Five-Line Friday-Pets as Characters
Five-Line Friday-Pets as Characters Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Where authors and readers meet to share and read romance novel snippets!
Five-Line Friday RULES
- Five lines of your current work in progress, new release, soon-to-be-released … whatever. (Do keep it as close to five sentences as you can.)
- You are welcome to post buy links too.
- PG (I don’t have a warning on my blog about content, so it has to be appropriate for all viewers. I will delete comments that aren’t appropriate or offensive to some audiences. Sorry.)
To honor a beloved family pet we had to put to sleep on Wednesday, today’s snippets are dedicated to lines with pets or animals in them.
Of course you are welcome to post if your book doesn’t have any animals too.
My snippet is from Virtue and Valor (Highland Heather Romancing a Scot Series, Book 2-June 24, 2015)
She held the sliver before her face. “Would you look at this, Tira? It’s an arrowhead.”
The charcoal-colored boarhound obediently poked her boxy nose near the flint and gave the tip a cursory sniff before turning away disdainfully. The dog nuzzled Isobel’s cloak pocket then raised soulful eyes to her as if to say, Is that all? You brought me all the way out here for an insignificant splinter of stone?
Isobel chuckled and rubbed behind the dog’s ears.
Tira’s back leg thumped as she twitched in rhythm to Isobel’s scratching.
“I didn’t promise you a snack, my friend. Only a nice run, to stretch those long legs of yours.”
Be sure to enter my Rafflecopter giveaway on my home page HERE! There’s a $25.00 gift card up for grabs.
Let’s see those pet snippets!
From my romantic comedy mystery, Temporary Employed, here’s a funny exchange between the hero, Dectective Allan Wellborn, and unemployed gal, Hattie Cooks:
“Not an iguana?”
A perplexed expression crossed his face. “A what?”
“Not your pet worm?”
“What pet worm?”
“Not—”
“Look, I don’t know what you’re thinking. The only worms I know about are for fishing.”
Find Temporarily Employed at: http://www.amazon.com/Temporarily-Employed-Vicki-Batman-ebook/dp/B00N4J5FDQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1410893535&sr=1-1&keywords=temporarily+employed
Thank you so much, Collette!
Pet worm? LOL.
I love your 5-line Fridays 🙂 This is from my first book, in keeping with your pet theme. Blind Seduction is the first book in the Team Red Series, and is available Free from just about everywhere. Teresa, who is blind, has a German Shepherd, Red. She can hear his thoughts which makes them a great team for tracking forensic clues with the police department.
“We need to make a cat trap,” Red told me.
“Absolutely not! No cat traps. You can chase it and you can bark at it, but I will not help you trap it. What would you do if you caught it anyway? You’d have nothing to complain about and your life would be boring,” I reasoned.
Red was silent, possibly pouting about the inequality of dogs not having prehensile toes to enable the making of cat traps? I can only wonder.
FREE: Amzn (short link): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C8UB0JK
FREE B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/blind-seduction-t-hammond/1119387612
FREE iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/blind-seduction/id871506848
These pet snippets are great!!
Ty sat up straight, stunned. “Doodlebug just told you all that?”
“In pictures. Yes,” Season nodded.
He fell silent for a moment, fingers steepled under his chin. his lips twitched ever so slightly. “So you’re telling me the best witness we have is that pony?”
From my debut contemporary paranormal mystery, ‘Whispers in her Heart’.
http://www.amazon.com/Whispers-her-Heart-Ryan-Summers-ebook/dp/B00A7HW6EE/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Thank you, Collette, and sorry for your loss.
A pony for a witness? Interesting!
From a Pack of Trouble, my Late Victorian humorous Sleuth Series, The Adventures of Xavier & Vic:
Vic has spent the whole week trying to break her son of growling. Unfortunately, he seems to have taken up barking as well:
“Cannon, no. That’s not a proper bark. If you are determined to live your life as a canine, then do so properly,” she scolded as she finally pulled him off her head and sat him on the floor.
Her son looked up at her, his eyes rounded in pure bafflement…and the tiny, long eared brown and black puppy in Xavier’s hands seemed equally confused by her outburst.
“Oh, thank God,” she laughed and patted Cannon’s giant head. “I thought that was you.”
http://www.amazon.com/Pack-Trouble-Adventures-Xavier-Book-ebook/dp/B00YI05KT4/
LOL. This made me smile, Liza!
This five lines is from Now What?
It was 2:30 a.m. when the phone rang. I fumbled for it, my heart starting a race toward
bad news.
Our doctor’s voice urged me to hurry. I crammed into clothes as if I expected this
call. Actually I thought all would be well, or did I? It was only a fever that wouldn’t go down.
Only a fever yet the dogs had curled up next to him on his favorite couch and never left his side
all week. His ruddy complexion drained to gray. Only a fever.
http://www.amazon.com/Now-What-Charmaine-Gordon/dp/193540797X
Collette, my sympathy for your loss. We’ve had to say goodbye to two treasured cats this year.
What a great excerpt! And thank you for your kind words.
Animals are very much a part of my stories. Many of my books feature horses but I also have used a variety of dogs as secondary characters. Here’s a snippet with my heroine Haley and one of the hero’s hunting dogs from my new release SHARP SHOOTIN’ COWBOY:
“C’mon, Jethro. You have a job to do.” Pulling one of Reid’s t-shirts from her pack, she let the dog get his fill of his scent. She paused, shirt in hand, purely to indulge her own senses. Shutting her eyes, she drank in his musky essence with a deep sniff that sent a ripple of desire coursing through her. But the T-shirt was no substitute for the real thing. Not even close. She had a lot of things to say when she found him, but talking wouldn’t necessarily be her first priority.
**Available now in print and e-book: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1492601187 **
Love, it Vicki!
Love this idea, Collette! Sympathy hugs on the loss of your pet. Here are some lines from my Regency The Captain’s Dilemma:
She lay under the covers unable to sleep, her eyes fixed on the patch of night she could still see outside her window, her thoughts fixed on two men in trouble who were out there in it somewhere.
She was still struggling with unanswerable questions when, quite late, Polly stirred beside her on the bed. Merissa stroked the dog soothingly. “Shh. What is it, Polly?”
The spaniel growled and lifted her head, obviously aware of some noise that human ears could not yet detect. Merissa listened, but heard nothing. Polly barked once, twice, and then Merissa did hear the sound of a dog— no, several dogs— barking, quite far off but coming closer. “Tis nothing, Polly, just a—” she started to say, but before she could finish she heard the sharp crack of gunfire, once, twice. The sound traveled well in the clear, still night, sending a chill along her spine.
Oh, excellent.
This is a snippet from a novella that will be part of an as yet unannounced anthology.
He had stumbled onto a domestic crisis. He chuckled as he went.
Piglets ran in several directions while a goat charged up the hill toward him, eyes wide with panic.
Two boys ran in circles trying to catch rioting pigs. The more they ran, the more they sent a flock of geese into a frenzy of honking and feathers. A dog barked frantically on one side, only to run to the other and bark more.
In the center of the chaos a woman stood, one hand raised above her head and the other holding her skirts above the confusion. Will’s vision narrowed to the woman.
Such wonderful chaos!
5 lines from Proving Ground:
Caitlin Malone.
Mac’s heart stirred to life. Blood surged through his veins as his breath released on a whoosh. He lowered his hands, but his body refused to budge. His reaction had nothing to do with the fact Caitlin had greeted him with a shotgun, and everything to do with the woman herself.
http://www.amazon.com/Proving-Ground-Northstar-Security-Book-ebook/dp/B00UXCZ3AM/
Thanks for letting me share!
That’s quite a greeting.
I love pets and other animals in books. Here is my five lines from Three Weeks to Wed. The first book of my next series.
They were half way to the Park when a loose Great Dane puppy, all legs and lead trailing behind her, ran past them followed shortly thereafter by a footman. High pitched shouts followed the escapee. He glanced down at Duke, alert for the first time in ages.
“Duke, fetch.” Matt let loose the lead and called to one of his footmen, “One of you, give me your girl and follow him.”
Of course you have a Great Dane!!
thanks Collette, I enjoyed reading them. This is from At the Earl’s Convenience coming in July.
After a long tiring journey, the coach entered through Halcrow Hall’s ornate gates, and the butterflies battering Selena’s stomach, ceased. She was home. Her tiny kitten mewed from the basket. “This is your new home, Bitsy.” Selena cradled the warm body which throbbed with a raspy purr. She stroked the soft fur and watched the men at work in the woods with interest. A cart had been loaded with firewood and the rest set alight, sending smoke billowing into the lowering sky.
Cute name, Bitsy!
Thanks again for offering the Five-Line feature, Collette! I enjoyed reading all the excerpts so far! Here’s some lines from The Lady Is Mine (http://amzn.com/B00LH4I8A2):
At the exact moment Harriet settled her weight into the saddle, Witch hopped to the right. Harriet had fortunately felt the brief gathering of the horse’s muscles and prepared herself. She saw a quick impression of Beldon reaching to catch her fall, and then her attention was taken up with reacting. She instinctively threw her weight in the same direction, gripped the leg rest, and firmed her hands on the reins. Before the mare’s legs touched ground, a deep, gravelly voice came from Harriet. “’ere now, stop this nonsense!”
Witch whipped her head around to stare at her, and Beldon and his stable man stared in equal shock. She chuckled. “Our old groom who taught me to ride spoke that way. I learned to imitate him to discipline the horses.” She looked at Beldon. “You talk to your horses in an Irish brogue; I speak Cockney!”
And my sympathy for your loss. Animals bring us such joy and unconditional love.
This is wonderful, Judith.
Thank you for allowing us to flaunt our stuff. This is from a short Christmas Story about the main character in my Isabella Mumphrey Adventure Series. http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Christmas-Box-Isabella-Adventure-ebook/dp/B00XCZ60OA
Secret of a Christmas Box.
Isabella Mumphrey, anthropologist and World Intelligence Agency operative, stood in her kitchen making sugar cookies and singing Christmas carols. She hadn’t been this excited about the holiday since her sixth birthday. She would be spending Christmas with her Venezuelan lover, DEA agent Tino Constantine.
Faint Native American drumming and Alabaster, her cockatoo, shouting “Who’s there! Who’s there!” interrupted Isabella’s cookie making and sent her scrambling to find her cell phone.
I only have one animal in a book (so far), in a work that won’t *really* be in progress until next year. So, I’m just stopping in to read and to say I am sorry you lost Snickers. It is a cool tribute you are doing here today.