#DaSample- Cattitude by Edie Ramer

Todays daily sample is brought to us from Edie Ramer.

Edie Ramer is an award-winning indie author whose short stories have been published in national magazine. She’s gotten a lot of great reviews for CATTITUDE, which is about a cat who switches bodies with a woman and keeps her cat attitude—even as someone tries to kill her and she falls in love with her former owner. It’s on sale at most online places for only 99 cents.

Enjoy the excerpt!


Belle jerked her head away from Max’s chest. Wasn’t it bad enough she was inside this human body? With these clumsy arms that didn’t propel her forward when she wanted to leap and run? With this ugly furless skin? And now Max wanted to take her to the hospital. How could he do something so horrible?

Three years of sitting on Tory’s lap, being petted while they watched Tory’s favorite TV show, The Love Chronicles, had taught Belle what happened in hospitals. People would poke and prod her and stick her with needles. Plus, she might fall in love, lose her memory, be murdered by someone disguised as a doctor, and maybe have a baby. A human baby.

No! She was not going to let that happen.

Belle’s arms dropped from around his back. Her palms slammed into his chest and he lurched backward. The blanket slid off her shoulders and pooled around her ankles. She leaped, twisting to face the ditch and thicket of trees. The heaviness of her new body made her land with a stagger. Then she followed her feline instincts and sprang forward.

“What the hell—” Max shouted.

Belle lurched. Her human legs didn’t want to obey her. She tried to force them to move faster, but it was like wading through snow. Crouching to avoid low tree branches, she darted into the trees at a fraction of her normal speed.

This was her environment. As fast as Max was, he wouldn’t catch her unless she let him, even with his clumsy limbs.

“Get back here,” he called. “I’m trying to help you.”

“She looks pretty damn healthy to me.” The amusement in Ted’s voice carried to Belle. “If she wants to go, let her.”

“I’m not leaving until I find her,” Max said.

Crashing noises came from the trees near the road. Max. She put her hand over her mouth, to stop a cry from coming out. She’d never thought she’d run from him. Never thought he’d be the one that made her heart thump in fear.

Her human feet made noises too. She glanced down at them. They were covered with soft-soled tie shoes like the ones Max and Ted wore. Maybe if she walked on the balls of her feet, she wouldn’t crunch with every step. She’d be quiet . . . like a cat.

For two steps she tried, but walking this way was slower than stalking an ant. The crashing noises moved to her left. Close, too close. Belle spied a tree with low branches, grabbed the closest branch and pulled herself up. Her arms ached, as if they didn’t want to do this. She set her mouth and commanded them to obey.

This human body was so clumsy. No stretch, no agility, no energy.

Belle hated it. Where was her cat body? She wanted it back.

Max smashed through the woods, leaves crunching beneath his shoes, branches cracking. Belle changed her opinion that dogs were the clumsiest creatures. Her muscles straining, she pulled up to another branch, then another.

None of the branches had leaves. If he looked up . . .

Biting back gasping breaths, Belle hung on. Max walked below her, looking at the ground, as if for tracks. Stopping, he glanced around.

“Where are you?” he shouted.

Belle clasped the branch, its bark rough on her soft human hands. She couldn’t go to the hospital. She had to stay here, find her cat body and claim it back.

Don’t look up. Don’t look up. Don’t look—

She stopped her silent commands. The last time she wanted something so fervently was when Caroline flung her into the path of the car. Her frantic plea had worked, but look what happened. If it worked this time, she might change into a bird.

Belle shuddered. Being a bird would be worse than being a human. Cats ate birds.

Max raised his head—a movement that made Belle swallow a whimper—and he called out, “If you come right now, I’ll help you. I won’t let anyone hurt you. You have my word on it.” He cocked his head, listening and waiting.

Belle clung to the branch, afraid to breathe. Her hands were growing colder by the second. She wanted to drop into his arms and let him take care of her. But she was a cat, not a puny human who let Max do everything for her like his mother, sister and sometimes Ted. Sure, she let Max feed and water her, but look what she did in return. He didn’t see any mice in his house, did he?

She didn’t need Max to fix this. She’d fix it herself.

Buy the book: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords

Find out more about Edie and her books at her website.