Today I welcome author Carmen Peone as she shares about the stories behind her new release, as well as insight into her writing process.

This book is rated PG due to scenes depicting mild domestic violence.

 So why write a love story portraying domestic violence? Because my niece lost her life at the hands of her husband in Indian country. I want to make sure other women realize they can escape toxic and sometimes fatal relationships, God willing, and live a healthy lifestyle.

I also needed a place for my grief and sorrow to land. A place to work through all the emotions that trail behind death. And since I’m a writer, I chose to write a contemporary Western romance series where women have a second chance at life and love.

 Because we are created in God’s image, don’t you think self-care should be a priority? No, I’m not referring to selfishness. But rather taking care of ourselves mentally, emotionally, physically, and especially spiritually.

If we don’t, I’ve found illness seeps in and takes ties us down anyhow it can. So why not get ahead of the crowd and rest, go for a morning walk, call a friend and pray, or read a good book?

Writing this series has ripped open mental and emotional wounds for me. Even after fourteen years. Every day after my niece’s incident, my husband and I were at the hospital with my sister-in-law. We attended every court date over a six-year stint. Attended meetings with various doctors and lawyers. Weariness and grief sank into our bones.

When the traumatizing memories and grueling writing sessions overwhelmed me as I wrote Captured Secrets and the other two books in the Seven Tine Ranch Romance series, I saddled my horse and hit the trail. Riding Cash, my half-Quarter Horse- half-Morgan gelding, offers a place of peace, a time to pray, and a way I can rejuvenate my creative juices for the next writing session. It helped while writing this trilogy, and it does now. While in the wilderness, I search for gratitude.

One blessing is when Iron Stream Media offered me a three-book contract. A home for my stories of hope, healing, love, and forgiveness to take root. Captured Secrets rides out of the chute first and Broken Bondage will follow this fall. Renewed Hope will release spring of 2024. 

I pray these books will reach women in abusive relationships, so they can get the encouragement they need to seek help and safety.   

Leave a comment: What are some of the ways you pamper yourself? I’d love to know! 

Order your copy of Captured Secrets Now: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BDGHQNJS

About Carmen

Carmen Peone is an award-winning author of Young Adult and Inspirational Western Romantic Suspense and lives with her husband in Northeast Washington and on the Colville Confederated Indian Reservation. With the love of history and the western woman's lifestyle, she weaves threads of healing, hope, and horses, with threads of love, of course, into her stories.

Connecting online

Get Captured Secrets now!

Carmen's Website

Sign up for Carmen's newsletter and get her novella, Gentling the Cowboy for free! 

Website and Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest | BookBub | Goodreads