Hearts on Fire: Dogs, Love, and Calendar Heroes

By: Joanna Slodownik

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

★From the author of A Taste of Love: Eat, Love, Vegan (Recipes for Love and Life), here’s another heart-warming, funny, and inspiring read for animal lovers.★

Olivia is a lawyer and a vegan but quit her well-paying job to work at an animal shelter. Ryan is a hot firefighter and a hero who saves people and animals from fire. Sparks fly from the moment they meet, but after a recent breakup, Olivia is not ready to trust men again. When the shelter is in danger of closing down, the plan is to create a calendar featuring the firefighters and the dogs to be sold at the next fundraiser. Asking Ryan for help may be their last hope, only can he be trusted? With shocking rumors being spread about the shelter, people turning their backs on them, and firefighters joining the competing event, will the fundraiser be a success? Will Olivia and Ryan end up together, or will Olivia’s impossibly high standards keep them apart ever after?

***

My friends keep telling me that I need a relationship with a man—because the whole world doesn’t revolve around cats, dogs, pigs, and rabbits. But is it my fault that men are mostly liars and cheaters; animals on the other hand, never laugh at you behind your back or pretend they love you, when if fact, they’re having sex with somebody else when you aren't watching? Being bitter and wary may not be a solution, but why should I lower my standards? I’ve been down the dating-love-relationship path before, and I’m not going there again, certainly not with that smug firefighter-hero, no matter how many animals (or humans) he saves.

When the shelter catches on fire, the local fire department is there to save the animals, with Ryan saving the most dogs and cats, and is all over the television networks, acting like a hero.

As I’m watching Ryan Kowalski and his crew posing for pictures, talking to reporters who treat them as if they’re gods, it bothers me is that it’s just another piece of news that people will forget.

The thing about heroes is that they do this epic thing and leave, but then it’s up to everyone else to clean up the mess, which in this case means taking care of the dogs and cats in the Kind Heart Animal Shelter—and do our best to save their lives every day before it’s too late and they’re sent to animal heaven.

Only that’s not newsworthy enough, not dramatic enough
There’s no fire gushing in the background. Just mouths to feed and poops to scoop.
No one will show us on prime-time television doing that!

The truth is no one cares about the life and death of these animals, and many of them will end up dead maybe even next week or month, because there’s not enough space and no money to keep them alive in the shelter. Why don’t people come and save them? That way, everybody can be a hero. It’s easy—Adopt. Foster. Volunteer.

Meanwhile, the question is if we can keep providing safe heaven for the animals in our care and find homes for them before it’s too late and they’re sent to kill shelters?

And will I able to find a man I can trust, or will my impossibly high standards keep me from love ever after?

***

A novella for all animal lovers and vegans. You will laugh; and you will cry.

Buy the book today and watch out for more new releases from this author coming soon!