Meet Jess
My dog Jess wanted to be in my first published
novel, (Saving Casey was originally published in late 2012, as my very first
novel. I have my rights to the book back, so I am republishing it, now as my 18th
book.) However, when Jess discovered
that she would be dying with my heroine, Cass, at the end of chapter one, she
was NOT a happy camper. I assured her that she would come back. I had
originally planned for her to come back WITH my heroine, but honestly that
seemed to be a stretch. First of all, the hospital would have a fit if a puppy
appeared in Cass’s room and if Jess appeared at their mansion, Terra Trauma, the
butler would have had it sent to the pound.
So I decided Jess would spend a life with someone else, then I’d bring him
back in the Epilogue as an adorable small pup.
I also made Jess a boy in the book. Jess doesn’t
mind, for she’s a tom dog. (That’s like
a ‘tom boy’ for girls). She raises her leg to piss, just like male dogs do.
She’s even been known to climb on the back of a little bull dog and hump. So
I’m thinking in a previous life, Jess was a boy dog, and that’s why she didn’t
complain when I made her a boy. The reason I made her a boy was to improve the
flow and understanding when Cass (female) would talk about her dog. It saved me from the confusion of having
‘she’ references for both my heroine and the dog.
Clearly book Jess had another life while Cass
struggled with her situation, but what type of life was it?
Jess and I discussed the matter. She demanded I make
her a German shepherd or a dire wolf. Since the latter is extinct, we settled
on a German shepherd. If you remove any hints of size, she does sort of look
like a German shepherd mix. However, if
you put a ruler to her side, the illusion crumbles. The one foot ruler only
needs another inch to reach her back height.
But otherwise she resembles a blonde German Shepard,
so the yet to be written back story is that while Cass was struggling to
survive her new life, Jess was a bomb dog for the army. Unlike many dogs, she
can actually understand the English language and can read a person’s emotions,
so she manages to save her dog handler countless times and keep him safe
through his tour. They did such a good job, he was allowed to keep Jess when he
returned to the states. She had a good life with him and his family, saved his
son on many occasions. The boy had a penchant for finding trouble, but she
managed to keep him alive while he grew up. And when Jess died of old age, no
one cried harder than the young man.
Still, Jess missed his Cass, and this time when he
arrived in heaven he convinced the angels that Cass deserved a better life, and
if they’d just get him in close proximity to the only man Cass had ever loved,
he could bring home the bacon. Next
thing, he woke up in a box of puppies in the break room of some corporation.
Before the wrong person grabbed him up, he escaped the box and snuck off, in
search of a man he’s never met. How on earth would he find the right guy? Then
passing a door he heard Cass’s name spoken. A young woman was telling a
ruggedly handsome guy of Cass’s struggles. This was the fellow! Now Jess just
had to convince him to grab the pup at his feet before he headed off to find
Cass… but could he do that?
Saving Casey
By
Liza
O’Connor
Book 1 of the
Requires Rescue Series
Contemporary Suspense
Blurb
When
80 year old Cass Goldman learns she has inoperable cancer, she decides to end
her life, peacefully on her terms. So imagine her horror when she wakes to find
herself in a hospital with strange rich people staring at her. It’s not until
the doctor arrives to examine her that she realizes she’s no longer old. She’s
in the body of a seventeen year old teen named Casey.
Unfortunately,
her new body comes with some serious baggage. First of all, the kid has burned
every bridge imaginable. Secondly, those ‘people’ in her room are her
outrageously rich parents and while the Dad seems friendly, the mother wants
nothing to do with her. The moment they take her home to a horrifically huge
mansion, which she dubs Tara, she’s abandoned to the care of the butler.
While
Cass is determined to turn this train wreck of a life around, doing so is far
harder than she expected. In fact, without help, she’ll end up dead just like
the last occupant of this body. Thankfully, her dad has his hunky head of
security become her body guard. Between her eighty years of life lessons and
hunky Troy’s help, she just might live long enough not to be jail bait.
EXCERPT
Something
soft and warm settled in Cass’s lap. At first she thought Troy had rested his
hand next to hers, wanting her to make the first move, but she didn’t recall
Troy’s hand being soft and furry.
Looking
down, Cass gasped at the small brown puppy in her lap. Its black muzzle and
black tipped ears made it the spitting image of Jess as a pup.
She
hadn’t realized how much she missed her dog from her prior life until this
instant. Tears of joy and anguish overwhelmed her as she gathered the tiny
handful of fur into her hands and kissed its sweet face. In return, it licked
her hand with its black tongue.
Her
mouth opened in shock. Has Jess somehow
finagled his way back to me?
“Where’d
you get him?”
“At
work. I’d just learned Dan has been lying to me about how you were doing. As I
typed my resignation on the computer, I felt something climb on my shoe. I
looked down and saw this little guy.”
“How
did a tiny puppy get in your office?”
“I
still don’t know how he managed to
travel so far. However, his litter mates resided in the break room in a box
with a sign saying, Free Pups, Part Shiba Inu, part Mystery.”
The
same as Jess.
“He
has a black tongue, did you notice?” he asked.
She
kissed Jess’s nose. “I did.”
Troy
sat beside her and leaned in to tease Jess’ mouth open, but the pup stubbornly
resisted. So like Jess. Was it possible? What had happened to her wasn’t
possible. Could the impossible happen twice?
Was
this her reward for turning Casey’s life around and helping others?
SALES LINK
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Liza
O’Connor is a nut.
Not a real nut,
but she is prone to being a smart ass at times, and not surprisingly her
heroines say odd and inappropriate things in her book, as well. So even in a
suspense novel you can expect to laugh along the way. That’s because Liza loves
to see humor in the crazy world around her.
Saving Casey was
actually the first book Liza published. Having recently reclaimed her rights to
the book, she is happily re-publishing it as her 18th book. And
because her books sell better when in a series, she using Saving Casey to kick
of a new series called Requires Rescue. It will be different from her other
series where the same characters show up in each book. This series will be
about strong women who are trying to go it alone, only when help is offered, they
have the good sense to accept the helping hand, because in all of our lives,
there will come a time you need someone else to help you. Being strong doesn’t
make us invincible. Book 1 is Casey/Cass’ story. Book 2 will be about an
entirely different young woman who desperately needs help before she’s murdered
on the streets of NYC. Book 3, well the plot is super unique, and more books
will follow.
You’ll be able to read
the series in any order you want, but in each case, you’ll have a strong young
woman, a guy stepping up to help when no one else does, and danger galore with
humor stuffed in anywhere I can.
I
hope you’ll come along with me so you can laugh, love, and get revenge.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT
LIZA O'CONNOR
