Two Fools And A Cat

by Kim Brown, Jazzymyne Brown (Illustrator)

Two brave women prove that to live a real life adventure, they only need to take the first step. Giving into an urge to see the world, they take their cat and move onto a sailboat in California. After a year's preparation they set sail into the Pacific Ocean. Three months later they arrive in Florida after sailing 1500 miles down the Baja coast, across the Sea of Cortez, and driving an old pickup truck 2000 miles across Mexico and the southern United States.

When Kim, Jazzymyne and their cat leave Los Angeles, California on New Year's Day they have no idea where the wind will take them. Their second day at sea they are caught in a violent storm. They struggle back to land and upon attempting to anchor near an island off the coast of Mexico, Kim breaks her hand. Conflict looms when Jazzymyne tires of the hardships and wants to go home.

After twenty five days at sea they reach Mazatlan, Mexico and make plans to relocate in Florida. After loading all their possessions in a twenty-five year old truck, they head for Florida encountering dangerous mountain roads, military checkpoints and border patrol with their cat in the cab and a surfboard tied on top. Mixed emotions concerning this undertaking become solidified by the reality of life at sea, travel abroad and the wonders of nature. This is a true adventure without technical jargon and will delight readers of all ages.

144 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 19, 2011

About the author

Kim Lee Brown was born in Ducktown, Tennessee in 1954. Since that time she has traveled across The United States, Mexico and China. She has sailed thousands of miles on two oceans and The Sea of Cortez. She restores antique cars and writes in her spare time. Her education includes Millsaps College, and Jaiotong University, majoring in anthropology and sociology. Most of all she is a story teller.

Reviews

[Sharon Huether · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting story of sailing a yacht from San Pedro, Ca to Mazatlan,Mexico. They encountered storms, reparing the boat and beautiful days of dolphins and whales swimming along side with them. Their cat, a Ragdoll stayed hidden most of the time. He didn't like the sound of the engine.

[Jazzymyne Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am the second character in this true adventure and even though I know what the experience meant to me, it was also nice to see a different point of view from Kim who wrote the book except for my journal entries. She had a year to get to know the boat and get experience sailing I had the day we left on the trip and I was scared to death but I did it anyway. Someone actually hated my character in the book and wanted to see me thrown overboard, that is ok, we can't like everyone. I suffer from mental illness and I was not taking the right dosage of meds and that did affect my trip. Plus new things scare me as I already have an anxiety disorder, but I made it and I am proud that I did so and was a help to Kim when she needed it. I am proud of my accomplishment, it took a lot for me to go on this trip. I hope others who have a mental or physical disability will learn from this book that you can have an adventure even if it scares you, you can do it! Happy reading
Jazzymyne Crew and passenger of the Ballerina in Two Fools And A Cat

[Yz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Writing-wise, this book was lackluster. Maybe the author had intended it to be this way; maybe ships' journals aren't supposed to be literary masterpieces. However, the sense of adventure is not lost in the suspect syntax. This book reminded me of the sentiments within The Perks of Being a Wallflower, how one can feel "infinite." Brown thoroughly conveys the excitement of taking risks and doing the impossible.

The title was captivating; I thought it was a Bible reference or something. So I was expecting more in the way of literary fiction. Turns out the book is actually about two fools and a cat. Also captivating was the cover. It was beautifully executed.

Visit my site: http://disappointmentsea.blogspot.com/ for more reviews!

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book because it read like a diary, although I would have liked more introspection instead of merely factual descriptions of where they were and what they were doing on their voyage from LA to Mexico. I also liked the fact that it's about two WOMEN, one of whom is quite brave, strong, level-headed, and smart. The other one....well, I'm not quite sure what her contribution was supposed to be to the book. But both of them tell their side of the story, which I typically enjoy in a narrative. However, Jazzy's perspective didn't offer anything new or interesting. All she seemed to do during the voyage was sleep, eat, take pills, complain, watch TV, and read. Blah blah blah. But yeah, a kinda cool book to read if you're interested in sailing or adventures in general.

[Meagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two Fools and A Cat by Kim Brown is a self written book that reads like a diary. In the book, Kim and her friend Jazzmyne set out on an adventure that they had always wanted to take. They take off with their cat in tow and set out on a sailing adventure to see the world. There are twists and turns throughout, like any good story. In the story, at one point Kim breaks her hand which causes problems because she is the only one who knows anything about sailing! But the women follow their dream and reading their story makes you feel like you are right there with them on the boat! I found the story easy to read and I particularly enjoyed the fact that it read like a diary.

[Carla · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was OK. Somewhat interesting. Mostly a travel log of a boating trip. Photos would have made all the difference, but there were none, even though there were several instances of photo-taking mentioned in the book. I don't really want to get into how annoying & useless Jazzy came across, so that's all I'll say on that subject.

[Alison]

kindle

[Glenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book..

[Christopher Worthington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book but J is very annoying