TAMMY BARLEY shares the family lines of James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Emily Dickenson. With that background, she says it’s no wonder she writes Western Romance. She also works full time as a freelance manuscript editor, writing mentor, and biographer, judges a number of top Christian fiction writing contests, and is a homeschool mom of three teens. She has ghostwritten a number of published books, but Love’s Rescue is the first with her name on the cover as author.
LOVE'S RESCUEby Tammy Barley
Published by Whitaker House
ABOUT THE BOOK
A Dividing Conflict
In 1863, the War Between the States is dividing more than a nation. To escape the conflict, Jessica Hale and her family flee their Kentucky home and head for Nevada Territory. Her brother, Ambrose, committed to the Confederates, rejoins the Kentucky militia and is disowned by his father. But the worst is yet to come.
A Heroic Kidnapper
When Unionists presume the family to be Confederate sympathizers, they set a devastating fire to their home. All alone and then “kidnapped” by cattleman Jake Bennett, Jessica is taken to a ranch deep in the Sierra Nevada wilderness. Can she overcome her resentment toward Jake for failing to save her family?
The Depths of Love
When Jake launches a plan to help Jessica’s brother escape from prison camp, she sees him for the honest, good-hearted Christian man that he is and now knows the depth of his love for her. Through the lingering smoke and smoldering ashes from her ruined home and murdered family, will Jessica see a future with Jake?
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Read Love’s Rescue for a chance to win a one-week western guest ranch resort vacation for two to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado! For details and to enter, visit http://www.tammybarley.com/Bookshelf.html.
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
1. This is your debut novel. Congratulations. What gave you the inspiration for this story?
Hi everyone, and thank you so much, Tiff, for inviting me today! The story’s inspiration. . . . Oddly, it wasn’t one main factor, but four: 1) a lifetime of travel in which I toured Civil War homes and battlefields and the Old West (for years curiosity frequently tugged at me and I wondered What was happening in the West during the Civil War?) 2) moving around a lot—I’ve lived in 27 cities and towns in 8 states so far—meant I often had to say goodbye (one of the main themes of Love’s Rescue), 3) the unexpected death of my best friend when she was thirty years old (her friendship inspired the friendship in the story) and 4) a gripping one-man play which I saw years ago at Piper’s Opera House in Virginia City, Nevada called The Ghosts of the Opera House. The play spoke deeply to me, and the actor made eye contact with me once in a way that made me feel he was doing the play specifically for me. The characters of the Old West came alive through that actor, and I felt that their story had to be told.
2. How much of your own experiences influenced your characters? What aspects became traits that are theirs and theirs alone?
I horseback rode halfway across Arizona on a ten-day trip, which came in handy writing the scenes with horses and bad and cold weather. The cowboy coffee scene which provides good comedy in the book was similar to one I went through when, shivering clear through to my bones, I learned to appreciate hot, chunky cowboy coffee. Even with the rain and cold, I loved the relationship with my horse, and the feeling of going high speed with nothing—no doors, no windows—between myself and the wind. Jess has the same love of horses and riding.
My handgun training evolved into a turn-up-the-air-conditioning-variety romantic scene between Jake and Jess.
3. If one of your characters were an ice cream flavor, what would he/she be and why?
What a fascinating question! Hmm. Lemon sorbet. Jess loves cold, sweet lemonade on a hot summer day, and she’s got too much kick to be any mildly flavored ice cream. She’s one you meet and don’t easily forget.
4. Are there any themes in Love's Rescue that you hope the reader sees? Are there any themes that weren't overt but developed as the stories progressed?I’m thrilled you asked that question. A few themes weave very subtly through the story, but I hope the reader catches two in particular: The first: If you must marry, choose your future spouse wisely! The second is subtle, but it’s the foremost spiritual theme: Due to Christ’s death and resurrection, we never have to say goodbye to those we love. Women who have lost a family member and have read Love’s Rescue have commented how much that touched them.
It’s funny, but I didn’t have either of these themes in mind as I first wrote the story. When I finished a few rewrites, they became more and more clear, like seeing stars in the night sky as you drive further and further from the light noise of a city.
5. What were your most difficult parts to write? Your favorite?
Most difficult: page one. I’d wanted it to begin with Jess’s brother, Ambrose, writing to her from the Civil War, but it just didn’t want to happen that way. Favorite: Jess’s first escape scene. Adventure and suspense is always fun to write, but this scene, with so much at stake for Jess and her and Jake’s personalities and intentions clashing, it was tremendous fun.
6. When is your next book coming out and what is the story?
The second book in the series, Hope’s Promise, should be out next summer. Jake and Jessica Bennett learn there was more to her parents’ deaths than they knew, and both the ranch and Jessica are in danger. Now they must quickly find the murderer . . . and discover for themselves how far they will go for love.
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Thank you, Tammy, for being in the spotlight with us.
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