. Carter comes across as the vet who’s kind and caring to both people and animals. Isaac is the blind teacher who has suffered several tragic losses in his past, and as a result can be arrogant and uncooperative. He is, in fact, a nice guy too, and Carter soon falls for him, despite Isaac’s initial stubbornness and awkward temperament. Carter deals with him admirably at times. Both men suffer from their moody moments in this story, with several pouting scenes and giving the other the ‘silent treatment’. I couldn’t quite understand the logic behind Isaac not showing affection to his guide dog (Brady) and not sure why Carter didn’t discuss this issue with him. Surely as a vet that would have been an important matter.

Mark, Carter’s best friend, lightens the story, providing some humour and someone for Carter to share his thoughts and feelings with.

Overall this is a sweet romance, with a little angst with regard to Brady and also a misunderstanding between the two new lovers. Dog-lovers will probably enjoy it as Carter has a dog too and there are plenty of 'doggy' moments.

Michael Pauley’s narration of the story was enjoyable and easy to follow. He created voices consistent with the characters’ personalities and portrayed their emotions well.

Pretty good!

4.25 Stars!

I've had this book in my kindle for 3 and a half years and unfortunately, something or other prevented me from reading it until I had the chance to listen to the audiobook, which turned out to be for the best anyway.

I loved Carter, he was a great character and I just adored him and how sweet and good he was to Isaac. I wasn't all that happy that he kept pushing away the issue with Brady to avoid a confrontation with Isaac, though. Isaac, on the other hand, was temperamental and immature. While he had his reasons for treating his guide dog, Brady, like he did (not that they were all that good reasons, imo), I just wanted to slap him every single time he ignored Brady or that he threw a tantrum when Carter or Hannah (Isaac's sister) didn't avoid the issue like he wanted. Carter and Isaac had great chemistry, but Isaac's behavior throughout the book muddled my enjoyment of how good they were together. 

Michael Pauley keeps getting better and better. He did a great job with all the voices in this book and I loved the emotion he injected into the story. If you have a chance to pick this in audio, do it, you won't regret it. 

Great book!

Fantastic series. Stubborn, feisty, bone headed Isaac and the awesome vet who comes to town. Great character building. Fantastic book one in the series.

Blind Faith

Um, so Isacc, the blind character, was apparently also a robot?? What was with that narration??? He was monosyllabic and monotone. I got no sense of this guy whatsoever due to how his character was read. I would love to know why he was portrayed that way. I know he was supposed to be sullen, mistrusting, afraid, blah blah. But to have his narration sound like a robot? To be so bland, no emotion? Why!!! Almost ruined the whole book for me.

As Always, NR Rocks - Loved Isaac and Carter!

I fthink NR does a great job of giving us Isaac an Carter - Isaac became blind at the age of 8 - and his whole life has been guided beyond that by his family and his sister and yet he has some shades of independence - he teaches at a school for the blind and helps others adapt to blindness and learning to flourish within that. Carter enters the picture as a vet - who helps with Isaac's Working Dog. I think there is a pretty good balance here between these two and they are pretty emotionally and intellectually suited to each other and thereby attracted. It takes some work on Carter's part - but for me, NR is an automatic purchse every time. I have loved almost every one of her books and her Red Dirt Heart series remains my all time favorite m/m series - such raw emotion and amazing love and dialogue between those two - so yes, NR - I look forward to everything you put out - that said, Joel Leslie, Sean Crisden, Iggy Toma, Nick J Russo and many others remain favorite narrators. Michael Pauley was less casual in his narration of this one - and downplayed the lilt - for some reason I cannot cotton to him as much as the others but he did this one justice. Can't wait for the Next Book NR!

Young Vet meets young man mourning old guide dog

I've always loved stories that allow me to walk a mile in someone else's moccasins. For whatever reason, I've also been drawn to stories with blind main characters. I love being able to gain a new perspective and really admire how someone deals with blindness. The mix of vulnerability and their invariably sensible ways of coping with the additional challenges always leaves me feeling a bit in awe.

Here Isaac lost his sight aged eight as the result of an auto accident that claimed the life of his mother and contributed heavily to his father's death due to alcoholism. Now pushing 30 and teaching at a school for the blind, Isaac loves to project an aura of capability and confidence but in some ways have never completely healed his wounded inner child.

That's most pronounced in his inability to form loving relationships. After the the aging and eventual death of his first guide dog he went two years without a dog until he finally gave into his sister and got a new dog. As great as the new dog, Brady, is, Isaac is afraid to show the dog any affection fearing the pain that he knows will come when he too grows old and passes away.

Enter Carter, a newly minted vet who's taking over the practice of Isaac's old vet. Carter's immediately attracted to Isaac and the building desire was tantalizing. but Carter also noticed the lack of affection shown toward Brady and is bothered by it. Carter's gentle handling of Isaac is unimaginably sweet. Having to balance Issac's need to be independent with his still somewhat childish bottling up of emotions puts both guys, and even the dog through the wringer.

Yet, here we have three souls that are meant to be together and all three are smarter than average. While that means they're smart enough to get themselves into trouble, you just know that they're also smart enough to work it all out in the end.

In the long run, this is a none too angsty, feel good story. I really enjoyed it. Michael Pauley does a good job with the narration and gives all of the main characters their distinctive voices without being too flashy. He makes the audiobook an easy to listen to experience.

Love the audiobook of this heartwarming love story

Narration:
Michael Pauley’s narration of this book was all I could have wished for. I love how he performs the more emotional scenes and brings such feeling, nuance and depth to every word. I really enjoyed listening to his take on Carter’s and Isaac’s story. He seems to always have such a good understanding of the MC’s and excels at bringing them to life for the listener.

Story:
This is an incredibly sweet slow-burn romance with a couple of surprisingly intense emotional moments thrown in as well. A classic N.R. Walker book, beautifully written and with complex but lovely, three-dimensional characters.
Isaac has known a lot of loss in his life and as a result has an understandably hard time letting people, or an utterly lovable and smart dog, into his heart. He’s never been in a relationship and doesn’t seem to have much of a social circle outside his work and family. When he meets Carter, there’s an almost instant connection between the two men and it was quite endearing to see them slowly circle each other and get closer step by prudent step.
However, there are some bumps along the way that they need to overcome and learn how to deal with as a couple. Isaac has a temper and a tendency to lash out rather than show his vulnerability or talk something out calmly. The moments when he does open up about how he feels though, are wonderfully written and deeply moving.

Great Story!

I really enjoyed this story! The narrator is one of my favorites. Sweet, romantic, unique and realistic. Highly recommend!