Today features two fabulous authors, Jennifer Probst and Beth Yarnall. Both share touching stories about how they met their "one" puppy love. Make sure to check out Beth's contest. She's got a fun giveaway.
When my husband and I were engaged, we decided to get a dog from
the rescue shelter. We decided on an adult dog, already housetrained, well behaved,
with a mellow personality. We met a few dogs at the shelter but didn't click.
The manager told us a new litter of puppies had just come in, and did we want
to take a look? We agreed, though we were doubtful. They placed the runt of the
litter in my arms. She was part hound dog, part shepherd, with a beautiful face
and a nervous tick. She shook violently as I held her, overcome with nerves,
and proceeded to vomit all over my shoulder.
I told my husband we had found the one.
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| Jennifer Probst's pup Bella. |
We named her Bella and she became the bane of our existence. She
made Marley look like he'd graduated with honors from dog school. She was a bit
more manipulative than Marley though. When we took her to dog training, she
immediately fell into line and the teacher adored her, calling her brilliant.
As soon as we got her home, she laughed in our faces and peed right on the
carpet in punishment for making her go through doggie school. She graduated
technically, but failed literally.
Bella is nine years old now. She still chews and steals the
kids' stuffed animals. Punishes us when we go away and need to board her.
Steals food, raids the garbage, chews tissues, wrecks pillows, and proceeds
with her life like she's still a toddler.
But we love her, and she was our first child. My husband and I
say all the time when she slows down, we'll be devastated, because this little
flame of life has given us excitement, drama, chaos, and tons and tons of love.
I wish all of you the same with your rescue dogs!
Jen
Bio: Jennifer Probst wrote her first book at twelve years old. She
bound it in a folder, read it to her classmates, and hasn’t stopped writing
since. She took a short hiatus to get married, get pregnant, buy a house, get
pregnant again, pursue a master’s in English Literature, and rescue two shelter
dogs. Now she is writing again.
She makes her home in Upstate New York with the whole crew. Her
sons, one 5 and one 7, keep her active, stressed, joyous, and sad her house
will never be truly clean.
She is the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal
bestselling author of both sexy and erotic contemporary romance including The
Marriage Bargain, The Marriage Trap, and The Marriage Mistake. She has been
published with Gallery, Entangled, Decadent, The Wild Rose Press, and Red Sage
Publishing. She has also written a children's book, Buffy and the Carrot,
co-written with her niece, along with a short story about a shelter dog,
"A Life Worth Living." Look for her upcoming releases, All the Way,
coming March 2013, and The Marriage Merger in July 2013. All of her books are
available at her website.
Promoting the book ALL THE WAY
Released March 4, 2012
Tagline: Revenge is a dish best served HOT...
Blurb:
Miranda Storme
never expected to see Gavin Luciano again. Three years ago, he bolted. Now he’s
back, and Miranda has the pleasure of a little professional payback: a scathing
review of his restaurant! With three months to turn the fortunes of his
family’s struggling Italian restaurant, a bad review is Gavin’s worst
nightmare. He’s determined to spend the next eight weeks proving himself to her
in the kitchen… and in the bedroom!
Available
via Amazon and other Online retailers.
* * * *
Who's Nicolai?
I
made the rounds of cages in the no kill shelter, peering into each one. So many
dogs looking for a home. I could tell the ones that had been there the longest.
They’d run to the front of the cage as I walked by, begging for a treat from
the dispenser outside their cage. They didn’t care about me, only the treats.
They knew the drill. Why get your hopes up?
 |
| Beth's boy Nicolai |
I’d
feed one or two, looking for something, I don’t know, something in their eyes,
something to tell me ‘this is my dog.’ As I’d move on, the dogs would go back
to what they’d been doing— grooming themselves, napping, whatever dogs do.
As I made my way down the last row I began to
wonder if I’d find ‘the one’. And then I saw him. His name was Ralph. He came
to the front of the cage, but instead of waiting for a treat, he turned his
body to be petted. He didn’t care about the treat. All he cared about was
getting some attention. And he was beautiful. By far the most handsome of all
the dogs there that day.
As
I rose from petting him, I saw another family point to his cage. They wanted to
meet him. I watched as the shelter worker took Ralph out on a leash to meet
them. They had a little girl, about five or six. Ralph jumped around, waging
his tail and knocking into the girl. He was a big dog and she was afraid. I
wanted to be ashamed for being glad, but I wasn’t. I wanted him. He was my dog.
After
a while the shelter worker moved to put Ralph back in his cage. I stopped him
and asked if the family had wanted Ralph. He told me no that he was too
rambunctious for them. I asked if I could walk Ralph and the worker gave me the
leash. There were so many people and other dogs around so Ralph jumped and
bounced, never still. I steered him to a quiet corner. After a while he calmed
down. I bent down and looked into his eyes and I just knew. He was the one.
His
name is Nicolai now and he’s the best dog… mostly. He still jumps around when
he meets new people, but he’s good with kids and follows me like a shadow. I
can’t imagine our lives without him.
 |
| Enter to Win from Beth Yarnall |
Beth is giving away a T-shirt (see the pic) and a $10 gift card to either B&N or Amz (winner's choice).
Rush~Book One in the Pleasure at Home Series
 |
| Feel a little "RUSHed"? Debut release by Beth Yarnall |
Someone
is stalking Miyuki Price-Jones.
As
the host of a very successful home shopping TV show that sells adult toys, Mi
has become the object of an ex-con’s obsession, requiring the services of
ex-Navy SEAL turned bodyguard, Lucas Vega. As the attraction between Lucas and
Mi grows, Lucas has a difficult time keeping his feelings for Mi separate from
his mission to keep her safe. A mission that is more challenging than anyone
could have predicted.
Damaged by their pasts, Lucas and Mi find
more in common then they could have imagined and secrets they thought would
tear them apart could be the ties that bind them together forever. But with the
stalker growing bolder, Lucas and Mi must learn to trust each other or risk
losing more than their hearts.
One
of them could lose their life.
Short bio:
Beth Yarnall writes suspense, mysteries and the occasional hilarious blog post. Beth lives deep in the heart of Southern California with her husband, two sons, and their rescue dog where she is hard at work on her next novel. For more information about Beth and her novels please visit her website- http://www.bethyarnall.com
Buy
links-
Web
links-
Website-
http://www.bethyarnall.com
Twitter-
@BethYarnll
Pinterest- http://pinterest.com/bethyarnall/
Enter to Win: How did you know your pet
was 'the one'? Leave a blog comment and valid email address, and Beth will randomly choose a winner.
Grand Prizes & How to Enter
- We will have 4 winners for the main giveaway.
- We have 2 $65 gift certificates to any online bookstore.
- Also we have 2 huge boxes of books and swag from Romance Book Junkies and Bitten by Paranormal Romance for U.S. residents only.
We have a total of 59 blogs that have gotten together to help raise money for a great cause. There are going to be some awesome prizes up for grabs for people that donate money to the cause. Here is a little about the company that we are raising the money for:
Paws With A Cause
4646 South Division
Wayland, MI 49348
How to donate:
2. Click on "Make a Donation"
3. Enter an amount you wish to donate. Everibbon will add a small fee to your donation for processing. My fee for donating $5.00 was .49 cents. So keep this in mind when deciding your donation amount. You will receive 1 entry into the giveaway for every $1 you donate.
4. In the box that says "on the behalf of" please put your name. This is the name that will be listed on the Everibbon website so put a name you do not mind being visible to everyone. Do not check the box to make an anonymous donation because I will not be able to track your donation to enter you into the giveaways.
5. Next it will ask you for your credit or debit card information.
6. Then it will ask for your email address to send you a receipt. This is so that you can submit it for tax purposes.
7. Ta Da! Your all done making your donation. Now you need to contact Danielle to enter the giveaway.
8. Please email Danielle at RomanceBookJunkiesDanielle@Yahoo.com with the name you used to donate your money. For example the name I used to donate on behalf of was Romance Book Junkies. Do not send me your name off your credit or debit card because I will not be able to see this. Along with the name you used please tell me how much you donated and if you live in the U.S. or are International.
9. You’re all done. Thank you for donating!
Warning: Do not try to email Danielle the name and donation amount of another person that is not yourself. If Danielle receives more than one email with the same person’s name and donation amount she will have to ask for your copy of the receipt from everibbon to verify that you are the correct winner. Thank you.
Come back tomorrow to visit Kayla Jameth
, who's going to give some pet tips!
Aww, I got a little ready reading both stories. Both pups are GORGEOUS by the way. And congrats to you both on your new releases!
ReplyDeleteNice post. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeletebn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com
Have very much loved reading all these posts this week. Wonderful hearts. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteLoved both dog stories! What a great cause, too.
ReplyDelete