My husband and I don’t consider ourselves particularly romantic, at least not in the commercial sense. We don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day in the traditional sense (one year, we got tetanus shots that day), and we don’t go in for romantic cards or dinners or gifts.
We’re really rather practical people. But that doesn’t mean we don’t demonstrate our love for each other in a whole lot of ways.
My husband doesn’t buy me roses, he grows them for me. We don’t go out for our anniversary, we spend time together at home (pandemic or no). And we don’t need Hallmark to express our love for each other, it’s obvious in all of the everyday gestures of love we extend to each other.
Romance can be a very personal choice. Sometimes we know exactly what we want. And sometimes, we need a little help.
Cats, it turns out, are more than happy to facilitate romance. Just ask the cats in our final volume of The Year of the Cat: A Cat of Romantic Soul, edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith.
Here’s the synopsis:
The theory goes that if cats find love and encourage romance, especially with humans, then cats end up with homes. But does it really work that way?
Happily, more often than not, it does. At least in the romance stories gracing the pages of this final volume in the Year of the Cat series.
These eight stories make you smile, warm your heart, and give you hope for the future of both humankind and feline-kind.
Includes:
“A New Home for Christmas” by Annie Reed
“Dannie Finds a Home” by Dean Wesley Smith
“Crystal Blue Attraction” by Dean Wesley Smith
“The Inn, the Black Cat, and Two Halves of the Same Heart” by Kari Kilgore
“Fable’s Menagerie” by Lisa Silverthorne
“Mistress Bootsi” by Anthea Sharp
“Second Chance Dinner” by Bonnie Elizabeth
“Helmie” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
A Cat of Romantic Soul publishes tomorrow, and you will be able to find buy links here.
Next month, we’ll be publishing the omnibus volume with all 100 stories from the Year of the Cat series, so stay tuned for that.
And in case you missed the news last week, Smith’s Monthly #49 published last week, and it also has a feline romance story in it—“Cat in Love”—as well as a whole lot more fiction that, while definitely not romances, often contain some romantic elements.
Here’s that synopsis:
More than seventy-five thousand words of original fiction from USA Today bestselling writer Dean Wesley Smith. Including Bottom Pair, the new Cold Poker Gang novel and five new short stories in some of Dean’s most popular series.
This 49th volume of Smith’s Monthly also includes Stories from July, part 1, with five classic short stories from Dean’s groundbreaking project: writing a short story a day for one month, blogging about it, and designing a cover for each one. Crazy but fun!
You can start reading those stories right now! Find out how here.
With so many options, I know you’ll find plenty to love.
Allyson Longueira is publisher of WMG Publishing. She is an award-winning writer, editor and designer, working mother, and brain tumor survivor.