Home to Stay - Book Club Questions

Home to Stay, book four in the San Diego K-9 Unit series, by Kate James, Harlequin Heartwarming, ISBN-13: 978-0373368433

If your book club or reading group selects Home to Stay, I would be delighted to schedule a phone call or a Skype call with your group to discuss the book. Please email me at readers@kate-james.com to arrange it.

Book Club Questions

1.    What are the major themes of this story?

2.    How do Sawyer’s and Shannon’s pasts influence their present?

3.    Do you feel that, as adults, Shannon and Sawyer have dealt with their respective losses in a constructive way?

4.    Shannon works in a field that is still largely male dominated. Justifiably, there are minimum standards for health and fitness that must be met. How important do you think on balance physical attributes (such as strength, speed and size) are for law-enforcement professionals to be optimally effective at their jobs versus intelligence, tact, diplomacy and/or compassion?

5.    In Home to Stay the hero, Sawyer Evans, must deal with the horrific situation of his young son disappearing. How do you feel about this subject matter being an integral part of the plot for a Heartwarming book?

6.    Did you consider Sawyer’s behavior credible under the circumstances?

7.    The Stockholm syndrome is a condition that causes hostages and kidnap victims to develop strong emotional ties to their captors as a survival strategy during captivity. In Sawyer’s place, how would you feel about your young son’s emotional attachment to his captor?

8.    How do you feel about Shannon’s breech of protocol in reaching out to Sawyer on a personal level?

9.    Are there scenes in Home to Stay that evoked a strong emotional reaction in you? If so, which where they and why? Did you find the most emotional scenes distressing or satisfying?

10.    Did you find the ending of the story satisfying? Can you think of a different ending?

Happy reading!

Sanctuary Cove - Book Club Questions

Sanctuary Cove, by Kate James, Harlequin Heartwarming, ISBN-13: 978-0-373-36827-3

If your book club or reading group selects Sanctuary Cove, I would be delighted to schedule a phone call or a Skype call with your group to discuss the book. Please email me at readers@kate-james.com to arrange it.

Book Club Questions

1.    How do you feel about Emma’s conviction to not continue with her assignment with the senator? Can you think of another way she could have handled the situation in a manner that would not have caused her to compromise her integrity but wouldn’t have cost her her job?

2.    Have you faced a situation where sticking to your principles either came at a personal cost or easily could have? If so, how did you handle it?

3.    Sadly, we regularly hear in the news about corruption, whether political or corporate. How rampant do you think corruption is in politics or business and why?

4.   Do you believe there’s truth to the saying that power corrupts?

5.   Both Josh and Emma love animals but, unlike Josh, Emma could never have been a veterinarian, because she becomes too emotionally invested with sick or dying animal. Do you think you could make a good veterinarian and why? Would you be able to maintain an emotional detachment when necessary?

6.    Service dogs have been proven to be effective at helping people with a wide range of ailments from sensing seizures before they occur to detecting cancer earlier than technology can to helping the blind navigate or helping people with post-traumatic stress disorder cope. What are your views on the use of service dogs?

7.    Studies show that 39 percent of women have suffered some form of psychological abuse. Emma, a strong, capable woman, was a victim of such abuse and didn’t realize it. Discuss how this is possible and what support systems are available to a person to help them extricate themselves from a harmful relationship.

8.    Even without Josh in the picture, Emma would have chosen to live in Sanctuary Cove rather than New York City. Would you chose a small town or a big city, and why?

9. Are there scenes in Sanctuary Cove that evoked a strong emotional reaction in you? If so, which where they and why? Did you find these scenes satisfying?

10. Did you find the ending of the story satisfying? Can you think of a different ending?

Happy reading!

When I Found You - Book Club Questions

When I Found You, by Kate James, Harlequin Heartwarming, ISBN-10: 037336797X, ISBN-13: 978-0373367979

If your book club or reading group selects When I Found You, I would be delighted to schedule a phone call or a Skype call with your group to discuss the book. Please email me at readers@kate-james.com to arrange it.

Book Club Questions

1.    What are the major themes of this story?

2.    I discovered through my research that K-9 officers have some of the most dangerous jobs in law enforcement. By extension, so do their dogs. In part, this is a function of how the dogs work to be effective, not allowing for many of the precautions that would be taken by a tactical team, for example. What are your thoughts about using K-9 versus tactical teams in high-risk situations?

3.    Ariana works in a field that is still largely male dominated. Although the gap with respect to gender balance has been closed or narrowed for many professions, there are others for which it has not. What are some of these professions? Can you think of reasons why gaps in those professions might still exist?

4.    Logan was reluctant to get involved in a committed relationship because of his observations about how being married to a police officer impacted his mother. Do you believe his mother’s reaction was credible? Even if so, was Logan’s view on relationships/marriage understandable? If your spouse has a high-risk occupation, how do you handle it? If not, how do you think you would handle it?

5.    Sadly, terrorism is in the news much too often these days. Social media has dramatically changed the process of radicalizing youth and recruiting home-grown terrorists. It’s been said by government officials that certain Facebook posts can attract a response from a terrorist cell member in as little as twenty minutes. What are your thoughts about the prevalence of social media and the extent to which young people use it today? How comfortable are you with your children’s social media activities? Do you monitor their activities and, if so, how effective do you think your monitoring efforts are?

6.    Do Logan and Ariana change through the story? If so, how are they different at the end? Do they help each other change or are the changes caused by external influences, or both?

7.    Are there scenes in the story that evoked a strong emotional reaction in you, either happy or sad? If so, which where they and why? Did you find these scenes satisfying?

8.    Did you find the ending of the story satisfying? Can you think of a different ending?

9.    If you’ve read all three books in the trilogy, which K-9 unit officer appealed to you most (Cal Palmer, Rick Vasquez or Logan O’Connor) and why?

Happy reading!

When Love Matters Most - Book Club Questions

When Love Matters Most, by Kate James, Harlequin Heartwarming, ISBN-10: 0373367716

If your book club or reading group selects When Love Matters Most, I would be delighted to schedule a phone call or a Skype call with your group to discuss the book. Please email me at readers@kate-james.com to arrange it.

Book Club Questions

1.    How do the characters’ pasts influence their present? Do you feel that, as adults, Rick and Madison have dealt with their childhood experiences constructively?

2.    What are the major themes of this story?

3.    Government immigration and refugee policies have taken on a heightened level of political and public interest since the tragic events in Paris. What are your views on immigration policies and refugee asylum?

4.    One of the themes of When Love Matters Most is the war against drug trafficking, and the violence and other criminal activities that often result. Do you believe that legalizing certain drugs, such as the Canadian government plans to with marijuana, will have an impact—either positive or negative—on the criminal element involved in drug trafficking? Are you supportive of legalizing drugs for medicinal purposes?

5.    K-9 handlers have one of the most dangerous jobs in police services and by extension so do their dogs. How do you feel about the use of canines for high-risk police operations?

6.    Madison chose to move away from her family and friends to pursue her career. Would you do that?

7.    Veterinarians do so much good for animals, but they can’t save every creature they treat. If you were a veterinarian, would you be able deal with the loss of an animal and, if so, how? 

8.    Based on his background, do you think Rick can be effective and impartial in his work? Is the law black and white in your opinion? Are there any gray areas? Is Rick right to ignore the letter of the law to do what he considers the right thing? Should he be held to a higher (or different) standard as a police officer?

9.    Do Rick and Madison change through the story? If so, how are they different at the end? Do they help each other change or are the changes caused by external influences, or both?

10. Are there scenes in the story that evoked a strong emotional reaction in you? If so, which where they and why? Did you find these scenes satisfying?

11. Did you find the ending of the story satisfying? Can you think of a different ending?

Happy reading!