How could I resist a book, a mystery even, about pets? Over the years I've owned or been owned by cats, a horse, turtles, fish, a dog, and guinea pigs. And I've done pet-sitting for family and friends, so this book was a natural. Today I have an excerpt and a giveaway for you, enjoy!
Diane is a Tennessee transplant, animal rescuer, and nurse. Dog Gone is her debut novel, born from years of hearing animal rescuers say about animal abusers, “If only I could get my hands on that person...” Diane is assisted by her many rescue dogs.
Find Diane online:
Electricity was in the air. Luna jumped up from the bed with her eyes as wide as they
would go, insisting, “Someone is after Sally!”
Pepper was right behind Luna when they ran out of the bedroom, heading for the stairs. As they passed Jax’s room, Pepper yelled with both her voice and her mind, “JAX!”
Thundering down the stairs, Pepper sent a thought to her parents, knowing in her heart they would somehow hear her. Mom! Dad!
Normally, Luna was faster than Pepper, but Pepper was more sure-footed on snow or ice. Now two feet ahead of her friend, Pepper reached out with her mind, telling the iron doorknob and lock on Luna’s front door to open as she ran up the five porch stairs. She hit the wooden door with her shoulder.
Whether from her instruction or physical force, the door flew open. Sally usually stayed in the front room when Momma Fran was gone, so Pepper headed through that doorway on the left. Two steps inside the room, she suddenly froze in place. Unable to move, she looked around the room. Sally was lying on the ground, belly up. Someone in a black cloak with a raised hoodleaned over her. A thin, tattooed arm pinned Sally to the ground by her throat. A raspy voice — male? female? — was chanting. The voice was a combination of smoke and gravel.
Luna entered the room seconds behind Pepper, but she too froze under the same spell. Pepper could hear Luna breathing behind her, but couldn’t detect any other movement. Poor little Sally began to shake. The gravel-smoke voice became more forceful. Running footsteps came through the front door then, getting louder quickly.
“Hiii-yah!” Recognizing her brother’s voice from the other side of the doorway, Pepper wasn’t able to say anything to warn him. At the same time, something flew past her shoulder faster than she could follow. The flying object hit the cloak in-between where the thief’s shoulder blades should be. The chanting stopped as the cloaked figure fell sideways.
***************
Every animal can talk to you. You just have to know how to listen.
Pepper Neely is better at this than most, especially because she is in charge of pet sitting all the familiars in her neighborhood. A familiar is a pet magically linked to a witch or warlock. As a gnome, Pepper is no stranger to spells and sorcery. She also knows that, despite their special name, familiars aren’t all that different from regular animals. They get anxious when separated from their people, so Pepper uses her special gnome powers to calm them down. She watches Cranky the high-strung ferret, Frank the laid-back parrot, King Arthur the elderly tortoise, and many others.
Then, something terrible begins happening to the familiars. Someone is stealing their magic! It not only prevents Pepper from communicating with them but breaks their magical connection with their people. When King Arthur’s magic is stolen, his owner’s powers stop working too. Pepper can sense that the tortoise is very scared.
In order to protect the animal’s magic, Pepper decides to track down the culprit. With the help of her best friend, Luna, and her brother, Jax, Pepper fights to protect all of the special pets.
Series: The Magic Thief, #1
Publisher: The Supernatural Pet Sitter
Release Date: March 5th 2017
Formats: digital, print
Goodreads
Buying Links: Amazon* | Barnes & Noble
* associate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.
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