Welcome to the Blog + Review Tour & Giveaway for Desert Willow by Patricia Beal, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
Desert Willow
by Patricia Beal
Published by Lighthouse Publishing of the CarolinasPublication Date February 12, 2020
Genres: Christian Fiction, Clean Romance
Setting: Texas Contemporary
Written for: Adults
Pages: 259
Synopsis:
After a failed engagement, Captain Andrew Lee James has focused on building a career in the Army he loves. That commitment includes helping a feisty, out-of-work ballerina whose devotion to her grandmother’s dying wish immediately grabs his heart. She’s the one, but will he be able to win the heart of a woman who has vowed to never be involved with a soldier?
College graduate Clara Malone swore to never love anyone in the military again but when her dying grandmother asks her to deliver a love letter to the general who broke her heart decades ago, she agrees and finds herself escorted by a handsome Army captain whose kindness challenges her beliefs. Surrounded by desert willows that shower her path with pretty pink flowers and sing with the buzzing of hummingbirds, Clara enjoys the wild beauty of El Paso—and her time with Andrew—more than expected.
Can she deliver her grandmother’s last love letter without losing her heart to a man who represents everything she fears?
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Today I have the privilege of introducing you to Patricia Beal. I recently read her lovely story A Season to Dance and am so glad for this opportunity to interview her to get to know her better.
Welcome, Patricia!
Hi Phyllis! Super excited to be on your blog again 😊
If you had the opportunity to live anywhere in the world for a year while writing a book that took place in that same setting, where would you go?
If I could magically learn French overnight, Provence. Otherwise, the Irish countryside.
Those sound like some great destinations!
What are you working on now?
I have two works in progress: Kindred Spirits and The Seven Lives I Never Lived.
Yay! I can’t wait!
What is the most fun thing you did in the name of researching one of your books?
Most fun was to travel to places like Rüdesheim, Wiesbaden, and Callaway Gardens for A Season to Dance research. Also for A Season to Dance, I purchased a First Response pregnancy test, used it, and threw it against the bathroom floor with force to see if it would break, and if so, how and in how many pieces. Then I wrote about it.
Oh, that made me laugh, picturing you abusing the poor pregnancy test like that!
What themes connect all the stories you’ve written or want to write?
Beauty for ashes.
Who inspired you to write?
Brazilian author Paulo Coelho.
What is one thing that would probably surprise your readers to know about you?
I love my day job. I’m an Army Special Operations Forces civilian employee, and there isn’t a thing I would rather do with my life. What a privilege to serve alongside America’s best, helping them in the fight against our Nation’s adversaries.
What a privilege. Thank you for your service!
What is your favorite Bible verse?
I love Matthew 5:16 for life, but my writing verse is 1 Thessalonians 5:24 – “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.”
Please tell us what inspired your book
The City of El Paso and Prince Harry.
Desert Willow started as a NaNoWriMo project in 2015 and has a lot of my grandma’s history in it—life in the German colonies of the south of Brazil, the beginning of the shoe industry there, and the story of the most influential man her town has ever known, my great-grandfather.
And what in the world does that have to do with El Paso and Prince Harry?
Well, my Prince Harry lookalike, a young Army captain named Andrew Lee James who lives in El Paso, is helping the protagonist deliver her grandmother’s last love letter, a letter she was urged to write all those years ago after what happened in Brazil.
Oh, how fun!
What in particular do you hope your readers will take away from your story?
What my friend Cynthia got out of it:
“Sometimes, authentic love blossoms despite less than ideal circumstances. Often, it’s during those circumstances that God forgives, redeems, and restores, and supernaturally weaves a fresh outlook and a new beginning. Just as Clara and Andrew learn that true intimacy begins with Christ, so it is, too, with our earthly relationships. Desert Willow is a beautiful, poignant portrayal of love lost and found. Reminiscent of realistic life scenarios, it’s a novel that will move readers to tears…for all the right reasons.”
~Cynthia Herron
Author of Her Hope Discovered, Welcome to Ruby series
1 Winner will receive a $50 Amazon Gift Card
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Sounds so good!
Really neat to go over the interview!
Sounds like a great read.
Lovely interview!!!
Thank you so much for sharing! – JustRead Tours
Congrats on this tour and thank for the opportunity to read about another great book out there to read. It helps out so I can find books I know my family will enjoy reading. Thanks as well for the giveaway.
Thank you so much! 🙂
The cover is pretty, thanks for sharing.
Very interesting to hear more about the author!
I read A Season to Dance and would really like to see what this story is about.