ECHO CANYON - Susan Page Davis - One Free Book or Ebook

Bio: Susan Page Davis is the author of more than sixty published historical romance, mystery, and romantic suspense novels. She’s a winner of the Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award, the Carol Award, and the Will Rogers Medallions, and a finalist in the WILLA Awards. A Maine native, she has lived in Oregon and now resides in Kentucky.

Welcome back, Susan. Why did you become an author?

I love reading and telling stories. One day I realized I had a convoluted story in my head that I wanted to tell, so I wrote it down. Of course, writing a book and selling it are two different things. Five years elapsed before I held my first published book in my hands.

My first novel took eight years to be published. If you weren’t an author, what would be your dream job?

Since this is a dream, exercising horses.

If you could have lived at another time in history, what would it be and why?

I’d love to vacation in the Middle Ages, but then I want to come back here. I’ve always been fascinated by the way of life back then, but I’m sure it was much harder than we imagine.

What place in the United States have you not visited that you would like to?

I live in Kentucky now, and I’ve never been to Fort Knox. I think that would be interesting, since Fort Knox in Maine is one of my favorite spots, and they are named for the same man.

How about a foreign country you hope to visit?

Switzerland.

What lesson has the Lord taught you recently?

I have been through some difficult things, and I keep coming back to Psalm 48:14: For this God is our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even until death. This is what Iris had to learn in Echo Canyon, that God is there, He will not change, and He will guide us if we let Him.

Tell us about the featured book.

In Echo Canyon, Iris Perkins is told she will be married soon to a man she despises. A chance visit by two brothers and a beautiful woman from the other side of Echo Canyon gives her hope. For Edward Sherman, venturing into Utah with his brother to buy horses is risky. He only wants to find the livestock they need and get back to Fort Bridger, until he meets a frightened young woman in need. He’ll do anything he can to save Iris, even race against the man determined to marry her.

Please give us the first page of the book.

Iris was nervous the day Elder Whipple came home. He avoided looking directly at her when he greeted his family, then spent half an hour in the parlor with his wife, Louise, with the door closed. Iris could hear their low voices as she mixed the biscuit dough for supper, but she couldn’t make out the words. The council had met for three days, and she wondered what decisions they had made for the community.

The Whipples’ daughter-in-law, Annie, kept the churn going steadily on the other side of the kitchen. She and Iris worked in silence. No one spoke much at the Whipples’ house. They just did their work.

Iris wished Annie were more talkative and friendly, but she always looked frightened and tired. When Iris spoke to her, she would answer with as few words as possible. Her husband, young John Whipple, was just as quiet. No one seemed happy here, and Iris thought it was the dry, bleak land that had drained them of life and joy.

Annie stopped churning, and in the brief silence, Iris heard the hum of Louise’s flax wheel begin in the next room. The door to the parlor opened, and Elder Whipple stepped into the kitchen. Iris glanced at him, then turned her attention back to her work.

He walked over to her and stood for a moment, watching her knead more flour into the dough. “You’ll be going to Brother Zale’s place tomorrow,” he said.

Iris found it suddenly hard to breathe. She looked up at his bearded face. His keen hazel eyes focused on her, not unkindly.

“I don’t understand.” Hadn’t she pleased them here? She’d worked hard. She didn’t want to be shuffled off to another family that might not treat her as well. She didn’t know the Zales, and they might be farther from the mainstream of communication within the sprawling community of Saints, making it harder for Iris to seek out news of her own family.

The elder hesitated. “The men who went looking for your father’s outfit returned yesterday. They didn’t find any trace of them. It’s been three months since your father’s party set out, and nothing has been heard from them, Miss Perkins. The council is assuming the party is lost.”

“Lost?” She let that sink in.

“Yes. That’s the conclusion they’ve reached. It could be hostile Indians, or lack of water … It could be anything. The search party traced them about sixty miles southwest, but after that the ground was rocky. They didn’t find any more evidence of a camp or anything like that.”

She gulped and met his level gaze. “Or a struggle?”

“No. Nothing.”

Iris nodded. It was so stark, so unsatisfying. This was her father they were talking about! Her brother, too. They had left with three other men at the end of May, to seek out ore deposits for the good of the community. Lead was needed, and iron, and of course anything more precious. They were to have reported back in a month, with a map of the places they had been, showing the location of any minerals or other features of interest to the Saints.

“The elders discussed the situation. We feel it’s best if we send you to the Zale ranch.”

Alarm ran through Iris afresh. “What for?”

“You need to be incorporated into a family, Miss Perkins.”

“But I—” She hesitated, looking up at him cautiously. “Couldn’t I stay here as part of this family, sir?”

He sighed. “The council feels it’s time you were wed.”

You know I love your books, and I’m eager to read this one. How can readers find you on the Internet?

Find Susan at:

Website: www.susanpagedavis.com

Twitter: @SusanPageDavis

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/susanpagedavisauthor

Newsletter: https://madmimi.com/signups/118177/join

Link to Echo Canyon on Amazon:  http://amzn.to/2ieuqQ4

On Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/echo-canyon-susan-page-davis/1125434608?ean=9780997230840

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