I received a free kindle copy of Hissy Fitz by Patrick Jennings, published by Edgmont, USA from NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

I gave this delightful story about a cranky, disgruntled cat five stars. It's about a family cat turned into a raging tiger by lack of sleep. I selected this book because I grew up in the South where a 'hissy fit' was something to behold. I smiled when it turned out that Hissy was the sleep-deprived cat that lived with the Fitz family. 

This story describes a day where he seeks, without success, a place to sleep uninterrupted. He has a grand adventure that culminates with a cat soccer team before going home & going to bed.

After Hissy battles a racoon in a garbage dumpster & gaining the best of the animal, Hissy reports: "While it waits, it can think about the mistakes it's made, including the damage it did to the ear of Hissy Fitz, Panther of the Night."

It's written for ages twelve & up. I think it would be equally as entertaining with younger children, although some young ones might be frightened by a puffed-up frustrated feline that spits & scratches. Interestingly enough, I liked the illustrations in the advanced reading copy better than the finished drawings. 

Link to purchase: http://www.amazon.com/Hissy-Fitz-Patrick-Jennings-ebook/dp/B00LRHUJE2/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=

      Jennings has developed a good plot line into engaging entertainment of the modern Mills and Boon variety. The story centres on the relationship between a rich, career minded, single, businessman and a mother separated from a drug dealing father. The child goes missing in the aftermath of an earthquake. The relationship between the mother and the child runs rather superficially, as a background to the developing bond between the main character and the mother. A think that unless there had been very strong relationship difficulties between mother and child, which their apparently weren't, the loss would have impacted more forcefully on the adult relationship. Readers will draw their own conclusions. However, I'm sure I won't be the only one that sees this as strange. Having pointed up this one possible flaw, the story works well in all other respects.
      Apart from some rather avant-garde verb structures the style of writing works well. These constructs may cause some others to similarly pause to scratch their heads from time to time. Meaning is always clear, but the lack of grammatical rigour did cause me to jump a few mental hurdles.
      I don't think many readers will fail to guess the end from early on in the story, not that that matters with mainstream romantic genre plots. I assume that most lovers of romance reads like to have a feel-good ending, one which Jennings doesn't fail to deliver after some deep emotional pits have been navigated. We run through a good range of emotions as we head towards a climax or two. Not everything is left to the imagination as it was in this author's debut book, "Flight Surgeon", so a broader readership is likely to be fulfilled. This one is definitely less suited to reading aloud in church, whilst still being stayed enough to avoid upsetting all but those with a severe prudish intolerance for real-to-life drama. So those that are expecting Jennings' very proper sexual propriety demonstrated his first book are forewarned. The contents are certainly less chaste than the cover.

AMAZON LINK

Lots of people want to grow up to be Doctors. Not me. But I don't mind reading about them in my Romance novels. :) 

Here are some great Doctors in Contemporary Romance for your reading pleasure. Click on the link to vote of the best of the best on my Goodreads list.

1. Forged in Steele by Maya Banks

Steele, a KGI team leader, is an enigma not even his teammates understand. His emotions are tightly locked down and nothing can break that icy exterior. Nothing except Maren Scofield, a doctor on a mission, a woman who has gotten under Steele’s skin and threatens to crack that unflappable cool he’s legendary for.

Steele is determined not to allow Maren past his carefully guarded defenses. But when she’s in danger, there’s no way he’ll allow anyone else to protect her.

Maren’s hiding something. He’s sure of it. But he isn’t prepared for the shocking discovery her secrets reveal. Or how they will forever alter the course of his destiny. He has a decision to make. Hold tight and shut her out. Or take a chance on something more powerful than he’s ever faced: Love.

2. The Corpsman and the Nerd by D.R. Grady

When KC Gilmore wanted something to heat up her cold, lonely nights, she should have been more specific. Sand, unbearable heat, and caring for the wounded in Kuwait wasn’t what she had in mind. An ocean between her and Max Morrison, her business partner and best friend and the man caring for her son and dog has caused her to view Max in a different light. Now she has to struggle with growing feelings for the one man she can’t do without. Will telling him destroy their precious friendship?

3. Flight Surgeon by Michael Jennings

When a beautiful young country singer falls for a rich, handsome flight surgeon, the course of true love encounters turbulence along the way. Briana is innocent and mischievous, while Michael is serious and focused on his work for Doctors Without Borders. What starts as an easy flirtation soon becomes more complicated than either of them had bargained for.

She loves him . . . but can she trust him?

Briana and Michael are inexperienced in the ways of love, although their attraction promises the deeper union they both yearn for. But a giant misunderstanding threatens their budding relationship. Will they learn to communicate, trust and forgive before it’s too late?

4. The Derby Girl by Tamara Morgan

Roller derby girl Gretchen "Honey Badger" Badgerton lives in the moment, no apologies. Like every woman in Pleasant Park with a pulse, she finds Dr. Jared Fine irresistible, but she's taken by surprise when her unattainable new neighbor asks her out.

On paper, Jared is the perfect man: gorgeous, wealthy and charitable. But his golden image is just that, and opening an upstate practice is a welcome chance to start a new life. When Gretchen stops to help him with a flat tire, he's intrigued by her feisty attitude—and her sexy body art. There's something refreshing about being with a take-charge woman who doesn't expect him to be anything but himself.

Though Gretchen is hesitant to shatter Jared's "bad girl" illusion of her, she has to face facts: she's fallen for the good doctor. She's used to putting everyone else's needs before hers, but as their relationship heats up, can she handle having someone take care of her for a change?

5. Friends Without Benefits by Penny Reid

Friends Without Benefits can be read as a standalone, is a full length 120k word novel, and is book #2 in the Knitting in the City Series.
There are three things you need to know about Elizabeth Finney: 1) She suffers from severe sarcastic syndrome, especially when she's unnerved, 2) No one unnerves her like Nico Manganiello, and 3) She knows how to knit.

Elizabeth Finney is almost always right about everything: the musical merits of boy bands are undervalued by society, “benefits” with human Ken dolls are better without friendship, and the sun has set on her once-in-a-lifetime chance for true love. But when Elizabeth’s plans for benefits without friendship are disarmed by the irritatingly charismatic and chauvinistic Nico Manganiello- her former nemesis- she finds herself struggling to maintain the electric fence around her heart while avoiding electrocution or, worse, falling in love.

6. The Unsung Hero by Suzanne Brockmann

After a near-fatal head injury, Navy SEAL lieutenant Tom Paoletti catches a glimpse of an international terrorist in his New England hometown. When he calls for help, the Navy dismisses the sighting as injury-induced imaginings. In a last-ditch effort to prevent disaster, Tom creates his own makeshift counterterrorism team, assembling his most loyal officers, two elderly war veterans, a couple of misfit teenagers, and Dr. Kelly Ashton. As the town’s infamous bad boy, Tom was always in love with Kelly, a sweet “girl next door” who has grown into a remarkable woman. Now he has one final chance for happiness, one last chance to win her heart, and one desperate chance to save the day.
 

7. Laugh by Mary Ann Rivers

Dr. Sam Burnside is convinced that volunteering at an urban green-space farm in Lakefield, Ohio, is a waste of time—especially with his new health clinic about to open. He only goes to mollify his partner, suspecting she wants him to lighten up. Then Sam catches sight of Nina Paz, a woman who gives off more heat than a scorcher in July. Her easy smile and flirty, sizzling wit has him forgetting his infamous need for control.
 
Widowed when her husband was killed in Afghanistan, Nina has learned that life exists to take chances. As the daughter of migrant workers turned organic farmers, she’s built an exciting and successful business by valuing new opportunities and working hard to take care of her own. But when Sam pushes for a relationship that goes beyond their hotter-than-fire escapades, Nina ignores her own hard-won wisdom. She isn’t ready for a man who needs saving—even if her heart compels her to take the greatest risk of all: love.

8. Healing Her Heart by Audra North

Informing the next of kin of a patient's death is hardly cardiac surgeon Greg Stanton's favorite activity. Tired of spreading bad news, he decides to take a week off and enjoy a few extra curricular activities—one in particular that hopefully involves a certain blonde director.

Carrie's experience as the Director of New Beginnings, an Assisted Living Residence, has taught her that the wisdom of the elderly is often more healing than any drug. So when Greg drops by her office to tell her one of her residents passed away and mentions he's taking some time off, Emily suggests that he spend the time volunteering at her facility.

Greg is in need of a way to de-stress. After being burned by her ex-fiance, Carrie needs a little fun. What's a little sex between friends? But when their casual arrangement is complicated by real feelings, one of them will have to step up to save what could be something special before they both tear it apart.

9. Doctors Beyond Borders by Georgie Tyler

When Ariadne Tate takes a deployment to Sudan with a medical aid organisation, romance is the last thing on her mind…but Dr Ford Gosden puts a glitch in her plans. Too damn attractive for his own good and a thoroughly nice guy, Ford slowly seeps under Ariadne's skin.

But Sudan is not a stable place to form a relationship, and as political tension escalates in the region, Ariadne has no choice but to focus on her job and her safety. Under the protection of a UN convoy, she heads out into the war-torn countryside — and the unthinkable happens. Captured and held hostage by a renegade with no chance of escape, Ariadne's hope for a new life with the man she loves begins to fade and the fight for her life begins.

10. Just Down the Road by Jodi Thomas

When Tinch Turner lost his wife, he gave up on living. Now he spends his nights brooding, boozing, and brawling. When one of his escapades lands him in the ER, he finds himself staring up at the beautiful new doctor in town. For the first time in years, he feels a spark, but Addison Spencer wants nothing to do with the unruly rancher—or any man for that matter. She’s only in Harmony four months, long enough for the trouble she left behind to be over. But then a vulnerable little boy barrels into both their lives, forcing them out of the past—and into a future where love is just down the road...

In the meantime, as Reagan Truman grieves for her beloved uncle, she finds comfort in the makeshift family she’s made in Harmony—and in a new baby, the first born in the Wright Funeral Home in 45 years, proving to everyone that life does go on…

I know I had to have missed your favorite. Let me know! I am always on the look out for new authors and books. 

Blogging from me is about helping open the world of independent writers. Obviously, I am first and foremost in my list of concerns. 

Most of my reviews for self-published books are on my site-

http://richardbunningbooksandreviews.weebly.com

I have varying degrees of involvement with Awesome Indies, BRAG, Bookpleasures and IndiePENdents.

My own writing is now mostly centred around 'Speculative Fiction', though far from exclusively so. My latest endeavour being the very unbookish and quite frankly cynical attempt to get on the money making machine. It is a joke/gift book for anyone to give to the impossible to buy for male. There is very little content of any sort. 

The rest of my portfolio is value for money, quality reading. Well, that is my opinion. The anthologies wont please anyone all of the time, but that is more or less true of any such collection of different pieces. Most of all I like being read, so direct asks for free books work about 99% of the time! 

If you are kind enough to follow this blog I promise to try avoiding bogging you down with dumps of information that get passed around like common colds. There is far too many bogs in the webscape already.

If you like the idea of finding new authors, sometimes with really new ways, then please look at my Weebly site as well as following me here.

Kind Regards, Richard Bunning