I confess, for a long time, I rarely included animals in my sweet, small-town contemporary romances, or if I do, they play a pretty minor role. For example, do any River’s Edge readers remember that Conor Flaherty’s daughter Ali had a dog named Lily? And two winery cats named Zin and Merlot? They do, and those critters popped up again in my newest release (book 14 in the River’s Edge sagas), Made to Love You, book 4 in the Walkers of River’s Edge series when Sam and Ali meet veterinarian Sawyer Braxton for the first time. And there was Mayor Megan Mackenzie’s cat, Mamie Eisenhower, she showed up in the first book, too. But these pets were bit players at best.
To tell the truth, I had to go back to A Small Town Christmas and Christmas with You to find Lily and Zin and Merlot and Mamie because I couldn’t even remember those pets’ names. And yes, I know I wrote them, but details rarely stick. Thus, my series bible now includes a section for pets because as the River’s Edge library of stories has grown, so has the list of dogs, cats, horses, etc. that live in my little Ohio River town.
Here’s the thing, and don’t hate me. I’m not an animal person really. I mean I like cats, I’m okay with dogs as long as they don’t jump on me or blow their doggy breath in my face or try to lick me, and I really love horses, but I’m not into riding anymore. I’m not fond of rodents as pets or snakes or spiders or lizards or other exotic creatures, even if they live in cages or aquariums. Don’t get me started on pet birds—in the air, flying free? Great. In a cage or worse, perched on someone’s shoulder—shudder. Fish, I can handle as long as I don’t have to be responsible for them. Same for turtles. You get the picture. So, making an animal a key character in one of my stories just didn’t occur to me when I first started writing the River’s Edge books.
Then, I realized that by not making pets a bigger part of my stories, I was missing a huge
opportunity to add to the arc of a character and enrich the storyline. I consciously began
including them in my novels, showing characters’ interactions with a dog or a cat. There are a lot of good reasons to bring animals more to the forefront of a story. They can add humor, warmth, and fun, but it wasn’t easy at first.
I ended up having to do some research. Not just to find exactly the right animal to add to a story—Lucas’s little Cavapoo puppy that he named Harry Potter in Christmas in River’s Edge or the kittens that Cam discovers after the earthquake in Made for Mistletoe. I also had to learn how to care for a puppy—what do they eat? How do you housetrain them? Leash-train them? I had to learn what to do with newborn kittens when a mom cat dies. In this most recent release, Made to Love You, I researched Papillons and breeders and veterinarians. Anna’s reluctance to commit to a pet came from my own reluctance about animals, and Sawyer’s love of dogs came from watching my kids interact with our grand-dogs.
I have to admit, I’ve had fun adding animals to the mix in some of my stories. As a matter of
fact, three of the stories in the Walkers of River’s Edge have included critters. In Make It Real,
we had Joe’s chickens and Kara’s dog, Scout, and even a sly fox who invades Joe’s chicken coop and becomes the catalyst for Joe and Kara’s meet-cute. In Made for Mistletoe, cats play a role, with Cam’s rescue cat Chairman Meow managing to charm heroine Harper almost as much as his owner does. And in Made to Love You, once again a rescue becomes critical to the romance when a little injured Papillon puppy brings Sawyer and Anna together and helps Anna open her heart to new love.
Made to Love You
She’s not looking for love, but a handsome veterinarian and a lost puppy have other plans…
Gorgeous and gifted, Annabelle Walker is a force of nature. A talented architect who has
brought new designs and concepts to her family’s construction firm, Anna’s happy and doesn’t feel anything’s missing from her life, even as her siblings have all fallen in love this year. And then she finds an injured puppy on a bike ride.
Veterinarian Sawyer Braxton is lost while driving to his first day at Price Veterinary Clinic. He
stops to ask directions of a bicyclist on the side of the road, and discovers three things: She’s
beautiful, stranded with a flat tire, and holding an injured puppy. Sawyer’s fascinated, and it feels like fate as he offers the intriguing and vibrant woman a ride to the vet clinic.
It’s a meet-cute, and Annabelle’s definitely attracted, but she’s determined that this time, she
really will take a break from men. Sawyer’s as stubborn as he is sexy, and he hits on a plan for a date—they’ll both foster the pup while it heals.
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Nan Reinhardt is a USA Today bestselling author of sweet, small-town romantic fiction for Tule Publishing. Her day job is working as a freelance copyeditor and proofreader, however, writing is Nan’s first and most enduring passion. She can’t remember a time in her life when she wasn’t writing—she wrote her first romance novel at the age of ten and is still writing, but now from the viewpoint of a wiser, slightly rumpled, woman in her prime. Nan lives in the Midwest with her husband of 51 years, where they split their time between a house in the city and a cottage on a lake.
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I admit that if a book cover has an animal on it, I'll take a second look. I've been using the names of our past pets or family pets in my books to remember the names of my character's pets. When you brought up Zin and Merlot in Made to Love You, I thought, "I remember those guys!"
I always like pets in books. I have two cats. I had to learn about caring for newborn kittens when i volunteered at a cat rescue. That was my favorite part.
I love the setup for this story!
I never considered how writing a series means keeping track of the pets until I read this! You're right, though, the animals do add a lot to a story. And book animals don't need their litter scooped or make our eyes itch and water!
I am a cat lady. I have 4 at the present time. Thankfully my husband loves them too. We got our first one in 1982 and haven't been without at least one since.