Show Business for Shy People - Guest Post, Giveaway, & Cat Got Your Secrets Review

Show Business for Shy People 

By Julie Chase

It’s been said that writing is show business for shy people. I feel like that couldn’t be more accurate, and I started writing for this very reason. Because I love people, but am endlessly uncomfortable with them…usually. Unfortunately, I’d finished my BA in psychology and registered for graduate coursework with the intention of becoming a motivational speaker before I realized one problematic thing: I’m an introvert.

I’d never heard the term until then, but the moment I did, I felt the truth of it in my core. It was like a light had been ignited and all the little challenges of my life made more sense. THIS was why I panicked in crowds, hated parties and most social interaction unless I knew everyone and was able to leave at any point without question.

So, knowing I had this issue, this personality type that meant being physically with people drained me of energy, how could I possibly help anyone?

I didn’t know, so I let the dream go.

Until ten years and three kids later, when I watched an author interviewed on Oprah. The author had penned a book that I’d recently read, and the story had given me so much escape and pleasure that I wanted to hug her, and I’m not a hugger. So, when she explained to Oprah that she was “no one special” just a “stay at home mom of three little kids,” I thought…..I, TOO, am a stay at home mom to three little kids. Maybe I could do what she had done.

She’d had a story to tell, and she told it. I wanted to do that too. My busy mind quickly took the shiny new concept a few steps further, and I wondered if maybe I could use my stories to help other people like I’d originally wanted to do. Of course, the way I helped them would be different. I wouldn’t write motivational or self-help books. I would write humor and provide readers with a much-needed escape. Stories that could give them a respite, a reprieve from their daily chaos and turmoil. Maybe I could be an author.

And then it hit me. Just because I couldn’t meet the people in real life and become their friend or confidant didn’t mean I couldn’t dream up the kind of friend they needed, then share that character with them.

So, I did.

In the eight years since I saw that fateful Oprah interview, I have never stopped trying to make people smile. I’ve published two short stories, three novellas and nineteen novels in four unique genres. I have contracts in place for seven more titles to be released in 2018 & 2019, as well as two this fall, beginning with this week’s new release, Cat Got Your Secrets. If you’re looking for an upbeat, happy new read, or are in the market for a fun new friend, I hope you’ll give Lacy and her gang in New Orleans a try. The Kitty Couture Mysteries are near and dear to my heart, and I can’t wait to share the latest installment with you.

**************************************************************************

Cat Got Your Secrets, Kitty Couture Mystery, book 3

Lacy Marie Crocker has settled into a comfortable groove back home in New Orleans, and with Valentine’s Day right around the corner, she’s busier than ever running a thriving pet boutique, helping her mother organize the upcoming National Pet Pageant, and untangling her complicated love life. But when delivering a king-sized order of dreidel-shaped doggy biscuits for a Saint Berdoodle’s bark-mitzvah, Lacy stumbles into yet another murder scene―and the last person to see the victim alive was her own father.

It’s up to Lacy to clear her dad’s name from the suspect list before Detective Jack Oliver has to cage him for good. But just when she starts pawing at the truth, she receives a threatening letter from a mysterious blackmailer bent on silencing her with her own secrets. And Lacy’s not the only one with bones in her closet.

Time’s running out in this deadly cat-and-mouse game in Cat Got Your Secrets, the delightfully funny third novel in Julie Chase’s Kitty Couture mystery series, perfect for “all those feline fanciers who love to read Rita Mae Brown” (Suspense Magazine).

**************************************************************************

About the author:

Julie Chase is a mystery-loving pet enthusiast who hopes to make readers smile. She lives in rural Ohio with her husband and three spunky children. Julie is a member of the International Thriller Writers (ITW), Romance Writers of America (RWA), and Sisters in Crime (SinC). She is represented by Jill Marsal of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. Julie also writes as Julie Anne Lindsey.










*****************************************************************************

Review

CAT GOT YOUR SECRETS by Julie Chase

The Third Kitty Couture Mystery

Lacy Marie Crocker is back at Furry Godmother whipping up organic treats and outfits for pets of all types. But when she stops to deliver some driedel-shaped doggy biscuits for a St. Berdoodle's Bark-Mitzvah she discovers a crime scene. The victim is Wallace Becker, the owner of the Cuddle Brigade, a popular pet sitting business. The problem is that Wallace is also a friend of Lacy's dad. The dad who's acting strange...and the last person to be seen with the victim! Now Lacy's bound and determined to prove her father's innocence, with or without the help of a certain hunky homicide detective or a charming lawyer. But will Lacy wind up in a killer's sights yet again?

The Kitty Couture Mystery series is a cute cozy series and the third book in the series fits right in. Although Lacy has struggled to make it on her own and be her own person, she does have a Cinderella like aura which the villain describes perfectly, "you bounced down the driveway like little blue birds followed you through life". Lacy is a perky cheerful soul, albeit nosy and a bit immature. Fortunately she's also quite a bit likable. She's a caring person who genuinely wants to help others, animals and people alike. I enjoy watching the relationship between Lacy and her mother grow and develop, as well as Lacy's relationship with her two possible beaus, Chase and Jack.

CAT GOT YOUR SECRETS is a cute cozy filled with ever evolving characters, a great location, and an in-depth mystery. Julie Chase gives readers plenty of wonderful visuals, such as the apparel Lacy creates. But, my favorite visual is that of Penelope regally riding Spot, cat atop a robotic vacuum, priceless and memorable!

a Rafflecopter giveaway