#NewRelease and #CharacterInterview - "Cat Therapy" by Kathy Bosman *Giveaway*

Welcome to my blog, Cherry. Thanks so much for chatting with me today. Let's get started...

What’s your name?

Cherry Smith

What do you look like?

I’m in my forties, but I still look fairly young for my age. The cats keep me young. I have unruly ginger hair and freckles. I’ve given up trying to hide them and straighten my hair.

What time period does your story take place?

Present day – year 2020.

What’s your goal in this story?

I want a house full of cats and people. I don’t want to be lonely anymore and I want to run a business I enjoy and that makes enough money so I can be comfortable and not count the pennies.

What conflicts are you facing?

It’s hard starting up something new, and when the new vet in town disapproves, it’s even more of a challenge. I can’t help worrying about him messing up my dream.

What skill do you have that you’re proud of? Why?

I’m really good at looking after cats and guests. I have a nurturing soul and don’t like to see anyone uncomfortable. I love to pamper others – maybe because I sometimes get too busy to pamper myself. I love to open up my home to people in need, especially if they’ve suffered a broken heart.

What's the most terrible thing that ever happened to you?

My two divorces. They were heartbreaking.

What was your dream growing up? Did you achieve that dream? If so, in what ways was it not what you expected? If you never achieved the dream, why not?

I had a dream to get married and to have a whole lot of kids. And to homeschool them or open up a cottage school and teach from home. That never happened because both my marriages ended up in divorce before I’d gotten pregnant.

What is the best piece of advice you ever received?

Mmmmh, that comes up in the book from an unusual source. It’s something about love, but I shan’t tell you. I don’t want to spoil the surprise.

What’s your quirkiest habit? 

I love soaking in the bath and if I’m stressed, I can bath several times a day. It makes the cats mad because they can’t get to me. Donald or Beppi will sometimes try to climb in the bath and join me. That never ends well.

Why do you think your author chose to write about you?

She loves cats and she’s a bit like me – a real softy.

What do you wish your author had not told others about you?

How bad I am with romance.

Cat Therapy – Sweet Romance / Women’s Fiction

Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/Cat-Therapy-Kathy-Bosman-ebook/dp/B083167G8F

Giveaway Link: http://www.kathybosman.com/2019/12/cat-therapy-release-and-giveaway.html

Blurb:

Cat Therapy is a tender and funny women’s fiction and romance novel about healing, love, and cats—lots of them!

Two-times divorcée Cherry Smith is quite happy with single life. Well, a little lonely at times—until she gets given four more cats to add to her two. When the kitten needs some shots, she visits the new vet in town. Dr. Jeff Clark turns out to be even more handsome than what she's heard. But Cherry can’t let him distract her—she’s been burned too many times by attractive men. Jeff makes her feel uncomfortable, especially when he seems to disapprove of her having six cats. To pacify him, she tells him that she’s running a cat therapy hotel. As she ponders the lie, she realizes what a fantastic idea it is, especially since she has to move out of her home. With the help of her friend Delia, they set up a bed-and-breakfast facility.

People come from far and wide to enjoy the love of her cats, including a gentle widower named Seb, who needs help with his grieving son. Maybe she should rather date Seb. He'd make the perfect husband. And, much to her irritation, Jeff keeps checking up on her cat therapy hotel. How can she get rid of him? When Cherry is swept away by the trials and joys of her cat therapy hotel, she has to learn what she wants most in life and the true meaning of love and friendship.

Excerpt:

While waiting for the doctor, she opened the carrier and brought Beppi out. The kitten sank its claws into her shoulder. “Ouch.”

“Someone nervous?”

Cherry turned to see the face that matched the deep voice. Her mouth refused to move. Handsome just didn’t describe Dr. Clark well enough. No words could adequately depict the man in his blue coat, sporting ridiculously cute dimples as he gave her a genuine smile.

“Did she get your tongue, too?” he teased.

She cleared her throat, partly to warn herself not to be sucked in, but mostly to let him know she wasn’t some stupid, fawning, single woman anxious to scoop up the new man in town before anyone else got him. She was beyond that now—independent and determined to make a life for herself, and her cats.

“My kitten, Beppi, needs her shots, please.”

He moved behind the cool, shiny metal of his treatment table and reached his arms out for Beppi. “Hasn’t she had any yet?”

“No.” Cherry shook her head and handed Beppi to him. The gentleness with which he took the cat unnerved her. The cat yowled a little, then settled in his arms. He gave Beppi a quick stroke.

“Aren’t you a spitfire and a sweet thing all rolled up into one?”

Something hot and warm settled in the middle of her gut and radiated toward her heart.

Maybe the stress of losing her home had made her vulnerable to a nice man. She shook her head.

“She’s not?” he asked, surprised.

“Oh no. Of course she is. She’s gorgeous. She sleeps by my head at night.” Why did her face heat? Why couldn’t she act like a normal forty-two-year old—mature and beyond that sinking ability to develop strong and irrational crushes? “Well, it’s only been one night. She’s new. Eddie and Maureen gave her to me. And Maisy, and Blog, and Donald. Donald’s very quiet. He hid in my shoe cupboard the whole day. Maisy follows me wherever I go and Blog stalks Spotty, my dog. Something about the tail…”

He gave her a gentle smile, causing the impish dimples to deepen. They should be banned, really. Plastic surgeons the country over should be hired by the government to eradicate all traces of them in single men. They wiped away all sensible thought.

He placed Beppi down and within minutes, had administered all the necessary shots. As he handed her back and Cherry placed her back in the carrier, he came around to her side. “You sure you can handle so many cats?” he asked, a frown etching his brow. Despite the gentleness of his voice, she sensed a guardedness in him.

“Of course I can,” she said, but his eyes revealed his disagreement with her statement.

“Unless you’re running a special shelter, maybe you should look at blessing some people with pets.”

Something in her crumbled. He wasn’t so dreamy, after all. The guy didn’t think she could handle six cats. Oh well, she’d show him.

“I am running a shelter.”

“You are?” He looked skeptical.

I am?

“Maisy has special healing properties. And Toad, well, he’s always picked up on when someone’s down. Even though he doesn’t sleep on my bed at night, he’ll come to me when I’m feeling down. And he scampers up to whoever else comes to visit who’s not happy inside. Sometimes, the person can be faking it really well with a smile and a jovial greeting, but as soon as Toad comes up to them, I know straight away that they’re hiding pain inside of them.”

“I’m not getting you. You’re running a shelter for abandoned cats?”

“Oh no. It’s cat therapy. Haven’t you heard of it?”

He narrowed his eyes at her. The dimples disappeared. Maybe a good thing. “Cat therapy?”

“Yes, people can come to me for healing. Well, not to me. To my home. They will spend time with the cats and find peace and emotional healing. You’ve heard about horse therapy? Well, this is cat therapy.” Her head spun with the realization of what she’d just said. Where had the idea come from and why was she lying so badly? She’d always been scrupulously honest around her friends and even strangers. Now, this ridiculously handsome vet had reduced her to a deceitful woman. She needed to get far away. He was bad for her. She edged toward the door, carrier in hand.

Author Bio

Kathy Bosman is a sassy, single, homeschooling mom, who lives in Durban, South Africa. For her day job, she gets to read and edit amazing stories. At night and in her spare time, she loves writing, reading, crafts, dancing, delving in the world of mystical spirituality, and spending time with family and friends. She writes mostly romance, but loves to sprinkle a little bit of magic into her stories at times too.

Social Media Links:

Website and blog: http://www.kathybosman.com/

Facebook author page: http://www.facebook.com/KathleenBosman

Facebook interactive profile: http://www.facebook.com//kathy.bosmanauthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KathleenLBosman

Newsletter Subscription: http://eepurl.com/NokET

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/17leenbee/