A LADY IN THE MAKING - Susan Page Davis - One Free Book

Welcome back, Susan. It was so good to see you at the ACFW Conference last week. What are some of the spiritual themes you like to write about?

A lot of my stories focus on forgiveness and reconciliation. It’s something we all can relate to, and most of us need.

What other books of yours are coming out soon?

I’m writing some mysteries for Guideposts, and you’ll see books from me in the Patchwork Mysteries, Miracles of Marble Cove, and Secrets of Mary’s Bookshop series. I’ve also written a murder mystery called What a Picture Is Worth for DRG, coming out in a few months.

If you could spend an evening with one contemporary person (not a family member of yours), who would it be and why?

I love animals, and I’d be delighted to spend an evening with the director of a large animal park, preferably at the park.

What historical person would you like to meet (besides Jesus) and why?

Captain James Cook, the great explorer. He’s a hero of mine.

How can you encourage authors who have been receiving only rejections from publishers?

Don’t give up! And don’t be discouraged by those stories about new authors who sell their first book to the first editor they query. That is SO rare. I wrote about a dozen books before my first one sold. (And that wasn’t the first one I had written.) If all the editors you THOUGHT would love your manuscript have rejected it, maybe it’s time to start something fresh, but put into it all the things you have now learned.

Tell us about the featured book.

The book is A Lady in the Making.

Millie Evans has changed, choosing to leave rather than join an outlaw gang with her brother. Hoping for a new future, she boards a stagecoach and finds that one of the passengers is David Stone—a man she and her brother once tried to swindle. As she tries to convince David she’s changed, her brother’s gang holds up the stagecoach. Fighting beside David goes a long way to softening his heart, but he’s still not convinced. Someone is trying to keep him from reaching England to claim his inheritance. Is Millie involved? Millie must trust God to show David the truth, but will he see before it’s too late?

Please give us the first page of the book.

1857   The Dalles, Oregon

Chapter One

“You lied to me, Sam.” Millie Evans peeked out the window from behind the half-yard of muslin that served as a curtain. Outside the shanty they rented behind the feed store, a tall man with thick, dark hair and a week’s growth of beard stood smoking a cigarette.

            Millie turned back toward Sam and glared at him. “You said you were looking for a job, but you went and found that despicable man and brought him back here.”

            “I was looking for a job,” Sam sputtered. “But I couldn’t find one, and then Lucky turned up.”

            “Oh, sure he did. Like a bad penny. I suppose you just happened to be in the saloon when he dropped out of the sky.”

            Sam cringed, and she shook her head in disgust. “I came to The Dalles because you told me we could make an honest living together. Big laugh that turned out to be. And now you’ve brought him here. I told you before, I will not go live with a pack of outlaws.”

            She stalked to the wall and pulled her apron, extra dress, and shawl down from where they hung on nails and threw them on her bed. She stooped and felt underneath the end of the bedframe for the handle of her worn valise. Listening to her half-brother was the biggest mistake she’d ever made.

            “Aw, come on, Millie. I just want to make things better.”

            “Better?” She pulled out the traveling bag and plunked it on the bed. “How is going into crime better?”

            “You can have better things. You know. Clothes and—and jewelry, maybe. Lip rouge, stuff like that. It’d be better than scraping by like we are now.”

            “Is that what you thought when you went with Lucky last year?”

            “Well, no.”

            “Exactly. But then two months ago, you wrote to me and said you were leaving the gang and you were ready to settle down in a nice little house somewhere with me.”

            Sam hung his head, and his face colored. “I’m sorry, Millie.” Neither of them had to speak of the money he’d earmarked to buy that little house. He’d lost it all gambling by the time Millie had traveled up here from Elkton. A woman who’d lived thirty years and more ought to know better than to trust a gambling man, even if he was kin.

I can’t wait to read this one. I’ve loved the other two in this series. How can readers find you on the Internet?

Come visit my Website at: www.susanpagedavis.com

We’re doing a giveaway here this week, and I also do one on my own site every month.

Thank you, Susan, for sharing this new book with us.

Readers, here are links to the book. By using one when you order, you help support this blog.

A Lady in the Making (Prairie Dreams) - paperback
A Lady in the Making (Prairie Dreams) - Kindle


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