The last few nibbles of news....

First of all, y'all were so helpful about helping me name the elegant manor house in Book #4 of my inclusive, immersive Regency romance series.... but you had so many great ideas. So let's narrow this down...

My 7-year-old and I made a tally sheet for the votes (a practical math lesson for him!), and then I did some research into the top two names. Cliveden Manor is a real place and Cranleigh Hall is part of the Tardis universe, so we've got to do some variations (another practical lesson for my little helper!).

So, he and I studied maps of the West Midlands, mushed together real syllables and spellings of the area, and came up with some new options. A couple of these are from readers, too!

1. Hartwell Park

2. Cloverdell Manor

3. Clivewell Manor

4. Cranningley Hall

Please reply to this email and tell me your new favorite suggestion! I'll enter everyone who replies (both from the last poll and this one) in a drawing and send you some character art!

In honor of the puppy stories coming right up...

Here's a sampler of free books featuring canine characters. Some of these should be a nice relaxing retreat from the real world!

And in honor of The Domestic Diplomat (preorder coming soon)...

Here's a sampler of indie authors working to make diversity in books mainstream. There's a huge variety of genres here, and sometimes the diversity is obvious and sometimes it isn't. In The Domestic Diplomat, Celia and her household face discrimination in a very rural corner of England, and it brings up questions around race, religion, culture, and disability — but with humor, romance, and adventure.

Click through to explore your next potential read!

And now, a puppy-update from her bossy older brother

So, do you remember how we have the talking buttons for the dogs? Malin pushes buttons to talk with us every day. He tells us that he wants to go outside or have a chewy, as one would expect.... but he also pushes "water" when I am boiling water for tea, or to tell me that it's raining outside. He is very concerned where all our family members are, and when he can't locate them we have a discussion about whether they are "home" (teens working in their rooms, perhaps) or "bye-bye, car" (when the little boys have gone to school this week).

The first day that we had Sálie, at the end of the day Maline got my attention and went to the button board. He pushed "no," which he has never once used and I thought it might be a mistake. But then he pushed "all done," and once again, "no!" I'm pretty sure he was saying "all done, no more baby puppy!"

Sálie is determined to play with everyone. The middle two dogs have decided that she actually might be pretty fun, but Malin reserves his judgement. But what happens when you are a herding dog who has to manage everything and you get a silly new baby in the house? YOU HAVE TO MANAGE THE BABY. Obviously.

The other day, I was going in and out of the main room, and Malin pushed "want" "outside." He had just been out, but when I had a moment, I went to the back hallway to let him out. But instead of going to the door, he led me down the hall — straight to where Sálie was trying to get into a bag of dogfood on the floor!

"Ha!" Malin said to Sálie. "Now the person sees what you're doing, and you're going to get in trou-ble!"

But Malin doesn't always wait for us to scold the silly girl. Now, one of the things I love about Shelties is they always have absurd quirks, and one of Malin's is that he barks at the jug of water when it glugs. He is passionate about that jug of water! (That's why he has a "water" button, and he uses it all the time!) However, the rest of us humans don't like being barked at and jumped on whenever we get a glass of water, so we discourage this one. Malin can get a treat if he stands still and doesn't bark — he's pretty hit and miss about whether he thinks the treat or the barking is more fun, but Adare has learned that when he hears the water jug, he can come over, stand very prettily, and earn a treat. (Adare has never once barked at the water jug, but he likes the treat.)

So a couple days ago, I was filling the kettle, the water was glugging, and Malin was watching me attentively. Then — guess what?! — Sálie barked at the water! Malin immediately rounded on her and gave her a very stern "parent dog" correction. We aren't sure if he was saying "I'm the only one allowed to bark at the water jug!" or, more likely, "the rule is no barking at the water jug! That's the rule!"

At any rate, Sálie cried and slunk away and said she was very sorry. Malin doesn't hurt her, but he does make it clear that there is No Back-Talk In My Doggie Classroom.

But he isn't always stern. The next morning, because my husband was sick with the flu, we had an unusual situation where several of us were in the main rooms getting ready, but then the little boys left for school and I went back into my bedroom. Usually when we all leave, we put the dogs in their kennels, but we almost never all leave in the mornings. I think, because the dogs all went downstairs to the main door to see the little boys leave, they didn't know I had gone upstairs.

After a minute, I heard Sálie's sad little "help me!" bark. She waited, then cried again. Then again.

Malin knew the feeling of being sad and worried that your people are leaving. So he went over to the buttons, pushed the little boys' names, then "bye-bye." So he explained to her what had happened — they're not gone, they just went bye-bye for a little while!

When she whimpered again, he pushed "happy." He uses "happy" correctly and frequently, usually talking about himself. In this case, it sounded like what he meant was "you can be happy, you don't need to cry."

At that point, I called them from my bedroom and all four dogs came running in a cascade — and yes, a happy one!

Here is 3-mont-old Sálie, learning "paws up" and hoping for a treat!

You can see that blue half of her eye, and her very intent "Me is good big girl" expression!

Do you know what else makes Malin happy?

When you read my books! As a reminder, besides having a house full of children, dogs, and Legos,

I also write character-driven, immersive, inclusive historical fiction —

the kind with ball gowns

or the kind with magic.

You can find my Irish fairy tale retellings on all retailers, my Regency romance on KU, and everything is available at libraries! My latest release is Oona & the Swan, which is both cute and heart-felt. It has a swan in the bathtub and a cow trotting down the lane.

Find a book, make Malin happy

Happy reading!

Christy & the Shelties