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Suzy Ryan Knotz

Author & Artist at Big Black Dog Studio

dog cove chronicles series:
sweet, small town saga featuring uplifting romance about people you'll feel like you know & WISH YOU GREW UP WITH

Dog Cove Chronicles Books 1, 2 & 3 are here!!

WELCOME TO DOG COVE, FLORIDA!

The series is sweet romantic fiction full-length novels set in a small, close-knit community that sprung up around a small century-old marina.
Multi-generation family businesses feature in an off-the-beaten path saltwater cove where family is made up of those who are there for you no matter what.
Series features 30-somethings coming of age alongside their parents and grandparents finding their place among the legacy forged by fellow Soggy Crackers who live and love here.

© 2010-2024 by Suzy Ryan Knotz & Big Black Dog Studio. All rights reserved.

Book 1: Go With the Flow

Go With the Flow is Book 1 of the Dog Cove Chronicles, featuring sweet, clean romance found in a small, close-knit saltwater community where “family” is more about bonds of friendship and people who stand by you than genetics.Dylan’s childhood might have led him down a very different path had he not been taken under the wing of the marina’s owner who told him he called dibs when he learned the young teen’s birth certificate listed his father as unknown.A Vietnam veteran with no children of his own, Clay always proudly introduced Dylan as his son and taught the quiet and grateful young man a lot before he died. Clay’s nephew Ed lost his own son at 9 years old, and with no desire to remarry has been grooming Dylan to take over the family’s century-old marina per his parents’ and uncle’s wishes.Ed’s mother’s matchmaking plans for this godsend to their family who helped them heal from their loss finds the perfect match for super shy Dylan to carry on their family legacy when her high-achieving granddaughter Kelly walks away from her advertising career up north to join the family business.She’d never been afraid of a challenge, but was torn between being mortified on one side since Dylan was someone she would still have no choice but to work with, and just playing along with it to call Gram’s bluff.She did inherit her family’s crazy sense of humor, after all.Maybe her grandmother knows best, and if the two let go of their pasts and just go with the flow on Gram’s little betrothal plan, they could create their own fairy tale future here together in Dog Cove?Tropes: Found family, Healing from loss, Small Town, Cinderella, Love at first sight, Midlife decisions, & Pets are family, too!

Book 2: Drawn Together

Drawn Together is Book 2 of the Dog Cove Chronicles and continues the small town saga of a close-knit saltwater community and its family-owned businesses. This sweet and clean romance series sees more coming of age, realization that change is a choice, and that one's future is what we choose to make it - including who we want to spend it with.Love is in the summer air at Dog Cove!Bunny and Jake have had crushes on each other all through their school days, but super-shy Jake always got tongue-tied around her. He bravely wrote her a love note for Valentine's Day in 3rd Grade telling her he wanted to marry her when they grew up. He wasn't brave enough to actually give it to her until they were in 4th Grade. Once he began bartending at his family's brewery, he warmed up to 'people-ing' and got a lot better, but still hadn't taken the next step to actually ask her out.When the elderly couple next door to the Cliftons decide to move to the midwest to spend more time with their own kids and grandchildren, they tell Jake he is the only one they'll even consider selling their marital home to. These surrogate grandparents of Jake's give him the push he needs in matters of the heart, and after years of wishful thinking, Jake is finally brave enough to tell Bunny how he feels - no matter what her overprotective twin brother has to say about it.At the marina, Dylan has been taking over more of the management from Ed with the support of Kelly, whose skillsets perfectly complement his own. For someone who took a long time to come out of his own shell, Dylan is actually enjoying talking with their boaters and owning the role he was groomed for. When Kelly's parents fly in to celebrate Gram and Pop's 58th wedding anniversary, Dylan hopes to make a good impression on her father so he and Kelly can take the next step in their own relationship.Ed is taking better care of his mental and physical health, as well as taking his 'lady friend' Kate up on her offer for him to come for breakfast at her mother's B&B where she's cooking every morning anyway. Besides facing issues he had repressed for too long, Ed is hopeful his lifestyle changes will let him be around a long time yet to see the grandbabies his parents told Dylan they are waiting for - and even maybe getting closer to Kate.Tropes: Sweet romance, Small town, Embracing change, Found family, Healing from loss, Coming of age, Midlife pivots, Pets are family, too.

Book 3: Off the Deep End

Off the Deep End is Book 3 of the Dog Cove Chronicles and continues the small town saga of a close-knit saltwater community and its family-owned businesses.“She loves me. She just doesn’t know it yet, but she will.”The shapely daughter of the proprietors of Salty Dog Brewery where Hardie and his father ate dinner most every night, Her Royal Feistiness had perfected rolling her eyes one moment and batting them the next.Merrie was determined to grow her yoga studio before getting into any romantic relationship. The only problem was that she had been trying to grow it for the past seven years to no avail, and she was frustrated to the point she was ready to give up and just stick with waitressing.As much as she hated waitressing and thinking it was the only thing she was apparently any good at, the Warners always helped her calm down by bantering and wisecracking back and forth with her. Between Hardie’s playful faux flirting and Merrie’s “kiss my grits” retorts, their antics were known affectionately by the regular patrons as “Dinner and a Show.”She liked Hardie, but whatever was hiding under his oversized clothes was probably not at all what her own dedication to health, fitness and nutrition wanted in a mate. She even joked she’d date his father first.The ladies’ book club giggling over Love Letters to a Mermaid makes Merrie wish she were the mermaid in the sweet and swoony story.When Hardie’s oldest brother returns home after his 30-year Navy career, Hardie has an idea how to get his father, Ed and B.B. together working out. On a whim, he pops into MerMaid Yoga to run the idea of a men’s yoga class by Merrie – something she realizes she never would have thought of herself.Would the pigheaded solopreneur admit she really does need a partner?Hardie’s favorite mantra helped him wait patiently doing his fishing charters and various other odd jobs until the day he was still hopeful would come when the MerMaid herself would finally swim up to him.Tropes and Themes: Sweet & wholesome romance, Small town, Embracing change, Midlife pivots, Resilience after cancer treatment (all brief mentions of which are based on author's personal experience at Stage 4 when diagnosed in 2015), Pets are family, too.

My Sweet, Clean Romance & Small-Town Saga Series:
Dog Cove Chronicles

• by Suzy Ryan Knotz & Big Black Dog Studio

Sweet Small Town Life and Romance as Suzy Ryan Knotz:
Dog Cove Chronicles SeriesResilience, love and belief in the power to create what we want in our lives is our universal human experience. I hope you enjoy my new Dog Cove Chronicles series featuring sweet, clean romance set in a small, close-knit saltwater cove community where “family” is more about the bonds of friendship and people who stand by you than genetics.

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Go With the Flow is Dylan & Kelly’s story of realizing their past is in the past and they get to decide what’s most important in their lives now, including whether to go along with her grandmother’s little matchmaking plan, for creating their own fairy tale future together.
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Next, you’ll be introduced to Kate’s twins, Kevin and Bunny in Drawn Together for Bunny & Jake’s story. The two always had a crush on the other during their school days, but protective twin Kevin made it clear to his best friend not to touch his sister. Except they’ve been out of school a very long time now and don’t need his approval any more if they want to see if the spark is still there. Jake gets Kate’s permission even if Kevin still won’t give his.
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In Off the Deep End, poor Hardie has been patiently waiting for Merrie forever. Will the big guy ever get her attention – in a positive way? When his oldest brother retires from his Navy career, Hardie suggests a way to help Merrie build her yoga studio by adding a men's class. She’s been so focused on trying to do it all herself, Merrie sees a surprising side of Hardie that makes her think she’s been too quick to shut him out when they really do seem to have more than she realized in common.
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In Room for Love, we watch Ed & Kate realize love doesn’t have to suck and that they really might be good together. When Ed’s sister Laurel and the Yankee relatives of her husband Neil arrive for Dylan & Kelly’s wedding and stay at the Periwinkle Bed & Breakfast, Dog Cove locals meet some of the ‘bramble bush’ relatives Kelly has joked about. Good thing about running a B&B is that there’s always a ‘kick ‘em out by date.’
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In Puppy Love in Paradise, Kate’s workaholic son who took it upon himself to be the man of the house has no interest in getting married himself. A woman traveling with her young daughter after leaving a bad relationship resonates with Kate, who offers to let them stay in Bunny’s bedroom. When the 3-year-old little girl singing duets with Kevin’s dog Danny Boy even wins Kate over, it might just make Kevin & Abbie consider their options.
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Old Dogs, New Tricks features some of our fun ladies from Sunset Palms working on their matchmaking schemes such as if Sharon & Dr. Cutie Pie can rekindle the fling they had many years ago in college as well as whether or not Anne loves Dog Cove enough to move here and be closer to Gary, The Babe Magnet himself.https://www.amazon.com/author/sknotz❤️❤️❤️

• Hardie's Lake & Mountain + Salt, Sand & Sea Notebooks as Boatman Books

🐳 🛶 🦋5x8, 6x9 and 8x10 lined notebooks featuring covers with photographs taken by the Boatman himself featuring places he knows well, including the beautiful lake and mountain region of the Adirondacks near the Canadian border and the saltwater and white sandy beach area he calls home in southwestern Florida.https://www.amazon.com/author/boatmanbooks🐳 🛶 🦋

My Original Artwork in Coloring Books & Notebooks

• by Suzy Ryan's Big Black Dog Studio

🐾 ❤️ 🐾Lovabull Huggabull Pitbulls
Pugs In the Garden
Catcentricity: My Cat Gets Me
Dogcentricity: My Life Revolves Around My Dog
Dogcentricity: Serious Dog Lover
Petober Event Series
Every Year With a Dog Is a Great Year
+ Puppy Love and Cat Lover Notebooks & Morehttps://www.amazon.com/author/bigblackdogstudio🐾 ❤️ 🐾

• Middle School Silliness as S.Knotz

🟢🟢🟢‘Each Booger Is Unique’ Coloring Story Book
PLUS
Lots of Booger Gag Gift Notebooks for Your Inner Middle Schoolerhttps://www.amazon.com/author/sknotz🟢🟢🟢

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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Hey, y'all!I'm Suzy Ryan, the author of the Dog Cove Chronicles and CEO/CFO (a/k/a Chief Encouragement Officer & Chief Feeding Officer) here at Big Black Dog Studio.With spiritual gifting first and foremost as an encourager, I have a fundamental background in what I lovingly refer to as Professional Cat Herding.I have been a change agent, a creative programming director, spiritual life coach, and grief counselor working with children through the elderly.I am sensitive to the wallflowers around the perimeter and find out what makes their eyes light up to talk about in order to find ways of encouraging their involvement.After 40 years in ministry and community nonprofits working with mostly volunteer workforces, I have learned more about human nature, emotion and healing than was ever taught to me in an academic program.Certain fundamentals define me as a person:

⭐️ I was raised to fix things, not throw them away.⭐️ I look for the value in that which was discarded by someone else.⭐️ I take the time to polish away the tarnish and uncover hidden beauty most people can’t be bothered to work that hard to find, and I’m not just referring to the inanimate materials I use in my artwork.⭐️ I also strive to not judge animals or people on their appearance or on behaviors learned from the way life has treated them.⭐️ Although not always reciprocated, if I weren’t willing to look past the superficial, I would risk missing what only time and effort could reveal to be treasured relationships built on trust, acceptance and sincere friendship.

After 4 decades as a creative program director, professional volunteer manager, animal Reiki practitioner, and loss & grief counsellor, I have been blessed to watch many real-life transformations around me:• from both children and rescued pets overcoming shyness and blossoming after difficult beginnings,• to widows redefining themselves and healing from grief by tapping into their deepest dreams and finally pursuing them as a way to honor their lost loved ones,• to being a cancer survivor my own self after going from high-energy, bubbly Fit Chick to suddenly tired, not realizing a lymphoma had set in until diagnosed at Stage 4 when it was in my bone marrow in 2015 - yet bouncing back, slow as my impatient self feels it's been to get myself back on the horse,• and lots of light-hearted beauty of real-life comedies and things I cannot un-see throughout my career.When not drawing pet memorial portraits to help animal lovers heal from loss or spending time holding space for veterans and the elderly, you'll probably find me snuggling and spoiling my pets while writing happily ever after stories filled with eccentric yet resilient characters - because that is absolutely how I love spending the bulk of my day.I still draw pet portraits under Big Black Dog Studio, still write silly Middle School humor under pen name S.Knotz, and am happy to begin publishing stories of love and resilience under my sweet romance pen name of Suzy Ryan Knotz. ❤️

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My gifting is first and foremost as an encourager and empowerer of others.I try to put that into every story and article I write and into each custom painting and "pet pawtrait" I create.I also hope it comes through in everything that I do - especially through my Dog Cove Chronicles!

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