BEYOND THE DESERT SANDS - Tracie Peterson - One Free Book

Welcome back, Tracie. Can you please provide a brief summary of your new novel, Beyond the Desert Sands?

After having lived an opulent life with her aunt in California for the last few years, the last thing 25-year-old Isabella Garcia wants is to have to celebrate Christmas in the small New Mexico silver-mining town her father and mother created. Focused on her return to California, where the handsome Diego Morales awaits her, Isabella is further miffed to have to bear the company of Aaron Bailey, a man from her past, whom her father has sent to escort her safely home. Aaron finds Isabella to be the same spoiled young lady he encountered seven years ago. He has no use for her, but her father is a good friend, and the man is dying. When her aunt dies and she learns that her father is dying as well, Isabella’s entire world is turned upside down. She finds herself more and more in the company of Aaron, whom her father has chosen to watch over her and her mother, as well as the family business. Complications arise when Diego shows up to claim Isabella as his bride, and Isabella comes to realize what a selfish person she has been most of her life.

Throughout the story, Isabella’s growth and development is one of  leaving behind her childish, selfish ways and finding the value of family and of God. Her spiritual development will be strongly influenced by Aaron, whose faith in God has been encouraged by Isabella’s father and mother. Aaron learns to let go of judgmental attitudes and his fears that altering plans he’s long held in place is the only way to fully know God’s blessing and direction for his life.

Beyond the Deserts Sands is the second book in your Love on the Santa Fe series. What is the common component for all of the books in this series? The Santa Fe Railroad is a common component throughout the series, as well as the area of New Mexico around the town of San Marcial.

What makes this series stand out from the other books you’ve written? The characters were definitely fun to work with. As I created Isabella, I could see that her stubbornness and haughtiness were all a means of self-protection. Aaron, on the other hand, put his strength in God but found it difficult to alter the plans he had for the future. Add to this the beginning of New Mexico’s statehood and the love of a father for his wayward child, and I found the story grabbed me from the start.

Why did you choose New Mexico as the setting for your series? I had read a great deal about the area, as well as visited it, and I knew it would make an ideal setting for my story. That particular stretch of the Santa Fe Railroad was known as some of the most difficult, and if the company wanted to train a worker, they often sent them to the Rio Grande Division (more affectionally known as the Horny Toad Division, because of its abundance of toads) because they knew the worker would either sink or swim.

What are some of the main themes in Beyond the Desert Sands? One of the themes for the hero is learning that sometimes the path we believe God has chosen for us isn’t at all what we thought it would be. Meanwhile, the heroine has to deal with the past and her difficulty in trusting a heavenly Father when she can’t even trust her earthly one.

Can you please tell readers a little more about Isabella Garcia and her background?  Isabella is a young woman from a Spanish/Mexican father and white mother. There is a background of prejudice that she has known, but overall her upbringing kept her protected from a lot of negative reactions. Because of her family’s wealth, Isabella always had a good life of plenty, but she comes to realize that the material wealth she’s enjoyed means very little in light of losing the people who matter.

Your male protagonist, Aaron Bailey, works for the Santa Fe Railroad. Why did you choose this profession? I wanted to highlight various jobs on the Santa Fe in this series.  Aaron’s job is white collar rather than blue.  He works for the offices and deals with contracts and leases, which was just another aspect of the railroad.

You have written both historical and contemporary romances. Do you prefer one genre over another? I love storytelling of all kinds, but historical will always hold a special place in my heart.  It was the type of book I preferred to read as a child and continues to be a favorite to this day.

What do you hope readers will gain from reading Beyond the Desert Sands? I hope the reader will find the story entertaining with a positive, uplifting ending. I also hope that the story will offer Biblical encouragement and hope. We have enough negative in this world that seeks to draw us away from God. I hope that my stories will draw the reader toward God and the love He holds for all of us.

How can readers connect with you? The readers can connect with me through my website at www.traciepetersonbooks.com or via Facebook at AuthorTraciePeterson.

Thank you, Tracie, for sharing this book with my blog readers and me. You know how much I love your books. You’re one of my favorite authors.

Readers, here’s a link to the book.

http://ow.ly/vfLI50KbM4g  

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