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…

“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…