RESCUED LOVE - Linda Ford - One Free Book (See details below)

Welcome back, Linda. Why do you write the kind of books you do? There are a number of reasons. I think many of us believe life was different in a kinder way back then and I like to explore that idea. Also, my dad was keenly interested in history, taking us to visit museums and telling us stories that made history come alive.

Besides when you came to know the Lord, what is the happiest day in your life? Goodness, that’s a hard one. I could say when I got married. Or when my first child was born. Or when we were successful in adopting a child. Or even when I sold my first book. The truth is, I enjoy life, and most days are marked by some happy thing. Like today, seeing the snow melt, seeing two geese returning from their winter grounds, enjoying a sweet orange…okay, I’m sounding like I enjoy simple things and I do.

How has being published changed your life? It’s made me more of an observer of life and how people reveal their reactions. It’s also given me an interest in researching historical places and events. Plus I’ve gotten to meet and enjoy talking to so many other authors.

What are you reading right now? An older book Whispers on the Prairie by Vickie McDonough. I’m enjoying it again. J

I love Vickie’s books, too, and that one is a favorite. What is your current work in progress? I am working on a six-book series based on six cowboys on the Circle A Ranch. The stories are in various stages of editing. I’ve really enjoyed this series. All of these men need wives but they live in the west where the only woman is the owner of the ranch where they live and work. She’s decided to find them wives but it turns out, her plans were for naught. Those books will be released later this year. Besides that series, I am doing a joint-project with Lacy Williams. Two novellas that go hand in hand. Mine is called Rodeo and Juliet. Hers is titled Much Ado About Josie. I like that we both made a play on a Shakespeare title. (It was deliberate.) Both those books are available for preorder.

I want to feature that one on my blog I love Lacy’s writing, too. What would be your dream vacation? Hawaii. I’ve been a few times and can’t get enough of the sun and sand. I love being on a lounge chair by the ocean with a book or notebook nearby. I love going to different coffee shops early in the morning. I love touring, seeing museums…what’s not to like?

James and I would like to go there. How do you choose your settings for each book? I’d have to say that often, the setting chooses me. For instance, in my Romancing the West series, I wrote it because on visits to the Porcupine Hills in SW Alberta my heart was drawn to the rolling hills with the Rockies as a back drop. I envisioned cowboys on horseback, herds of cows filling the draws.

Other times, I am doing random research and some little things pops out to me—a long-ago gold mine, the history of a ranching family who traveled to SW Alberta by covered wagon. The latter is an idea I am currently considering.

If you could spend an evening with one person who is currently alive, who would it be and why? It might be silly of me to say this but I’d like to visit with my daughter. She lives in Colorado and because of COVID I haven’t been able to see her in over a year during which she has undergone some serious challenges including breast cancer and double mastectomy. It’s been very difficult not being able to go.

What are your hobbies, besides writing and reading? In the summer, I garden. I grow enough vegetables to keep our family fed throughout the winter. (I am currently feeding four adults.) I also like to travel especially for research but that has been limited this year.

What is your most difficult writing obstacle, and how do you overcome it? If I’m starting a book, I would say the hardest part is starting. If I’m midway through, I would say it’s the middle. If I’m editing, I would say editing but the truly hardest part is simply getting started every morning. It’s hard. Sometimes I set a timer for 15 or 20 minutes and force myself to write until the bell rings. Usually—hopefully—by then I am over the hurdle.

What advice would you give to a beginning author? Perseverance is your very best tool. Keep learning. Keep trying. Never ever give up.

Tell us about the featured book. Rescued Love is the story of Colleen, a disillusioned young woman heading west on a wagon train. She has been left behind by her wagon train because of a secret in her past. But how is she to survive and take care of her wee daughter on her own in such a perilous environment? Eli rescues her but neither of them are the least interested in love and marriage. Will the trials and joys of the journey make them change their minds?

Please give us the first page of the book.

“I’m going to get to California if I have to walk.” Colleen Doyle Pringle shifted the little girl higher on her back and tightened the shawl holding her in place. “Sheela, you hang on there. I know you don’t like being tied like this, but I can’t have you getting underfoot whilst I deal with these lumbering big beasts.”

She had spent far too much of the morning finding the oxen and bringing them back to the wagon.

Four days on her own, she’d been. And so little progress she’d made.

“Seems the good Lord could have seen fit to give me an extra pair of hands if He allowed my…” She wouldn’t call them friends. Nor hardly relatives though they were her dead husband’s brother and sister-in-law. “Allowed them to drive me from the wagon train.”

She urged the pair of oxen toward the wagon. Letting them graze, seeing they got water, rounding them up in the predawn morning, getting the yoke on them…well, she hadn’t expected it to be easy.

“Nor did I expect to be doing it alone with a bairn on me back either.”

Sheela grew restless and squirmed. She kicked the placid ox and startled him. He jerked, almost knocking Colleen off her feet.

 “Whoa there, Bully. Calm we is today. Calm.” She righted herself and stepped away until she was sure the big animals weren’t about to bolt.

Always aware that danger lurked in every direction, especially for a woman traveling alone except for two brawny beasts and an almost two-year-old girl, Colleen scanned the horizon. Nothing to see except for the wonderful mingling of colors in the grassy plains—shades of yellow and green dotted with colorful wildflowers. Oh, that she had time to bury her nose in some of them, perhaps pick a bouquet.

Her roving gaze jerked to a halt. Did she detect a movement? Might it be a deer or an antelope? If so, she meant to have some fresh meat. She reached under the wagon seat and retrieved her rifle.

The movement had halted, and across the shimmering prairie she made out the shape better. A man. “Well, that’s a concern,” she murmured. Could she hope he hadn’t spied the wagon? Eh, and with its great, white, flapping canvas it was hard to miss on the rolling prairie with nary a tree or stump to hide behind.

Sure enough. The rider galloped her direction.

How can readers find you on the Internet?

My website: www.lindaford.org

My author facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LindaFordauthor

BookBub followers: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/linda-ford

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Thank you for sharing this book with my blog readers and me. I’m eager to read it.

Readers, here are links to the book.

https://amzn.to/3euuSXt - Kindle

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