Hero in Her Heart

Nolie Lang is determined to get a grant for her program for training service dogs. In order to prove her program worthy, the charity potentially funding the grant has picked a candidate to prove Nolie's program works - injured firefighter Gabriel (Gabe) Flanagan. As soon as Nolie meets Gabe, however, it's very obvious to her that she;s going to have a fight on her hands - Gabe doesn;t want to even acknowledge that he has a problem. But Nolie's determined to fight - and win - for the sake of her program, whether Gabe likes it or not!Gabe Flanagan could only groan when he realized that he was going to work with this plain Jane to improve a problem that he believes doesn't exist anymore. As Gabe gets to know Nolie, though, he realizes that she's not a plain Jane at all - and the heart she has for animals and children is incredible. Nolie continues to hold herself back from most adult interaction, preferring to spend most of her time alone on her farm for abandoned animals. He's feeling things for Nolie, though, that he can't explain, and he know she's feeling the same way. Can these two injured people be healed through love?I loved the character of Nolie - although deeply wounded from her childhood, she still persevered and didn't let her bad experiences defeat her. She's the perfect counterpart for Gabe, because he refuses to face the problems that threaten his beloved career, and Nolie has faced her demons and tried to move on as best as she can. They both helped one another, and that is what I enjoyed the most about this book. Although a Christian book, I think anyone who likes clean reading can enjoy this book. I have always liked Marta Perry's books, and this book was as good as the rest! Even better, this book is the first in the series 'The Flanagans,' so be watching for more books involving the Flanagan family!