The Gift: To Protect and Serve, Book 1

by Anne Perreault, Lisa Lynn Sandlin (Narrator)

God opens doors, but it’s up to us to walk through them.

Dakota Taylor is stuck in a rut. Her dead-end job as a manager of a pizza place is unchallenging, she gets dumped by her obnoxious boyfriend and feels completely unloved by her family. That all changes in an instant when God steps into her life.

On the way home from a late shift, Dakota finds herself in a terrifying situation. Thankfully, two Boston police officers out on patrol come to her rescue and see her home safely. Dakota is certain that their paths will never cross again. She couldn’t be more wrong.

Shane Donavan likes his job as a Boston police officer. He’s thrown for a loop when he’s assigned to train a rookie but soon begins to appreciate his new partner’s sharp intellect and wit, especially when Shane finds himself staring at the wrong end of the barrel.

As a friendship develops between Dakota and Shane, Dakota accepts his invitation to participate in a weekend scavenger hunt. Shane quickly discovers that stakes are higher than merely lounging by the pool or fishing by the lake.

Will God turn this opportunity into something that will change Dakota and Shane’s lives forever?

Anne Perreault 2021, All Rights Reserved

Audible Audio

Published September 8, 2025

About the author

Anne Perreault was born and raised in Germany. Her family moved to a very obscure city in the Middle East by the name of Dubai, where she spent the next ten years on and off. During this time, she discovered her passion for ice skating, trained, rode, and fell off high spirited Arabian horses, and collected an assortment of stray cats that found their way into their yard. She attended an American boarding school in Austria. After graduating, she moved to England for a year to start her college education. After meeting her husband, she moved to the US and finished her undergraduate degree in Biology in NH. The couple married and moved to CT to start a family. During the next fifteen years, Anne was busy raising three wonderful children, teaching horseback riding, homeschooling her kids, starting a therapeutic riding center with a group of church friends after becoming a certified instructor, and gaining her masters in teaching secondary education. Because she wasn't busy enough and didn't have enough going on, she prayed for an adventure. God stirred the pot of her comfortable life by first sending her husband to Iraq for two years. After his return, the family moved to VT where they are building a little house in the woods together. Anne started writing late in life when she heard God's suggestion. It took a while to obey but she's enjoyed writing stories that point that God cares, that He is available for anyone - no matter what they have done.

Reviews

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book when I read it and decided listening was a must do. I'm glad I did. The narrator did a great job bringing this story to life.