All About Animals discussion

Anyone interested in a group read/discussion about my book? If so, I can give a free ebook copy to everyone in the group.

Anyone interested? The link to my book is below:

That Pet Finder Kid - Catnapped

I would be.

Cool Jennifer! We'll give it a few more days and I'll send out the ebook copies :-)

I will read it and download on my Kindle, but will have to read when I get the chance. I'm already so far behind on the ones I said I'd read. But, I will gladly read it eventually as soon as I can.

I'd love to!

I plan to look for the book as I don't have an ereader. I'd love to discuss once I've read it. thanks for the suggestion!

Thanks guys! This is going to be fun :-)

For the paperback, you can get it from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/That-Pet-Finder...

or from Barnes and Nobel:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/that-...

Or, you can read ebooks right on your computer or tablet. Then you can enjoy the freeness of it :-)

We'll give it a few more days, and I'll post a free link to the ebook on my website: HappyBrownDog.com

Keep your eye on this thread for the link.

I think this looks like fun too. I would like a copy!

Ok, I will look for the link so I can download it to my computer. That works for me :)

OK, Jeffifer, Barbara, Becky, Dawn, and Jami (and anyone else who wants to join in). I've put the file up on my website. Feel free to tell your friends, and we can have a healthy discussion. I'll leave the free file up for about a week.

I suggest popping back to this thread with any questions and comments as you read. I'll try to check it often. It's a quick read and I really hope you enjoy it!

Here's the link:
link removed :-(

Enjoy!

I just downloaded the pdf version; I hope to start reading it sometime this week! Looking forward to the discussion!

Here's something to think about as you start to read:

In my first draft of the book, Chet (the hero character) had his "ability" to connect with animals from word one. In that draft, the reader discovered how Chet got his ability from a flashback in chapter one or two...

One of my early readers suggested readers should be allowed to discover Chet's abilities along with Chet. I pulled out the flashback, and rewrote it to become the prologue of the book. This had a pretty big impact on the first third of the book, because Chet's ability was no longer developed.

See if you can pick out any of the story points that were added or changed as I rewrote...

Thanks for the book. I just downloaded the PDF version and hope to read it soon. I am a little busy working on getting my own second book ready for publishing and finishing some other books I am reading, and promoting my first book at various events so I may not get to it for a few weeks. I just thought I should let you know so that you aren't expecting me to comment on the book this week.

I look forward to hearing what you guys think :-)

Thanks!

I just finished through Chapter 4, and so far, I'm enjoying it. I agree with your first reader's comment about the abilities in the prologue. It helped having that knowledge to understand the scene with the german shepherd and his "connection" to the animals.

I think you did a good job establishing Chet's character, particularly with some of the scenes from childhood that we can all cringe at!

I also chuckled, because I think I work with the grown up version of Douglass!!!!!

What kind of an animal is Toonce? I think I missed that somewhere, but I didn't see that.

Funny enough, I added the Shepherd after I got the notes. That was in response to letting the reader discover the ability along with Chet. Before, I had Chet start right off in CH1 with his ability, and flashback to the vets office so we can see how he got it. Then he just had full use of it in the rest of the book. I think it works way better now :-)

Yep, Chet has it rough. I feel that struggle with my son. We are looking for that one thing he really enjoys and is good at (besides video games).

It seems Douglass has emerged as a fan favorite. I'm sure your co worker will be glad to know he could have fans :-)

Toonces is a cat. Zoe, Harry, and Toonces are all my real pets. Toonces was our first pet when we got married. She's 16 years old now! She likes to sleep on my belly while I write, and sometimes makes it difficult to get anything done. She was named after a Saturday Night Live skit called Toonces the Driving Cat. Do a search on youtube and you'll see...

Thanks for reading!

If anyone else is interested, the free link is still active, but I'll be taking it down soon.

I read several more chapters, and it is definitely still keeping my attention! I'm beginning to think that Chet is a cross between Encyclopedia Brown (with Douglass' help) and Theodore Boone (John Grisham's character of Kid Lawyer).

I'm enjoying the humor in it as well; I laughed at the part about Chet realizing that talking to Heather constituted "advanced human interaction." Some things never change in life - I think many adult males have qualms about this type of advanced interaction with us as they haven't yet mastered it!!! I also chuckled about Douglass raising a finger when he was prepared to comment - that coworker I mentioned in the the previous post? He does the exact same thing before he goes off on a tangent!

I'm glad you didn't include Ace Ventura when cross referencing Chet. I tried so hard not to go anywhere close to that, but when you write a character who has cooky/ petlike way of looking at the word, and he's solving a pet crime — it's tough to steer clear of Ace... The rest of Chet is nothing like Ace, so that helps. I never read Theodore Boone... is it a good series and appropriate for kids?

Have you delved into Chet's dreams yet? Those are always fun to write...

I'm glad you're finding the humor... I sometimes wonder if it will come across or just be weird. And I have still not mastered "advanced human interaction" :-)

Thanks for engaging!!

No, I haven't delved into the dreams yet - I'm reading this at work on my lunch hour, so I am reading it in parts. Sounds interesting, looking forward to getting there. The humor definitely comes through - not weird at all; unless maybe I just have a weird sense of humor! The Theodore Boone series is enjoyable for me as an adult, but they are really geared for kids. I recommend starting with the first one, as the other two build off that.

I'm not surprised you haven't mastered the advanced human interaction - my guy has been in my training program for ten years and he still has a ways to go, LOL!!!!!

I finished the book today and I enjoyed it. I thought it was well done. Thanks for providing the free copy!!!!!

Thanks for the feedback Jami :-)

I've enjoyed discussing it with you!

Scott wrote: "Thanks for the feedback Jami :-)

I've enjoyed discussing it with you!"

Anytime! Is this going to be a series? Also, one last comment I forgot to make - I thought the scientific references were good (whether or not they are accurate I don't have a clue, but they were entertaining!!!!!) and I thought the phone in Douglass' stomach was quite clever!

I just thought I would stop by to let you know, that I will be reading your book this weekend!

Jami... Most of the science references were pretty close to accurate. I would do a little research and try to make it sound authentic, but I'm sure it wouldn't stand up at my sons science fair ;-)

The phone in the stomach gag was stuck in my brain from an episode of Star Trek Next Generation. I thought it might be fun for other Trekies.

I would like to do this book as a series, because I really love the characters... We'll see what happens if I can develop a following.

And Jennifer... I look forward to your comments :-)