This romance novel, Earning her Trust tells the story of Emery, a woman who is just getting over her childhood trauma with the help of a service dog, when her childhood bully comes back to town. He says he's changed but has he changed enough to be welcomed back into her life in a new role?

This is the 5th book in the K-9 Companions series, but it works as a standalone novel as well. The story was light and slow moving, but didn't drag. I would have liked the novel to have a bit more substance, especially since it was touching on such an important topic: healing from childhood trauma, but for a romance novel it makes sense that it wasn't so deep. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a chance to read and review this book!

A heartwarming romance about second chances and overcoming fear.

Emery is passionate about helping children. An abuse survivor herself, she is working towards her masters degree and works as a school counselor. She is surprised when the boy who bullied her growing up, is a man who has guardianship of two orphans, pulling her heart in two different directions.

A well written read, with good character growth and interactions, strong themes of faith and forgiveness. I could understand Emery's hesitancy to trust Beau in light of how she knew him in the past. I loved seeing him with the girls, and Beau's sincerity.

Overall, a wonderful book with great dialogue and heartwarming characters. A beautiful story well worth the read.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thank you to HARLEQUIN and to NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

I read another book in this series that I really enjoyed, and I thought that I would request this one as well. This book deals with some harder stuff but it was very compelling. I did enjoy it over all, and definitely would read another book in this series.

Earning Her Trust was a riveting novel! Emery was a character with a tragic backstory of abuse. She emerged from her painful past with the help of her foster mother, Nan. Emery now counsels and helps children and teens who are working through their own troubling situations. But things get very personal for Emery when she is pulled into helping a man who bullied and hurt her emotionally when they were in school together.

I thought that the author did a good job of showing how and why Beau changed. He truly felt horrible for the things he had said and the way he had treated Emery all of those years ago. I liked that he did not shy away from apologizing to her and expressing his regret multiple times. Emery could see the difference in him, yet she still had trouble trusting her heart to him when they began to be drawn to each other romantically.

The two girls who Beau became guardian to went through a horribly traumatic event when their parents were murdered. The author did not downplay the problems that both girls were experiencing. There was a lot of anger and fear for them to work through and they had to learn to trust that Beau loved them and wanted to be a family with them. This was an emotional story that was hard to set down.

(4.5 stars)

I received a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Keep the Kleenex hand I cried all the way through this story. This was a beautiful story and tells about how some people can change and move forward

Earning her Trust by Brenda Minton is part of the Love Inspired K-9 Companions series.

I love K-9 stories and am thoroughly enjoying this series. It’s been fun to read new-to-me authors, too. This book is one of those.

Earning her Trust was an unusually intense read for a Love Inspired story since it dealt with abuse, parental loss, and foster/adoption care. While heartbreaking at times, it also pulled me in so that I was rooting for a happily ever after for everyone involved. And, with it being a Love Inspired book, I knew there would be a Happily Ever After, but how it would all come together kept me guessing.

Books like this one can be a challenge to review because it was too deep a story to say it was entertaining, but that makes it no less a good read.

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I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with FTC guidelines.

What a story! There are a lot of emotion stirring things going on with the characters. Emery lives in the shadow of childhood trauma perpetrated by her biological father and is soothed by the presence of Zeb, her comfort dog. He is so in tune with her that he feels when anxiety creeps in, trying to overwhelm her. Nan, her adopted mother has something serious going on with her. Beau steps into her life and is shockingly bearing the new responsibility of being the guardian of two orphaned girls. Beau, the boy who tormented Emery during their school days.
The author has done a fine job opening these characters lives up to one another and readers. There are a few important subjects, abuse, lasting childhood trauma, foster or adoptive parenting and more, which are tastefully handled, I believe. She shows that life can change through maturity and faith. It is a touching story that can give hope. I received my copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. It is my own unsolicited opinion that this is a good read that can be read as a stand-alone.

Thanks go to the publisher and Net-Galley for the complimentary digital copy of Earning her Trust by Brenda Minton. I voluntarily agreed to read and review this heartfelt novel prior to publication. My opinions are my own, and nothing has influenced my rating.
Earning her Trust is a well written Christian fiction romance with delightful characters and a well thought out plot. The pacing pulled me into the story right away and kept me enmeshed until the end. The descriptive writing gives this tale and clear picture of the setting, and the appearance of the characters.
Emery Guthrie is the heroine, and her character has good depth. I understood her motivations and goals. Her conflict over her feeling for the hero is clear, and I felt her pain and fear. Her kind heart toward the two young girls in story, moved me.
Beau Wilde is the hero, and he has a past with Emery, which certainly added to her hesitance about developing affections for him. Ms. Minton does an excellent job redeeming him from the callow youth in high school. Beau is a determined man and does all he can to prove to Emery he’s a changed man.
The romance between Emery and Beau is hesitant, yet lovely. While it takes some time for Emery to let go of her fears, Beau is patient and kind. Since this is a clean romance, there’s no flare of passion between them. However, there is plenty of emotions going on, and I wanted them to find their happy ending.
If you enjoy clean romances with endearing characters with an absorbing plot, then you will love Earning her Trust as much as I did. This is the first book I’ve read by Ms. Minton, but I will be looking for her other books. Happy reading!

This is a Romance, and this is the 5th book in the K-9 Companions series. I have read and reviewed most of the other books in this book series. I do not think you need to read the other books in this series before reading this book because I feel this book can be read as a standalone with no problems. I loved the characters in this book, but I feel a couple of things in this book wanted to be better developed. The first was Emery has a service dog, but I do not think the book did a good job saying the dog was a service dog. The dog was just with her all the time. She also did not stop the kids for playing with the dog while it was working. I also wanted to know more about Emery's back story/childhood trauma. Those two things bother me after I finish the book, but I did really enjoy every moment I spend reading this book because the characters pulled me into the story. I enjoyed this slow moving romance. I also enjoyed seeing these two kids open up and learn to enjoy life again. I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher (Love Inspired) or author (Brenda Minton) via NetGalley, so I can give an honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

Emotional And Faith-Filled
This book is part of a series and the only one I have read. I can honestly say that I did not feel 'left out' in any sense. I also have the urge to read more of this author's work, as well as more in this series. The series is about K-9 Companions. In this story, he is an Emotional Support Dog who does a great job soothing everyone's hurting hearts. The story is a tear-jerker! It is also very faith-filled. In this book, that means almost everyone is facing some very emotionally trying times that send them to their knees. As harsh as it was emotionally, none of it was graphic enough to cause nightmares. There may be enough there to trigger some folks who have faced their own hurdles. The author treats all the subject matter with proper respect. Most importantly, the psychologist type figures give sound advice, proper response, and nothing gets healed magically or overnight. Healing is a journey made easier by the Hand of God.

Earning Her Trust by Brenda Minton, book five in the K-9 Companions series, is a clean, inspirational Christian romance that tugs at the heartstrings. Just when Emery Guthrie thinks she’s put her childhood abuse behind her with the help of her beloved service dog, Beau Wilde returns to town as soon as hears the news about the death of his friend and that he is now the guardian of their two, now orphaned girls. Emery can’t believe her high school bully has been given custody of these two beautiful but scared girls. As he got older, Beau matured and changed; regretting the way he treated Emery in school. Beau needs to prove that he can be a father, but he knows that he cannot do this without Emery’s help. Emery and Beau take a twisted and roundabout journey of healing and forgiveness before finding a forever love, together.

With small-town charm and endearing, secondary characters, this beautiful, inspiring, feel-good story is filled full of redemption, love, forgiveness and taking a chance. I enjoyed and recommend Earning Her Trust to other readers.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

I will admit this one was a little emotional for me to read as I too had to deal with a high school bully. However unlike Emery I don't know if I could forgive as easily as she did even with Jesus's help.

I received an arc from NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.
Beau learns he will be parenting two girls after finding out his friends were killed leaving the two girls homeless. As he goes to meet the girls Emery, someone he tormented in high school, is the school counselor to these girls and she has grown to love them along with her foster mother Nan.
Working together isn’t easy at first because of Beaus guilt for how he treated Emery in High School and Emery hanging on to past hurts.
Can these two learn to love one another? Will they second guess they are meant for each other?

Emery is one of the strongest women I know. Beau is getting a second chance at a better personal life. Both are getting a chance at family and love.

I loved the first book I ever read by Brenda Minton and I have not changed my opinion one bit. There is such heart in her books! The characters seem real and the plots are totally believable.

This book deals with some hard stuff in life. Stuff that sometimes tends to stick with a person and cause pain years after it happened. Minton handles this admirably and her voice here is so heartwarming. An incredibly moving story. One I won’t soon forget. I had tears in several places. This was a seriously good book! One for the keeper shelf for sure.

My thanks to Love Inspired for providing me with a copy of this book via the Net Galley platform. The opinion in this review is expressly my own.