Guess what pumpkins? As if the huge Cat Girl's Day Off Giveaway wasn't enough Kimberly Pauley also took the time to prepare this awesome guest post for all of us! Yay! Don't forget to enter the giveaway and leave Kimberly some love in the comments!

I was a middle child. Well, kind of. My older sister is ten years older than I am and my younger sister is seven years younger, so we really weren’t all ever in the house at the same time. In some ways, I guess you could say that I feel like I’ve been a younger sister, a middle sister, and an older sister all in one.

Natalie, the main character in Cat Girl’s Day Off, is definitely a classic middle child. She feels invisible in her family. Her sisters (and her parents) are all super Talented (i.e. they have pretty cool super powers, like levitation or lie detection). All Nat can do is talk to cats. As you can imagine, that makes her feel pretty inadequate (though I think it would be pretty cool…but, hey, I live in a world without super powers. sigh).

Even though there’s a lot of madcap mayhem going on in the story (a pink cat. kidnapping(s). celebrity bloggers. Ferris Bueller. crashing movie sets…), the underlying stuff is all about Nat and how she feels about herself and how she fits in with her family and friends. Like all of us, she’s got to learn that who SHE is…is good enough. She has to learn that she doesn’t need to hide and she shouldn’t…and, of course, that things are not always what they seem.

I think that’s a relatable thing to lots of people. Even if you were the super popular, always-invited-to-all-the-parties older sister, you’ve still got insecurities. It’s just human nature. We’re all wired that way. Well, maybe not sociopaths…but Nat isn’t a sociopath.

I also think that’s an important thing for a fantasy book to have…something grounded in reality. All of my favorite stories, no matter how fantastic (and I was a serious fantasy and science fiction fiend), had something that I could relate to personally. I hope Nat’s story will resonate with people of all ages out there. I’d love to hear from people if it does!

This guest post is being shared as a part of the Contemporary Month event being hosted by Evie at Bookish, Bonnie at Words at Home and Asheley at Into The Hall of Books. Click the banner below for full Words at Home schedule.

3 Responses to “Guest Post with Kimberly Pauley”