Meet the lovely Ruth Logan Herne and discover her favourite authors, the superhero power she would like to possess, and something very unique about the cover of her latest Double S Ranch novel! Be sure to enter the giveaway below while you are here…

I grew up in…  Rochester, NY

I was inspired to write my first published novel by… “Understood Betsy” by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. As soon as I read that book, I knew what I wanted and was destined to do. Of course life has a way of throwing curves… but here I am!  🙂

The books that have most influenced my life are… Young Adult! Such an age of growing awareness and discovery!!! “The Yearling” by  Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, “Christy” by Catherine Marshall, “All Quiet on the Western Front”, and “Sweet Hush” by Deborah Smith. Through the years I’ve loved so many books and authors. Michener, Crichton, Wouk are some of my favorites, but nothing has affected me and the way I think as those wonderful coming of age books from back in the day. I use Katherine Patterson books and “Sarah, Plain and Tall” to teach all kinds of values, morals and lessons to today’s kids… and it works!

My biggest challenge when writing is… sneaking away from ginormous family, holing up in a cave and working…. So I write in the middle of the night when it bothers no one…. And they don’t bother me! Win/Win!!!

Two of my favourite authors are… Lisa Wingate and Karen White. I love them both and I’m not afraid to ask them anything.

Why?  Well, their evocative way of weaving a story draws me in and made me want to be like them. Not stylistically, but that ability to develop their skills by working in whatever venue popped up to get in the door… and then to earn the ability to tell stories their way. Gotta love that!

If I wasn’t a writer, I would be… Oh, gosh, I’ve been just about everything, LOL! A sales clerk, a cashier, a teacher’s aide, a waitress, a bridal consultant, and a cake decorator for a major grocery store! And I’ve had my own little daycare at home, which has kept me on top of today’s young families.

So if I wasn’t a writer, I’d still be a writer because I did it for years without getting paid… Getting paid is so much nicer, LOL! But in reality, if I wasn’t a writer, I’d be teaching little kids, a job I’ve done for a long time and have loved every minute.

The superhero talent I would love to have is… Curing cancer. I would cure cancer so fast that everyone suffering from it would be dancing in the streets, praising God and drinking chocolate malts. Just because they were so stinkin’ happy!

Can the brother left behind and a woman without hope work together for the good of two precious children?

Nick Stafford stayed in central Washington, working his family’s large ranch after his brothers left to pursue other passions—but his toughest job is being a single dad. As a child he watched his father fail at marriage and parenting, so Nick was determined to show him up. He’d be a better husband, father, and ranch manager than Sam Stafford ever was. Despite that commitment, three years after Nick’s wife left him, he has a daughter in trouble at school and both of his girls are facing issues that force him to rethink his stubborn plans.

For Dr. Elsa Andreas, life fell apart when tragedy caused her to abandon her family therapy practice and retreat to the backwoods of Gray’s Glen. Her school principal sister believes Elsa can guide the Stafford girls and that working with kids will draw Elsa out of her protective bubble.

Summer on the Double S teems with life and adventure. Amid the bounty of God and land, will Nick and Elsa find the courage to build futures based on faith rather than fear?

My latest novel can be described by these 5 adjectives… Delightful, Western, Rugged, Poignant and Satisfying

My main characters are…

Nick Stafford is tall, rugged, dark hair, square jaw and wants to show his father up by doing everything better than Sam Stafford had ever done. He’s is the “good” son in The Prodigal Son story, the one who stayed home and helped make the Double S Ranch run smoothly, and then his big brother came home and Nick’s spot is usurped. He’s not exactly forgiving of all this initially, and he’s upset because his wife walked out on their family and divorced him, his daughters are messing up, the principal wants the oldest one in therapy, and all Nick ever wanted was to show his father how a happy home is run.

Oops. 🙂

Dr. Elsa Andreas is a licensed psychologist/family therapist and she’s been knocked around by some rough circumstances the past few years. Mentally shaken, she’s taken up a quiet (and by quiet I mean buried-in-the-woods-hermit-style) life outside Grays’s Glen. When her sister, the elementary school principal, suggests that she see Nick’s girls, it’s a challenge. She knows it and doesn’t want to take it, but staying stuck in “Neutral” isn’t working…

And so it begins…  She must face her past to help his girls and he must face his faults to see the opportunities before him.

Being a man… and a STAFFORD… it does take him a little while to figure this out!

A previously unknown fact about this novel is… The cowboy on the cover is the real father to the little girl on the cover… Isn’t that marvellous? Love it!

My story’s spiritual theme is… Sacrificial love. We can make such a quiet difference in this world with sacrificial love.

While writing this novel I learned… how amazingly beautiful Central Washington is, and since doing this series I’ve done a historical novella set here in Kittitas County and I am over the moon in love with it. The maple bars at the Cle Elum Bakery definitely helped sway my opinion! (They’re amazing. And the staff at the bakery is wonderful!)

The title was chosen by… I got to choose this one! I developed the titles as I was working on the stories and Waterbrook liked them! YAY!!!!

As an author, the hardest scenes for me to write are… I hate to make characters suffer. I’m a mom, I like to fix things! But I can’t do that too quickly in a story, and so I have to learn to not wrap up the scene too soon. And it often takes the first edit or revision to see that properly.

The story I’m currently working on is… “Peace in the Valley” the third Double S Ranch book!!!

You may not know this about me, but I… have a love for gardening because plants don’t talk back. It’s total therapy and good exercise for someone who’s in a sedentary job. I love the peace and quiet of winter, but there’s so much promise to be found in a garden!

If I could be a character in any novel, I would want to be… Princess Leia. I love Star Wars!

Thank you Ruth!

Relz Reviewz Extras
Character spotlight on Colt & Angelina (Back in the Saddle)
Visit Ruth’s website and blog
Buy from Amazon: Home on the Range or Koorong

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