"This award means so much to me because I am working very hard to raise awareness for special needs pets,” Preston commented. “With this award, this will just help raise the bar to this cause. Special needs pets are a true gift from God and it is an honor to have a special needs pet in one's life. The life lessons and values they teach us are priceless. In fact, this goes for any special needs, whether human or pet. It is an honor and a gift to be part of their lives.”

The Readers Favorite Awards were created by Debra Gaynor to provide readers and authors with a resource for free quality reviews and to offer authors the opportunity to obtain more recognition and exposure through an annual contest.

On a scale of one to five, judges gave Real Dogs Don’t Whisper fives on every category in which it was judged, including appearance (which includes the cover, construction, chapter headings, illustrations and table of contents); plot (which includes concept, characters and originality); development (which includes description, dialogue, creativity, organization, length, fluidity and coherence); formatting (which includes editing, proofreading and layout); marketability (theme, subject matter, size of target and audience); and overall opinion.

“This story is not one you can put down for long,” one judge wrote in his review. “The horror stories Kelly tells will break your heart, and make you wonder how any human being could be so cruel. The love stories Kelly tells will warm your heart, and make you wonder why every human being cannot have the same love and respect for animals. This story is funny yet sad, heart-warming yet heart-breaking, filled with love and yet filled with cruelty.”

The Readers Favorite Award is just the latest in a string of awards for Preston. This year alone, Real Dogs Don’t Whisper received a Global Ebook Award and was named a finalist in the International Book Awards and the National Indie Excellence Awards. It also received Sponsor Choice Award from the National Indie Excellence Awards. Additionally, Preston’s newsletter, Mr. MaGoo’s Corner, received an All-Star Award from Constant Contact.

“It continues to be very gratifying, all these awards,” commented Jerry Pane, who has been an editor for Preston, polishing her prose, serving as a sounding board and making sure the work is consistent throughout. “A lot of people are up for these awards, [creating] some very tough competition. I think what separates Kelly's book is its unique approach of looking at pet ownership from not only a person's perspective, but from a pet's perspective. It enables Kelly to cover some rather serious subject matter but to balance it with some good comic relief. It's very creative and obviously we've struck just the right cord with readers.”

About Real Dogs Don't Whisper:

Real Dogs Don't Whisper: Life Lessons from a Larger than Life Dog is the story of Kelly Preston and her experiences with her special needs dogs and how they have learned, grown and thrived together. The narrative is at times tear-jerking, at times hysterical, and always enthralling. Real Dogs Don't Whisper is more than a book about dogs, it's a book about life.