Thursday, February 24, 2022

Brown Eyes by Frances Ive - Book Tour


Brown Eyes

A watchful eye as a marriage falls apart. The phone call, the rows, and the split are all observed by the family Labrador. He knows the habits and senses the moods of his beloved family members. Seeing them unhappy and hurting each other is unbearable. Where did his perfect life go?

Her marriage to Phil in crisis, two children at the challenging teenage stage, and a close friend in peril, Meriel’s world is falling apart. She finds solace in the arms of another man, but is this the answer for her? It is her stubbornness that threatens the family’s future together, until a major loss has a life-changing effect on her. A sliver of hope returns.

Like a fly on the wall, Benji the dog sees it all.

Narrated by both the dog and Meriel, Brown Eyes is a novella (a short read) written by the author of Finding Jo and Give and Take with a Capital G & T.

 

Purchase Links

UK Kindle - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09Q3N3D15

UK Paperback - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1739976800

US Kindle - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Q3N3D15

US Paperback - https://www.amazon.com/dp/1739976800


Excerpt
Brown Eyes, Frances Ive

The dog sees everything

People love their pets, with dogs and cats holding a special position, but they love us too. Dogs particularly have a special affection for humans and study their owners all the time. They know our habits and funny ways, and they like to observe everything we do, so they can tell when they will be fed or walked. They can also see right into our lives and sense our moods, whether we are happy or sad, and they don’t like raised voices. 

In Brown Eyes, Benji the Labrador was very attuned to his family – Meriel and Phil, the adults, and Ricky and Elly the children. He adored them all and relished the wonderful life he led, until one night everything started to go wrong.

 

Extract from Brown Eyes, Frances Ive in the words of Benji, the black Labrador:

Never have I wished I could communicate as much as at that moment. Why didn’t she patch it up with Phil so we could be a happy family all over again? What was it with humans that they hurt each other so much instead of having a good fight and biting each other’s legs and then getting on again? With dogs you knew where you were.

I  could see deep into her eyes as if I were looking into her soul. I didn’t want her to think this was sympathy, but I hoped she understood what I wanted to convey – that they loved each other, and she was throwing away a chance of happiness, not just for herself but for everyone, and me too.

‘You are lovely,’ she said to me. ‘You’re the one who understands me.’

Unfortunately, I didn’t – my life could never be as complicated as hers.

There used to be so much love in this family. When I heard about other families that dogs live with, there’s so much hurt people inflict on each other. I always felt so smug and satisfied that I had the good fortune to be with people who never behaved like that.

 I could never have known how wrong everything was going, and how the relationship between Meriel and Phil almost destroyed us all.
 

Author Bio –  Frances Ive: A career as a journalist/PR led to health writing for UK nationals newspapers and consumer mags. Out of the blue I was inspired to write my first novel, Finding Jo, which I self-published in January 2021. Brown Eyes is my 2nd novel, written a few years ago. It was inspired by our black Labrador Benji. Before Finding Jo,  I previously had only non-fiction books published, including One Step Ahead of Osteoarthritis (2019), a positive approach to staying mobile.

 

Social Media Links –

Twitter: @healthysouluk   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FindingJoFrancesIve   and Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fivewrite/.  Website for books: www.fivewrite.co.uk

 

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