Monday, March 3, 2014

Do You Like a Hero or Heroine with a.....? by Lyn Cote






Pet? 
I love animals and unfortunately we just lost our eldest cat Mutzie in January. He would have been 18 this year. We inherited Mutzie when my mother in law passed away in 2009. The name Mutzie is “Kitty” in Slovenian. My dh’s grandmother immigrated from that area in 1913, a good year to leave middle Europe (WWI broke out in nearby Serbia with the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand.)

It’s hard to say good bye to our little furry friends. And even a strong woman cries over loss--even the loss of a cat who greeted her every morning with loud cries for BREAKFAST. (He was my only talking cat. :-)) He also created a game in the evenings where he would wait in front of my chair and leap in it just before I’d get close enough to sit down. HILARIOUS.

Mutzie was only with us for just over four years but he brought us many laughs. I often say to my dh--”What would we laugh about if we didn’t have our cats?”

So do you like it when the hero or heroine in a romance you're reading to has a pet?

When I think back over my Wilderness Brides series, my first hero Noah takes in a stray pregnant dog who has three pups and the last heroine of the series Rachel takes in a stray cat she names Mrs. Cat.

My book with the most animal characters was Daddy in the Making where my heroine adopted two stray kittens. The hero was a vet and his basset hound served as the matchmaker of the romance!



          (This is a photo of Mutzie giving us THE LOOK.)

So, I repeat, do you like it when the hero or heroine in a romance you're reading to has a pet? What was your favorite pet in a story?--Please share!

PS: Want to see another author's cat? Drop by the Pink Heart Society

 Here's the cover of the final book in my Wilderness Brides series. Unfortunately they didn't add Mrs. Cat to the cover--a big mistake IMHO!





20 comments:

  1. I love pets in books and have often included them in my own. Something I found interesting recently--I noticed a blog by Bookbub saying one thing that boosted downloads of ebooks was to include a pet on the cover. So Love Inspired missed a trick with your book!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I enjoy pets in stories. And I understand your statement about them making you laugh. Our dog passed away Oct 2013 and the house was so quiet because we weren't talking to or about him. 3 days later we had to get a new pup and now he is the center of conversations or our laughter. Prior to the dogs it was my cat Binky who was our entertainment.

    I really enjoy the books by The Sweet Romance Authors. Keep up the great job you are all doing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for stopping by, Nancy, & tell your friends we're here with good happy sweet romance.
      And sorry on your loss. Enjoy that new pup!

      Delete
    2. I love seeing pets in stories. I feel they can add so much. We can often see another side of the hero or heroine that way in how they relate to their furry friends. :)

      Delete
    3. Yes, I think interaction with an animal speaks volumes about character.

      Delete
  3. I love animals in stories...especially quirky ones, and I often put them in my own books. There was a historical romance years ago, with an independent young miss heading West, with a noisy, talkative parrot or cockatoo, that drove the hero crazy, and the book was so much fun! No idea of the title, though.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I enjoy pets in stories as long as they have a role, as if they are a character unto themselves.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am mommy to six fuzzy loved ones, so, yes, I love to see pets become part of the story. I have currently begun writing my *dream* mystery series, and the retired couple who head it travel with two special-needs puppies and a kitty they adopt along the way! :) ♥

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sounds like a great story idea! Let us know how it goes!

      Delete
  6. Yes, pets are so good in a story, especially for bringing out humanity in a character who is unfeeling, that kind of thing. I've used a Jack Russell in a book, as well as a cat. In real life, it is unbelievable how attached we get to some pets (and the money one can spend at the vet, too, just saying....!!)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I find characters more relatable if they have a pet. I've used them as pawns in some stories to set up a situation that wouldn't happen otherwise.

    ReplyDelete
  8. All of you are making me think I should add more pets! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love books with pets. I've written several with dogs and cats and one book, 'The Tenderfoot', that had a chicken determined to peck everyone in sight and a calf that required the services of a retired chiropractor.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow--you beat me or your animal characters beat mine!

      Delete
  10. I love pets in a story. When I worked as an acquiring editor for Fire and Ice YA, I started a line of horse stories that is still going strong. Even stories that I acquired about other subjects often had horses or other pets in them. There is something about a hero or heroine having a pet that makes them more endearing. My latest novel has a huge tabby and a fawn-colored Chihuahua in it and the tabby is the focal point on the cover.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I think adding a pet gives a book a certain amount of sweetness that I love. I love cats in stories. You see a lot of dogs, but not a lot of cats.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I also love pets in books! Especially when you read what they're thinking, it's great!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I haven't tried that but I think it would be fun too!

      Delete