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Creature Comfort #3
The Heart Listens
Nobody ever ignores Dr. John MacIntyre Thorn
In the operating room he's king. His skill as a veterinary surgeon and his devotion to his four-legged patients are legendary. Unfortunately, his bedside manner with their owners needs a little work.
When Kit Lockhart brings her corgi to the clinic for treatment, Mac is scathing in his criticism. Why had she waited so long to get the little dog treated? Only when Kit turns to face him and asks him to repeat his words does he realize she can't hear.
For the first time, Mac can't raise his voice to get his way. Now he has to listen. And Kit and her young daughter have a lot to teach him.
368 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 1, 2002
3 people are currently reading
82 people want to read
About the author
Carolyn McSparren
45 books13 followersCarolyn McSparren started writing when she was a teenager, and always planned to be a professional writer and a college professor. That is, until she fell madly in love, dropped out of graduate school, and became a wife supporting a burgeoning opera singer husband. That led to a three-month trip to Germany that stretched into five years.
She wound up living in Germany, France, Italy, and came home with a different husband and a 14-year-old stepdaughter. The writing got put on the back burner while she produced a daughter of her own and went back to graduate school at the University of Memphis to finish her Master’s degree in English. At that point she discovered that a graduate degree in English wouldn’t buy a cup of coffee in a diner.
She became a program coordinator at the executive center of the University of Memphis, where she designed management training, wrote brochures and press releases, designed and laid out brochures, and did everything from pour coffee to transport dignitaries.
On the home front, she and her family moved to the country to breed and train hunter-jumper horses. About the time they moved, her daughter decided she preferred a social life to cleaning out the barn and left Carolyn with the whole operation. With 18 horses, a full-time job, a husband and family, four cats, and three dogs, there wasn’t much time left for writing.
Finally, Martha Shields, who is now a Silhouette author, dragged Carolyn to the meeting of the River City Romance Writers, and thence into a critique group. Suddenly the time seemed right to get on with what she’d longed to do all her life.
That fall, Carolyn won a Maggie Award for an unpublished manuscript (which has still not been published, by the way), and three years later she took early retirement from the university to write full-time. By that time, only three horses remained — none of which Carolyn had ridden for much too long.
The day that Harlequin called with an offer to buy The Only Child, the editor said, "We want the book but... " Guess which were the only words Carolyn heard? She didn’t even tell her best friend about the offer for three weeks.
Now, with seven Harlequin Superromances under her belt, and another couple in the works, she’s finally living in what southerners call "hog heaven." She rides horses, writes books, works with the local chapter of RWA and with Sisters in Crime, is a member of Mystery Writers of America, and just so that she’ll stay balanced, is a member of the Delta Dressage Association—the local horse training group.
She loves speaking to aspiring writers and adores book signings. Finally, years after she first wanted to be a writer, she’s managed to achieve her goal. Now, if she can just manage to stay on her horse, everything should be great.
She wound up living in Germany, France, Italy, and came home with a different husband and a 14-year-old stepdaughter. The writing got put on the back burner while she produced a daughter of her own and went back to graduate school at the University of Memphis to finish her Master’s degree in English. At that point she discovered that a graduate degree in English wouldn’t buy a cup of coffee in a diner.
She became a program coordinator at the executive center of the University of Memphis, where she designed management training, wrote brochures and press releases, designed and laid out brochures, and did everything from pour coffee to transport dignitaries.
On the home front, she and her family moved to the country to breed and train hunter-jumper horses. About the time they moved, her daughter decided she preferred a social life to cleaning out the barn and left Carolyn with the whole operation. With 18 horses, a full-time job, a husband and family, four cats, and three dogs, there wasn’t much time left for writing.
Finally, Martha Shields, who is now a Silhouette author, dragged Carolyn to the meeting of the River City Romance Writers, and thence into a critique group. Suddenly the time seemed right to get on with what she’d longed to do all her life.
That fall, Carolyn won a Maggie Award for an unpublished manuscript (which has still not been published, by the way), and three years later she took early retirement from the university to write full-time. By that time, only three horses remained — none of which Carolyn had ridden for much too long.
The day that Harlequin called with an offer to buy The Only Child, the editor said, "We want the book but... " Guess which were the only words Carolyn heard? She didn’t even tell her best friend about the offer for three weeks.
Now, with seven Harlequin Superromances under her belt, and another couple in the works, she’s finally living in what southerners call "hog heaven." She rides horses, writes books, works with the local chapter of RWA and with Sisters in Crime, is a member of Mystery Writers of America, and just so that she’ll stay balanced, is a member of the Delta Dressage Association—the local horse training group.
She loves speaking to aspiring writers and adores book signings. Finally, years after she first wanted to be a writer, she’s managed to achieve her goal. Now, if she can just manage to stay on her horse, everything should be great.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 14, 2019
Very interesting to read about a hearing-ear helper dog
A genuinely heartwarming story of a former female cop/single mom deafened in a work-related accident.Sweet romantic element included and loved her daughter,too.
Hope to find more stories like this in the 'Harlequin Heartwarming' series.
A genuinely heartwarming story of a former female cop/single mom deafened in a work-related accident.Sweet romantic element included and loved her daughter,too.
Hope to find more stories like this in the 'Harlequin Heartwarming' series.
February 13, 2023
I’ve had The Heart Listens by Carolyn McSparren, which was published in 2011, on my bookshelf for quite some time. It’s a Harlequin Heartwarming category romance that I’m pretty sure I picked up at a used book sale. It has a cute corgi dog on the cover and the synopsis describes it as a relationship between a talented but brusque veterinary surgeon and a single mother who is also deaf. For those reasons, I expected the story to be touching but also tender and charming.
Well, this book is not really that. There are additional plot points that change the tone and emphasis of the story. The heroine, Kit Lockhart, is a former police officer who was injured on duty and is now on disability. As the story opens, she’s been deaf for about a year. She’s divorced from her husband, who is also a cop, and with whom she has a contentious relationship. In addition, Kit’s former mother-in-law blames her for the break-up of the marriage, and so things aren’t hunky-dory with her either. However, Kit’s parents are supportive. Still, Kit is struggling. Her husband isn’t always on time with child support and Kit’s 10 year old daughter is having a hard time adjusting to her mother’s disability.
One day, Kit ends up at the veterinary clinic with her hearing support dog, Kevlar. The vet, Dr. Mac Thorn, not knowing Kit’s circumstances, blames her for not bringing in the dog soon enough leading to a much serious situation. When he does learn that Kit is disabled, He feels contrite and, before long, he offers Kit a entry level position at the clinic, cleaning up and watching over the animals that have gone through surgeries. Kit accepts since it works with the time she needs to take care of her daughter. We then come to know a bit about Mac and the various staff who work at the clinic, including their work with the local zoo, local farm animals, and even animal rescue due to natural disasters. It gets to be a lot.
Because there’s so much going on in this — not so short, 365 page - category romance, I feel the hero’s story gets short changed. Kit, her problems, and her family are featured more. The second biggest part of the plot seemed to revolve around the work of the clinic. Mac is an important part of that work but he remains a bit of an enigma. He’s attracted to Kit, a lonely man, and devoted to his work, but that’s all we know. It’s only late in the story that we learn more about Mac’s troubled background and his issues with his family, which seemed to get quickly resolved. I really felt the author could’ve given us more about Mac sooner and less detail about the clinic — especially the care and feeding of a zoo animal they take on. I honestly wasn’t sure where this story was going as there were so many odd plot points thrown in — not all of which really mattered to the central plot.
For those who care, this is a non-explicit romance, with a few fairly innocent kisses exchanged here and there. That being said, Mac was effectively Kit’s boss — or one of her bosses — through most of the book, so even those kisses shouldn’t have happened. However, in so many more explicit romances, a lot worse happens between boss and employee.
Anyway, this was an okay read. I just wasn’t as engaged as I hoped to be and even the resolution, at the end, involving Kit’s hearing, didn’t effect me much because it seemed to be more convenient than realistic. I’d give the story a B-.
Well, this book is not really that. There are additional plot points that change the tone and emphasis of the story. The heroine, Kit Lockhart, is a former police officer who was injured on duty and is now on disability. As the story opens, she’s been deaf for about a year. She’s divorced from her husband, who is also a cop, and with whom she has a contentious relationship. In addition, Kit’s former mother-in-law blames her for the break-up of the marriage, and so things aren’t hunky-dory with her either. However, Kit’s parents are supportive. Still, Kit is struggling. Her husband isn’t always on time with child support and Kit’s 10 year old daughter is having a hard time adjusting to her mother’s disability.
One day, Kit ends up at the veterinary clinic with her hearing support dog, Kevlar. The vet, Dr. Mac Thorn, not knowing Kit’s circumstances, blames her for not bringing in the dog soon enough leading to a much serious situation. When he does learn that Kit is disabled, He feels contrite and, before long, he offers Kit a entry level position at the clinic, cleaning up and watching over the animals that have gone through surgeries. Kit accepts since it works with the time she needs to take care of her daughter. We then come to know a bit about Mac and the various staff who work at the clinic, including their work with the local zoo, local farm animals, and even animal rescue due to natural disasters. It gets to be a lot.
Because there’s so much going on in this — not so short, 365 page - category romance, I feel the hero’s story gets short changed. Kit, her problems, and her family are featured more. The second biggest part of the plot seemed to revolve around the work of the clinic. Mac is an important part of that work but he remains a bit of an enigma. He’s attracted to Kit, a lonely man, and devoted to his work, but that’s all we know. It’s only late in the story that we learn more about Mac’s troubled background and his issues with his family, which seemed to get quickly resolved. I really felt the author could’ve given us more about Mac sooner and less detail about the clinic — especially the care and feeding of a zoo animal they take on. I honestly wasn’t sure where this story was going as there were so many odd plot points thrown in — not all of which really mattered to the central plot.
For those who care, this is a non-explicit romance, with a few fairly innocent kisses exchanged here and there. That being said, Mac was effectively Kit’s boss — or one of her bosses — through most of the book, so even those kisses shouldn’t have happened. However, in so many more explicit romances, a lot worse happens between boss and employee.
Anyway, this was an okay read. I just wasn’t as engaged as I hoped to be and even the resolution, at the end, involving Kit’s hearing, didn’t effect me much because it seemed to be more convenient than realistic. I’d give the story a B-.
March 1, 2019
Really sweet book, with an even sweeter ending, though I wish the ending extended into life beyond the wedding; where they lived, a little of what happened afterwards, etc. I was impressed with this book though! It had a very unique story, being a love tale between a deaf woman and grumpy veternarian. I loved many of the details, and I think my favorite character was Big, whom reminds me of one of my coworkers. The Heart Listens was a lovely story, but seemed somewhat basic of a read as well. By that, I guess I mean it had no poetic touch to the wording, which isn't necessarily bad, just very basic style of wording. It's a different kind of style of love story than the Nicholas Sparks and Karen Kingsbury stuff I'm normally used to. I enjoyed this book, but finished it in a little over 2 months. This is to no fault of the author really, because the book was great. The two month time frame is to fault of how slow and disinterested in reading I've become, due only to issues of my own.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 7, 2019
Sweet enjoyable story
November 18, 2019
I gave up at 38%, although I liked the beginning. I feel that this book deserves more than the two stars I am giving it, but there was just too much talk and stuff going on with babies and motherly feelings for me. Both people and animal babies (a tiny new-born orangutan). For women, babies are probably related to romance, for me, however, not really.
November 22, 2015
Carolyn McSparren is one of my favorite writers. I went back to re read her Creature Comfort series and enjoyed this one just as much now as when I first read it. The portrayal of the vet clinic is very accurate and I loved the doctor's character development. It's always interesting to see a heroine with a disability too, not enough of that in romance. All in all one of my favorite Harlequin novels.
September 18, 2014
I loved this book.It is a heartwarming story love love between Mac ans Kit.I would recommend this book to anyone.I loved the little dog Kevlar.He was sweet and charming.This book was well written and I couldn't put it down.
March 3, 2016
Eh, this was OK. The author failed to grab my interest with any of the cookie cutter characters. I ended up skimming it to finish it. I knew going into the book the cure would happen (it is a romance), but I always hate it when it happens.
September 7, 2011
It was an "ok" read. Not much romance, but a good story.
September 27, 2014
Great story!! Loved all of the characters.
February 4, 2016
It has a Corgi in it.
August 13, 2017
Great cruise book!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews