I am honored to welcome to my blog, Rose Allen McCauley, a fellow Kentuckian and Christian writer, who has just released her novel, Surrender to Peace.
Rose McCauley has been writing for over ten years and was first published in several non-fiction anthologies and devotionals which are listed on her website/blog at www.rosemccauley.com . A retired schoolteacher who has been happily married to her college sweetheart for over four decades, she is also mother to three grown children and their spouses and grandmother to five lovely, lively kids! Although Rose grew up in the largest city in Kentucky, she has lived on a farm of almost four hundred acres for the past forty-two years, and last month moved to a small town in Kentucky. She loves to read and write small town stories. If you have a small town story you’d like to share, please stop by her website and leave a comment. She would love to hear from you. You can also reach her on twitter @RoseAMcCauley and Facebook at http://on.fb.me/1LrXNoS
In the Spotlight
Betty: Rose, you’ve written a beautiful, inspiring story. Where did you get the idea?
Rose: After brainstorming with some friends, one of them mentioned she was born in Puerto Rico, another said she grew up there as a child while her dad was stationed there in the service, and the third one said she’d enjoyed her stop there on a cruise. I said if I wrote a book set there I would have to visit! So, we decided to each write a story set in Puerto Rico. Although they didn’t work out as a series, that discussion is what gave me the original idea. And I did visit the Island after I had written most of the book, to make sure I got the details correct. I had to make a few changes when I saw certain places in person! One restaurant advertised as being on the waterfront had a small view of the water a block away!
Betty: Please tell us about your main character.
Rose: Joy Worth is a travel agent who had often set up lodging etc. for her clients, but had never visited Puerto Rico herself. When she gets engaged she decides to go there, but her fiancé breaks the engagement, and she ends up going on a honeymoon-for-one!
Betty: What is her most intriguing or interesting characteristic?
Rose: Her mom died when Joy was 10, and her dad is a loner, so she is very independent.
Betty: Can you give us a sort of “snapshot” (brief description) of the young man she meets in Puerto Rico?
Rose: Benigno Cook considers himself 100% Puerto Rican although his father was an American who left Ben and his mom when Ben was only two. He is a strong Christian and very kind and dependable, just the kind of man Joy always wanted! But now, she is afraid to trust him and to trust her own discernment, after the mess she made with her first engagement.
Betty: Okay, I have to ask, did you do all the things your character did in the book? Are you the adventurer, or do you live these adventures through your characters?
Rose: I do some of both. My husband and I were only in Puerto Rico for 4 days, but we did go to both forts, and took the hike to La Mina Falls in El Yunque National Rainforest, We also ate at several places on the Flavors of San Juan tour. We did not have time to do the zip lining in Puerto Rico, but we had done that in Costa Rica a few years ago, so I used that experience to write that scene which one of my critique partners told me was very realistic. Hope you thought so too. My husband and I also walked the Promenade de la Princessa and saw the Raices fountain and other sites and took pictures, of course. A beautiful country, with very friendly people.
Betty: Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers about this story?
Rose: The spiritual message. Like most books I write, Joy learned a lesson God has been impressing on me—to be still in His Presence and learn to hear and discern His voice. Hope my readers take that away, too, and that if we are following Him, He can work things out much better than we could have asked or imagined! To Him be the glory! (Ephesians 3:20-21)
Betty: I love that. As a Christian, I am very aware God often uses the circumstances, the results of our personal choices to teach us and draw us back into His perfect will for our lives. Now, what’s up next for you?
Rose: I recently was asked to join a Christmas boxed set with six other authors set to come out in November—working title Joy to the World, but that may change. Then the day after I returned from Puerto Rico, my agent, Tamela Hancock Murray, called with the great news that my novella idea I had submitted many months ago had been contracted by Barbour Publishing to be part of their Courageous Brides collection. That is the story I am working on right now, as it is due by December 1st, and will be out next July, 2016! I’m very excited about the story as the heroine is named for my granddaughter who lives in a pre-Civil War home in Cynthiana, just like in the story! I hope I can tell your readers about it next year! Thanks so much for having me, Betty. I always enjoy our visits, whether they are in person or cyber-visits! God’s blessings on you and your readers!
And you and your readers are the first to know that I am starting a new weekly blog day today—Tuesday’s Travelogues. For the next few weeks I will be blogging about photos I took in Puerto Rico to help my readers enjoy the reading experience even more! Please stop by and let me know if you enjoy them. And I have many more countries I have visited that I will be featuring if the interest is great enough! www.rosemccauley.com
Betty: Thanks so much, Rose. It’s always a pleasure to talk with you. I’m excited about your newest release and wish you continued success!
Surrender to Peace – Now Available!
Joy Worth arrives in Puerto Rico on her honeymoon trip–without her ex-fiancé. On a tour, she meets Park Ranger Benigno Arroyo.
On several more outings, he shows her the joy of living through the beauty of his beloved island. She begins to hear God’s voice again.
Joy so loves the island she decides to stay. Benigno falls in love with Joy but realizes her pain is still fresh. Joy loves him but doubts her judgment.
On a hike, Joy falls and is knocked unconscious. At her bedside, thinking she is still unconscious, Benigno proposes. Opening her eyes, she accepts. They make plans to marry on an island cruise a month later.
Buy Link at Amazon: http://amzn.to/1fsTxcG
More books by Rose Allen McCauley: Christmas Belles of Georgia and Christmas Grace (both available in print and in e-book).
Betty Thomason Owens 