Love at First Bark (Free Short Story): A Novella for Dog Lovers

By Dana Mentink

There's Just Something About Jackson

When Marcy Deveraux's romance series catapults to the top of the New York Times bestseller list, no one is more surprised than Marcy herself. After all, she barely passed high school, flunked the driving test four times, and fell into a pool at her sister's wedding.

Marcy is keen to continue her literary success, but she cannot think of a single idea for her next book. Hounded by her agent, family, and friends, she decides to sequester herself in a rustic cabin in the mountains. There, she finds herself face-to-snout with a surprise visitor—a rascally black dog who must have escaped from his owner at a nearby campground.

Enter hunky cowboy Jackson Parker, who runs the stables for the campground and helps Marcy survive the antics of the ill-behaved, zany dog. There's something tender and gentle about this man, who could easily grace the cover of any romance novel. Soon Jackson has Marcy rethinking her own beliefs about what heroes are really made of...and what God intends for her life.

It's cowboys, canines, and capers galore in this charming novella for animal lovers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Harvest House Publishers
• Release date: Apr 25, 2017
• ISBN: 9780736972789

Dana Mentink

Dana Mentink is a Publisher's Weekly and national bestselling author. She has been honored to win two Carol Awards, a Holt Medallion and a Reviewer's Choice award. She's authored more than thirty five novels to date for Harlequin’s Love Inspired Suspense and Harlequin Heartwarming. Dana loves feedback from her readers. Contact her at www.danamentink.com

Book preview

More Dana Mentink Romantic Fiction

LOVE UNLEASHED SERIES

Sit, Stay, Love

Fetching Sweetness

Love at First Bark (e-only novella)

Paws for Love

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

Cover design by Left Coast Design

Cover photo by Cover Image © Konstantin Gushcha / Shutterstock

Published in association with MacGregor Literary, Inc.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

LOVE AT FIRST BARK

Copyright © Dana Mentink

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

ISBN 978-0-7369-7278-9 (eBook)

All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The authorized purchaser has been granted a nontransferable, nonexclusive, and noncommercial right to access and view this electronic publication, and purchaser agrees to do so only in accordance with the terms of use under which it was purchased or transmitted. Participation in or encouragement of piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of author’s and publisher’s rights is strictly prohibited.

I’ve seen a look in dogs’ eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts.

JOHN STEINBECK

Contents

More Dana Mentink Romantic Fiction

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Quarter Moon Oven S’mores

Excerpt from Dana Mentink’s Paws for Love

More Lovable Dog Tales in the Love Unleashed Series

About the Author

About the Publisher

One

Marcy Deveraux was surprised to discover she didn’t actually miss the prince very much. The naked truth was, he’d been high maintenance with all that dark broodiness and not much of a sense of humor to speak of. By the end of their time together, he’d even gotten on her nerves just the tiniest bit. Still, Prince Rafé’s departure left her at a loss. It was not as though His Royal Highness was required to save anyone else from assassination, and it had been twelve months since that perilous jungle crossing, complete with poisonous spiders and the one-eyed bandit. The prince had survived more adventures than could be expected of anyone, fictional or not, and he deserved his happy ending.

So now what?

Marcy chewed her pencil eraser, staring at the blank pages of her notebook as the summer wind rattled the cabin windows. A series of numbers ran through her mind—sales numbers, Amazon rankings—figures that had steadily plunged downward, statistics she had never paid the slightest attention to before she’d become a success.

Her mother still spoke the words with a reverence that did not quite hide the surprise. The kid who had barely passed high school, flunked the driving test four times, and fallen into the pool at her sister’s wedding was actually a success? No one was as incredulous as Marcy herself. Yet there it was in shiny blue fourteen-point font… her name on the cover of three—count them, three—novels.

But success, she was beginning to realize, was not as much a destination as an endless freeway clogged with hazards. Or in her case perhaps, stopped traffic.

It’s simple. You need to write another blockbuster, Rhonda, her agent, told her matter-of-factly. It’s been a year. Off your duff and get it done.

Easy for her to say. Marcy’s first book had been written mostly during her bus rides to and from her job at the family restaurant. In a period of sheer insanity, The Prince and the Pirate Queen had shot right to the top of the New York Times bestseller list, and so had the rest of the princely adventures in books two and three. What a ride. What a thrill. She’d gone from waitress in her parents’ diner to successful author in the time it took to drink a latte. People wanted to feature her on blogs and interview her on radio—and on TV, which she had been too petrified to agree to. She even had an agent, the snappily dressed Rhonda, who did something called hot yoga, worked around the clock, and frankly scared the daylights out of Marcy.

The royal stories poured out in one continuous gush of inspiration… and then they didn’t. It was a profound puzzlement to Marcy.

She’d thought her success was a recompense from God, a reward for all of the ventures that had died on Marcy’s vine. Her failed efforts at a YouTube cooking show, the brief period when she’d decided to open

Reviews for Love at First Bark (Free Short Story)

[nadinec.keels · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Having unexpectedly become a bestselling author, the pressure is on for Marcy to pump out her next romance novel. She takes off for a private writing retreat in a cabin—where a pesky little dog leads Marcy to meet Jackson, a handsome and bashful cowboy. In comes new inspiration, and Marcy may be on the brink of writing her best book yet in Love at First Bark by author Dana Mentink.Full disclosure: feeling heavy after almost a week of darker reading than I usually go for, I was in need of something quick and light to perk me up. I wasn’t looking for any surprises when I picked up this novella, and indeed, my expectations stayed contentedly low as I strolled through it. So I was surprised when the story, well, pleasantly surprised me.I pretty much fell in love with this tale as I went along. It’s sweet, light, and humorous, to be sure. But the crux of Marcy and Jackson’s conversation enters meaningful territory that isn’t the most predictable. Granted, the rather speedy heightening of the romance here left me a few paces behind, but the significance of Marcy’s personal journey made up for that, for me.Well worth it for ChristFic romance fans to spend an hour or less with this enjoyable story.

[liscarey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Marcy Deveraux, having frustrated her family by refusing to commit to a career cooking and managing their family restaurant, has found a success that impresses even her parents. She's written three bestselling romantic adventure novels about the adventures of Prince Rafe. But now Rafe's story is told, and if she wants to continue her success, she has to find her next story to write.To do this, Marcy has rented a cabin in the mountains near a campground and ranch. She's barely settled in when her attempt at developing a work routine is disrupted by a lively little dog, a scruffy little terrier. Not far behind is the man who manages the stables and the horses for the ranch, Jackson Parker. Except for being drop-dead handsome, he's very different from a stereotypical romance novel hero--quiet, thoughtful, a reader, deeply involved in the ranch/campground's summer session for special needs kids.Jackson, the dog (soon named Charlie), and new recipes--both variations on her mother's, and new creations of her own, are seriously distracting Marcy from her obligation to write that new romance novel.This is a lively novella, and Marcy, Jackson, and Charlie are all great characters, fun to get to know.Recommended.I received an ebook of this novella, probably for free from the author's newsletter, and am reviewing it voluntarily.