K-9 Defender

Protectors at K-9 Ranch, Book 2

By: Julie Miller

Narrated by: Jon Lindstrom

Can one woman's K-9 convince her to trust a determined detective?

After a betrayal that almost took his life, Detective Joel Standage is deskbound. A new assignment is his chance to find out if he still has what it takes to be a cop. His mission? Get close to Mollie Crane, a woman who’s as guarded—and wounded—as he is. Her service dog, Magnus, trusts Joel before she does. When it becomes clear that his interest in her crime boss ex-husband is putting her in danger, what started as a case becomes personal, and Joel will do whatever it takes to protect her…

From Harlequin Intrigue: Seek thrills. Solve crimes. Justice served.

Discover more action-packed stories in the Protectors at K-9 Ranch series. All books are stand-alone with uplifting endings but were published in the following order:

©2024 Julie Miller (P)2024 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited

Great story

Really liked the story. The narrator was great. But it is not considered a cozy. Could do without the sex talk and description.

Another "new to me" author

This was another "new to me" author and unfortunately, I found out after I had already started that this was the second book in this series. For whatever reason, I REALLY have a pet peeve with reading books out of order, but when I went to look for the first book on audio - it was not available for some reason. Because of that, I decided to keep going onward.

I really don't think I missed anything of importance by not reading book 1, at least, it was really easy to fall into the story and I never felt like I was "missing" anything. In this book, we get to meet our FMC Mollie Crane. When we meet her she has escaped from a VERY violent marriage with a man who was the head of what was basically a crime family. He controlled her in every way and was also unbelievably dangerously physical with her and she was trapped in this situation. While we never really learn HOW, we learn that she somehow was able to gather some incriminating evidence against the "family" and was able to blackmail her then husband for a divorce. That information is also what is keeping her alive.

Needless to say, when she finally is on her home, she is very emotionally fragile and ends up getting a service animal - Magnus - to help her deal with her PTSD. She has found a job waiting tables in a small diner and is slowly rebuilding her life.

Then we are introduced to the MMC, Detective Joel Standage. He has his own tragic and violent back story and the two of them are thrown together when Mollie's ex-husband has suddenly decided that Mollie needs to be taken care of.

We do see a lot of Magnus, but more as a calming force for Mollie when she begins to panic. The main focus of this story is the developing relationship between Joel and Mollie. Magnus likes the new addition to his pack.

While this was not my favorite K9 story, it still was able to hold my interest. The case itself was a bit weak and while Mollie starts off as a fairly weak character due to her history, we do get to see some impressive characters growth from her as she is able to conquer her fears. I am not belittling her in any way - she did go through some horrific things - but there were times when certain things took me out of the story. For example, Magnus goes with her everywhere (of course) but there is a scene where a customer at one of her tables in the diner yells at her and she feels herself begin to panic so she gives Magnus a hand signal to come to her. He doesn't respond because he doesn't see the signal, but I could not imagine the response of customers if a large dog just ran into the dining room of a restaurant/diner and stood beside your waitress so she could put her hand on his head. That may be something that happens nowadays, I have no clue. But to me, it was a little unusual.

Will I continue with this series? At this point, I am not sure.