A Place to Call Home: Toby’s Tale G. A. Whitmore - every rescue dog has a tale to tell

I am, so pleased to feature this book today - Rescue dogs are dear to my heart having just had to send my beloved Bouncer over the Rainbow Bridge, I am now hoping to adopt another dog and feel again the love and joy only a dog can bring.

Book Description:

Every rescue dog has a tale to tell, a story uniquely their own. A Place to Call Home is Toby’s tale. His story takes you on a journey across the country from California to Connecticut and across the spectrum of life’s emotional and spiritual experience.

Born on a small farm in northern California, Toby narrowly escapes the death sentence imposed on him by his breeder. Through a series of events driven by good intentions, he finds himself in a Connecticut suburb where life with his new family soon collapses on him, and his newfound happiness is brutally destroyed.

On his quest to find a place to call home, Toby encounters and endures the best and worst of humanity as he comes face to face with sorrow and joy, fear and courage, and ultimately, with the power of love.

Based on a true story, A Place to Call Home is a young adult novel for dog lovers of all ages.

Excerpt  

This excerpt is a scene from one of Toby’s dream sequences:

Was this another dream? Who would visit him in this dream?

As if in answer to his question, a large pack of wolves and dogs slowly materialized out of the enshrouding gray and one-by-one encircled him.

The snow stopped falling. All was still and quiet.

A long, wailing howl pierced the silence.

Followed by another.

Then another.

After a few moments, a chorus of howls erupted from the group that now surrounded Toby. A primordial urge rose within him. He stood up and shook off the light layer of snow that had accumulated on his fur. The urge grew stronger, more compelling, until he realized his own voice had joined the others. The multitude of voices became one as they howled on and on, until the cry reached its crescendo and abruptly ended, leaving an echoing silence around them once again.

A large, white figure approached Toby.

“Welcome to our pack, Toby.” The figure turned, and with a nod of his head, indicated the others. He turned back to Toby. “How did you come to be here?”

          Toby tried to find his voice, but the howl still reverberated in his throat. When he finally spoke, his reply was weak and raspy. “I don’t know. I don’t even know where here is.” He hesitated, and then asked, “How do you know my name?”

“My name is Strider, Toby. I am your grandfather.”

Strider! The memory of lying with Tara next to his mother as she told them the story of Sadie and Strider came flooding back to him and he felt a warmth of emotion flow through his body.

“Where is this place? How did I get here?” Toby asked.

Strider paused in thought for a moment, and then replied, “This land is a different place for different creatures, yet it is the same place for all creatures. For us,” Strider swept his large head around him, “this is the place we call home.”

Book Genre: Middle-grade/Young Adult

Publisher: Outskirts Press

Release Date: February 19, 2014

Buy Link(s):    Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IX32I2Y

                        Barnes & Noble:http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-place-to-call-home-g-a-whitmore/1118719475?ean=9781478700739

Author Bio:

Ms. Whitmore’s passion for writing and her love of dogs come together in her series The Rescue Dog Tales. The first book in the series, A Place to Call Home, is based on the true story of Toby, an abused dog she adopted from the Connecticut Humane Society. Ms. Whitmore currently lives in Connecticut with her rescue dog Kadee.

Website: http://gawhitmore.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorgawhitmore

Twitter: @gawhitmore

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20901939-a-place-to-call-home?from_search=true

Amazon Page http://www.amazon.com/G-A-Whitmore/e/B00IN9CYVI/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1408217183&sr=1-2-ent

Leap Into The Knight Cover Reveal

Cover Reveals are always very exciting and today, instead of my usual Monday legend, I'm thrilled to be part of this one for 'Leap Into The Knight' by M J Schiller - isn't it gorgeous!

 Sir Darius Lee is a Knight of the High Order.

But when Darius discovers a stranger in his room in the middle of the night, and the intruder turns out to be a beautiful woman, he begins to question how he is meant to live his life.

Princess Megan of Bethyea is being held captive.

But when two knights help her to escape and bring her back to her home planet, she finds the home she knew no longer exists.

When The Council of Twelve questions Darius about his relationship with Maggie, she tries to flee from The Academy of the High Order to prevent him from losing his knighthood.

Will Darius and Orion find Maggie before she leaves Albion? And if they do, how can they face the decision of The Council? And what about the feelings Orion has developed for the princess?  


Release Date: November 1, 2014
Published by: Kissmet Publishing 
PREORDER LINK


BIO

I was born in Overland Park, KS, grew up in St. Louis, MO, went to school at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and moved to Bloomington, IL fresh out of college.  I worked as a high school/junior college teacher, personnel recruiter, office manager of a jewelry store, and, for the past ten years, as a lunch lady.  I  like to karaoke and attend rock concerts.  I’m also actively involved at church and spend too much time on Facebook.  I am  the mother of a seventeen-year-old, fifteen-year-old triplets, and have been married to my husband, Don, for over twenty-four years.

I have been a writer all my life. My first book, which was co-written with Mary Ellen Murphey in second grade, was titled The Black Cat, and was written on blue hotel stationary, hole-punched, and bound by white yarn.  I believe it is currently  out of circulation.

When I turned forty, I had an epiphany of sorts. I realized those bigwig publishing houses in New York were now probably run by people younger than me, so I shouldn’t be intimidated by them.  At about the same time, I was watching one of those award shows, and Jaclyn Smith got up to give a posthumous award to Aaron Spelling.  She credited him for encouraging her to go into acting, saying something brilliant like, “Reach for your dreams.”  Nothing new.  Almost even seems a little Jiminy Cricketish.  But, for some reason, it struck me that night.  When Aaron Spelling was thirteen, he was probably just like any other acned thirteen-year-old.  But he worked to achieve his dreams, and became a household name.  So, I  began to write.  Once I finished my first book,I wasn’t able to stop.  I would rather write than do just about anything else.  After all, I get to make people (characters) do what I want, and design their happy endings. What power!  And what a  privilege.

University of Missouri-Columbia, and moved to Bloomington, IL fresh out of college.  I worked as a high school/junior college teacher, personnel recruiter, office manager of a jewelry store, and, for the past ten years, as a lunch lady.  I  like to karaoke and attend rock concerts.  I’m also actively involved at church and spend too much time on Facebook.  I am  the mother of a seventeen-year-old, fifteen-year-old triplets, and have been married to my husband, Don, for over twenty-four years.