Summer Stories: Cash and Cats

Interview with Darlene Franklin, about her book, Of Cash and Cats:

Alexis: Why did you decide to retell the classic fairytale, Puss ‘n’ Boots, with your story Of Cash and Cats?

Darlene: I fell in love with retelling fairy tales when I wrote my two previous books (Cinderella’s Boots and Mermaid’s Song). I also love boots and cats. When I picture the ramshackle barn the younger son inherited as a fishing shack, complete with a kitten in a gigantic fisherman’s boot, the story flew.

Alexis: Who is Max Roy and what is his role in this story?

Darlene: Max Roy plays the role of the human hero in Puss ‘n’ Boots, the one the cat makes good things happen for. His kitten Bootsie doesn’t talk in a human language or perform any trickery but he does perform a vital role in the story.

Alexis: What is Max’s motivation? Share his backstory and his outlook on life.

Darlene: Max is the youngest of three brothers, from whom he’s alienated. He chose to go into a different business than the family business (I won’t say more, or else I’d spoil the story). He was okay in going by the name “Roy,” which was an Americanization of the French name, Roi. But he balked when his father and brother changed the name to King (the English word for Roi) after his mother died. He just doesn’t fit into their dynamic.

Max’s father recently died. His will included an interesting stipulation: he would support Max’s dream for six months, no longer. If at the end of six months, if Max doesn’t return to the family business, he will be cut off. Mr. King didn’t realize Max was already a huge success.

Max’s outlook on life? Oh, it’s been a while since I wrote it. But from what I can remember as the author of this book, Max doesn’t believe in putting on a show. He’s satisfied with living very simply and doesn’t give Alyvia a clue as to his true identity until late in the book.

Alexis: What role does a kitten play in this tale?

Darlene: The hero and heroine meet while chasing their cats. The same kitten features in both of their work. Again, not giving away the story’s secret. Bootsie’s images reveal a lot about what is happening with her person, Max.

Alexis: Why does Max believe that finding a kitten in fisherman’s boots will bring him good fortune and love?

Darlene: I don’t know that believe the kitten will bring him good fortune and love, but he loves when women are attracted to his furball! And I’ve said, Bootsie leads him to new business opportunities.

Alexis: Who is Alyvia Bailey and what is her role in this story? 

Darlene: Alyvia Bailey is the heroine of the book. She is a native of East Boothbay, Maine (my parents’ hometown). Alyvia teaches kindergarten and does part-time work.

Alexis: Describe Alyvia’s looks, personality and heart. What’s her motivation?

Darlene: Alyvia is a true Mainer, doing everything she can to stay in her home town, enjoy coastal Maine and pursue her dreams. She loves to help others. She’s never met a stranger, and she’s eager to help anyone in need. She has long dark hair and can usually be found in blue jeans. 

Alexis: How do Alyvia and Max meet? What do they think of each other?

Darlene: They meet when their cats cross paths. Alyvia has a full-grown tomcat. Then Alyvia invites Max, whom she perceives as a summer vagrant because of his living quarters, to work for her. Max is attracted to this woman who is so determined to help.

Alexis: Why doesn’t Max want to pay Alyvia for working on remodeling a center for those who need a place to stay?

Darlene: For one thing, he doesn’t need the money. And the venture needs of all the money she can raise. For another thing, the terms of his father’s will prohibit it.

Alexis: If you could step into your story and spend a day with Alyvia and Max, what would you do? Why?

Darlene: I’m not a huge fan of fishing, but perhaps Max could take Alyvia and me out on the boat for one of those morning conversations with God and cruises up and down the coast for a bit. We could stop by the place where my parents used to live. Alyvia might have been in the daycare at the YMCA where my mother worked! Maybe not. My mother stopped working sometime in the late ‘90s.

(Imagination working overtime here)

Alexis: Thanks for the interview, Darlene! Do you have closing comments?

Darlene: Of Cash and Cats is an intensely personal story for me on a number of levels. It’s set in the town where my mother lived with my stepfather for twenty-eight years, and it’s the Maine my children got to experience. 

I hope my love for my home state comes through loud and clear. Not only that but also Alyvia Bailey is a compilation of my first-great granddaughter’s middle name and her middle name. So you see? Maybe we are related!

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Author Bio: 

Best-selling Amazon and ECPA author Darlene Franklin’s greatest claim to fame is that she continues to write from a nursing home. 

She keeps going because God keeps giving her more assignments. 

She’s written more than fifty-five fiction and nonfiction books.

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Book Blurb for Of Cash and Cats:

In this retelling of the classic fairy tale, Puss ‘n’ Boots, the kitten Max Roy finds in a pair of fisherman’s boots brings him good fortune and love. But the going isn’t easy.



When do-gooder Alyvia Bailey meets Max riding a bike and living in a ramshackle fishing shack, she assumes he’s one of the transients she wants to help. 

She’s puzzled when he refuses pay for working on her project--remodeling a center for those needing a place to stay. 



Two cats weave in and out as they move forward to a surprising finish and bring love on kitten paws.

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Buy Of Cash and Cats on Amazon 

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Connect with Darlene:
Amazon Author Page - https://amzn.to/2Lv3Gaa 

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/DarleneFranklinFun/

Twitter - https://twitter.com/darlenefranklin/

Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/authorDarlene/

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Enter this book giveaway contest for your chance to WIN a copy of this book by filling out the entry form on the Rafflecopter widget below: 

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True Love Stories: My Hero

"I Believe in You and Me" is a song to that comes to mind when I think of today's featured true love story. Whitney Houston sung that song so beautifully on the soundtrack to the movie The Preacher's Wife (1997). It was a classic movie in which Whitney plays the preacher's wife and Denzel Washington plays an angel of God sent for divine intervention. 

The song lyrics talk about how she believes in miracles and God sent her a miracle because the man in her life is a dream come true. Such is the case for Mrs. Angela Ruth Strong. God restored her from heartbreak to happiness. Here's the story...

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My Hero

Angela Ruth Strong's True Love Story

My love story is one of remarriage. So there’s a sad story that comes before this one. But I think like in every romance novel, the darker the black moment, the more powerful the conclusion. My black moment included, and I quote from one of many counseling sessions, “I can’t keep a husband, I can’t get a job, my kids don’t want to be with me, and I’m in trouble with the law.” Thankfully, the ridiculous charges were dropped, my kids became my best friends and I got a job I loved working in the publishing industry. But I still didn’t have a husband.

Enter Jim Strong. Great smile. Sporty. Intelligent. Funny. Loyal. Hard-working. And oh yeah, he could sing. The man of my dreams.

I knew I was in love with him the moment he came home from a softball tournament in Reno with three stuffed bears he’d won for my kids by playing a pitching game at Circus-Circus. Not only did he bring them home, he wore them home in his backpack with their heads poking up behind him like they were in a baby carrier. Plus, he’d been sending me pictures of the bears the whole weekend so I could show the kids. Pics of them buckled into the back of a taxi and sleeping in a drawer with blankets and pillows. *swoon*

But I was scared. Oh, how I was scared. See, right before my ex left, I’d had this talk with God. I’d been reading Psalms and decided to repeat David’s prayer of, “God, you are my all.” But then I thought, “Is this really true?” And I thought about how David had said, “Test me.” So I cried while writing in my prayer journal, “Test me.” And it just so happened that was the same week my ex started his affair.

I knew in my head that God wasn’t saying, “You want a test? I’ll give you a test.” I knew it had been Him preparing me. “You know I’m your all, Angela. You know it.” But I’d still made the connection of telling God to test me with my ex-husband leaving. So whenever Jim said to me, “You’re a gift from God,” I could never say it back. Because what if I hadn’t passed my test yet? What if God was going to take Jim away, too?

It was on a jog where God opened my eyes. And the funny thing was that I’d been praying, “God, open my eyes,” but thinking about something completely different.(God knows how to answer the questions we aren’t smart enough to ask.) He gave me this verse: "Every good and perfect gift is from God"(James 1:17).

Everything about Jim had seemed too good to be true. But if he really was that good, then he would be a gift from God. I ran home and looked up every scripture I could find with the word “good” in it.

First one: Taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8).

Last one: Now you have seen that the Lord is good (1 Peter 2:3).

This was the moment where I finally accepted Jim as a gift from God. I bawled my eyes out. Overwhelmed with gratefulness. Because I really didn’t deserve him. (I’d been in trouble with the law only a year before, remember?) But God gave Jim to me anyway.

He rescued me because he delighted in me. –Psalm 18:19

Jim proposed in a movie theater. I thought we were going to a movie. I had a mouth full of caramel corn when I realized that the preview was really a slideshow of us. And that all the other movie viewers were really friends and family.

We got married in the English garden at my mom’s tea house. Dad did the wedding. My son walked me down the aisle to the song “How He Loves Us.” The kids shot silly string at us when we kissed. Then I hopped on the front of Jim’s decorated knee cart (Achilles surgery—another story) and we rolled away to the sound of a Harley revving its engine. There was also a carriage ride involved. And my daughter’s stuffed rabbit joined us for our first dance. The evening ended with him crooning to me like Michael Buble. “I’m feeling good…”

It was better than a fairytale because it was real life. But the thing about real life is that our tests never end. We still have Achilles issues and the blending of families and the headache of finances. But when I feel like we can’t handle anymore, I remember the lesson I’ve already learned.

God will rescue us because he delights in us. So in knowing that God is the hero of every story...we can all live happily ever after.

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Angela Ruth wrote a book! Here's the book cover and blurb: On shoot in beautiful Sun Valley for her newest film, rising starlet Emily Van Arsdale meets handsome stunt consultant Tracen Lake. Despite their different lifestyles, the adventurous duo shares a bond. As filming wraps up, will Emily be able to leave Sun Valley--and Tracen--behind? 

Buy Angela's book, http://amzn.to/163rDPT

Author bio: Angela Ruth Strong writes romance as well as middle-grade novels. When she's not writing, you can find her teaching aerobics, hanging out with her hubby and three teen/tweens at home in Idaho, or on some new adventure like winning a hamster ball race. She'd love it if you'd drop by to visit her at www.angelaruthstrong.com and share your story with her.