Betty, Halloween 2019

Many of the characters in my stories are loosely based on real people. I try to keep the essence of the person or creature while adapting them to the world of romance. Betty, as well as her owner Joanna, appear in book 7 of the Barrington Billionaire series: Reluctantly Alpha.

I met Joanna and her mini therapy horse, Betty, at a local barn we both board at. Joanna’s experience with Betty, as well as her other rescue horses, inspired me to also rescue a horse from a kill lot. I am incredibly grateful to be a part of such a supportive community of horsemen and women.

And, Betty—well, she knows she’s destined for the big screen. It’s just a matter of time.

Betty "Betty Boop" is a 34" tall miniature horse who was saved from a kill pen by Home at Last Rescue and given a new chance at life in Fall of 2018. Despite never having been loved by humans before, some kind people wanted to save her and give her a better life. 

​Betty’s family found her online and was immediately drawn to her because she looked like a miniature version of her big sister Annie the Thoroughbred (also a rescue). They went through the process of adopting her and bringing her home to Rhode Island with big dreams in mind: Betty was going to change lives by visiting people all over New England and showing how special the love of an animal can be.

​Betty became an officially Registered Therapy Horse in June 2019 and has already brought many smiles to the New England area and beyond. Betty currently visits nursing homes, hospitals, schools and anywhere else that may need some smiles. She is also in the process of joining a national campaign against bullying.

​Any donations are greatly appreciated and go directly towards Betty's care and the expenses of visiting the community. We are completely volunteer-run and not for profit. Please see below for Sponsorship Opportunities.

To find out more about Betty

and her incredible journey from kill-lot to therapy horse visit

Betty Bitty

As a thank you to my readers I’m giving away a $100 egift card. To enter the giveaway all you have to do is fill out the form below.

Enter by filling out this form

Winner will be randomly chosen on November 1, 2019. Winner will be contacted via email and announced on this website blog post. No purchase necessary. The winner will be given 7 days to respond. If no response is received, a second winner will be chosen. This game is open internationally although the prize will be in American dollars or the current international equivalent to. To enter simply answer the two questions below and provide me with your email. Your email will not be used for any other purpose but to contact you if you win. After the giveaway, this list will be deleted.

Once upon a time my eldest child had a stuffed wolf she didn’t want her little brother to play with. Somehow, perhaps only because he was told not to touch it, it became my son’s favorite stuffed animal and she eventually gave it to him.

He sat on my son’s bed for years.

When my youngest daughter first met “Wolfius” he was off limits to her—her brother’s untouchable, treasured stuffed animal. Funny how cycles repeat. At three my daughter would beg to just hug him.

Eventually, my son passed “Wolfius” down to his younger sister and he gained even more importance in our family.

Other toys have come and gone, but Wolfius remains. My youngest one falls asleep hugging him each night, takes him with us on every trip, and when her older siblings went off to college she hugged him even tighter. Somehow the love she has for them has become intertwined with her love for the stuffed animal they handed down to her.

You can imagine the panic that struck my family when we made it to baggage claim in an airport only to discover my daughter had put him down somewhere along the way. We weren’t allowed reentry to retrieve him. We went straight to lost and found. . .which turned out to be a bit of a mistake, but we all learn as we go through life, don’t we? I didn’t know that airlines hold things for 24 hours then ship to a main holding area rather than lost and found. So, by dealing with the airport rather than the airline Wolfius set out on a multi-state adventure.

I still get teary when I remember how supportive everyone was. I knew he wasn’t the type of stuffed animal someone would throw away—or want to keep. He looks too well loved. One look at him and you know some kid is missing him.

When no one could locate him, I turned to social media and offered a reward.

First, I’d like to thank everyone at Southwest Airlines for spreading the world far and wide. Really, the outpouring of messages from people throughout the company was heartwarming.

Special thanks to : Melissa DeJesus-Blanc and Tricia Kingston Arrigo . Two of the nicest women who kept us in the loop on where he was and made sure he made it to us safely at our hotel.

I’d also like to thank everyone who shared the post and who offered us their own stuffed animals.

The messages that came in during that time were so touching that I knew I had to write Wolfius into a book. I took the emotions from our experience and poured them into The Broken One.

Authors put a lot of themselves into their stories. We change names, ages and circumstances, but the essence remains the same.

We have all been broken at one time or another in our lives. Life is full of miracles and tragedies. We decide which is which and who we become because of them.

Ruthie

Actual social media post that was shared more than . 5,000 times and helped to bring Wolfius home.

Meet him in THE BROKEN ONE