The Thing Is by Kathleen Gerard

Blurb:

Meredith Mancuso is depressed. Ever since the death of her fiancé, she has shrunk from the world. Even with her successful writing career, she’s not motivated to work. When her sister, Monica, begs for a favor, Meredith wants nothing more than to say no. But she’s ultimately roped into pet-sitting an orphaned Yorkshire terrier named Prozac.

Blessed with spiritual wisdom and a high IQ, Prozac is an active pet therapy dog. To heal broken-hearted Meredith, he rallies his fan club at Evergreen Gardens, an independent living facility, where he visits each week.

Prozac and the community of resilient older folks challenged by losses of their own propel Meredith, often against her will, back into the land of the living. Meredith learns that most people carry some sort of burden, but it’s still possible to find meaning, purpose, and joy—and sometimes, even love—along the way.

About the Author:

Kathleen Gerard is a writer whose work has been awarded The Perillo Prize, The Eric Hoffer Prose Award, and nominated for Best New American Voices and Short Story America, all national prizes in literature. Kathleen writes across genres. Her short prose and poetry have been widely published in magazines, journals, and anthologies.

Her essays have been broadcast on National Public Radio (NPR). Kathleen’s woman-in-jeopardy novel, In Transit, won The New York Book Festival—“Best Romantic Fiction” (2011). Kathleen is a book reviewer for and a contributor to Shelf Awareness and maintains the blog, “Reading Between the Lines.”

Review:

I keep forgetting to say, “I received this book in return for an honest review.” Now that’s out of the way, I have one more caveat for you. This book is a choking hazard—do not eat or drink while reading it.

I love animals, especially furry, cuddly ones. And in books, I love sentient non-human characters with a sense of humor, which Prozac definitely has. He also has a bag of tricks he uses to manipulate the humans around him, and he isn’t afraid to use it! But, he’s still a dog, and he’s still afraid of thunder—enough to jump into the toilet during a storm. Oh yeah; if you live in an apartment building with thin walls, don’t read The Thing Is late at night.

Prozac, Meredith, and the denizens of Evergreen Gardens will grab you on page one and keep you engaged right through to the end. It was a great way to spend Mother’s Day. Fortunately, I finished it before dinner at my daughter’s. I don’t think I could have put it down and been sociable if I hadn’t.

By all means, grab The Thing Is. Prozac is great therapy!

Author Blog:  Reading Between the Lines

Heat Rating:  G

Length:  276 Pages

Prices:

Print:  $11.99

Digital:  $5.99

Buy Link:  http://redadeptpublishing.com/#!/The-Thing-Is/p/52955696/category=12051051

You’ll notice we always include the publisher’s buy link. That’s because authors usually receive 40-50% of the net proceeds from the publisher. Editors and cover artists usually receive about 5%. When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author, editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left. So, if a book costs $5.99 at E-Book Publisher.com and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.40-$2.99. If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will receive about $1.70-$2.10.

Download the file from the publisher onto your computer as you would any other file. I’ve created a folder for books on my computer, with subfolders by source (Marketing for Romance Writers, Net Galley, Authors who find me on Kindle lists, etc.). That way, if there’s a glitch with your Kindle, the books are on your computer. Some publishers send books in all digital formats. If my Kindle breaks and my kids buy me a Nook, I won’t have to replace all of my books. If you have a Kindle and your hubby has a Nook, you won’t have to buy separate copies, so buying directly from the publisher can save you money.

Moving the file from your computer to your e-reader is as easy as transferring any file from your computer to a USB flash drive. Plug the larger USB end of your e-reader charging chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from the folder into which you’ve downloaded the book to Documents/Books directory on your e-reader. You can move the file by highlighting it and dragging it to the documents directory in you Kindle you want to move it to. Or right click on it, and then left click copy or move. Or hit Control/C for copy, Control/X for cut, and Control/V for paste.

Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.

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