Kindle Unlimited
Unlimited reading. Over 4 million titles. Learn more
Read for Free
OR
Kindle Price: $2.99

Save $3.00 (50%)

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Audiobook Price: $26.16

Save: $18.67 (71%)

Read with our free app
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

Buy for others

Give as a gift or purchase for a team or group.
Learn more

Buying and sending eBooks to others

  1. Select quantity
  2. Buy and send eBooks
  3. Recipients can read on any device

These ebooks can only be redeemed by recipients in the US. Redemption links and eBooks cannot be resold.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs

Follow the author

Barbara Hinske
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Guiding Emily: A Tale of Love, Loss, and Courage (Guiding Emily Series Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Barbara Hinske (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 1,798 ratings
See all formats and editions

Sometimes the perfect partner has four paws...

Emily Main had it all: a high-powered career with a leading technology giant and a handsome fiancé bounding up the corporate ladder. Their island wedding and honeymoon were idyllic-until a tragic accident causes her retinas to detach.

Her well-ordered life is shattered as all treatments are unsuccessful and she slips into blindness. How will those around her cope with her tragedy? Can she rebuild her life in this most unwelcome, new normal?

Meanwhile, a black lab puppy named Garth fulfills his destiny to become that most esteemed of all creatures: a guide dog.

Guiding Emily is a heartwarming tale of love, loss, and courage as Garth and Emily make their way to each other.


Interview with the Author

Q: Have you always wanted to be a writer?
A: I'm an attorney and have done a lot of technical writing, but knew I wanted to write novels. I thought I'd find time when I retired. Fate stepped in, as it often does, and put me on this path sooner. I broke my neck in an auto accident and suffered from double vision for months. I couldn't read or watch TV, so I conceived the plot for my Rosemont series.

Q: Why did you decide to write a series?
A: I prefer television series to movies. The longer format of television allows for deeper character development. The same holds true for series fiction. I like to fall in love with a character or hate a character (but root for them to change their ways). I feel like Mma Ramotswe and Mma Makutsi from Alexander McCall Smith's Ladies' Detective Agency series are old friends. I wanted to recreate that sort of connection in the Rosemont series.

Q: What other authors do you read or admire?
A: I'm a fan of women's fiction, women's sagas, romantic suspense, domestic suspense, crime fiction, and romance. I love Rosamunde Pilcher's later trilogy -The Shell Seekers, Coming Home, and September. Jan Karon's Mitford series creates an enchanting world, as does Debbie Macomber's Cedar Cove. My Rosemont series is set in the current day, but I've tried to capture a feeling of camaraderie and connection (among the good guys) that takes us back to a slightly simpler time and place.

Q: What are your favorite books?
A: In addition to the works I've already mentioned, I adored A Man Called One, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, and A Long Way from Chicago.

Q: Who has had the greatest influence on your author life?
A: My dad--without question. He told me or read me a bedtime story every night of my childhood, often adding his own twists and turns to the plots or dialogue. He had an incredible, gentle sense of humor. He also wrote novels--who-done-its--when he retired.

Q: What are the high points of your author journey?
A: There are 3 things I hold very dear: 1) hearing from readers--especially newly blind adults--that my Guiding Emilyseries has given then hope and provided comfort, 2) having my novella The Christmas Club made into a Hallmark Channel movie of the same name (2019), and 3) seeing my name on the USA Today Bestseller List.

Q: What of your own interests have you written about in the Rosemont series?
A: I love my home and all things related to homemaking: cooking, gardening, decorating, and entertaining. I love
celebrating all of the seasons and I change my decor for Easter, 4th of July, fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and spring.

Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Book 1 of 5
    Guiding Emily Series
  2. Print length
    330 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publication date
    June 7, 2020
  6. File size
    2184 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
Next page
Hard Rock apparel
Outerwear, tees, and accessories. Discover the rock shop.
Next 3 for you in this series See full series
Total Price: $13.97
By clicking on the above button, you agree to Amazon's Kindle Store Terms of Use

From the Publisher

book cover images of the 4 books in series on a green lawn against a blue sky
photo of author smiling

photo of author smiling

cover of Coming to Rosemont on a table in a garden with a cup of coffee

The joys of the tale come from the warm relationships and the story of a woman getting a second chance at life and love." -- Publishers Weekly (Booklife)

  • Coming to Rosemont
  • Weaving the Strands
  • Uncovering Secrets
  • Drawing Close
  • Bringing Them Home
  • Shelving Doubts
  • Restoring What Was Lost
  • No Matter How Far
  • When Dreams There Be

USA Today Bestselling Author BARBARA HINSKE is an attorney and novelist. She's authored the beloved nine-novel Rosemont series (women's fiction); the Guiding Emily series; the mystery thriller collection “Who’s There?”; and her sweet Christmas stories The Christmas Club, Paws & Pastries, Sweets & Treats, and No Matter How Far. She's also contributed two novellas to The Wishing Tree series.

The Guiding Emily series includes:

  • Guiding Emily
  • The Unexpected Path
  • Over Every Hurdle
  • Down the Aisle

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Guiding Emily takes readers through the heartbreak, the fear, and the triumph that so many of our visually impaired adult clients face. At the Foundation for Blind Children, we believe vision loss is a diagnosis, not a disability. Read this book--Emily Main personifies that belief, as she digs deep to find the confidence and strength she never knew she had." -- Marc Ashton, CEO, Foundation for Blind Children

A page-turning, informative read with a tender shoutout to service dogs.

Hinske's emotionally charged novel toggles between the storylines of a successful programmer who has gone blind and an earnest pup determined to ace his training as a guide dog.

The tale begins with first-person narration by Garth, a guide dog who is excited about being introduced to "Emily. The woman who would become everything to me." On his way to meet her, something on the carpet distracts him. "Is that a Cheeto? A Crunchy Cheeto?" he thinks. "I love Crunchy Cheetos." Flashback to Emily Main, who is in Fiji with her fiance, Connor Harrington III, for their destination wedding. They are a power couple--he's a top salesman for a large corporation; she's a lead programmer. Emily suffers from myopic degeneration, which could result in detached retinas, and a fall from horseback causes her to lose her eyesight. Emily, a fiercely independent woman, plummets into a deep depression from which she would not have recovered had it not been for Dhruv, a programmer on her team at work. Dhruv convinces her to attend classes at the Foundation for the Blind, where she confronts her fears, learning skills for living independently. Meanwhile, and separately, Garth undergoes his own rigorous instruction and struggles, including a traumatizing incident in a restaurant where he is attacked by another dog. The two narratives do not converge until the concluding chapters of the novel. Hinske rotates third-person narration of Emily's story with delightful chapters written in Garth's voice. Despite the dog's own anxieties, he provides the novel with comic relief. During a training session on navigating stairs, Garth observes a "two-legged mother" with "a mass of gray curls on top of her head" approaching, and he notes, "I've seen four-legged mothers with that hairstyle--they're called poodles." While Emily grows into a fully developed character as the story progresses, Connor remains a superficial player. But it is the persistent kindness of secondary character Dhruv that will capture readers' hearts. -- Kirkus Reviews

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B089TB2Y45
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Casa del Northern Publishing (June 7, 2020)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 7, 2020
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2184 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 330 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 1,798 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Barbara Hinske

Barbara Hinske

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

USA Today Bestselling Author

Barbara Hinske is an attorney who recently left the practice of law to pursue her career as a full-time novelist. She inherited the fiction gene from her father who wrote mysteries when he retired and told her a story every night of her childhood. Barbara is the bestselling author of the beloved Rosemont series, the Guiding Emily series, her sweet Christmas stories, and the mystery, thriller, and suspense novels in her "Who's There?" collection.

She and her husband share their own Rosemont with two adorable and spoiled dogs. She is besotted with decorating, entertaining, cooking and gardening. Now that her novel The Christmas Club has been made into a Hallmark Channel movie, she is completely star-struck and thrilled to have her work on the screen.

Praise for Coming to Rosemont:

"In a category that doesn't often feature felonious crimes as a main plot point, it's somewhat surprising to see this title -- with corruption, fraud, and arson coursing through the story -- in a list of top performers. But with enough twists and turns to hook any reader's attention, an adorable dog on the cover, and some classic women's fiction tropes, Coming To Rosemont delivered more than enough firepower to win over our readers!" BookBub's Best: Women's Fiction (#4)

"In this series opener, Hinske immerses readers in a delightful small town....The joys of the tale come from the warm relationships and the story of a woman getting a second chance at life and love." Publishers Weekly (BookLife)

You can find out more by visiting www.barbarahinske.com.

Connect via FB, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube, and check out images of Rosemont and places from the book on Pinterest.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
1,798 global ratings
Excellent description of the emotional journey of loss and the progress to receiving a Guide Dog
5 Stars
Excellent description of the emotional journey of loss and the progress to receiving a Guide Dog
I could relate to this book in several different ways, in the 70's my Mother was losing her eyesight from diabetic retinopathy, much later I became a 8 time puppy raiser for Canine Companions and recently I am the recipient of a Hearing Dog. You book really expressed the emotions and issues involved with loosing your eyesight. Back in the 70's I was lucky enough to find an organization similar to the Foundation to help my Mother accomplish everyday tasks and she was learning to use a cane. Unfortunately she passed away very young and never progressed to a Service Dog. I enjoyed your description of puppy raising from the eyes of Garth. My only issue with the puppy raising is it seemed to be portrayed as a very short and simple process. It is NOT. I raised my puppies for 18 months, we attended bi-weekly puppy classes, introduced our puppies regularly to restaurants, grocery stores, rode on busses, trains, and had excursions to malls, doctor and dentist appts. Then when the puppies went back to the "center," they went through extraordinary testing-medical, physical, emotional, etc-and addition TRAINING All of the efforts of puppy raisers and trainers is what creates the "Magic" dogs. Then during the 2-week training session for the recipients they must learn everything they need to know about handling a dog, many have never had a dog before. I think all of this could have been expressed without adding too much additional detail to the narrative.With all of this being said, I think this was an EXCELLENT book describing the journey of becoming the handler of a Guide Dog/Service Dog. I am looking forward to book 2.
Hide
Thank you for your feedback
Sorry, there was an error
Sorry we couldn't load the review

Top reviews from the United States

christine laliberte
5.0 out of 5 stars Great character development
Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2024
Verified Purchase
Loved all the characters. Wonderful story development. Enjoyed the point of view presentations. Very enjoyable series!! Hopefully there will be more than books in the series. Still have the 5th one to read.
Helpful
 Report
D Clark
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Story
Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2024
Verified Purchase
I really enjoyed reading this book. You can tell the author did a lot of research to write this story. I love that the author wrote chapters with Garth the guide dog, and what he was thinking.
This is a great start to this series! I'm looking forward to reading the next book! ,
Helpful
 Report
pjh
4.0 out of 5 stars Guiding emily
Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2023
Verified Purchase
I love books with dogs as one of the main characters. This one did not disappoint. The story flowed well and had lots of interesting details about guide dogs. Well done
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Pamela D
5.0 out of 5 stars I've read it three times and will read it again, it's that good.
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2024
Verified Purchase
Emily Main is marrying a handsome, wealthy Englishman on a beach in Fiji. She leaves her role as head programmer to her team to support and flies off to a fairytale wedding. Her myopic degeneration affects her eyesight and limits some of the activities she can participate in. When she takes a risk by going horseback riding on the beach, the results are tragic. Her new husband just doesn’t understand her situation, and a wedge is driven between them while she tries to learn to live her life as a blind person. Her friends and family come to her aid, and she makes new friends.

While Emily is learning to live as a blind person, with the help of the Foundation for Blind Children, Garth, a black labrador puppy is learning to be a guide. Their stories alternate as they each learn new skills and lifestyles.

As is typical of Barbara Hinske books, the characters are all complex with their own strengths and weaknesses. Emily’s extremely talented programmer/teammate Drhruv is handled beautifully. He is a “shy, socially awkward middle-aged man,” probably on the autism spectrum and his eccentricities are handled sympathetically without condescension. He’s Emily’s friend as well as teammate and he’s probably my favorite character. Her new husband Connor loves her but his inability to deal with Emily’s blindness is hampering their relationship and marriage. Her mother and her mother’s neighbors also play a major role in Emily’s ability to adapt to her new normal, being there for her during the highs and lows of her new life.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to its sequel. I received a copy of this book from the author, but I bought my own copy because I enjoyed it so much. I have read the book three times now and I expect to read it again, just for the pleasure. The opinion is my own.
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Phyllis Reifer
5.0 out of 5 stars What a nice story!!
Reviewed in the United States on January 9, 2024
Verified Purchase
I enjoyed this book it was a easy read about a women going blind and how she coped with, also about a seeing eye dog story from puppy to ending up with her person. It was a sweet story I enjoyed it.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Robin B.
5.0 out of 5 stars Love this book
Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2024
Verified Purchase
I loved this book. Grabbed me from the very first page and than it was hard to put down. Excellent read and super informative. Can't wait to start the next one.
Helpful
 Report
SDS
3.0 out of 5 stars Good story.
Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2021
Verified Purchase
I was really excited to read this book after hearing about it on a podcast. I have to admit I am not a fan of first person writing and when the story shifted to the thoughts of the dog it is quite jarring. There are some objects the dog clearly knows about and what they are and then in the next paragraph he’s pretending he doesn’t know what something much simpler in life around him is. I felt like some of the dialogue was not realistic and that a writer who has a movie produced from one of their other books could do better. The story itself is really great but I think the author could have fleshed out a little bit more of the story making it a little bit more realistic. I do love the fact that a portion of the proceeds are going to guide dogs for the blind. It’s not an awful book and I enjoyed it but I thought it could’ve been better written given all the hype.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Animal Lovers Delight
Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2024
Verified Purchase
This book was amazing! I loved how the book was told from two points of view, Garth and Emily's !!!
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Katherine C
5.0 out of 5 stars A dog lovers book
Reviewed in Canada on May 4, 2022
Verified Purchase
A heart warming book and one that provides insight into guide dogs and their handlers. A great read. And since the dog on the cover looks exactly like mine did, it was one more bonus.
Report
Angeline Merrick
5.0 out of 5 stars I love happy endings
Reviewed in Australia on May 30, 2022
Verified Purchase
What a heartbreaking story of a tragic accident. The new husband was less than useless, but she found her way through her blindness with dignity and a whole lot of help from a dog who was a huge help to Emily, who was still in the early stages of learning how to deal with the everyday things we take for granted. They were meant to be. Great book and well researched..
Report
Doreen Clair
5.0 out of 5 stars Guiding Emily
Reviewed in Canada on December 5, 2021
Verified Purchase
Another wonderful book and well written.I,m sure all ages would enjoy reading this book.
I look forward to the next one.
Report
bookwormkt
5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect read.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 25, 2020
Verified Purchase
I really enjoyed this novel. I have worked with pupils with a visual impairment and a great deal of it rang true. Garth is a wonderful dog and the whole system of training him and the way he works with the Emily was brilliant. I wasn’t a fan of Connor any more than Garth was - they say dogs are good judges of character!
Report
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars An emotional read
Reviewed in Australia on May 1, 2022
Verified Purchase
An amazing story told from two perspectives. Emily’s confronting experience of learning to cope with her sudden blindness and Garth’s life from a puppy to becoming a fully fledged guide dog. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
Report
Report an issue

Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report