Bloggers Help Paws with a Cause Hop & Giveaway

I am a huge animal lover, so when I heard that Danielle from Romance Book Junkies and Laurie from Bitten by Paranormal Romance were hosting a Fundraiser/Hop/Giveaway for Paws With A Cause I had to participate.

We have a total of 58 blogs that have gotten together to help raise money for a great cause. There are going to be some awesome prizes up for grabs for people that donate money to the cause. Here is a little about the company that we are raising the money for:

Paws With A Cause® enhances the independence and quality of life for people with disabilities nationally through custom-trained Assistance Dogs.

PAWS® increases awareness of the rights and roles of Assistance Dog teams through education and advocacy. Founded in 1979, Paws With A Cause is dedicated to helping its clients who are challenged by many disabilities, such as Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy, Seizure Disorders, and Hearing Disorders to name just some. Each of our dogs are trained to meet the specific needs of our clients. Tasks may include opening and closing doors, picking up objects, pulling a wheelchair, turning lights on and off, and alerting a person to particular sounds like a telephone, doorbell, smoke detector and many others. Our dogs change lives by enhancing the independence of our clients. By just opening a door, a dog opens up the world for a person with a disability and your donations will go to making that happen. PAWS thanks you so much for your donation and allowing us to open more doors.

Paws With A Cause
4646 South Division
Wayland, MI 49348

As I was pondering what I would do my hop post about, I realized that quite a few PNR and UF characters have pets of their own. That got me thinking about what qualities a PNR/UF pet needs to have, so I created a list:

 

1. Protective-Often in PNR/UF the much loved pet also doubles as protection for the supernatural entity they've bonded with. In this next example, we have Darynda Jones' Charley Davidson's ghostly Rottweiler guardian, Artemis:

     "Writhing in agony, the demon thrashed along the ground. his high-pitched cries like a thousand jet engines taking off.
     Artemis pounced in the next instant, sank her teeth, locked her jaw, and ripped the life out of the beast. Killing it was almost an act of compassion at that point, it was in so much pain."
     ~Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet

2. Service-Occasionally, the pet will also be used as a service animal like as Black Dagger Brotherhood Blind King, Wrath, does with his beloved George. I wonder if Beth contacted Paws With A Cause to help place George with Wrath?

     "Wrath was behind his massive desk, sitting in his father's throne. Down on the floor beside him, lying on a personalized Orvis dog bed in royal red, George lifted his blond head and picked his perfect triangle ears. The golden retriever thumped his tail in greeting, but did not leave his master's side.
     The king and his Seeing Eye dog were never apart. And not just because Wrath needed the help."
     ~Lover Unleashed

3. Uniqueness-There are plenty of cats and dogs in PNR/UF, but one of the perks in the genres is we also have the more....unusual...pets. In Kresley Cole's Immortal After Dark series, Nix adopts Bertil, a bat. Jayne Castle's Harmony series has Dust Bunnies. But the most unique, for me, has to be Phineas, the miniature unicorn from Allison Pang's Abby Sinclair series:

     "Tapping his horn on his plate, he made a little grunt that sounded an awful lot like "more." I tossed him a spoonful of eggs, sucking on my lower lip as he buried his face in the cheese. Between the underwear, the leg humping, and the single-minded eating, it was like living with a tiny, preternatural fratboy. All I needed was to trip over some empty cans of Natty Light."
     ~Brush of Darkness

4. Shapeshifting-Often with a PNR/UF pet there's more to them than meets the eye. Oh, at first glance, they may appear to be a normal attack poodle like Kate Daniels' Grendel or even the more disturbing hairless cat like Jaye Wells' Gighul. But what those out exteriors may hide is a demon in disguise. Threaten their charges and you may get an unexpected shape change into something far more formidable (or drooling) adversary. One of my favorite demons in disguise is a Newfoundland named Effrijim "Jim" from Katie MacAlister's Aisling Grey Series:

     "How many toes did I have when we left London, does anyone remember?" Jim asked, examining its feet. "I think one is missing."
     Stop fussing about a missing toe. We have more important things to focus on, like finding Drake and saving him from whatever trouble he's in," I answered, straightening my clothing and zipping up my heavy parka.
     "Oh, man, I am missing one! I know I had four on this foot! What sort of place was that company you used, demon-haters or something?"
     "Budget Teleporters is a perfectly good company. Didn't you listen to their warning about keeping your arms and legs in the portal at all times?'
     ~Holy Smokes

5. Snark-By far my favorite pet quality. Often in PNR/UF the hero/heroine has the ability to speak with their pet in one form or another. In most of these cases, the pet often has some of the snarkiest bits in the book. For me, the snarkiest of them all (and my all-time favorite) is Oberon, Atticus Sullivan's Irish Wolfhound from Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles:

     "What's silly is paying five bucks for hot milk and flavored syrup! But now I see what's really going on all this time! They charge you all that money because they need it for the R & D! Somewhere on the outskirts of Seattle, there's a secret facility with higher security than Area 51, and inside there are men with poor eyesight and bad haircuts wearing white coats, and they're trying to make the Holy Grail of all coffee drinks."
     "The bacon latte?"
     "No, Atticus, I already told you those exist! I'm talking about the prophecy! 'Out of the steam and the foam and the froth, a man in white with poor eyesight will craft a liquid paradox, and it shall be called the Triple Nonfat Double Bacon Five-Cheese Mocha!'
     "Oberon, what the F---?"
     ~Hammered

There are many more wonderful qualities about PNR/UF pets, but I hope you enjoyed a peak at my top 5!

 



The Main Bloggers Help Paws with a Cause Giveaway will have four winners for the following prizes:

2-$65 Gift Certificates to any online bookstore

2-Huge boxes of books and swag from Romance Book Junkies for US residents.

For every dollar you donate to Paws With a Cause, you will receive one entry into the main giveaway.

How to donate:

1. Go to https://www.everribbon.com/PawswithaCause

2. Click on "Make a Donation"

3. Enter an amount you wish to donate. Everribbon will add a small fee to your donation for processing. My fee for donating $5.00 was .49 cents. So keep this in mind when deciding your donation amount. You will receive 1 entry into the giveaway for every $1 you donate.

4. In the box that says "on the behalf of" please put your name. This is the name that will be listed on the Everribbon website so put a name you do not mind being visible to everyone. Do not check the box to make an anonymous donation because I will not be able to track your donation to enter you into the giveaways.

5. Next it will ask you for your credit or debit card information.

6. Then it will ask for your email address to send you a receipt. This is so that you can submit it for tax purposes.

7. Ta Da! You’re all done making your donation. Now you need to contact Danielle to enter the giveaway.

8. Please email Danielle at RomanceBookJunkiesDanielle@Yahoo.com with the name you used to donate your money. For example the name I used to donate on behalf of was Romance Book Junkies. Along with the name you used please tell Danielle how much you donated and if you live in the US or are International. Do not send me your name off your credit or debit card because I will not be able to see this.

9. You’re all done. Thank you for donating!

Warning: Do not try to email Danielle the name and donation amount of another person that is not yourself. If Danielle receives more than one email with the same person’s name and donation amount she will have to ask for your copy of the receipt from Everibbon to verify that you are the correct winner. Thank you.

Mad Hatter Reads Giveaway

I'm also going to host a giveaway for a $15.00 Amazon or B&N Gift Card. Enter via the Rafflecopter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

RULES for Mad Hatter Reads Giveaway:

Entering the Contest certifies and affirms that you have read the rules and affirm that you are indeed over 18 and agree to the contest terms.

1. You MUST be at least 18 years of age.
2. You must be able to receive gift cards via Amazon or Barnes&Noble to take delivery of the prize package.
3. You must provide all requested information and it must be the current information. Incorrect information shall immediately void the entry.
4. Once a winner's email is sent the winner will have 24 hours to respond. If that person doesn't respond then another winner will be selected.
5. Contest goes from 12:00 AM on March 1, 2013 through then last second of March 8, 2013.
6. I reserve the right to make any changes deemed necessary and remain the sole arbiter of any decision to be made in reference to the contest.
7. Gift card will be sent via email through site of your choosing (Amazon or B&N). A valid email address is required. I am not responsible for loss of e-book.
8. I have no responsibility to police, control, change, advise, instruct or in any way administer the activities of any of the other blogs in the hop. I neither know nor endorse the blogs, authors, or their prizes.
9. Void where prohibited.

Make sure you follow the hop as well!