High Desert Haven, by Lynette Bonner - FREE eBOOK

Can you give us a sneak peek at your new release?




Sure, I’d be happy to:



Is Jason Jordan really who he says he is?

Everything in Nicki’s life depends on the answer.



Nicki Trent is left with a toddler and a rundown ranch when her husband dies in a mysterious riding accident. Determined to bring her ranch back from the brink, Nicki hires handsome Jason Jordan as a manager. But when her neighbor, William, presses for her hand in marriage, the bank calls in a loan she didn’t even know about, and bullets start flying, Nicki questions whether this ranch is worth all the trouble.

To make matters worse, terrible things keep happening to her neighbors. When Jason is blamed, Nicki wonders how well she knows her new hand…and her own heart.

Two yearning hearts. Powerful enemies. Surprising love.

Set in the adventure and danger of the Wild West.

What inspired this book?



When I first started writing Rocky Mountain Oasis, book 1 in this series, I hadn’t really planned on writing a series. However, the more I wrote about Jason Jordan, a secondary character in book 1, I knew I wanted to explore more of his story, and several other secondary characters, too. And then the idea for creating a book for each of 4 different concepts in Psalm 23 was born – The Shepherd’s Heart series.


How did you know you were called to write?



At one of my very first Christian writer’s conferences I was struggling with this very question. How do I know I’m called to write. I was having a conversation with Cecil Murphey and I said something along the lines of, “I’m not even certain this is what God wants me to be doing,” and he said something that I’ve never forgotten since. “The Lord doesn’t give us our desires for no reason.” I realized that if God put within me the desire to tell stories, and I did nothing with it, it would be burying my talent. So from that point on I wrote and gave it to God. I kept praying, “Lord, You gave me these stories, so if something is going to happen with them You are going to have to work it out.”



At the time I was homeschooling 3 boys, and simply didn’t have the time to keep submitting to different publishers. I specifically remember praying that the Lord would “drop a publisher in my lap.” The story of how that happened is too long to write here, but that is basically what happened – I was picked up out of the slush pile of the first publisher I’d submitted to in 6 years and given a contract.





Are you a panster or do you outline?


I’m definitely a pantser. I’d love to be an outliner, but so far, that hasn’t worked for me. If I try to write an outline it kills the joy of the story for me and I can never seem to get the tension back.



How long have you been writing?

I’ve toyed with writing since I was in junior high. But I’ve been writing seriously since the late 1990’s.



What was the first book you ever wrote?

Rocky Mountain Oasis, the first book in this series, was the first book I ever completed. (http://amzn.to/PBRMO)



What is your favorite season?

I think spring is my favorite. All full of new life and baby chicks, crocuses pushing their way into the sunshine, and cherry trees dusting the streets with pink petals.



If you could travel back in time when and where would you go?



Hmmm…. There are a lot of places I’d love to go. But I’ve been doing a lot of research about Zanzibar in the latter half of the 1800’s for an upcoming series, and I think I would love to visit there. I would walk down to the customs house, ignoring the stench of the dead bodies in the harbor, and walk amongst the slaves being held there, doing my best to alleviate pain and suffering. Salve for a chained-raw wrist, a stick of candy for a child in tears, my last coin to purchase the sick woman who would be left to die if no one bought her. So much pain and suffering… how can one person fix it all? I would only be one. But if my presence there could ease the suffering of even a few, it would be worth it. Maybe I would sneak aboard the vessel that would take me along with David Livingstone on his last missionary journey – his last attempt to put a stop to the evils of the slave trade. And maybe I would find myself in attendance at a ball given by the Sultan, in honor of some diplomat recently relocated to the island.



What project are you currently working on?

The above Victorian era series is next on my “wish list of projects” after I complete a romantic suspense I’m working on. The romantic suspense is set in the San Juan Islands during present day, and I have two other friends who are each writing one book in the series with me. It will be a 3 book compilation titled, The Islands of Intrigue series. You can look for the first book later this summer.


To view purchase information click here. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/high-desert-haven-lynnette-bonner/1038860321
Lynette Bonner has offered one free ebook to a lucky winner. At least 10 people need to leave a comment with an email address OR you can email me at srstormo@yahoo.com and put "contest-Haven" in the subject line. Winner announced April 22nd.