This is my stop
during the book blitz for Rescue Me by Catherine Mann. This book blitz is
organized by Lola's Blog Tours. The book blitz runs from 2 till 8 February, you
can view the complete blitz schedule on the website of Lola’s Blog Tours.
So far this
series contains 2 books: Shelter Me (Second Chance Ranch #1) and Rescue Me (Second
Chance Ranch #2)
Rescue Me
(Second Chance Ranch #2)
By Catherine Mann
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age category: Adult
Release Date: February 3, 2015
A rescued dog returns the favor in
the latest Second Chance Romance from USA Today bestselling author of Shelter
Me.
Detective AJ
Parker left undercover work in Atlanta to join a small-town Tennessee police
force, hoping for an easier workload and the solitude of his cabin. But the
scars left by AJ’s previous work are more difficult to escape than he thought…
Mary Hannah
Gallo works with the Second Chance Ranch Animal Rescue to train therapy dogs
for traumatized patients. It isn’t easy, but her life is under control—until
she meets the broodingly sensual AJ, who rattles her composure all the way to
her toes.
After an
assignment confiscating dogs from a backyard breeder reveals a dangerous drug
operation, AJ must work with sexy perfectionist Mary Hannah to train an abused
rescue dog—a dog now named Holly. While Holly proves to these two very
different people that opposites can, in fact, attract, she also knows more than
a few explosive secrets that could heal—or divide—the entire town.
Prologue
For
twenty-eight years I had three names - Bitch, Fat Mama and Dumbass.
I
didn’t dare ignore the voice that growled more fiercely than any animal. I
didn’t question if I deserved to have a single name of my own. My existence
followed a pattern. Hungry, not hungry. Hurt, healed. Pregnant, nursing. And
above all, obey or pay.
Looking
back, the contrast from then to my life now is staggering. Some people have
said they wonder how I survived so long in that cabin with limited human
contact, only the drone of game shows on television and the bubbling mix in the
kitchen to break the tedium. How I kept my spirit intact. How I didn’t turn
into a mirror image of the voice that both fed me and hurt me. I have to
confess I came close to becoming like the soulless monsters that drifted in and
out during those early years.
Until
I was saved from crawling into the dark hole of hurt and misery forever. I was
given a hint of hope beyond the rank four walls of my home.
I
smelled honeysuckle.
Just
a whiff of the perfume drifted through an open window one summer Tennessee day.
At first, I thought I’d imagined it. I tipped my nose into that gentle breeze
curling through the half cracked pane, each puff parting the despair one ripple
at a time. Overriding even the constant hum of quiz shows.
Then
there it was again. Honeysuckle. Sweet. Soft. Light. Everything opposite of
what I’d known from birth.
Desperate
for more, I crawled to the window, slowly, praying no one would see me. Life
was easier if I stayed hidden, because otherwise I feared I would one day have
to fight back. Still I was willing to risk detection to breathe more of that
flowery perfume.
I
have a particularly keen sense of smell, so living in a filthy meth house for
twenty-eight years took a toll on me. And just to clarify, twenty-eight human
years equates to four dog years for me. As a dog, that explains why the stench
hit me hard.
Did
you know that canines can identify smells up to ten thousand times better than
a human? Well, we can. I learned that about sniffers on Jeopardy. My brain has
forty percent more capacity devoted to smell than yours. Not that I mean to
sound condescending or call you inferior. Facts are facts. I have over two
million olfactory sensors in my nose. You have opposable thumbs. Truly,
aromatherapy is wasted on you people.
I
like facts. The endless television programs offered that much at least, game
show after game show. Back then, I embraced those quizzes, soaking up data,
anything to prove I wasn’t a dumbass at all. If I’d been a human and hadn’t
started having babies so early, I’ve often thought I would have become a
professor with thick black glasses. I would have sequestered myself in an
office lined with books, solitude. Peace.
But
back to my sniffer.
Back
to the honeysuckle.
And
how all that relates to the day I found freedom in a splintered door.
To
be clear, I spent my life watching methamphetamine being cooked, smoked, shot,
sold. The rancid odor of the drug left me groggy. Sometimes even made me snarl,
when that’s not my nature. The smell of it saturated the walls, peeling the
paper down in strips I chewed in moments of frenzied boredom. It permeated the
saggy sofa I never sat on. Even clung to the mattresses on the floor in both
bedrooms where junkies had sex. Worst of all, the toxic clouds hung in the
kitchen, counters packed with everything from drain cleaner to funnels to my
bowl full of scraps.
But
that afternoon during my fourth summer, when I discovered honeysuckle, I
considered that maybe, just maybe there was something better for me, if only I
could wait long enough to escape farther than the chain in the yard allowed.
Easier
said than done, because I was a money maker, just like that steaming meth
cooker. My litters of boxer pups were worth a lot, so I ate well, periodically.
No one kicked me for a while. Until my babies were taken away so I could breed
again. They always took them too early, and then I was alone.
You
may already be thinking “puppy mill,” but that’s not one hundred percent
accurate. The woman who owned me – I won’t bother to distinguish her with a
name – would be more appropriately labeled a backyard breeder who used me and
other dogs to supplement her meth income. Up until that honeysuckle moment in
my fourth summer, I thought my mission in life was to have babies for people to
love even if I never got to experience that feeling myself, other than for the
few brief weeks I was allowed to keep each litter, their warm tiny bodies
snuggled up against me.
By
the fourth winter, I wondered if I’d imagined a honeysuckle world just to
survive. I began to lose hope, drawing in nothing but the fumes that made me
mean.
Then,
on the bitterest, coldest morning my world changed on a larger scale with
another beautiful scent. Peppermint. It’s still my favorite perfume, even above
honeysuckle. Those two beautiful smells outnumbered the one evil stench of this
cabin. There was more out there past my chain. So much more.
And
I thank the Big Master who made us that the peppermint-scented lady understood
I was not at my best the day she and the sad-eyed policeman broke down the meth
house door to rescue me.
Amazon * Barnes
& Noble * Kobo
First book in the series:
Shelter Me (Second Chance Ranch #1)
By Catherine Mann
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Age category: Adult
Release Date: August 5, 2014
Blurb:
Nestled in the sunny fields of
Tennessee lies the McDaniel family’s Second Chance Ranch Animal Rescue. Two new
arrivals are on their way, but only one is the four-legged kind.
Staff Sergeant
Mike Kowalski wants only one thing after he gets home from Iraq: to sleep in a
king-sized bed with clean sheets. But first, he has to hand off his fallen
commander’s dog, Trooper, to his family without handing off his heart to
Sierra…
Sierra McDaniel
needs a break. Her family life is crazy, and when she’s not mucking out
kennels, she’s slogging through grad school. Sierra certainly doesn’t want
another dog, especially one that reminds her of her father. And she definitely
doesn’t want to see Mike with that charming smile of his…
But Trooper has
a mission of his own. Before too long Mike is moving to the ranch to lend a
hand—and hoping for his own second chance with Sierra.
Amazon * Barnes
& Noble * Kobo
USA Today
bestseller Catherine Mann and RITA Award winner, Catherine writes contemporary
romance for Berkley, Harlequin, Sourcebooks and Tule. With over sixty books in
released in more than twenty countries, she has also celebrated six RITA
finals, an RT Reviewer’s Award finalist, three Maggie Award of Excellence
finals and a Bookseller’s Best win.
A former
theater school director and university instructor, she holds a Master’s degree
in Theater from UNC-Greensboro and a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts: Theater
(with minors in both English and Education) from the College of Charleston.
Catherine and
her flyboy husband live on the Florida coast where they brought up their 4
children – and still have 5 four-legged, furry “children” (aka pets). Catherine
is an active volunteer with her local Humane Society, serving on their Board of
Directors, fostering over 200 puppies, ill dogs, and dogs with service/working
potential. She recently checked off a major item on her “bucket list” by
completing her Florida State Animal Rescue Coalition and starting her own
rescue with three friends - The Sunshine State Animal Rescue. Catherine enjoys
hearing from her readers and can be found online daily. To receive an
autographed bookmark, send a SASE to: P.O. Box 6065, Navarre, FL 32566
Catherine Mann
has begun an animal rescue of her own with three friends - Sunshine State
Animal Rescue in the Florida Panhandle. Here's their facebook page if you want
more info: https://www.facebook.com/sunshineanimalrescue
They rescue
from high kill shelters and do traditional adoptions as well as help identify
potential service dogs and search and rescue dogs at shelters.
There is a tour
wide giveaway for the book blitz of Rescue Me. This giveaway is US Only.These
are the prizes you can win:
- Two winners
will get a $25 gift card to either Amazon or Barnes and Noble and an
autographed copy of Shelter Me by Catherine Mann (US Only).
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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