Author Interview – Rachel D. Russell
Guide to categories: Author Interview – an interview with an author, if there is no review from me, I have not read the book and cannot speak to its appropriateness for a school library
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Welcome to the Blog Tour for It’s Your Love by Rachel D. Russell, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!
About the Book
Title: It’s Your Love
Series: Fox Family #2
Author: Rachel D. Russell
Publisher: Sunrise Publishing
Release Date: November 7, 2023
Genre: Christian Contemporary Romance
When Grayson Fox is asked to return home to Deep Haven and run the wrangler activities for the local camp, the last thing he expects is to run into the one woman he never wanted to see again. Worse…she’s his boss. But Grayson has big hopes for a life back in Oregon, and he must keep the promise to the camp in order to keep his dreams alive.
Just because Beth Strauss has stuck around Deep Haven doesn’t mean she doesn’t want a bigger life. And becoming the camp assistant director is the first step to that bigger life. Of course, standing in her way happens to be the one man who has always managed to derail her dreams, way too arrogant Grayson Fox.
But if they want to keep the camp afloat and their dreams alive, these two must learn to work together. But will these enemies become sweethearts, and if they do, will they find something better than the dreams they’re striving for?
The next delightful installment of the Fox Family series!
PURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop | BookBub
More Books in This Series
About the Author – Rachel Russell
Rachel D. Russell is a member of Oregon Christian Writers, My Book Therapy’s Novel Academy, and is a regular contributor to the Learn How to Write a Novel blog. When Rachel’s not cheering on one of her two teens at sporting events, she’s often interrogating her husband on his own military and law enforcement experience to craft believable heroes in uniform. The rest of her time is spent cantering her horse down the Oregon trails and redirecting her three keyboard-hogging cats.
Author Interview with Rachel Russell
When did you first know you wanted to be an author?
I knew from an early age that I loved storytelling and writing. I wrote tons of short stories and poems. In middle school, some friends and I had our own publishing company, including our own book-binding technique we used. There may have been cut cardboard covered in butcher paper involved.
When you are not writing, what other hats do you wear? What do you do for fun?
I’m wife and mom. I work full time for the federal government. For fun, I love spending time with my horse. Riding, hanging out, caring for her. I’m still an avid reader and love it when I have time to delve into a new book. I have a flower garden I enjoy and am particularly fond of the hummingbirds that visit. I’m also a life-long watercolor painter and paint as time allows. As a family, we enjoy camping, hiking.
What is your favorite genre to read? What about that genre draws you?
I love reading contemporary and historical inspirational romance. The kind with depth, adventure, and humor. I’ve always been a romantic, but I feel we, as humans, are so wired for relationship. While the stories are fiction, I love the pieces of truth woven into them. The characters are often an amalgamation of seasons we experience in real life. Questions and struggles we have in life. There’s a sense of hope that comes from experiencing how the fictional characters overcome challenges.
What is your favorite thing about this time of year?
I love when the maples turn brilliant red, yellow, and orange, especially when the days are filled with bright sunshine and blue skies. The play of the light through the leaves, the sound of the wind scraping them across the ground. A fire in the fireplace, hot chocolate with tons of marshmallows, and the cozy afghan my mom made me.
What historical figure do you admire and why?
I admire Thomas Edison. His ability to envision inventions. The way he would take the ordinary materials of our world and create something new with them—something otherwise unimagined. And then, his tenacity to maintain the pursuit through failures.
How does your faith play out in your writing?
I find that no matter how many times I start out writing a story for my characters to learn biblical truths, God finds a way of revealing himself to me. On some level, the truths my characters need to hear are the same truths I need to be reminded of.
In addition to that, writing is hard. I’ve had to really lean into my faith. I’ve written through grief—I’ve written when I thought it was impossible to meet deadlines. I want my writing to be an offering. The work of my hands and mind, that I complete in joyful worship of the One who created me.
As a former K-12 school librarian (and since this blog is geared toward school librarians) I have to ask – what is your favorite children’s book?
I loved Walt Morey’s horse stories. He was an Oregon author who I had the privilege of meeting several times when I was growing up. He’d come to speak at our school and my mom would always usher me up to speak to him afterwards, let him know I wanted to be an author, too, and to open the door for me to ask questions. His book, The Year of the Black Pony, I remember as one of my favorites.
Young Author’s Days were an important part of my work as a school librarian.What advice would you give to a child or teen who wants to be a writer?
Learn story structure and genre expectations. Writing novels is different than the creative writing classes I took in school. I didn’t really deep-dive into what that meant until I started taking classes from authors in my genre. On that note, it’s never too early to join a professional organization to participate in workshops and conferences.
Rachel. thank you so much for joining me today on my blog. I enjoyed hearing your thoughts, and I think my readers will as well.
Connect with Rachel by visiting racheldrussell.com to follow her on social media and sign up for email updates.
Views expressed in this interview/guest post do not necessarily reflect the views of this blog host.
Tour Giveaway
(1) winner will win a print copy of It’s Your Love and $10 gift card to the Sunrise Shop!
Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight November 13, 2023 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on November 20, 2023. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.
Giveaway is subject to JustRead Publicity Tours Giveaway Policies.
Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!
Read more author interview posts.
I can not wait to check this book out.
It’s Your Love sounds like a wonderful contemporary romance. I plan to check out the author’s favorite children’s book, too.