Patti Eddington should have known when she married her veterinary student boyfriend that she would spend anniversary and birthday dinners not sitting at tables at fancy restaurants but kneeling under a surgery table in a cocktail dress, desperately trying to mop up a steady stream of blood and urine with cheap paper towels. She should have guessed that every knock at the door or ring of the phone would mean her husband would be torn away from the family for hours—sometimes returning deflated, sometimes smiling. But she could never have dreamed that her beautiful, curly-haired young daughter would one day bathe and sleep with an inflatable tick (until the day it was mysteriously punctured by a salad fork) or that she would go through her marriage of forty-five years opening every freezer door with caution.
DON’T LOOK IN THE FREEZER: The Very Strange Life of a Veterinarian’s Wife by Patti Eddington is an entertaining nonfiction series of essays/memoir on the author’s life as the wife of a veterinarian and their pets throughout the years. While many of the chapters are humorous there are also many poignant moments throughout.
If you are a lover of animals, I do not see how you could not enjoy this book. Our family had many of the pet animals described in Patti’s family, so I can relate to the good and bad. Everyone has had that “good” pet or “crazy” pet that no matter what, you loved them and mourned their passing. This book though includes the other side of the story about the dealings with pet parents and interruptions to the doctor and his family’s personal lives that they dealt with.
This is a book for all pet lovers and is an unfiltered look at this author’s life and pets.
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About the Author
Patti Eddington is a newspaper and magazine journalist whose favorite job ever was interviewing the famous authors who came through town on book tours. She never dreamed of writing about her life because she was too busy helping build her husband’s veterinary practice, caring for her animal obsessed daughter—whose favorite childhood toy was an inflatable tick—and learning to tap dance. Then fate, and a DNA test, led her to a story she felt compelled to tell. Today, the mid-century modern design enthusiast and Jazzercise instructor enjoys being dragged on walks by her ridiculous three-legged dog, David, and watching the egrets and bald eagles from her deck on a beautiful bayou in Spring Lake, Michigan.
DOG and The Girl Who Rode the White Lion by Yishay Ishi Ron are very powerful novels. Both these novels are mirrored in realistic events including October 7th. They have mystery, good versus evil, revenge and resolution, and are page turners that both inform and entertain.
Elise’s Thoughts
DOG is a poignant and unflinching exploration of the search for meaning after the wreckage of war, told through the eyes of an Israeli combat officer returning from Gaza. Haunted by trauma, he spirals into heroin addiction, finding himself among Tel Aviv’s community of misfit junkies—until a stray dog enters his life and becomes a beacon of hope, guiding him through a transformative journey marked by despair, resilience, and ultimately hope for salvation.
Beyond its deeply personal narrative, DOG offers a raw and immersive examination of PTSD’s mechanisms— how extreme stress, moral injury, and the experience of combat can rewire the brain, making a return to civilian life seem nearly impossible. With sharp social critique and profound emotional depth, the novel sheds light on invisible wounds and those who carry them, while illustrating the therapeutic power of a simple soulful connection, and how the path to redemption can be illuminated in the most unexpected of ways.
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Elise’s Thoughts
The Girl Who Rode the White Lion shows the cruelty of the Nazi SS. It takes place in two timelines. The first begins in the city of Darmstadt, Germany, on November 9, 1938, during Kristallnacht, and follows the plight of the young girl Sarah Frank and her escape from the SS officer, Hauptsturmführer Hubert Zimmer. She finds refuge in the marvelous circus of Adolf Frey. Adolf, the circus owner and famous lion trainer, is married to Louis, a Jewish French woman and elephant trainer. The circus has already committed to performances in German cities, but Adolf’s plans are disrupted when the SS officer, searching for Sarah, shows no intention of giving up.
The second timeline of the book takes place in New York City, on January 6, 1957, when Mark Spencer, a veterinarian at the Central Park Zoo, performs a post-mortem examination on a rare white lion named Christmas, and discovers an SS ring made of silver inside its stomach. The mystery of the story has Mark wondering about the ring and searching for clues that has him meet Sarah in Israel.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: The book,DOG, delves into PTSD; can you elaborate on this issue?
Yishay Ishi Ron: Its theme is the horror of the war and what happens when the war is over. A lot of the public attention in Israel now is the after effects of October 7th because so many civilians and soldiers experienced severe PTSD. Some people say that at least one fourth of the population in Israel now has it. Of course, you can see it with soldiers committing suicide, so many, something like 140 since October 7th, and those are only the formal numbers. And of course, survivors, their families, and those injured also have PTSD. Since October 7th, those with PTSD have more than doubled because they were all traumatized. They remember the memories from October 7th, and the anti-Semitism is not helping.
EC: The book,DOG, does it relate to October 7th?
YIR: Although it was written before October 7th, yes. Everybody in Israel knows a family that had a member kidnapped or injured or killed or their son or daughter were killed in the war. PTSD is so common now, and I think that when people read DOG, they should understand deep in their hearts what it means to have PTSD and how it can pull them easily from being a functional normal person to someone that cannot deal with life. They are so haunted by what they’ve seen or what they heard. So, this is the connection to October 7.
EC: InDOGyou have a dedication that reads, “To the combatants whose eyes have seen things that their minds refuse to forget.” Does this apply to those who saw the horrific acts against the victims on October 7th?
YIR: I’m a PTSD veteran, and I believe that, for many Israelis, veterans, all Israel was traumatized very deeply. Even for me as a veteran I suffered, because I remember those days as very, very traumatic. And I wasn’t there, but it was enough to watch the news and to hear the people who had been there. I remember in my therapy sessions that I was just crying. I couldn’t even deal with my PTSD because I was so traumatized by what happened to us. And I feel that in a way that is how it is with most Israelis. They can’t sleep. It was horrific, what they saw and who were there and what they had to deal with.
EC: What do you want to say aboutDOG?
YIR: It’s not about a war, but it’s about what happens when the war is over. What happened to soldiers and to heroes and to people that experience it. As a PTSD survivor, I started to write DOG before I knew I had PTSD. For years I suffered from PTSD and its many manifestations. I couldn’t admit to myself that I’m suffering from PTSD because I did not want to be perceived as weak. So, I started to write DOG a few years before my psychological collapse. I had a breakdown during COVID after my team had a reunion and I met the soldier, a friend of mine, who I accidentally shot during the combat operation. I really collapsed mentally. And that was the first time I really admitted to myself that I had PTSD. I couldn’t work, I didn’t eat, I didn’t sleep. It was very hard for me, very difficult times, so my psychiatrist and my therapist told me ‘You are a writer, go write it to help you to process everything.’ So, I came back to DOG and I started to rewrite it. I wanted to make it more interesting so I wrote it as a novel. I think it’s more reachable for people but also to experience from Geller, my protagonist, his perspective as a Commando officer.
EC: Your other book,The Girl Who Rode the White Lion; how did you get the idea for the story?
YIR: I came upon it many years ago, maybe 10 to 15 years ago, A Jewish acrobat named Irene Danner pleaded for those in the circus to hide her. They accepted to hide her, to give her a job and a new identity. And later, they also took in her sister and grandma. They hid two other families, which was very, very risky for them, because the SS and the Gestapo used to check up on the circus looking for Jews. So, it was very, very dangerous for them, but they decided to do this. As an author I was intrigued by the atmosphere of the circus. I mean, in this insane place that Europe became, and especially Germany, such a place of horrors and of drama and of craziness of what happened. So, it really mesmerized me. I couldn’t get it out of my head and I decided to write the story, but I didn’t want to write the biography so I wrote a fiction novel that deals with this circus, and what happened.
EC: There is a quote in the book that can also refer to today with anti-Semitism. Can you comment?
YIR: You are referring to, ‘The Nazis taught us to stand up for ourselves. They taught us that no one in the world would volunteer to save a Jew.’ On the contrary, many would step up to kill a Jew just for fun. I think that many a Jew was shocked that their non-Jewish friends looked the other way after October 7th. I was not very surprised. Nothing changed. From the beginning of today’s time, and when Christianity and Islam came, Jews were persecuted, everywhere in the world, in all times.
EC: How would you describe the female protagonist, Sarah?
YIR: She did not believe in love and attachment. She’s quiet, vulnerable and has PTSD. She drinks a lot. She disassociates from herself when she drinks. She can have unattachable sex, but she cannot have long-term relationships because everyone she counted on was killed, was taken from her, and she even says it to Mark Spencer. She tells him that everyone that comes near her is dead, is killed. She’s seen a man being murdered, her house being destroyed, and her father being taken to a concentration camp and killed. She also saw her new parents being killed in Germany during a bombing and animals also killed. So, it’s very, very, very traumatic for her. And I think that she’s has classic PTSD
EC: How would you describe Mark, the male lead?
YIR: He was born with a silver spoon. In the beginning, he is a very successful American, a peacock. He likes to show off. He likes to have many girlfriends, and he cannot stay with one because he feels that he is the alpha man.
EC: What about the relationship between Mark and Sarah?
YIR: When he falls for Sarah, it’s not only because she’s beautiful because he had many beautiful women before her. When he meets with Sarah, he has a girlfriend in New York who is very beautiful. I think he falls for her because he falls for her honesty and for the feelings and pain that she carries. Like a lot of us, he had sympathy with someone who was suffering. He went on a journey that changes from this person as not being much more sensitive to being sensitive of what happened to the Jews. Then suddenly he finds himself understanding that there is anti-Semitism around. So basically, I think he starts the book as a peacock and finishes it as someone who is much more sensitive and connected to the pain in Sarah.
EC: What do you think the role of the lion was in your story?
YIR: It’s a symbol. It’s a symbol for Jews for strength and for courage. My protagonist, Sarah, found the courage to deal with the situation. I mean, the lion was so frightening, but when she understood the situation, that the real beast is the Nazis, and compared to them, the lion suddenly is not so frightening to her. She understands suddenly that if she does not succeed in riding the lion, she will be dead and everyone she loves will be dead. So, this was the symbol she had to overcome her deepest fears.
EC: How would you describe the Nazi SS Zimmerman?
YIR: He has an inferiority complex, cruel, a control freak, a predator, and a sadist. I saw him in my mind as a combination of Joseph Goebbels and Adolf Eichmann, who were both pathetic, weak physically, and damaged people. So, it was very important for me to show this aspect that the master race was not always such a master race. He became a classic villain, because he’s such a weak person. His hatred for the Jews is based on jealousy of Sarah’s family. His childhood friend was an officer during WWI in the army, and later became a doctor, had a beautiful wife, and a beautiful home, and they were rich. Zimmerman was unsuccessful in his prior life, and became successful as a Nazi, only because he was so extreme and full of hate. He was jealous of the Jews.
EC: What was the importance of the ring found in the lion’s stomach?
YIR: I read about the Nazi rings, which were given as a present by Himmler to officers in the SS. And the rings were more important than the officers themselves, meaning if an officer was killed, the commands were to bring back the ring. Or when an officer was dead by nature or by accident or by battlefield, the ring had to be brought back to Himmler. It was a gift only to the time the officer was alive. The ring belonged to the SS, and it was a symbol. So, when I looked for a symbol to connect Sarah, to the SS, to the lion, and to Mark Spencer, it was like suddenly as I saw it as a vision that Mark will find the ring in the lion’s stomach.
EC: Next book?
YIR: It is titled, Jacob the Birdman. It’s about this guy that was feeling that all his life he was a bird. And, suddenly in the park, in Tel Aviv, he goes to the park and meets a strange man that encourages him to take out the bird inside of him and to become a bird. It’s very Salvador Dali, very dreamy, like.
THANK YOU!!
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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
Major Pierre “Pete” Ortiz was a Manhattan-born and Paris-educated polymath fluent in five languages. An adventuresome French Foreign Legion veteran specifically recruited by “Wild” Bill Donovan’s Office of Strategic Services (the precursor to both the CIA and U.S. Special Forces) upon his enlistment in the Marines, Ortiz was the officer “Wild Bill” instinctively knew he needed and could rely on to complete a string of clandestine missions.
While recuperating from gunshot wounds received during a behind-the-lines excursion into enemy-held North Africa, Ortiz delivered his After-Action Report directly to Donovan in Washington. After reading it, “Wild Bill” scrawled across the top of the report: “Please re-employ this man as soon as possible.” Ortiz’s handlers heeded Donovan’s request. Within a year Ortiz was surreptitiously parachuted into the Haute Savoie region of Occupied France, where he made contact with the resistance fighters who called themselves Maquisards.
By the time he retired as a United States Marine Corps colonel, he received two Navy Crosses for extraordinary heroism in World War II. He was one of the very few U.S. Marines to serve in combat in Europe during World War II, and one of the most decorated Marine officers of the war.
THE PHANTOM: The Untold Story of the American Marine the Nazis Could Not Kill by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin is the biography of U.S. Marine Major Pierre “Pete” Ortiz who was nicknamed “Das Fantom” by the Gestapo during WWII. What an amazing, daring, and patriotic man I knew nothing about.
A multi-lingual adventurer who served eight years in the French Foreign Legion in Northern Africa, was a merchant marine seaman, a lion tamer, a riding instructor, and the chauffer to a bootlegger all before serving in the Marines and the fledgling OSS in WWII. Twice Ortiz parachuted into Nazi held France, once before and once after D-Day to equip and train French resistance groups.
This biography gave me so much new information. While I have read about “Wild Bill” and the beginning of American covert operations previously, I did not realize how many Marines were the backbone of the on-the-ground behind-the-lines operations. I found Ortiz’s life fascinating and very well documented throughout this biography, but I was also hoping for more. There is a good portion of the story spent on the set-up of the OSS and “Wild Bill” Donovan that while interesting, it is not why I picked up this book. While Ortiz’s life is told here, I wanted more focus on him, alone as the title infers.
Overall, a book that gives a good overview of the beginnings of the OSS and espionage during WWII while introducing the reader to an astonishing man of action.
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About the Author– Bob Drury
The New York Times bestselling author Bob Drury is the recipient of several national journalism awards as well as a three-time National Magazine Award finalist for his reporting from Belfast, Sarajevo, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Darfur among other earthly Edens. His books include THE RESCUE SEASON, A DOG’S GIFT, and, with co-author Tom Clavin, THE HEART OF EVERYTHING THAT IS, HALSEY’S TYPHOON, VALLEY FORGE, BLOOD AND TREASURE, THE LAST HILL and THE LAST STAND OF FOX COMPANY, for which he received the U.S. Marine Corps Heritage Foundation’s General Wallace M. Greene, Jr. Award.
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About the Author– Tom Clavin
TOM CLAVIN, whose most recent book is FOLLOW ME TO HELL, is a bestselling author who has worked as a newspaper and web site editor, magazine writer, TV and radio commentator, and a reporter for The New York Times covering entertainment, sports, and the environment. He has received awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, and National Newspaper Association. Six of his books have been New York Times best sellers: THE HEART OF EVERYTHING THAT IS, DODGE CITY, HALSEY’S TYPHOON, THE LAST STAND OF FOX COMPANY, BLOOD AND TREASURE, and FOLLOW ME TO HELL. Other books that have received popular and critical acclaim include TOMBSTONE, WILD BILL, ALL BLOOD RUNS RED, TO THE UTTERMOST ENDS OF THE EARTH, THE LAST HILL, and LIGHTNING DOWN. Tom is also a nationally syndicated columnist and “The Overlook” can be found at tomclavin.substack.com. His next book, THE LAST OUTLAWS, will be published on November 7 by St. Martin’s Press. For more information, go to tomclavin.com
I was not sure how I would handle adding to and posting this article. While sharing blog posts, books, and an on-line friendship, Elise and I have gone through the heartbreaking loss of our dogs, who were so much more, at almost the exact same time.
I lost Athena on 4/10/2026 after twelve wonderful years. She made me fall in love with all varieties in the pitbull family of terriers; their wiggly butts, zoomies, and abundance of kisses. It is still too hard for me to write much without tearing up, but I was happy Elise pulled together this article with her memories of Torii and some of our favorite authors remembering their furry family members.
Athena
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Anyone who had a dog realizes for many pet owners they were more than just a pet. To some they were a friend, partner, child, or encompassed all those qualities. It seems so unfair that they do not live long as we would like. Will Chesney, the dog handler, wrote the book, No Ordinary Dog about Cairo, the Belgian Malinois military working dog who was part of the mission to get Osama bin Laden. He put into words what others who lost a dog are feeling. Anyone who is a dog lover and who has lost a dog can relate to what Will said in the book. “The story does not end on a high note. It never does with dogs, right? Someone once said that buying a dog is like buying a small tragedy. You know on the first day how it all will turn out. But that’s not the point, is it? It’s the journey that counts, what you give the dog and what you get in return.”
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Elise’s Tribute to Torii
Torii was our fourteen-year-old beloved black Labrador Retriever who we had to put down because all her vitals was shutting down. She was a survivor and fighter who always seemed to bounce back, having overcome immune disease, one bout with tick disease, mass cell tumors, heart disease, high blood pressure, torn ACL, gerardia, bitten by a vicious dog that required a drain, and an allergic reaction to a bee sting. Unfortunately, she got a second bout of mass cell tumors and eventually it was too much for her to overcome.
We thought of her as a child because that is how she acted. She made us so very, very happy because of her kind, caring, and loveable ways. Two events stand out for me. One was when I was on the phone with my supervisor and was not a happy camper. Torii jumped on the couch, put her head on my shoulder, and started licking me. It was like she was saying ‘calm down mom things are going to be OK’. The other event is when we were having lunch in an outside restaurant and two children passed by, obviously afraid of dogs. I started talking to them and coaxed them to come up to her. Torii worked her magic and soon the children were enamored with her, crying when their mom said they had to go.
We miss Torii so very much. She gave unconditional love. She always amazed us with her strength and endurance while overcoming life’s obstacles. She was always well behaved except for the times she talked back when she wanted to eat. She made us laugh and smile with her antics. She will always be forever in our hearts and always remembered.
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Below are some authors who wrote about that special dog they lost in their lives:
Linda Castillo is a best-selling author known for writing the Kate Burkholder mystery series with her latest, A Dark Path. She speaks about the special dog she lost and was very attached to. “I had a chocolate lab. Gosh, it was back in the late ’90s, and I loved this girl. Her name was Cinnamon, and she was a dog that we just connected with. Cinnamon was one of those special dogs. If my husband and I were out and about, and we were on our way home, back to the house, I would feel this little leap of joy in my gut, because for a second, I would think that I was gonna see Cinnamon. She was a dark chocolate lab. We got her when she was a puppy from the Humane Society. And she was little, a runt. She was gorgeous. She was a beautiful dark chocolate Labrador. She had the Labrador, everything, the body, the personality, the appetite, and was calm as could be.”
“She was seven years old when she died of cancer. I made myself wait 3 months. I went down to the SPCA and I’m looking and my husband was like, everything that I look at, if it wasn’t Cinnamon, I did not want to get that dog. I had volunteered down there before, previously. So, about three months later, we went back to the SPCA in downtown Dallas, and I found the most unlikely dog. We had seen him before. He weighed 144 pounds, probably a Newfoundland. We did not get him that day but the day I won a writing contest; I drove down to the SPCA. He was still there, I put this 144-pound dog in the back of my Mustang, and I took him home.”
“I know each person is different and realize they must follow their feelings. But I think that the love that people feel for a dog, is a love just as strong as those with children. They always say, you can’t replace them, and you can’t, but a lot of people say, ‘Oh, you have to wait until you get another dog, because, you can’t replace the one that died.’ I think that the best way to mend a broken heart, when you lose a dog, is to get another dog, or two. That’s my theory.”
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J. A. Jance is a best-selling author known for writing three series centering around Seattle police detective J. P. Beaumont, Arizona County Sheriff Joanna Brady, and mystery solver Ali Reynolds who is featured in her latest book Overkill. She speaks of her special dog that she lost. “Sixteen years ago, coming home from a Saturday morning shopping trip to Target with my daughter and grandson, Colt, we spotted a little miniature dachshund running down the middle of a busy road. My daughter pulled over onto the shoulder while I jumped out and gave chase. It was rainy and cold. Eventually two college-aged kids pulled over and helped me corner her.”
“She was tiny, muddy, soaking wet, shivering, and scared to death. She had a collar but no tag and no chip. We spent the better part of two hours trying to locate her owner to no effect. Eventually we came back to the house, Bill, my husband came outside to see what all the fuss was about, and ended up carrying her into the house. On the way, Colt was explaining to Bill how we found this “poor little fella on the street. ‘Colt, Bill said, Fella is a boy name. This is a girl dog.’ ‘Okay’, Colt replied. ‘We’ll call her Bella.’”
“And Bella she became. She had obviously lived in an apartment. She had no idea how to use our doggie door, but her instincts were strong. When it came to moles, she was a killer. The first time she brought one of her bloody prizes into the house, it was right in the middle of a dinner party!”
“Because she was scared to death of our dog sitter, when it came time to go on a book tour, Bella went along and became Bella, the Book Tour Dog. Her first day on the job, she interacted with 2500 people including spending time with one woman. She had recently lost her daughter to cancer, and she had come to the signing to have her daughter’s book signed. Once I finished autographing her book, I passed her along to Bill and Bella, and Bella did her comforting best for the next half hour. But boy was she tired when we got back to the hotel.”
“We had her for eight years. Prior to having Bella, we had been golden retriever-people, but Bella helped us downsize. We’ve since had two more long-haired miniature dachshunds, Jojo and Mary. Jojo is gone, now, too, and I believe Mary is what my father would call our ‘toes-up dog.’ Loving an animal means we’re going to lose them eventually, but I wouldn’t have missed the time spent with anyone of them. I wrote a novella which is, I believe, a fictionalized version of Bella’s history. It’s called A Last Goodbye.”
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Peter James is the best-selling author of the Roy Grace novels. His latest is The Hawk Is Dead. He spoke of the special dog he lost. “Phoebe was a German Shepherd. German Shepherds have a very unfair reputation for being aggressive. In truth, its owners who should have that bad reputation: Yes, an ill-treated and badly trained Shepherd may well turn aggressive – as would almost any breed. But properly trained, loved and nurtured they can be among the gentle breeds of dog in the world. I watched one time an eight-year-old baby crawl across the floor and take a handful of food out of Phoebe’s bowl – and she just lay there, passively, without batting an eyelid. But with sheep that is another thing. I once asked a police dog handler how to stop a German Shepherd from chasing sheep and he told me it was virtually impossible since it was in their DNA! I remember when Phoebe was 12 years old, a great age for a Shepherd, and her back legs were starting to go, as we were walking through a field of sheep, she totally forgot her age and decided she was two again and damn well was going to have herself a sheep!! She almost pulled me over.”
“We’ve always tended to have three dogs of differing ages. Getting a new dog is the only cure I know for the pain of losing a dog. I honestly think losing a dog can hurt more than then losing a human relative. All my dogs are a combination of soulmate, writing companion, and personal trainer. Doesn’t matter how bad the weather might be and how much I do not feel like going out for a walk or a run, all I need is a baleful look from any of my dogs and off we go!”
“My wife, Lara, is a qualified canine massage therapist (a dog masseur) and she works with dogs with serious arthritis. She comes across a wide variety of breeds in her work – and is always falling in love with each of them! Sometimes we will replace a loved dog with the same breed, but oftentimes we may get a rescue. I’m a patron of the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) so I have a big incentive to take on rescue animals – and it is so rewarding.”
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Jenna Blum is a best-selling author whose latest is Murder Your Darlings. She speaks of her special dog Woodrow, a Labrador Retriever. “He was my North, my South, my East, and West. My working week and my Sunday rest. My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song. As W. H. Auden said, ‘He was my daily joy, my pal.’ I called myself (or he called me) “Mommoo,” so he was a fur child of sorts. But he was also The George Clooney of Dogs–not a nickname I gave him. He was a very elegant soul in a dog suit.?
“I have a new black Lab, Henry Higgins, who is a dog in a dog suit, and I love him just as much and fiercely, in a very different way. You can always expand to let a new love into your life! My memoir about Woodrow is Woodrow on the Bench. I hope it helps people who are caring for a senior animal and/ or who have lost one.”
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Melinda Curtis is a best-selling author of light‐hearted contemporary romance. Her latest is The Cowboy’s Accidental Bride and Winning the Bull Rider’s Heart. She speaks of her special dog Calvin, a chocolate lab. “Calvin grew up with our boys and thought he was a boy, too. If they played catch, he demanded to play, too. If they went swimming, he went swimming, too. And if we tried to leave him outside while other kids were over, he’d protest mightily, doing everything from dragging the screen door away from the slider and into the back yard or prying a board off the fence. You never know what personality your child will have. Same goes for animals. Calvin had a big personality and we loved him for it. He could be high energy but also gentle with little kids and our elderly parents.”
“We did get a dog after Calvin but we went smaller, a terrier mix. She’s mellower, tan, but still short hair.”
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Catherine Curzon is a bestselling author of World War Two saga fiction. She writes under the pen name Ellie Curzon with Helen Barrel, their latest, The Lifeboat Orphans and The Lost Orphans. She writes about her dog Pippa. “She was a Jackapoo and she was my everything. Best friend, constant companion, everything. It’s impossible to overstate just how much she meant to me and still does. I think about her with love every single day. I loved that little girl beyond my capacity to even articulate how much. She was everything to me in the world. Pippa was bright, silly, beautiful, and the best pal anyone could wish for. She enriched my life enormously and brought so much happiness to everyone who knew her.”
“Pippa passed a little over two years ago and it’s taken me until now to feel ready to look for a new companion, but I think that time is finally here. My husband and I are trusting to fate to send us the right pup, just as it did with Pippa. We didn’t choose her, she found us.”
“She is featured in my latest books The Lost Orphans and The Lifeboat Orphans. We started writing the series just after she died. Nothing has hit me as hard as her death. I felt like I lost a part of myself. Helen suggested to name the dog in the series after my Pippa. She is grey and peachy. I love having her in the book because that makes her immortal.”
Anyone who lost a furry loved one can agree with the sentiment of Camille Marcotte, “I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you: but instead, I am deeply honored knowing you spent the rest of your life with me.”
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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for FOR HONOR ALONE (The Honor Trilogy Book #3) by Andrew J. Harvey on this Black Phoenix Book Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an about the author section, and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
The war is far from over. With the city of Pesh devastated by nuclear attack, the Cross-Temporal Empire, Sultan’s Angevine monarchy, and the Northern Caliphate unite to hunt the terrorists across shattered timelines-leading them to Nayarit, a lost world long thought destroyed.
Jade Carvello, missing and presumed dead, escapes captivity only to discover she’s the descendant of a legendary priestess-thrust into an ancient caste war in a decaying underground city. As Carlos Babineaux fights his way across a devastated alternate Europe to find her, Margaret Peric faces a different battlefield: her heart. While her upcoming marriage to Markus Ackov spins out of control, she’s also asked to become World Leader of Sultan.
Meanwhile, deep within Nayarit, an ancient AI prepares to defend the remnants of its world-and its guardian priestess, Xipil-at any cost.
From collapsing portals and engineered viruses to rebellion, romance, and rediscovery, For Honor Alone delivers an epic conclusion to the Honor Trilogy. In a final stand against destruction, loyalty, and love must span timelines-and shape the future of empires.
FOR HONOR ALONE (The Honor Trilogy Book #3) by Andrew J. Harvey is the stellar finale in The Honor Trilogy. This trilogy has been an epic read, and I have enjoyed all the characters, the thrilling and intriguing political plotline, and the multiverse worldbuilding. I am not a big sci-fi reader and yet this trilogy pulled me in and kept me reading from beginning to end.
As this book begins all the main characters are spread throughout the multiverse facing various perils. Jade Carvello escapes her kidnappers and wakes up in an underground society on what all thought to be extinct line of the multiverse, Carlos Babineaux is searching for Jade, praying she is alive, and Margaret Peric is trying to discover who is behind the destruction of Pesh while discovering she is to be a new World Leader while also becoming a wife and mother.
This trilogy is so much more than just characters involved in a multiverse sci-fi war plot. Many cultures throughout the multiverse find they must all come together and fight against past prejudices for all to survive. The AI ancient priestess and her Mirror add even more story high tension with the addition of a collapsing universe. The main characters are all emotionally connected by love and/or loyalty which keeps the reader emotionally tied to each and sitting on the edge of their seat during trials, tribulations, and major battles. This is a great addition to the trilogy which ties all the plot threads together for a very satisfying climatic conclusion.
I highly recommend this final addition to The Honor Trilogy series and would recommend the entire trilogy to any reader.
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About the Author
Andrew spent his high-school years in the school’s library lost in the worlds of Andre Norton, Robert Heinlein, and Isaac Asimov. Reading in turn led to writing, with the first draft of The Portal Adventures originally completed to read to his two sons at night. Now his children have left home he lives in Perth with his wife, one dog, and sixty four gold fish.
Andrew is presently the Principal of Hague Publishing, established in 2011 as an independent publisher of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Registered in Western Australia, it publishes original work by Australian and New Zealand authors.
Andrew’s first published short story (A Messenger to the Dragon) appeared in Aurealis – Australian Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1992. His most recent was the award winning 1827: Napoleon in Australia, which appeared in Sea Lion Press’ anthology Alternate Australias released in 2020.
His first novel, Nightfall (book one in the Clemhorn Trilogy) is an adult, alternate history set against the backdrop of the Cross-Temporal Empire and its fifty-four separate lines. Nightfall was released by Zmok Books in 2019. The series is distributed by Simon and Schuster.
Trouble on Teral and Crisis at Calista Station, the first two books in his new middle-grade, Science Fiction adventure series, The Portal Adventures, were released by Canada’s Peasantry Press in 2020. The open ended series is a combination of Caroline Lawrence’s Roman Mysteries and Andre Norton’s juvenile speculative fiction.
A passionate reader of Alternate History Andrew is working on completing a number of additional series of trilogies based on the Cross-Temporal Empire.
Theodore Copeland has created a fabulous life in the desert oasis of Palm Springs, where he shares a fabulous pink mid-century home with three fabulous friends: Barry, a former actor still clinging to his youth, his hair, and the memory of the dream role that killed his career; Ron, an uprooted Christian from the Midwest with a big heart but no one to give it to; Sid, who, after coming out late in life, has never found love. Teddy is the caustic, unspoken leader of “The Golden Gays”—the foursome’s monthly drag tribute to The Golden Girls. Despite their foibles and bickering, they have turned their golden years into a golden era.
But the harmony of their desert enclave becomes a carousel of emotional baggage when Teddy’s estranged sister, Trudy, shows up on their doorstep, her dramatic teenage granddaughter in tow. While Teddy keeps Trudy at arm’s length, she manages to wheedle her way into the lives of the Golden Gays, until the real reason for her visit is revealed and the secrets they’ve all been keeping from each other unravel faster than a hastily stitched hemline.
THAT’S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR by Wade Rouse is a wonderful look at a family made not born written also as a beautiful homage to the Golden Girls sitcom. This LGBTQ+ fiction novel takes you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions with witty and sharp dialogue and characters that could walk right off the page.
Teddy, Ron, Sid, and Barry are mature gay friends living together in a pink mid-century home in Palm Springs. The four came from different professions and parts of the country to make a safe home for themselves in their golden years. While they all get along, like any family, they have their problems, too. They perform together every month as The Golden Gays, which is based on a script written from an original episode from the Golden Girls sitcom but is also updated.
Teddy is Dorothy. He runs the mid-century vintage clothes store, Dorian Gay, and is a widower. He lost his husband to suicide. Ron is Rose. He is an exceptional interior designer and the mother hen of their home. Ron grew up in a Christian home and still deeply believes, he just does not go to a traditional church. Sid is Sophia. He is the oldest of the group, Jewish, and still practices as an attorney parttime. He lived his life hiding his sexuality and raised a family as expected in his time but came out and divorced once his children got older. Barry is Blanche. He is a very fit actor who is afraid of aging. He writes the episodes for their shows and has never emotionally dealt with having his character cut from the original Golden Girls pilot.
While each is dealing with their own mortality, they are also dealing with the changing society, not only in the general population, but in the gay community of as well. Teddy is hiding a secret and before he can even emotionally deal with that, his ultra conservative sister and her young, goth granddaughter show up at their home and shake everyone and everything up. Soon secrets begin to surface and relationships alter. Can this chosen family survive?
I loved this novel so much. There is so much love, caring, crying, anger, and perfectly cutting dialogue. Being of a certain age myself and having worked in the bar and restaurant industry my entire life, these characters are wholly and partial reminders of many of my friends and co-workers. This story made me laugh out loud, and feel rage at the injustices that still abound, but it ultimately is a story of love and family and left me with a smile on my face and a full heart.
I highly recommend this beautifully written LGBTQ+ fiction novel.
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About the Author
I am the USA TODAY, Publishers Weekly and internationally bestselling author of 18 books, including five memoirs and thirteen novels. I also write fiction under the pen name, Viola Shipman, as a tribute to my working poor Ozarks grandma, whose family stories, heirlooms and love inspire my novels. I was a finalist for the Goodreads Choice Awards in Humor (I lost to Tina Fey) and was named by Writer’s Digest as “The #2 Writer, Dead or Alive, We’d Like to Have Drinks With” (I was sandwiched between Ernest Hemingway and Hunter Thompson).
That’s What Friends Are For is inspired by The Golden Girls, and this novel is like the sitcom in that it lessens life’s pain with laughter, it breaks down walls and unites with humor. Moreover, it’s ferociously funny (money back guarantee you will laugh on the first page!), hopeful and heart wrenching, a story about what so many of us have endured in this life to find friendship, love and respect. The novel has already been praised by #1 New York Times Jodi Picoult “Hilarious, tender, devastating!), the New York Post (Full of heart, humor and friendship, quick witted and heartfelt … buy one for yourself and another for your BFF) and named a 2026 Most Anticipated Read by Zibby Owens.
This marks the twentieth book I’ve written and my twentieth year as a published author, and I feel as if this is not only the book I was meant to write but also the right moment for this story – inspired by The Golden Girls – of friendship, family, faith, aging and acceptance. This novel is a HUGE departure for me in in career – my first novel under my own name – and I wrote this story because it called to my soul, and I knew that I needed to follow my heart. I’ve learned that sometimes the greatest moments in our lives happen when we are most terrified – as writers and souls – and that if we can just corral that fear and walk through the fire to emerge on the other side – heart racing, a bit scorched –what we dreamed of and fought so hard to achieve has the chance to change the world. I believe this novel does. When you think of the show or hear the lyrics to the song, and smile, that is the spirit that this novel captures.
