Interview with author Rebecca Carey Lyles

Winds of Wyoming – a Kate Neilson Novel

Fresh out of a Pennsylvania penitentiary armed with a marketing degree, Kate Neilson heads to Wyoming anticipating an anonymous new beginning as a guest-ranch employee. A typical twenty-five-year-old woman might be looking to lasso a cowboy, but her only desire is to get on with life on the outside—despite her growing interest in the ranch owner. When she discovers a violent ex-lover followed her west, she fears the past she hoped to hide will imprison her once again.

Though debut novelist Rebecca Carey Lyles grew up in Wyoming, she and her husband, Steve, currently live in the neighboring state of Idaho. She enjoys the creativity and beauty that abound throughout her adopted state as well as opportunities to hike, camp, snowshoe and cross-country ski in the midst of God’s grandeur. While hiking in the Wyoming mountains one summer, she came nose-to-nose with—well, several feet from—a beautiful white wolf. Currently, she’s working on a Winds of Wyoming sequel titledWinds of Freedom. http://www.beckylyles.com/; http://www.widgetwords.wordpress.com/

1.  What do you hope readers will take away from your book?

My desire and prayer is that readers gain a deeper sense of God’s endless love and complete forgiveness. The Winds of Wyoming heroine, Kate Neilson, is an ex-felon who has recently been released from a Pennsylvania prison and traveled to Wyoming to start a new life. Growing in her newfound Christian faith involves daily experiencing God’s grace and power as she battles a past that follows as close as a shadow. As a result, she develops a deeper understanding of his love and forgiveness.

2. How does your faith play into your writing?

Because God has carried me through the ups and downs of life and I’ve seen how he walks alongside my friends and family, I find that faith is a natural theme to incorporate in fiction. Also, my nonfiction books are about people whose lives were dramatically changed by God. Interviewing those individuals and writing their stories was a privilege and a thrill. Both books are available on Amazon: It’s a God Thing! Inspiring Stories of Life-Changing Friendships -and- On a Wing and a Prayer – Stories from Freedom Fellowship, a Prison Ministry.

3. Why did you choose this particular genre?

Like most authors, I write what I like to read. My tagline for the Kate Nielson series incorporates some of my favorite genre aspects: Contemporary Christian Romance Set in the West and Salted with Suspense.

4. What is your favorite Bible verse and why?

Over the years, I’ve turned to Romans 15:13 again and again: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” No matter how discouraging and dark the situation, when we have the Holy Spirit in our lives, we have hope, not only for daily living, but for eternity. With hope comes joy and peace. God is so good to us!

I also like the idea of overflowing with hope and that receiving it involves a powerful work of the Holy Spirit. A typical American understanding of hope, I think, is that it’s sort of a namby-pamby, wishing-upon-a-star dreaming rather than doing. Yet, trusting God to fill us with hope, joy and peace to overflowing requires amazing Spirit power.

5. Are you writing anything right now, if so can you tell us about it?

So glad you asked! I’m in the final hours of completing the sequel to Winds of Wyoming. Winds of Freedom is a bit more intense than the first book, has an even more sinister villain (or two), is set in the cooler months rather than summer, and involves the heroine’s struggle to not only deal with her own difficult issues, but to take care of her elderly aunt, who has MS and Alzheimer’s, and help her best friend, who’s in a desperate situation, plus encourage her husband with his ongoing ranching challenges.

6. Do you have a blog or website where readers can get up close and personal with you?

I love to chat with readers! Here are ways to connect:

Blog: http://www.widgetwords.wordpress.com/

Facebook: Rebecca Carey Lyles

Website: http://www.beckylyles.com/

Twitter: @BeckyLyles

 There will be a giveaway, so leave a comment!