Part of Series
Agnes Santorini, known as "Yiayia" to her Greek clan, only has one thing on her Christmas list—a brown short-haired dachshund that matches the one she dreamed about, certain that pup can save her aging heart. When she learns that a local man has this very dog for adoption, she and her partner-in-crime, Gramma Finnie, leash up their current doxies and join forces with their great-granddaughter to get their paws on the pooch. But things don't go quite as smoothly as expected. A quick walk through the town of Bitter Bark turns complicated when the dog's owner has a simple demand, which sets off a series of events that have two grannies and one girl dashing through the snow with two dogs in tow. As they meet every demand and overcome every obstacle, Yiayia shares the secret of her past...and reveals just why this is the canine angel she needs to save her. But even if they manage to get the dog under their Christmas tree, that might not be where the little fellow belongs. And maybe, just maybe, Yiayia's heart can be healed by a completely different kind of love...the kind that only comes at Christmas. The Dogmothers Series - a spinoff from the popular "Dogfather" books Daniel Kilcannon has not only orchestrated wonderfully happy endings for his six adult kids, he's also found one of his own. That leaves his grown nieces, nephews, and stepkids all in need of their own magical romances. Is the Dogfather too preoccupied with his new lady love to pull the strings and make the matches? Maybe. But never fear, there's a new team in town and these two might be polar opposites in life, but they are lined up in love. Meet Yiayia and Gramma Finnie...one has the steel spine of a Greek warrior, the other has the sweet soul of an Irish poet. Together, along with two darling dachshunds, these Dogmothers won't stop until all of their grandchildren are hooked, hitched, and happy!
Author
I don’t know about you, but when I check out an author's bio, it’s usually because I’ve read a book I liked and wondered about the person behind it. Let's skip the formal bio and I'll give you the inside scoop on who Roxanne St. Claire really is. First of all, call me Rocki. Everyone does. Evidently, when my mother brought me home from the hospital I seemed too scrawny and small to pull off “Roxanne” (she’d read Cyrano de Bergerac while pregnant or I would have been Judy) so they called me Rocki. I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA, the youngest of five (overachievers, every one), and fell in love with words and stories the summer I read Gone With The Wind. That year, for my twelfth birthday, my parents gave me a typewriter (with italic font – it was the coolest thing) and from that day on, I’ve had my fingers on a keyboard, pounding out love stories for fun. My AP English teacher taught me the two most important lessons an aspiring author ever needs: 1) verbs are the key to life and 2) a writer should get a real job. After attending UCLA and graduating with a degree in communications, I tried acting and television broadcasting. Oh, they aren’t real jobs? I learned that the hard way. I changed my last name from Zink to St. Claire because a news producer told me Roxanne Zink had too many harsh consonants for a TV personality – apparently Katie Couric didn’t get the memo. I got some fun gigs, and even met Tom Hanks when I did a guest appearance on Bosom Buddies. I liked on camera work, but wasn’t too crazy about starvation, so I moved to Boston and got that “real” job. In fact, I placed my foot on the bottom rung of the corporate ladder and didn’t look down until I’d climbed all the way up to the level of Senior Vice President at the world’s largest public relations firm. On the way up, I met the man of my dreams in an elevator. Two years later – in the same elevator! – he asked me to marry him and I wisely said yes. I stayed in PR, moved to Miami, had a few babies, lost my home in a hurricane, built another one a few hours north and all along, I kept writing my “stories” for fun. One night, I read a particularly fabulous romance novel that changed my life for good. That night, I decided I wanted to make someone else feel as whole and happy as that author made me feel. (Everyone asks! It was Nobody’s Baby But Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips.) With two small children and one big “real” job, writing my first novel wasn’t easy, but I did finish a manuscript that managed to get the attention of a literary agent. She told me to do one thing and one thing fast: write another book. (The first one is usually a “learner” book, honestly.) That second manuscript sold to Simon & Schuster’s Pocket Books and was released in 2003 as Tropical Getaway. Since then, I’ve written almost thirty more, in multiple genres, and long ago replaced the corporate ladder with the rollercoaster of publishing as a full-time novelist. Finally, writing is my real job. Today, I live in a small beach community in Florida with my husband and two dogs. Our kids are off to college and law school, which means my nest is empty! I spend my time writing, working with the kids at my church, enjoying my husband's gourmet cooking, and hanging with my many writer friends. Of course, I love to read. I’m still crazy about words and stories and hope to write at least a hundred books in my lifetime. And, yes, verbs are the key to life. My favorites? Love. Work. Believe. xoxo Rocki
