Hey guys, today we have Caitlin Ricci popping in to introduce us to her new novel Rescuing Jack. So see what Caitlin has to say about her newest release and check out what Gigi has to say about Rescuing Jack in her review 🙂 ~Pixie~
Hello! Thank you for stopping by and spending a little time with me, Caitlin Ricci. Today I wanted to talk about a world in which werewolves are real and how being yourself sometimes comes at a price.
For Rescuing Jack I wanted to do something different than in the previous werewolf stories that I’ve written. I wanted a world where werewolves were out in the open and had started taking a stage in the greater world around them. Marius has lived in this one little town for years and he cares about his community and knows that he’s helping others with the animal shelter that he and his best friend opened. When werewolves were asked to come out of hiding, he chose to reveal himself. He lost friends and the respect of people he cared about but found of what it meant to have other people stick by him. In many ways he wishes he’d come out sooner.
I think we’ve all had times in our lives where something happens and people reveal themselves for who they really are. It could be a lottery winning or it could be something tragic. Sadly most of us that go through this encounter the second option. Its normal for people to change when their ideas of us shift. Not many people can easily cope with change but the ones who stick around, even if they take a little time off, are the ones worth keeping. It may be corny but that’s how you figure out who your real friends are and not just the ones hanging around with you for the good times.
Thank you for hanging out with me today. My next novel, Rescuing Jack, comes out from Dreamspinner Press on February 7th. I’m excited because this is my first novel with them but also because these characters are ones that really stood up and grabbed my attention right away. I knew I had to write about them and in a short amount of time this novel came to be.
I’d love to know what you thought of it. Feel free to email me at authorcaitlinricci@gmail.com or visit me online at www.caitlinricci.com.
Werewolves are real. Marius enjoys the irony that everyone calls him a dog whisperer, not just because he’s a werewolf, but for his work at the local animal shelter. He has a unique talent for pairing families with their perfect pets upon first meeting them. But he’s still looking for acceptance and a forever family of his own. Then Jack comes into the rescue looking for a big, mean dog. To prevent Jack from making the wrong choice, Marius convinces him to adopt a needy spaniel mix instead. But when Marius learns Jack is tormented by horrible memories while at his apartment, he opens his home to the sweet, scared man. As their relationship grows, Jack feels comfortable telling Marius about the horrors he suffered. Marius hopes his steady presence, protection, and love can help Jack reclaim the pieces of himself broken on that terrible night.
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4665
Title: Rescuing Jack
Series: N/A
Author: Caitlin Ricci
Genre: Contemporary/Shifters
Length: Novel (200 pages)
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (February 7th, 2013)
Heat Level: Mild
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥ 4Hearts
Blurb: Werewolves are real. Marius enjoys the irony that everyone calls him a dog whisperer, not just because he’s a werewolf, but for his work at the local animal shelter. He has a unique talent for pairing families with their perfect pets upon first meeting them. But he’s still looking for acceptance and a forever family of his own. Then Jack comes into the rescue looking for a big, mean dog. To prevent Jack from making the wrong choice, Marius convinces him to adopt a needy spaniel mix instead. But when Marius learns Jack is tormented by horrible memories while at his apartment, he opens his home to the sweet, scared man. As their relationship grows, Jack feels comfortable telling Marius about the horrors he suffered. Marius hopes his steady presence, protection, and love can help Jack reclaim the pieces of himself broken on that terrible night.
Product Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4665
Reviewer: GiGi
Review: This book will touch the hearts of those who love and support rescue shelters, those who believe something damaged by tragedy or abuse is worth the work of healing, repairing, and giving a second chance. Marius runs a rescue shelter for a wide variety of animals, he takes them in, gives them medical care, love and training, to help repair any abuse former owners have inflicted. Then he matches them up with the perfect owner, someone who compliments them and can provide a loving home and a new life. Lucky for Jack, it seems Marius’ skills and passions expand to humans as well.
Many would have taken one look at Jack and shied away from the introverted, easily spooked man, wearing the same rumpled clothing day after day, seemingly without the ability to clearly communicate among many other social discomforts. If fact, that’s the way Jack prefers it, to be left alone, unnoticed, untouched. He’s been left broken, in his mind even contaminated, by a horrible experience, and is making his first foray out into the world to get himself a big dog, presumably to protect him from what he fears.
Thankfully, Marius sees through Jack’s strange exterior to the heart of a wounded man with a lot of love to give, not only to a homeless Spaniel, but to himself as well. Does Marius have the patience to help this wounded soul, without scaring him away? Will Jack find the match meant for him…in a new dog, and a new hope for love? The relationship grows, though slowly, and delicately. No big heavy, dominate love scenes here, just patient understanding, and genuine care.
Fears and hope for the future are both affected by the discrimination that Marius, a werewolf out to his friends and community, seems to experience on a daily basis. This story is like a snapshot of time and place, with many back-stories. We get a greater sense of issues involving the werewolf minorities coming out publicly, and community acceptance and prejudices of them happening “off screen” as it were. This is a different sort of werewolf story, no major “alpha” posturing here, no claiming, no territory disputes. Not the usual fare, more innovative, and much left to the imagination. The only werewolf actions that occur involve Marius shifting to track down some jerks who egg his business, and later involving his brother tracking down Jack’s offenders.
All-in-all a refreshing new way to write about shifters, and a very true look at those who love animals, support adoption through rescue shelters, and believe we all deserve healing hearts and second chances, no matter out past, our age, or our damage.