It’s a pleasure to have you! Tell us about your latest book.The rippling influence of Ryan Reid’s immoral mother and absent father makes a mark on his soul leaving him to battle with same sex attraction. When the young school teacher accepts Christ in his life, he thinks he’ll be free though no amount of prayer changes him. Ryan rejects the lifestyle, yet in his heart he knows he’s committed the sin.
Nurse Sandy Arrington still resides at home held captive by her secret fears. Her dream to be a wife and mother looks bleak.
When Sandy falls in love with Ryan, he’s powerless to return her love. Can Ryan dig his way out to find the freedom to love Sandy? Can Sandy find release from her fears?
That’s a tough subject. What inspired you to write this particular book?
When I write my novels, I want to entertain but at the same time communicate an important truth the Lord sets forth in the Bible. In Ryan's Father, Ryan is a young Christian teacher who grew up with no father and a less than moral mother. He begins to realize he doesn't have an attraction to women and eventually must admit he struggles with same sex attraction. The story tells Ryan's journey in dealing with the sin of homosexuality. I have a person in my family who is openly gay. But Ryan's story was inspired by a precious young Christian teen, friend of my daughter's in high school, who confided in me that he felt attraction to another boy in our church.
What are you working on right now?
I have two books I'm seeking contracts for. For All Eternity and Misty Hollow. Here's a couple of blurbs.
For All Eternity. When Joella Crawford meets the handsome accountant, JD Neilson, he's the man of her dreams—polite and clean cut with strong moral values. He's the perfect Christian man. Or is he?
Misty Hollow - Appalachian farmer, Joel Greenfield, must hide a shameful secret from the beautiful anthropologist who whirls into his life. If Molly Cambridge's study of Joel's mountain village fails, her career is over.
An Excerpt from Ryan's Father
The walls at Starbucks groaned and crunched. The cardboard cup of steaming coffee flew from Ryan's hand and spilled onto the tile. His body swayed as his foot slid out from under him on the undulating floor. He caught himself against a chair.
"What's happening?" A scream behind him split the air. "Help me."
He spun toward the woman's cries.
She tottered in the center of the room, eyes round and mouth wide. Her hands gripped her pale face.
Sympathy sifted through his own fear.
"Take cover, everybody," the barista yelled from the coffee bar. The strong smell of espresso filled the room.
"Quick. Under here." Ryan grabbed the panicked young woman's arm and pulled her beneath a wobbling table. "Hold on to one of the legs."
"Please don't let me die." The slender dark-haired woman's face contorted as she sobbed beside him on the floor.
Ryan's normal sense of calm abandoned him. Fear gripped his emotions. He sucked in a breath. Would they survive or be crushed by the walls caving in upon them?
The shaking earth seemed relentless. A bag of coffee toppled from the counter and split, spraying brown beans across the quaking floor.
"God, please help me." Terror shrilled her piteous wails. She grabbed him, holding on tight.
"It's okay. It'll be over in a minute." Ryan closed his eyes. Almost as an instinct the prayer sprung out of his spirit. "Lord, we need your protection. Please calm us and keep us safe." The words to God appeased his own fright, but more than that, he hoped they would quiet the woman's anxiety.
The incessant rolling refused to let up. A display case toppled to the floor with a crash and coffeemakers, mugs, and tins of tea flew in all directions. The woman tightened her clutch around his shoulders. The aroma of flowers wafted over him.
The room shook, and so did his thoughts. Most people would've chosen to hold on to a table leg, but she continued to cling to him. She sucked in air and exhaled in jagged spurts, no attempts at deep breathing. It wasn't hard to recognize irrational behavior. Could be a phobia related to the natural environment.
How should he attempt to comfort her? His hand hovered over her shoulder then gave it a pat or two. "Don't worry, ma'am, God is in control. Try to breathe." Thank goodness, his voice didn't sound as shaky as his stomach felt.
Bottles of coffee flavors flew from a shelf behind the bar and landed with a thud. Shattering glass startled him. The syrupy aroma of vanilla and hazelnut blended with the dust in the air.
Warm breath fell on his neck. "How . . . how . . . much longer?" She tucked her face against his chest. Hot tears soaked into his shirt.
Rising sense of panic threatened to unravel his last fragment of control. Was it the quake or her death grip? "Dear God, see us through this."
He'd walked into Starbucks like any other day. Then the onslaught of the quake was sudden. Now an eternity elapsed since it began. Lord, protect Uncle Frank and each of my students.
The woman gripped him harder. Was she going to pass out? He forced a pat to her shoulder again. "Shh." What else could he say to reassure her?
Cracking and creaking and a crash sliced into his composure. His emotions were at the breaking point, and he wanted to yell, but he had to keep his sanity—for the sake of the frightened person under the table with him.
What if this was the day the Lord called him home? Death didn't frighten him, but the process did.
A piece of drywall fell to the floor exposing the building's frame. His ears rang from her shriek. He hadn't planned to grasp her shoulder when he jolted, yet the gesture brought a shred of comfort.
Almost as quickly as it started, the rocking and pitching ebbed and a semblance of normalcy returned to his world. Was it over? He remained under the table, forcing his heart to slow as his tablemate still clung to him. He couldn't have endured the tremors much longer.
"Oh, thank God, it's stopped." A man's loud voice reverberated off the walls.
"We're okay." Ryan pried at her arms trying to disentangle himself.
Tousled dark hair hung in her eyes. She pushed the strands from her face and attempted a weak smile.
Good. Maybe she'd get a grasp on her emotions now. "Are you okay?"
She nodded. "I . . . guess so."
"Come on. Let's get out from under here." Ryan grasped her arm as they inched out. Starbucks looked like a war zone, tables on edge, chairs broken, the front window shattered.
Water poured into the room through a broken pipe somewhere. Shattered dishes and pastries cluttered the floor. The odor of rotten eggs filled his nostrils—a gas leak.
Ryan's favorite scripture is the Biblical basis for June's story.
Romans 6:6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.
Bio:
June has written four novels for Desert Breeze Publishing. The Bellewood Series, Give Us This Day – February 1, 2012, As We Forgive – September 1, 2012, and Deliver Us – April 1, 2013, and Hometown Fourth of July – July 1, 2012. June's book, Ryan's Father, is available from WhiteFire Publishing January 2014. Red and the Wolf is available April 2014. For All Eternity and Misty Hollow, God willing, will be published in the near future. June loves to write stories about characters who overcome the issues in their lives by the power of God and His Word. June uses her training in counseling and her Christian beliefs in creating characters who find freedom to live godly lives.
Purchase links for Ryan’s Father
http://tinyurl.com/luwzexp (Amazon)
http://tinyurl.com/orzkefm (Barnes and Noble)
Comments
Blessings!
It's my pleasure to have you.