THE LONER'S THANKSGIVING WISH - Roxanne Rustand - Free Book

As an author, I know it takes a lot of people to birth each book. Who were the people involved in the birthing of this book, and what were their contributions?

The Loner's Thanksgiving Wish is the fifth book in the Rocky Mountain Heirs series.  Though a reader could read any one of the books alone and enjoy a good story, the best part of such a series is being able to re-visit favorite characters from this small ranching community. There are some loose ends purposely left unanswered in each book, so the extra fun can be trying to figure out those answers while on the way to reading the following books.

As you can imagine, six different authors writing their own story, while needing to coordinate every minor detail of the town and the cast of local characters who pop up here and there, means there needs to be a lot of communication between those authors.  Readers are smart, and will notice if the police station is suddenly on a different street, someone is pregnant for a year, if there's a change in the color of someone's eyes, or a character's personality radically changes!  J

The other five authors in this series--Linda Goodnight, Arlene James, Carolyne Aarsen, Lenora Worth and Kathryn Springer--are wonderful writers, and they were incredibly helpful. I think the e-mails we all exchanged might fill enough pages for another book!

                        

If you teach or speak. What’s coming up on your calendar?

I'm on three workshop panels at the RT Convention in Chicago this coming April--two on writing inspirational fiction, and one on writing suspense.

If the workshop is accepted, I'll also be speaking at the RWA national conference in Anaheim in July.  Authors Cindy Gerard, Kylie Brant and I usually give a workshop at RWA, and we have a ball.  Cindy and Kylie are very entertaining speakers!

If you had to completely start over in another place, where would you move, and why?

I adore pine forests, mountains, and being near water.  Alaska is so gorgeous, I think I might move north!

My husband spent about 15 months in Alaska before we met. He’s always said he’d take me there, but after almost 47 years together, who knows. If you could only tell aspiring novelists one thing, what would it be?

I would tell them to work hard, gladly accept critiques and contest scores to help assess and improve their craft, and never give up.  Oops--that's more than one thing, I guess. But the last part--having the grit and determination to keep trying--is just so important.  I know too many people who had the sheer talent to be very successful, but not the motivation.

You’ve been asked to be in charge of a celebrity cruise. Who would you ask to take part, and why? (AS in what program, singers, etc. [it doesn’t have to be writing related])

We've been on a half-dozen cruises, but none were as much fun for me as a recent cruise I was on with several dozen writers.  It was a blast!  So if I were to be in charge of planning a cruise, I would love to have every passenger be a writer, a reader, or someone from the publishing industry, with lots of opportunity for interaction.

Tell us about the featured book? 

Here is the back cover blurb.

THE LONER'S THANKSGIVING WISH

Adopted as a baby, Mei Clayton never felt like she belonged in her family. She left tiny Clayton, Colorado, the moment she could. Now, to fulfill the terms of a will, she must move home for a year. But when she reunites with handsome Jack McCord—the mountain-rescue expert she once secretly loved—she has to keep her distance. Their relatives have feuded for years. She'll never fit in with the Claytons if she gives in to her feelings for Jack. Unless faith and love can help open hearts in time for Thanksgiving.

I know I’ll love this story. Please give us the first page of the book.

CHAPTER 1

         Mei Clayton veered off the trail near the summit of Belle's Peak, found the edge of the cliff where she'd often picnicked as a teenager, and surveyed the panorama of rugged ranching country below.

 

To the west, shadowed by the massive, snowy peaks of the Rocky Mountains, lay the distant, rustic cowboy town of Clayton, Colorado.  Her hometown, named after a great grandfather she'd never met.  The last place she wanted to be today, tomorrow or ever.

Especially for an entire, interminable year, though that's exactly what she had to do, thanks to a stipulation in her Grandpa George's will.

 

She would stay a year--but not one day more.

Mei and each of her five cousins all had to comply, or none would receive a single penny.  And though Mei would have preferred to continue teaching in San Francisco, she just couldn't let the others lose out on the inheritance some of them badly needed.

         Delaying her inevitable, awkward arrival, she'd parked along the highway to hike one of the easier trails in this part of the Rockies, just to savor one of the good memories she'd kept close to her heart during her years away.

 

Yet even up here, she hadn't found a sense of solitude and peace. The snow-dusted trail offered an easy climb and breath-taking vistas, and she'd already run into several other local hikers taking advantage of the unseasonably warm sunshine for the first weekend of November.

She'd hoped to do a little climbing and had brought her gear in a backpack.  But the snow was deeper at this higher elevation, and she needed to turn back. Get in her car.  And face her return to the town she'd so desperately wanted to leave as a teen.

 

Though it was her impending conversation with her widowed mother that truly had her stomach tying itself it a tight knot.

Where can we find you on the Internet?

www.roxannerustand.com   (website, and The All Creatures Great and Small blog)

http://twitter.com/RoxanneRustand

http://www.facebook.com/roxanne.rustand

Roxanne, thank you for sharing this book with us.

Readers, here's a link to the book. By using it when you order, you help support this blog.

The Loner's Thanksgiving Wish (Love Inspired)


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