Instead of trying to find your perfect match in a dating app, we bring you the “Author-Reader Match” where we introduce you to authors you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present Debbie Burns! Writes: Hi there! I write a contemporary romance series with the sixth in the series releasing this January. My Rescue Me series is set in a fictional animal shelter in St. Louis and has a small-town feel. These romances feature happily ever afters for their two- and four-legged stars, include various tropes (friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, second chances, secret identity, etc.), and are more heart-warming than spicy. In my newest release, TO BE LOVED BY YOU: Jeremy Washington couldn’t be happier running his therapy program for at-risk teens. Between weekend service projects and hanging out with his faithful rescue dog, Rolo, Jeremy doesn’t have time to date—which is fine with him considering the mess his early marriage turned out to be. When he meets new yoga teacher Ava Graham, Jeremy thinks the kids would really benefit from learning yoga, and Ava would be the perfect fit. Ava quickly finds herself falling in love with Jeremy’s unique world, but her big heart…

1–What’s the name of your latest release? SUMMER BY THE RIVER 2–What is it about? Single mother Josie Waterhill is perfectly happy with the “do over” she’s been given after her tragic upbringing. She’s created a new life and isn’t looking back. She and her six-year-old daughter Zoe are nestled safely in the Midwest, and Josie manages a tea garden owned by elderly Myra Moore. In fact, Josie can’t think of a thing she’d change. Invariably, the world starts pressing in when Myra welcomes more guests—journalist Carter O’Brien and his giant rescue dog, Buttercup. Carter is charming, compassionate…and way too interested in Josie’s past. Carter’s interest in Josie deepens, and he inadvertently stirs up trouble when he uncovers things that Josie would rather not have known. Ready or not, Josie must make peace with her painful past so she can create a glorious future. 3–What word best describes your heroine? Capable 4–What makes your hero irresistible? His charismatic demeanor and playful, flirtatious sense of humor. Once Josie gets to know him, she’s also drawn in by the kindness Carter shows to people she cares about including her six-year-old daughter and to the wounded stray dog he rescues. 5–Who are the…

“Why are you out of practice?” Gabe pursed his lips. “Is the rigor of vet school enough of an answer?” “If you need it to be.” He looked her way, his bright hazel-green eyes standing out starkly from the gray skies behind him. “If you’d said anything but that, that’s the only answer you’d have gotten.” “My sister tells me I’m good at cutting through the bull.” “I’ve got no reason to disagree.” He drummed his thumb on the steering wheel. “Aside from a close friend who went to vet school with me, you’re the only girl who’s been in that seat for a while. By design.” Olivia waited to see if he’d offer more. She had so many questions. They’d reached the end of the road, but the parking lot to the river access was a hundred feet away and underwater. The floodwater was flowing over the road, swallowing it up and reaching halfway up a signpost. If the dog had come this way, most certainly he’d angled off in another direction away from the river. “I had a fiancée,” Gabe added after a bit of silence. “A serious one. Before I entered vet school. I was a firefighter-EMT…

There are so many things I love to do with my dogs, it’s hard to pick, but snuggling definitely tops the list. I have two rescues, Hazel (9) and Nala (3), and their personalities couldn’t be more different. Hazel, the border collie mix, is independent and task-oriented. Nala, who was DNA tested and found to be a mix of pit bull, Basset hound, Rottweiler, and Newfoundland mastiff, is a 55-pound, squat-legged companion dog…and the family snuggler. As soon as one of us sits on the couch, she’s up there with us and as close as can be. She doesn’t understand boundaries…at all! She sleeps on my bed most nights, and once in a while, I will wake up to find she’s using me as a pillow. Experiencing that quiet, unspoken trust makes my morning. My second favorite activity is the twice-daily walks around the neighborhood or to the park with Nala and Hazel. Sometimes we all three have different motivations—Hazel is on the lookout for squirrels and rabbits, Nala is all about other dogs and people, and I’m always hoping to work in some real cardio. We each make concessions, and I find these walks to be disjointedly peaceful. Any…

I most often write in the sunroom at the back of my house. It’s a cozy space in my South City St. Louis home that faces out into my backyard. My desk sits in the middle of a wall of windows overlooking a remarkable magnolia tree that flowers a little bit at a time from spring to fall. In the room with me when I write, undoubtedly, are my dogs, Nala and Hazel, and my cat, Owen. Hazel is usually content to doze on the couch while Nala and Owen compete to see who can end up closer to me. Owen is often on my lap or trying to take over my keyboard, while Nala worms her way underneath and often naps on my feet, putting them to sleep and making it difficult to get up for a break. On my desk near my monitor is a collection of meaningful trinkets related to whatever story I’m working on. Over the years, I’ve found this helps me quickly connect to my work in progress. For this series, I started with a Schlilich German shepherd who reminded me of Sledge in A New Leash on Love. When I was writing Sit, Stay,…

In SIT, STAY, LOVE, a large-scale dog fighting ring covering several Midwestern states is exposed, creating national media attention. The High Grove Animal Shelter steps forward to take in some of the abused dogs, dedicating countless hours to care for and retrain them in an off-site location until they are ready and able to be adopted into loving homes. If this sounds like a real-life event that you heard about on TV, well, you probably have. All too often, illegal dog fighting rings are exposed, and some are larger in scale than others. When this happens, area shelters and caring individuals are instrumental in saving animals’ lives with the help and services they provide. Often, whether it’s due to natural disasters, large scale animal abuse cases, hoarding, or similar scenarios, shelters become saturated with newly homeless animals. When this happens, not only is adequate space a concern but available funds are rapidly depleted. Whether it comes about because of a media story or simply because you want to connect with homeless animals and the people who care for them, there are still many ways to support your local shelters. Here are five inexpensive and fun ways to make a big…

Describe A NEW LEASH ON LOVE in 6 words: Second chance love and cuddly canines. Favorite thing to munch on while you write: Dark chocolate is a favorite pick-me up if words are flowing and I’m late for a meal. Mostly at my desk, I savor mugs of good tea and a scented candle or my essential oil diffuser, and save the munchies for my writing breaks. Something you won’t find out about characters from reading the book: Craig had a petless childhood. Early in the story, he isn’t sure he wants to or would be good at connecting with animals. However, when he was nine, he bottle-fed an orphaned young squirrel. After nursing it back to health and releasing it into the woods behind his parents’ house, he spent that summer drawing sketches of the squirrels that visited his mother’s birdfeeder. The first dog Megan ever rescued was long before she worked for the High Grove Animal Shelter. When she was just seven, she and her mom came across a shy little beagle that had lost its way. Megan’s hand-drawn “found” signs helped him find his way home. If you had to pick ONE line from A New Leash…