ANGEL WITH STEEL WINGS - Anne Greene - One Free Book

Dear Readers, Anne has been a good friends

for a number of years. She lives not too far from me, and for a while, she was in the critique group that meets in my home. We’ve gone to writing conferences together and been roommates more than once. I know you’ll like her new book.

Welcome back, Anne. What are some of the spiritual themes you like to write about?

My spiritual themes arrive from the conflicts within the book. As a seat of the pants writer, I don’t know what spiritual theme will be foremost in my book.

What other books of yours are coming out soon?

I have had two books release simultaneously in May 2015:

And HOLLY GARDEN, PI, RED IS FOR ROOKIE is the first book in my new Holly Garden Private Investigator series. A rookie private investigator tracks a kidnapper poised to kill her best male friend. Will she find her friend in time to save his life? A seasoned PI from a competing firm dogs her footsteps. So why is she falling for the guy? Will she trust her heart to the life-long friend or the danger-addicted PI?

In October of this year I also have two novellas releasing:

A MISTLETOE KISS is a historical set on the Oregon Trail. In California the trail splits one way to the paradise of free land in Oregon or to the California Gold Rush. Felicity Daniels dreams of the free land and her first permanent home, but Ben Bonneville has his sights set on the gold rush to pay off his mother’s medical debts. When Felicity’s father dies and Ben’s money and equipment are stolen, Felicity takes Ben as her groom and pays his way to California. Both need each other to make their dreams come true. But which one will surrender their dream?

A CHRISTMAS BELLE is a historical set in Angel Vale, Wyoming. Amanda Geoffrey is a southern belle transplanted to Maine. Desiring a new life after being rejected by a Southern Gentlemen at the altar, she agrees to become a mail-order bride in Wyoming. She hates Southern men with their charm, their sense of duty, and their spineless backbones. She wants a fresh start with a Wyoming cowboy/miner in a new town. Frank Calloway is a miner with a paying gold mine and is a newly elected sheriff. He’s a recent believer who needs a bride. His past caught up with Frank when one of the women he’s known leaves a baby on his doorstep and names him the father. Frank’s sure he’s not the father, but his sense of duty and immediate bonding to the child makes him accept the responsibility. So he orders a bride. Felicity’s immediate attraction to Frank ends abruptly when Frank opens his mouth. Big problem. Frank’s also from the Deep South. Frank also has an over-developed sense of duty. Can this unlikely couple find happiness?

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

I would like to talk with Tim LaHaye. He doesn’t know it, but he led me to the Lord. When I was twenty-one I went to his Scott Memorial church in San Diego. The first sermon I heard him preach was about the second coming of Christ. I barely knew of Christ’s first coming. He gave an invitation, and I received the Lord into my life. That day changed me forever. Not only did I receive eternal life, I also received a new love, a new mission in my life. Nothing remained the same. I truly was a new creation in Christ. My life took an entirely new direction. Tim knew me then as Anne Swonger. I was married to my late husband, Don Swonger.

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

I’d love to meet my great-great-great-grandmother who lived in a thatch-roof home in Ulster County, Ireland. I’d love to have her tell me of her life and of her children and of her dreams. I’d also love to the see the country there when she was living, and experience how she felt when some of her children immigrated to the new world, the golden land, America. I’d love to see if I resemble any of my ancestors, and how many of them were Christians. I’d love to find some other relatives that did not immigrate. Lovely dream. Perhaps in heaven, I’ll see these people and talk with them.

I have Irish ancestry, too. And just yesterday, my youngest granddaughter left the US to go to Ireland on a 10-day mission trip to work in a children’s camp. How can you encourage authors who have been receiving only rejections from publishers?

I strongly believe in joining a critique group and larger writing groups like ACFW. I also believe that if you keep growing your craft and writing, that one day you will be published. Contests are good feedback as well.

Tell us about the featured book.

ANGEL WITH STEEL WINGS is a World War II romance. While doing her part test flying planes, Mandy McCabe escapes her dead-end life in Hangman’s Hollow, Tennessee, as a Woman Air Service Pilot, WASP. Major Harvey Applegate lost his wife to the WASP program, and he’s convinced Yankee Doodle Gals have no place flying in the war effort. Both Mandy and Harvey experience immediate attraction. But can a man burdened with memories of death undertake added danger? Will their new love survive the test? This is the first book in my Women of Courage series.

Please give us the first page of the book.

“She’s late! Where is she?” Insides churning like pistons, Major Harvey Applegate stared hard at the tiny blonde standing in front of him, her hands clenched behind her back. Her chin trembled. She looked so young he wanted to pat her on the back and send her to the hangar for a hot chocolate, but majors didn’t do that. So he gritted his teeth.

He was supposed to show respect for the WASPs invading his air base. That was asking a lot. They were young and unpredictable. Men fought wars to protect American women. Men  died in wars. Not women. He restrained his impulse to pound the metal side of the wet hangar and slapped his thigh with his cap instead.

  

“I can’t lose another WASP on my watch. Not two in as many days.” He plowed his hand through his short, dripping hair, frowned, and reminded himself not to get his underwear wrapped around an axle.

“She’s only half an hour late, sir.” Doreen’s lower lip quivered.

 

“Didn’t that pilot get the word this morning?” Harvey wrung his cap. He wouldn’t take his temper out on this innocent blonde.

  

“No, sir. Corporal Jones ran up to tell me we were grounded twenty minutes after she was in the air.”

Above the wail of the wind, Harvey picked up the faint lilting song of a Merlin engine running slightly rough. He gazed toward the windsock blowing straight out and pivoted toward the landing strip. A P-51 came in fast and low, circled the field, made a perfect three-point landing, and taxied to a halt.

He snapped his cap onto his head. He didn’t have many men who could land in a crosswind that well. Even he would have had trouble. Boots splashing water, he dashed across the tarmac and reached the craft before the propeller stopped spinning. The canopy of the single-seater flew open. A slight figure, clad in a man’s too-large flight suit, climbed out onto the rain-slick wing. He stretched up his arms and grabbed her waist to lower her to the ground. Even with the weight of her boots, flight jacket, and gear, this one felt light in his arms.

The pilot glanced at his insignia. If she’d actually been military, she’d have had to salute. But she wasn’t, and she didn’t. The minute her feet touched ground, the slender woman pulled off her goggles and gazed up at him. Wide blue eyes circled with goggle marks.

Another starry-eyed angel. Harvey swallowed hard. His chest hurt. She looked so vulnerable.  He scowled, picturing that slender nose smashed and those winsome lips closed forever. He couldn’t face seeing another woman killed. He wanted these women off his air base. Wanted no more sleep lost over these young ladies. Wanted no more sending them into danger. Wanted no more funerals that tore him apart. He slapped the cowl of the plane so hard she jumped. No more charred women in downed planes. Trista took on a man’s job, and look how that turned out. Agony pierced his chest. He shook his head, trying to dislodge the memory.

“I’ll see you grounded!” Harvey thundered. “You were due back half an hour ago. Can’t you women obey rules?”

    

Ruby lips rounded into an O of surprise. Her sapphire eyes widened. Her dark brows arched. “What?”

“Women pilots!” He slammed his fist into his palm. “I’ll shut down this program.”

Her brows furrowed. Her chin poked out. Her hands flew to her hips. She looked ready to jump all over him. As long as she was alive and safe, he didn’t care. He could handle her. “You head-in-the-clouds dreamers think you’re on your own private missions. This base is no place for a woman!”

“You men have such a high opinion of yourselves. Women could fly in combat, but you keep us home.” Flames tinted her wet cheeks. “You won’t admit our country desperately needs us to fly these planes.” She stressed each word passionately.

Harvey could tell she wanted to say more, but she clamped her lips. He glared.

She glowered back.

Though if she thought he had an inflated opinion of himself. Better that than for her to guess he had a soft spot for these female pilots. “I don’t want any more dead women.”

She cringed. Her face crumpled.

Why hadn’t he kept his trap shut? Even on a base this big, she probably knew the missing  WASP pilot. But he’d wanted to scare her into obeying the rules. Obedience gave the women pilots some semblance of safety.

She recovered from her first reaction and blazed. “Connie’s alive. I know it. And rumor patrol says it’s just a couple of you big shots who want to shut us down. Most fellas like us  testing repaired planes and towing targets. They want to be free to fly combat.”

He shrugged. She was right. And he couldn’t dredge up a comeback.

She stomped stiff-legged toward the open hangar door, parachute bumping her backside, rain blurring his view.

“Feisty pilot, you’re the kind gets yourself killed,” he yelled just as she reached the hangar door.

I can’t wait to read this one. How can readers find you on the Internet?

I love to talk with my readers. Visit me at http://www.AnneGreeneAuthor.com. I also write a novel teaching class on my blog www.anneswritingupdates.blogspot.com. You can tweet with me @TheAnneGreene. You can buy my books at http://www.Amazon.com. Just type in Anne Greene Books.

Thank you, Anne, for sharing this new book with us. I know my readers will love it.

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

Angel With Steel Wings: Women of Courage Series - Paperback
Angel With Steel Wings: Women of Courage Series - Kindle

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