A Big Little Life: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog by Dean Koontz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Here I am, reviewing another dog book that I loved. Beautiful written, emotional, charming, its insights about the lives of dogs in our families, and the special bond we have with them, really touched my heart. Highly recommend!
To purchase this book on Amazon, click here:
A Big Little Life: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog
We’re nearly to the end of August already, and I can hardly believe it! My husband and I have traveled a lot this spring and summer, and the time has just flown. I’ve been meaning to post photos from our trip to England and Ireland in 
May/June, and will get to that soon. In the meantime, I thought I would share some others.
Here’s one of the mares, enjoying a lovely, cool August day. It’s been such fun to ride this summer.
Back in the day, we used to raise quarter horses, and always had broodmares and young stock but nothing to ride. Now we just have three–all quiet, well broke mares who are enjoyable to ride, but even if there isn’t time for that, it’s such a joy to simply look at them, and to do my barn chores. Winston Churchill is credited with saying, “There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.” He was so right! It just does my heart good to look outside and see my girls. Last week we got our second cutting of hay into the barn, so now we are set for winter–and that is a wonderful feeling, too!
When not playing with the horses, I’m in my office writing. But now and then, I get away–and last weekend was wonderful! The Blue Belle Inn in St 
Ansgar, Iowa is the most beautiful B&B I’ve ever seen. Innkeeper Sherrie Decker is also a writer, and she plans writer retreats every other year.
Oh, my. The food is always wonderful, the setting is gorgeous, and the room are utterly charming. Check out her website at www.bluebelleinn.com and see what I mean! This year four of us were speakers: Lyn Cote (in blue), Erica Vetsch (in plaid), Mary Connealy (in red, upper right) and me (in the baggy white shirt. Which was clearly a fashion mistake!) Then again, I spend most of my time in jeans, boots and T’s, so I suppose anything is an improvement. 🙂 The weekend was extra-special because my daughter was able to come along once again. She’s in her last year of grad school, but is also an aspiring author and is half-way through writing her second book.
But now, we’re all back home and it’s time for me to get back to work…no more socializing with other writers for me until the Novelist’s Inc conference in October!
So…what were the highlights of your summer? I’d love to hear from you!
Happy Trails,
Roxanne
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
As you can probably tell from my blog, I adore animals. We’ve had plenty of them at our house–a wide variety–and still have horses, a happy group of fat barn cats, a dog, and we’re now looking for another shelter dog to adopt. Animals often play a part in the books I write.
So when I come across a truly special, unique book like this one, I’m so thrilled! I don’t know how I missed this best seller when it was first released, but recently ran across mention of it in an article, and I ordered it right away. I highly recommend this book. Touching, poignant, funny–sometimes hilarious, as it is told through the dog’s point of view–it also made me cry, and the ending was so perfect, so sweet, that it took my breath away. Definitely a keeper!
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To purchase, click here to go to Amazon: The Art of Racing in the Rain: A Novel
Guest blog by Genie Gabriel, author
I’ve always loved dogs. Fur against my face and the soft smell of a dog curled protectively around me existed before my first memories of this life. My mom tells stories of me as a toddler, sleeping with my head pillowed on our Collie’s belly.
After I graduated from high school, I moved to the city to claim a job and my own life. For about a year I moved from apartment to apartment, rediscovering my life wasn’t complete without a dog. My search for furry companions found results in a variety of sources–a neighbor’s litter of puppies, a stray dog my parents found and, finally, I discovered shelter dogs.
My first shelter dog was a Border Collie. His golden eyes mesmerized me, and I knew instantly he was smarter than most people. However, my heart ached because I couldn’t take every dog home with me.
Over a progression of many years, I volunteered at the shelter, became an employee at the shelter, and even tried being a doggie foster parent.
My greatest strength and biggest challenge was becoming emotionally attached. Sounds like writing a character in a book, doesn’t it? Loving a dog was easy. Then came the tough part. Letting my foster babies go brought many tears and prayers their new families would keep them furever.
After I realized fostering wasn’t a good fit for me, the Universe showed me another way I could help–by taking dogs who would have otherwise been euthanized.
This included a Cocker Spaniel I renamed Rascal. He had been adopted, then brought back to the shelter for biting. I saw him when he was returned to the shelter–he snapped at our intake worker. After a day in the shelter, he settled into being a happy dog again. Then I realized he really was the same dog I had connected with months earlier when I picked him up from his neuter appointment.
However, with his history of biting, his chances of being adopted were slim to nothing. He had three paws in the euthanasia room when I asked the kennel manager to give me a few days with him.
From the first night, he slept on my pillow. Though he got along well with the other dogs, he was terrified of most everything, and it was obvious he had been abused. When he became terrified, he started wildly snapping at everything and nothing.
However, it wasn’t me who helped him the most, but one of my other dogs, a Shepherd/Lab mix. Whenever Rascal panicked and started snapping, Stewart stood over him and put him in a head-lock between his front legs. In that position, Rascal couldn’t hurt anyone and finally wore himself out and realized he had nothing to fear but his memories.
Though it took a bit of time, Rascal gradually became one of my most mellow dogs. He’s now been part of our pack for over five years and is featured in my latest romantic comedy novella, NO MORE POODLE SKIRTS.
So what’s my next doggie adventure? I’m currently writing a nonfiction book about my life with dogs that I plan to self publish. I’m hoping it will sell well enough to help fund some acreage for an expanded dog sanctuary where my furbabies can chase smells all day, then enjoy a home-cooked meal before settling in front of the fireplace for a nap.
Do your dreams include dogs?
And here’s her new book release!!
To purchase, click here. No More Poodle Skirts
After drifting for years in the innocent age of the 1950s, a woman struggles to join today’s world by finding a career and a new love, with some help from her zany family.
Guest blog by Julianna Deering
I will never forget the first time I saw little Elizabeth. She and her brother and sister had been born just a few days before, and even for new kittens they were especially tiny. They were living in a barn and it was getting to be the hottest part of the summer, and in Texas that means really hot. When the people who owned the place decided they needed to give the kittens away, I knew I had to have Elizabeth.
She was only 4 ½ weeks old then, and still very tiny. I knew I would have to bottle feed her until she was old enough to eat kitten food. I also realized that she didn’t want to be left alone even for a moment. If I wasn’t holding her or letting her sleep on me, she would shriek! So unless I was feeding her, I let her sleep in my t-shirt pocket.
When she got too big for a regular pocket, I took an old t-shirt and cut off everything but the front and the collar. Then I folded the bottom of the front up and sewed along each side, making a bigger pocket that I could wear around my neck. Little Elizabeth slept in that quite happily until she was about eight weeks old. Then, quite abruptly, she decided she was a big girl and didn’t want to sleep in it anymore.
I rather missed having my baby always there, warm against my heart, but I suppose they all grow up. She’s three years old now and still tiny. She’s not my little pocket wocket anymore, but she does cuddle up close to me when we sleep, and that’s a fine thing. I don’t know what I would do without her.
RULES of MURDERFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJuliannaDeering
Guest blogger Margaret Daley
Actually more than dogs are special. I love animals, but today I’m going to write about dogs because I started a Love Inspired series called Caring Canines. The first book is out in August called Healing Hearts. The second book in the series will be out in December called Her Holiday Hero.
In Healing Hearts I use a black Lab and a bichon as therapy dogs. The black Lab, Gabe, helped the heroine, Abbey Harris, deal with the grief of losing her daughter and her husband divorcing her. The bichon, Cottonballs, helps Madi, the hero’s little sister who had been in a place wreck and lost her parents. Not only does Cottonballs help her with her grief but also she is there to help the little girl focus on her physical therapy when she wants to retreat into her shell.
While researching this book and Her Holiday Hero about a vet with PTSD, I was in awe with the types tasks therapy and service dogs can be trained to do. With my vet with PTSD, trained service dogs can wake a person up before a nightmare gets into full swing. They can calm a person down with their presence and sharp sense something is wrong and step in right away. They can sense when a panic attack is going to occur and try to calm the person down.
Working as a teacher of students with special needs, I encountered a couple of service dogs. One named Franklin helped a student who was in a wheelchair while another was involved with a blind student.
Have you ever encountered a therapy or service dog? Do you have a dog? What is your favorite breed? I used to have a bichon named Cottonballs. Wonderful, loving dog. Perfect to help a little girl, hurting.
by guest blogger Vickie McDonough
For as long as I can remember, I have always loved horses. I grew up in the city, but I watched the cowboy shows of the 1960s with my dad, and fell in love with all things western. I read every horse book I could find. I even talked my parents into buying me a horse.
We lived one block away from the city line, so I was able to board my horse just two blocks from home. During the summer and after school, I’d walked over to the pasture to feed and ride Buddy Boy. He
was a beautiful bay gelding with black fetlocks and a white diamond on his forehead.
On days when it rained or I had a lot of homework and couldn’t go to the pasture until later, Dad would drive me. I usually fed Buddy, but I remember one time that Dad did. My big, strong Dad was scared of horses, and it was a bit comical to watch him dancing around Buddy, trying to keep away from him. One evening, Dad took the feed into Buddy’s stall and dumped it in the bin. What he didn’t know was that Buddy had followed him in, but for some reason, the horse spun around and faced out. When Dad pivoted around to leave, he was looking straight at Buddy’s rear end. It freaked out my dad so much that he yelled and swung the bucket in the air. Buddy jumped and took off running. After I got over the initial shock, I nearly busted a gut, laughing.
I realized later how fortunate my dad was that Buddy didn’t kick him when he yelled. I still thank God that that didn’t happen. As a writer, I look back at those days of riding my horse all over our side of town. They are special memories, and I know that owning not one, but several horses over three years helped prepare me to be able to write about them. Even when I was not yet a teen, God was guiding me to things that would help me in my writing career. And He’ll do the same for you—guide you along the path He’s set up for you—if you only listen and follow His direction. Don’t be afraid to step out and say yes, if He asks you to do something hard. You may be surprised where He will lead you.
And here’s some news about her newest book release!
Whispers on the Prairie
Publisher: Whitaker House
Release date: July 1, 2013
A City Girl Far from Home…
Sarah Marshall just wants to go home. It wasn’t her idea to leave Chicago and head west, but her uncle’s ambition left her no choice. Neither was her intention to settle in Kansas with her ailing aunt, but being penniless and without possessions brings little bargaining power. Pretty soon, she resigns herself to her fate, however unfortunate. It isn’t as if she has a home to go back to.
A Country Boy Seeking to Right a Wrong…
Ethan Harper, the youngest of three brothers, enjoys a peaceful existence helping run his family’s stage shop along the Santa Fe Trail. Only one cloud continues to darken his horizon—guilt over the tragic death of his oldest brother’s wife. The only acceptable penance Ethan can think of is finding another woman to marry his brother and help raise Aaron’s motherless children.
A Match so Incompatible, It Just Might Work…
When a series of misfortunes strands Sarah Marshall and her aunt at Harpers’ Stage Stop, the status quo is overthrown as the presence of an attractive young woman, however unversed in the ways of prairie living, wreaks havoc on the lives of the Harper brothers, all three of them vying for her attention. But will any of them prove himself worth giving up the life Sarah always dreamed of?
“Vickie McDonough has created a wealth of intriguing characters in this heartwarming tale of brotherly conflict and family loyalties set on the Kansas plains. Combining just the right amount of romance, faith and honest emotions, Ms. McDonough has penned another winner that you won’t want to put down.” Bestselling author Margaret Brownley, Dawn Comes Early, Waiting for Morning & Gunpowder Tea
Website: www.vickiemcdonough.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/VickieMcDonough
Vickie is starting an email mailing list for readers who’d like to keep up with her book news. If you’d like to be on it, please visit her website, and you’ll find a link to the sign-up page on the Home page.
Do you have any questions or comments for Vickie? Post them here, and she’ll be sure to answer!
Celebrities at the Buffalo Zoo: Luna and Kali
By guest blogger Alison Stone
On May 31st, I had the pleasure of chaperoning my 8 year-old daughter’s class trip to the Buffalo Zoo. When we arrived, each group was free to explore. The other mom who had volunteered to chaperone had insisted we find Luna, a polar bear cub, right away. We had been warned that Luna was only out for limited viewing. So while all the other kids and their chaperones stopped to admire the elephants and the anteaters, we weaved through the zoo and found the exhibit in a far corner.
Much to our delight, both Luna and Kali, polar bear cubs, were out playing. Other than the zoo employees, we were the only ones there. I snapped a few photos of the frolicking polar bear cubs and their smiling visitors. Little did I know, I had just photographed the most famous residents of the Buffalo Zoo.
And perhaps the most famous polar bear cubs in the United States.
The very next night, I turned on NBC Nightly News to hear Lester Holt talking about the “unbearably cute” debut of 
Luna and Kali playing together! These two cubs had only been introduced to one another that week. Luna had been born in captivity at the Buffalo Zoo and Kali was sent via UPS from Alaska after a hunter killed his mother. Kali was shipped to Buffalo and arrived on May 15th so he could have a polar bear buddy.
The Buffalo Zoo is currently raising funds to build a more permanent habitat for its most popular residents. From what I understand, Kali will eventually be moved for mating purposes. Hopefully, Luna will have a long stay at our zoo.
I grew up in Buffalo and I think I’ve taken our zoo for granted. The story of Luna and her new buddy, Kali, have brought attention to polar bears not only at the Buffalo Zoo, but in the wild. The Buffalo Zoo continues to educate its visitors, including how climate change affects animals in the wild. Perhaps through education, we’ll change our behaviors to protect all God’s creatures.
I definitely plan to sign up for a Buffalo Zoo membership. I want to take my daughter to the zoo often so we can keep track of Luna and Kali’s growth.
Do you have any local zoos, nature preserves, or wildlife centers in your area? Have you visited them lately? I’d love to hear from you in the comments section.
To one random person who comments, I’ll give an eBook copy of my latest release, Plain Pursuit, from either Amazon or Barnes and Noble. (US Residents only)
Check out the link to NBC Nightly News footage of Luna and Kali: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/52070467/#52070467
More information on Buffalo Zoo: http://www.buffalozoo.org/
BIO: Alison Stone left snowy Buffalo, New York and headed a thousand miles south to earn an industrial engineering degree at Georgia Tech in Hotlanta. Go Yellow Jackets! She loved the South, but true love brought her back North.
After the birth of her second child, Alison left Corporate America for full-time motherhood. She credits an advertisement for writing children’s books for sparking her interest in writing. She never did complete a children’s book, but she did have success writing articles for local publications before finding her true calling, writing romantic suspense.
Alison lives in Western New York with her husband of twenty years and their four children where the summers are absolutely gorgeous and the winters are perfect for curling up with a good book–or writing one.
Random Acts and Too Close to Home were released by Samhain Publishing in 2012. Plain Pursuit, a Harlequin Love inspired Suspense, is available now.
Besides writing, Alison keeps busy volunteering at her children’s schools, driving her girls to dance, and watching her boys race motocross.
Find Alison at the following sites:
Website: http://www.alisonstone.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlisonStoneAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Alison_Stone
Blog: http://alisonstone.wordpress.com/
Plain Pursuit:
Danger in Amish Country
When her brother is killed in a small Amish town, Anna Quinn discovers she’s an unwelcome outsider. But the FBI agent investigating the case is right at home—because Eli Miller was born and raised in Apple Creek’s Plain community. Eli left his Amish faith behind long ago, but his heart is rooted in a local cold case he can’t forget—a mystery with strange connections to Anna’s loss. Desperate to uncover the truth, Anna and Eli are faced with stony silences and secrets…secrets that someone wants to keep buried in the past.
Copyright © 2013 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited
Cover Art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited
by guest blogger Leigh Bale
Read on to the end, for a chance in a drawing for a FREE BOOK!
Howdy from Nevada! Today, I’d like to chat about wild mustangs. I have a new book available from Harlequin Love Inspired titled HEALING THE FOREST RANGER. The story is centered around the wild horses that live and run free here in Nevada. I’ve tried to tackle a very difficult issue about whether or not the wild horses should be rounded up and moved off the land when they become too numerous to support their herds with food and water. The heroine is a forest ranger who loves the horses, but views this dilemma from an ecological perspective. The hero is a medical doctor and former prisoner of war and a wild horse advocate who thinks the mustangs should be left alone. The horses serve as a metaphor for the struggles the main characters are dealing with in their personal lives. A very poignant read I hope you’ll enjoy.
My father is a retired U.S. forest ranger. When I was young, he’d take me with him to go out and check on “his wild horses,” as he called them. The picture below shows the mustangs living around Cherry Creek, Nevada. One time, we got between the stallion and his herd of mares. He was furious with us. He screamed, reared, and charged the truck. I was very glad to be safely inside with metal doors to protect me. We quickly moved out of the way, but I’ll never forget the wild beauty of that stallion. The opening scene to my new book is based on that encounter.
Did you know you can adopt a wild horse? The Bureau of Land Management can assist you with this endeavor. If you aren’t able to adopt, you can get involved in many other ways. Check out their website for more information.
That said, I’d like to randomly give away several copies of this heart-warming new book today. What is your favorite color for a horse? Have you ever ridden a horse before? Do you own a horse? Do you like horses? (There is no right or wrong answer to these questions.) 🙂
Here’s a link to the BLM’s wild horse adoption program:
http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/whbprogram.html
And here is Leigh’s latest book!
Healing the Forest Ranger
Love Inspired Books
Leigh Bale
Rancher to the Rescue ~ When a wild mustang threatens someone’s life, rancher Cade Baldwin springs into action. But he’s not pleased when he sees the beautiful woman he’s saved is the town’s new forest ranger. Lyn Warner is determined to round up the wild horses Cade loves so much. But she’s also the woman who makes him smile like no one else. After her husband died in a car crash, Lyn turned her back on her beliefs and focused all her attention on her injured daughter. But Cade’s strong faith and steady love might be exactly what they all need to create an unbreakable family.
Leave a comment or a question for Leigh, and you’ll be automatically entered in a drawing for a copy of her new book!!
Guest blogger Collette Cameron
I’m a dog lover—have been one my whole life. I literally cannot remember a time I have not had at least one dog sleeping with me. I’ve a particular fondness for dachshunds—I currently have five.Now, I adore my doxies, all of them, but there was one who died last October after eating a dried apple wrapped chicken jerky treat that connected with me in a way only one other dog ever has. That dog was also a dachshund.
Kiki was supposed to be my daughter’s dog, but as puppies and dogs sometimes do, especially doxies, she decided who she was going to belong to. And that was me. She was so trusting, at times I feared for her. She had absolute faith in me. She’d be sitting up on her hind quarters on the sofa arm, and if I put my hands out, she’d fall backwards into them.
If I had a bad dream, Kiki always knew, and she would crawl out of the covers and lay her head across my neck to comfort me. She was happiest lying on her back in my lap or trying to give me kisses. Kiki acquired the moniker “Mama” after delivering three litters of puppies. I was with her during each birth (each on my bed) and she’d gaze into my eyes, with her sweet chestnut colored ones, trusting me to help her. Her last birthing was terrifying; two breach pups and one I had to revive, literally mouth to snout. To the vet she went. I couldn’t endure another birthing. Kiki was so attached to me, that she was torn between sleeping with me at night, and staying with her newborn puppies. My solution? To put the pups’ bed on mine.
Hubby spent a few weeks on the couch, bless his heart.
Kiki was a “fluffy” dog, and I shared many giggles with my family when she’d sit up and her rolls of fat stacked up on her bum and back. Hey, you have ten babies and see if your girlish figure returns!
I rescued a mini dachshund puppy from a puppy mill last November, one month after Kiki died. Ayva is adorable but her personality is entirely different than Kiki Mama’s. I’m glad. As much as I love the Ayvagator as we call her, Kiki has a special niche in my heart. She’s been gone five months now. I have her picture on my refrigerator, so I can see her sweet face every day. We buried her in our backyard, and I planted tulips and a rose on her grave. Yes, she has a headstone. I still tear-up thinking about her. I told my daughter the measure of our grief when we lose a loved one is in direct proportion to how much they loved us, not by how much we loved them.
I’d like to add a word of caution to any other dog owners out there. Please do not feed your dog any kind of chicken jerky treat. The chicken comes from China and is known to be contaminated with toxins, but until the FDA determines exactly what the contaminate is, it won’t remove the dog treats from the market. I have legislatures in my state pursuing this, and they have contacted people in Washington D.C. Don’t take my word for it. Do an Internet search and look for dog treat poisonings. At last count, over 1000 dogs had died and thousands more had become ill from eating the contaminated treats.
And here is Collette’s new book release– Highlander’s Hope
Not a day has gone by that Ewan McTavish, the Viscount Sethwick, hasn’t dreamed of the beauty he danced with two years ago. He’s determined to win her heart and make her his own. Heiress, Yvette Stapleton, is certain of one thing; marriage is risky and, therefore, to be avoided. At first, she doesn’t recognize the dangerously handsome man who rescues her from assailants on London’s docks, but Lord Sethwick’s passionate kisses soon have her reconsidering her cynical views on matrimony. On a mission to stop a War Office traitor, Ewan draws Yvette into deadly international intrigue. To protect her, he exploits Scottish law, declaring her his lawful wife—without benefit of a ceremony. Yvette is furious upon discovering the irregular marriage is legally binding, though she never said, “I do.” Will Ewan’s manipulation cost him her newfound love?
Book URL: http://smpauthors.wordpress.com/meet-collette-cameron/highlanders-hope-by-collette-cameron/
This is not a “buy” link.
Collette’s Links:
Web site: http://collettecameron.com/
Blog: http://www.blueroseromance.com/
Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/collettecameronauthor
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/collette.cameron.5
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Collette_Author
Google+: https://plus.google.com/?gpsrc=gplp0
Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/collette-cameron
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/colletteauthor/
Soul Mate Publishing Author’s Blog: http://smpauthors.wordpress.com/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/13595899-collette-cameron
