Guiding Emily

Guiding Emily by Barbara Hinske is an emotional and exciting story about a woman’s journey of losing her sight and dealing with the aftermath of discovering secrets that turn her world upside down coupled with the lighthearted and adorable point of view of Garth the guide dog.

If it isn’t clear already, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I had never really read anything quite like it and I found that the juxtaposition of the intensely real and emotional turmoil of Emily and the cute excitedness of Garth made the story so easy to read and so much fun as well. I especially enjoyed how much effort was obviously put into the details surrounding how Emily adapted to being blind and her having to deal with her depression surrounding this sudden change in her life. It is clear that the author had done a ton of research on what someone who went blind fairly quickly would have to do to survive both physically and mentally. There were so many moments where I feel like I genuinely learned something about blindness and the relearning that it takes to move around and be independent.

The only critique I would give is that I wish there was a little bit more closure towards the end regarding Connor and Gina. I know we did get some sense of a resolution about Connor but it felt like Gina just completely disappeared from Emily’s mind and I wish they had a moment after the initial situation (no spoilers).

All in all, 4 out of 5 stars. Thank you Netgalley and Barbara Hinske for sending me this audiobook to listen to and review.

Emily is the protagonist who loses her eyesight during her honeymoon in Fiji. Initially I had a difficult time liking/connecting with Emily. Her husband, mother and maid of honor flew to Fiji before Emily, who was so concentrated on her job (even though she has a phobia about flying). She really didn't seem to have much of a backbone about many things, but she was evidently perfect and irreplaceable at work. It seemed (to me) that she wanted to blame others (or withdraw) without taking responsibility. THANK GOODNESS THE AUTHOR INTRODUCES ZOE! Zoe really is the sweetest young girl ever, even though she hasn't been dealt the best cards in life either.

This book before Zoe, probably 3 stars or less, once Zoe is introduced I really liked how this book evolved and developed. Zoe alone raises this book to 4 star. What a great kid.

One of Emily's employees is a man named Drew (I might be misspelling due to listening to audio); anyway he is a bit quirky and very persistent. This character adds a lot of depth and caring to the book. He was a great add to the story line.

The audio narration was well done and alternated between Emily (narrated by Julia Whelan) and Garth the Guidedog (narrated by Fred Berman). Just as soon as I heard Fred Berman narrating Garth, I had to google audios narrated by Fred Berman ... because I just knew I had previously listened to an audiobook where a dog was involved. (Fred Berman has perfected narrating books for dog lovers! The audios I was trying to recall had been written by Susan Wilson.)

Thank you to NetGalley and the author/Barbara Hinske for the opportunity to review the advance copy of Guiding Emily: A Tale of Love, Loss, and Courage in exchange for an honest review. Publisher is Podium Audio and the release date is 01 Dec 2020.

Love is blind.

Or Emily Main would have seen her fiancée’s true colors long before her wedding or the honeymoon, which would change her life.

I hated Connor from the get go!
Is it wrong to be hoping two people would end up divorced almost from page one!!

After her accident, it is clear that Emily’s new husband will not be up to the task of helping Emily learn to live life as a legally blind person.

Fortunately there are people, old and new who will be!

As Emily trains to be independent without sight, the puppy who will eventually be her GUIDE, is also training for his role.

Not since Enzo, from “The Art Of Racing In the Rain” (Garth Stein) have we been able to get inside a dog’s mind!

The chapters alternate, with most from Emily’s POV, and a few from Garth’s (that’s the puppy 🐶)
until the two meet.

Sure, this story is a predictable and like a Hallmark movie, but who cares?!

I enjoyed learning about how handlers and guides train for their life together, and only wish that we had more chapters of Emily and Garth after they meet!

This review is for the AUDIBLE edition!
I didn’t love the narrators, but I loved this heartwarming story! 💕

I didn’t know what to expect when I chose this book and honestly I didn’t expect much but I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed it.
The story had just about everything Love, trust, success, dogs, friendships, family, hurtles to overcome, reclaiming your life as it changes and learning that relationships can change as a result of events in your life.
I almost never write five star reviews but this one is five stars for me.

This was a wonderful audiobook. It warmed my heart.
It was an interesting approach to blindness and moving on, using the perspective of the guide dog to narrate some chapters, which I thought was a lovely idea, and very cute! As a person obsessed with dogs, I loved it!
This was also an extremely poignant book, and shed a very strong light on how a person has to learn to adapt to their blindness, after losing their sight in an accident.
The narrators were fantastic and kept me engaged throughout.
Fantastic read.

Have you ever read a book that is super predictable, but it’s also such a feel good book and just what you needed anyways? That’s exactly what this book was for me. I could have told you exactly what was going to happen, but it didn’t even matter, I still loved it. This book was told from two different point of views; one from Emily and one from Garth, a dog training to be a guide dog. I actually loved that touch. I listened to this on audio and adored the narrators for both characters. This is a quick read/listen, so if you need a feel good story, check this one out.

Thanks to @netgalley and @podiumaudio for allowing me to listen to this audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion.

Guiding Emily is a beautiful book following the issues of loosing ones sight from both the individuals prospective but also there nearest and dearest. It tackles relationship brake ups, learning to adapt but also the positives of a major life change through seeing who is actually there for you and what you are truly capable off as a human.
The main character is a truly strong individual, and I thank the author for introducing me to Emily at a time where I needed her the most. I strong reoccurring factor of this book is that the characters are so easy to relate real people within your life to. It is extremely easy to find yourself becoming invested within these peoples lives, fall in love with the kinder characters but then develop a strong sense of hate for the mean-hearted characters.
The story is also entwined with that of Emily’s future guide dog Garth. Throughout the duration you get to watch Garth and his siblings grow up and graduate.
It’s honestly the feel good book that found me at a time that I really needed some inspiration, so I thank the author for that. I really hope we get some more books about Garth and his siblings in the future.

My Thoughts:
Guiding Emily is my favourite book of the year so far. Yes, I know it's only early February, but it was very enjoyable. I found myself impatient to get back to my audiobook, damn that silly thing called work getting in my way.

Guiding Emily is really two separate stories that join together at the end. First off we meet Garth. He is an adorable and smart black lab puppy who is in training to be a guide. Secondly we meet Emily, a head programmer at a firm who is just getting ready to leave for her wedding and honeymoon. We already know from the synopsis the Emily will have an accident that will take away her sight and so we know that Garth will obviously end up as her guide.

Even though we already know what is going to happen, there is a lot of extra foreshadowing at the beginning of the story, and I found it a little annoying as it went on. For example Emily kept mentioning to her husband how she is afraid to do certain things because her retinas might detach. Later we have her mother going on about it as well. We get it, she has to be careful, but we also already know it's going to happen. That was one of only two things that annoyed me about the story, and they were so minor I didn't even deduct a point for them.

The other slightly annoying thing was how Garth just happened to keep running into Emily and her friends before Emily was even partnered with Garth. Dhruv at the dentist. Zoey at the center. Emily and her group at the restaurant. It kind of gives the impression it's a very small town they all live in, but we know that's not the case. So I just found all that a little too coincidental, but again, not a major issue. Even though the meeting at the restaurant highly coincidental, I did like how Garth was immediately drawn to Emily, and the way he described her.

The story as a whole sucked me in. Even though I knew she was going to be blind, the whole time she was fighting to get better from her surgery, and keeping her head down, and sleeping on the massage board, I just felt all of that. The hope, and the agony of being so uncomfortable but having no other choice. I was frustrated right along with her when things didn't work out, and I understand the anger and the resistance to acceptance and moving forward, and the depression that followed.

The story is very realistic, and I love how they easily work in all the terminology and explanations around living as a blind person and all the assistive technologies and personal trainings they have to help the blind. I was intrigued by the differences between a guide dog and a therapy dog, and all the different things they can actually help out with. One of my favorite sections, but also the most traumatizing, is when Gath has an incident with a fake service dog in a restaurant and how the handler goes on her rant about how dangerous fake service dogs are. It was very eye opening.

Garth was adorable! I loved his parts of the book the best. Seeing things through his eyes made me wish even more that I was able to communicate with my pup. One of my favorite parts with Garth was when he was trying to help clean up the spilled soda and accidentally ruined the child's homework and everyone was so upset with him but he doesn't understand why because in his mind he was just trying to help. It made me wonder if there were ever times I got mad at my own pup when he was just trying to help out. My only issue is sometimes he would say things that he obviously couldn't know, like when he described the pop spill and compared it to Niagara Falls. How would he know about Niagara Falls? But most of the time his parts fell well within what he would actually know, which made it easy to submerse myself into the story. Garth meeting the puppy raiser's cat for the first time was truly hilarious!

The characters were all pretty amazing, with Dhruv, the autistic coworker and Zoey, the young girl neighbor who befriends Emily after her accident, being my top secondary characters. Dhruv was just so sweet always doing research to help out his friend, and doing what needed to be done, unlike her husband who just can't seem to wrap his head around his wife's blindness and how to help her. Both Dhruv and Zoey help Emily in different ways come to grips with her blindness and gently help prod her towards next steps like the blind lessons at the center, and eventually applying for a guide.

With regards to the audiobook presentation itself, it was wonderful. The two narrators, Fred Berman and Julia Whelan were perfect fits for this story. Both of them are well known audiobook narrators with over a dozen pages of choices for each of them over on Audible. I have actually listened to a book with Fred before, the Time Traveler's Wife, and even though I didn't enjoy the story, I did enjoy the narration, and he makes an awesome Garth.

The whole story was very visual. I could see this as a movie I would enjoy watching. As I already mentioned I didn't like stopping. If I could have just sat in a quiet corner somewhere and indulged in the whole book, I would have. Sadly all my audiobook listening comes during my commutes to work, and I only travel about 20-30 minutes each way, so I don't get a whole lot of listening in on each session.

The overall impression of the book, that life sometimes changes, even if for the worse, but that life can still be a full life if you just make some adjustments, resonated a great deal with me. I have been a chronic pain sufferer for many years, and finally last year I took matters into my own hands and changed my diet and activity and made things so much better. I now how a much better outlook on life, and so does Emily.

The Pros:
Garth is adorable and I could listen to him describe his life forever
The story was very immersive and informative.
The secondary characters were big additions to the story, very realistic, and very loveable.
The narrators were amazing.

The Cons:
I wish there would have been more time spent with Emily and Garth together.
Some of the meetings with Garth and the other characters beforehand were too coincidental.
It was very predictable, but that still didn't take away from the story at all.

I am so glad I had the opportunity to listen to this audiobook! Thank you to NetGalley, Podium Audio, and Barbara Hinske for my opportunity to review this.

Emily Main is a highflying career woman, jetting off to marry her handsome fiancé Connor. When an awful accident on their honeymoon lead to Emily’s retinas detaching, she is forced to face the possibility of a life without sight.

This book switches between the perspective of Emily, and the perspective of Garth - a black Labrador puppy training to be a guide dog.

While Emily tried to come to terms with her new diagnosis, she moves back in with her mum to her childhood bedroom. How will she deal with adjusting to her new situation?

This is a book of love, loyalty, and friendship. I thought it was so heartwarming!

I really enjoyed this one! Was it very predictable? Yes. Was I a bit hesitant going in that one of the characters telling the story is a dog? Yes. But still, I ended up really enjoying the story of Emily and Garth and their journey to each other. I love dogs so a book featuring a dog always catches my eye. Even better when it's a dog with an important job. I was also happy that the author chose to include a major issue facing those with well trained service dogs. Too many people have taken advantage of service animals being admitted and try passing off an untrained pet as a service animal. I adore my dogs, but they don't belong everywhere. This story follows Emily's adjustment to blindness and the changes in her life. The reactions of her partner at the time are a bit too predictable and I wish that character had been a little more evened out. It was interesting hearing about some of the training process for both Garth and Emily. Overall, this was a good listen!

Thank you to Podium Audio and NetGalley for the audio ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I received this book "Guiding Emily" from NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own. I did the audiobook. After a couple audiobooks that I didn't like, I tried this one. I loved the narrators, they made the book worth listening to. I'll have to look for other books that Julia Whelan has done. I initially picked this book because of my terrible eyesight and fears that someday I won't be able to see. This was a great story. I really connected to the characters. Garth was very fun and I enjoyed the narration of him. Crunchy Cheetos!! very heartwarming story that I recommend.

This was a super cute quick read. I picked it up bc I have a black lab and was not disappointed by Garth. The husband and BFF were over the top characters I did not like, but Garth made up for them. Like dogs usually do.

Hey folks, daddy Steve here with some doggiebook talk. I'm so behind on my reporting of doggiebooks, it's not even funny! I now have four finished books I want to talk to you about!! Let's start with one today, Guiding Emily by author Barbara Hinske.

I actually own this book in Kindle version but requested a free audio review copy from NetGalley and man was that a great idea. Oh, I'm sure the written copy is a lot of fun to read, the story in itself is amazingly touching, but the audiobook narrated by two distinct narrators, was very well done. The book is told through two points of view, those of Emily, the main character who ends up losing her eyesight early on in the book, and of Garth, the labrador puppy that grows up and trains to become a guide and eventually becomes Emily's guide dog. The two narrators are very well matched to both characters, a woman for Emily and a man with a sort of raspy voice that fit Garth very well.

There are some touching moments with Emily, and even some touching and tense moments with Garth's side of the story. I don't even consider this a spoiler so I'll say it out loud. No dogs die in the book...

I really, REALLY enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to any dog lover, which I know all of you friends of Malcolm are.

Huge thanks to NetGalley who provided a free eBook advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review. This is as honest as it gets... Remeber, I ha already bought the Kindle version of this book...

#Malcolmstories #doggiebooks
#GuidingEmily #NetGalley

In the beginning I struggled a bit to find my footing with this book. In fact, I had only gotten a few chapters in and stopped listening. I came back to this book a few weeks later. Something happened and I was feeling this book. I finished listening to it in one day.

The narrators Julia Whelan and Fred Berman were great. Mostly this story is focused on Emily and her journey from losing her sight to learning to live a normal life with vision impairment. I enjoyed most of the characters in this story. I hated Emily's husband, Conner. Every time that he made an appearance in the story, I would cringe. Kids are so adorable in stories. Zoey was no exception. The way that she wanted to help Emily was cute.

Garth is training to be a guide dog. I loved his voice in this story. I wanted him to be featured more. The moments when he was, were so funny and great. There is a moment in this story were Garth has an encounter with another dog that was very real like and got me very emotionally charged. The way that his trainer, Katie reacted to the other dog owner is justified. I actually trained a guide dog many, many years ago. So, I know how important the training is to these dogs and to have a moment like the one Garth and Katie encountered can be very traumatic.

If you were looking to this book to learn something about training a guide dog, you won't learn from this book. However, this dis not discount the fact that this is a good book that is worth your time to read or listen to the audio version.

What a lovely story. Loved the chapters written in the perspective of the dog. Thoroughly recommend abd would love a sequel

Just like with Daisy Jones and the Six, I felt like I had to keep checking to make sure this story wasn't real! Emily's story felt so authentic and intriguing, without all the unnecessary hype that sends a reader diving into disbelief.

Also related to DJ+6, for the audiobook we also have two stellar narrators reading Guiding Emily. I loved them then and I loved them here. Garth's dog voice was perfectly served up by Fred Berman, and come one, who doesn't love Julia Whelan in everything she does?

I'm more of a thriller or sci-fi fan, so this purely fiction novel was definitely a choice outside my comfort zone, but I'm glad I chose it because it was such a refreshing and eye-opening (pardon the pun) view of ordinary life being hit with extraordinary circumstances. I could feel Emily's anguish, as well as Garth's enthusiasm. It wasn't totally a feel good book, but I believe I'm a better person for having read it.