But I know just how frustrating it can be to have allergies, because you see, two of my family members have allergies. So, I realize how hard it can be to give up things you love.

The Hubs- Allergies Are Nothing to Sneeze At

The hubs makes up for my lack of allergies by having a plethora of his own. Most are seasonal, and result in him sneezing enough to result in me forgoing my manners because after blessing someone three times or more in a row, it seems as if it’s not going to stick.

Hubs is also allergic to most animals.

This lead to the time we had our first pet being limited. You see, hubs is an animal lover, so he brought home the kitten that he thought didn’t aggravate his allergies—he did—and no amount of vacuuming and cat-bathing helped alleviate it.

Therefore, either the kitten, or the hubs, would have to find a new home. It was a painful decision, but ’m still with hubs, so…seems he lucked out. Although it’s starting to look as if he’s passed on his seasonal allergies to one of our daughters. It seems that the seasons will have our house full of two sniffle-uf-o-guses.

This led to our future pets being what I liked to call, ‘hypo-allergenic’. First a lhasa apso (Bummy) and now our boy, Scruff, a shih tzu.

The Boy- Allergic to Everything, or Nothing

Scruff, or ‘the boy’ as we sometimes refer to him, may be allergic to all manner of things—or nothing at all. It seems the

Vet said it could also be due to anxiety, stress, or boredom.

With the process of elimination, we’ve changed his food, reducing or eliminated grains, chicken etc.

But then it might also be grass or other things in the environment that cause him to lick his feet until occasionally they puff up like tiny pink balloons. As a lover of all-things-food, with a fear that I’ll make good on the threat to get him a cone to wear…

Scruff will be the first to tell you that #allergies stink. #MFRW #author
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The Book – Real or Unrealistic

If you’ve picked up my new release, Not a Chance, you might’ve met up with Ritchie again. We get to know him a little better in this book and find out that Ritchie is allergic to peanuts—or not. Guess you’ll have to read it to judge for yourself.

It’s a Blog Hop

Hop around the blogs and check out if the other authors have the usual, or unusual allergies.

What About You? Allergies or Not?

Who’s Ready for the Holidays?

I’m not! But if you’re starting your holiday shopping, books make great gifts. Need a holiday shopping hand this year?

I’ve teamed up with over forty-five award-winning/bestselling authors to bring you the ultimate holiday gift guide for any booklover. The best part: it’s an online store. Scroll away and do all your holiday shopping in one place. Who knows? You might even find a few books you’d enjoy for yourself.

The post No Allergies for Me— but My Family’s Not So Lucky appeared first on Author Maureen L. Bonatch.

Pets Don’t Read

I’m always looking for unique or funny characteristics to make a character stand out. The kind of things that you realize about a person, but they might not realize about themselves—and they might not like it if you point it out. Not one bit.

So, to portray a character after a family member or friend, warts and all, might mean one less friend, or an estranged family member. Pets? They don’t care. Plus, they don’t read.

The people who want to find themselves in a book are often envisioning being depicted as the perfect hero or heroine and their ideal self. Well, those characters are no fun. We know that perfection doesn’t exist in reality. My stories love to embrace the quirks that make us exceptional.

Furry Family in my Books

My books almost always have an animal or pet included. They make wonderful secondary characters. They can help enhance my hero or heroine by displaying their compassion, vulnerabilities, or just the childish part of ourselves that animals tend to bring out.

A few pets in my books include:

Mozart from EVIL SPEAKS SOFTLY– In appearance, and name, he resembled the Lhasa Apso I saw two weeks after the loss of our beloved Bummy after almost 15 years. But the personality was all Bummy.

Juniper from THAT MAGIC MOMENT–He had the same name as my sister-in-law’s cat, but he shared some of his personality with my sister’s cat, Sassy.

Mulder from my WIP tentatively titled, HAIR, HOCKEY & HARD LIQUOR-I know you’re all wondering if Scruff has landed a role yet, but never fear, he is in an upcoming story graced with a name from my beloved X-Files.

The More the Hairier

I could go on to add the pets and animals I have included in upcoming stories, and others I have published, but I think you get my point. I love having animals in a story.

I believe that #pets make a #character much more human. #MFRW
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Plus, in one of my WIP, SISTER FROM ANOTHER MISTER (book #2 in the A Touch of Magicseries) things get even hairier, and more fun for me, when my heroine just might have a touch of shifter in her.

It’s a Blog Hop

Now scurry along and check out the other authors on the hop.  See if they share my opinion about including animals over angry or annoyed friends and family in stories.

Do You Think Animals Add to the Story?

The post Why You’ll Find Pets, Not People, In My Books appeared first on Author Maureen L. Bonatch.

Pets From Back In the Day

When I was growing up, we had a variety of “outside pets” such as cats, rabbits, “hunting dogs” (despite my Dad’s intentions, there wasn’t much hunting going on with these dogs), and even a guinea pig. Powder Puff (Mama Cat) had a plethora of kittens that we would find homes. I would always name one of the kittens, “funny face” after the old song. Although I loved all of these animals (remember, I was going to write that Dr. Doolittle-ish book about talking to the animals), I consider our first real pet to be, Mimi, a silver toy poodle. If I find a picture, I’ll add one, but until then, Scruff insisted I put one of his pictures up.

I say, “our”, because even though my younger sister and I considered her our pet, once I married and had a ‘fur-baby’ of my own, I realize Mimi was actually my Mother’s. Because once you’re a fur-mama, you take on total responsibility for your adorable fur-covered ‘child’.

Becoming a Fur-Mama

My husband is allergic to cats and most creatures that shed, so cats were ruled out of our house. Our first fur-baby (before the twins came to rule the roost) was Bummy. Bummy was a lhasa apso who was the runt of the litter, a bum puppy. I was working midnight shift as a nurse when Bummy joined our family, which meant even less sleep that I usually got on midnight shift, but he was worth it. The adorable ball of fur had my heart for the 14 ½ years he was with us. He was heartbroken and jealous when the twins arrived, but tolerated them despite them believing he was a stuffed animal. It broke my heart when he became ill developed an inoperable tumor in his bladder.

After that devastating experience, I vowed to never have another dog. Well, you all know how that turned out. It seems that those tiny, furry critters have a way of working their way into your heart to mend that pain. So, about nine months later, our Shih Tzu, Scruff arrived.

Guineas and Toads and Hamsters—Oh My!

Besides Scruff, we’ve had a plethora of pets over the years as the girls grew up. Most recently, our two guinea pigs, Cinnamon and Ginger (aka: The Squeakers, or The Spice Girls) were Scruff’s best fur friends.

Prior to that we had a year or two of our inherited hamster “Beef “ (aka: short for Beefcake), and random toads, hermit crabs, fish, and any other critter outside the girls deemed as our next pet.

Because Who Can Resist an Adorable Pet?

Don’t forget to visit the other author’s blogs and meet their adorable pets!

I’d Love to Hear About Your Pet(s)!

The post Introducing My Past and Present Adorable Fur-Babies appeared first on Author Maureen L. Bonatch.