Shannon here: Inspirational romance author, June Foster shares insight into her characters’ romance from her novel, Ryan’s Father. Comment or answer the question at the end of any post dated July 13 – 17 to enter the drawing for three of June’s titles. Three winners get one book each. Winners’ choice of paper or e-book for US. E-book for international. Deadline: July 25th, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s June:
Our Unusual First Meeting
I’d love to share the story about how I first met Ryan Reid. I daresay you’ve never heard a love story like ours or ever will again. That’s a bold claim, so let me give you the facts.
My cardiologist dad always provided well for my mother and I which gave her lots of time to pursue her garden club, gym workouts, and parties. One thing my parents weren’t able to give me was peace of mind. Unfortunately as a child, a stalker attacked me which scarred my life with fear.
As an adult, I now work as an ER nurse in the hospital in Cedar Fork, Washington though my Dad would prefer I go to medical school. But unlike most young women, I didn’t go out on my own after I graduated from college and got my job. The reason? I hope you won’t laugh. I’m afraid of the dark and can’t fathom the thought of living alone.
So you can imagine how I reacted the morning I walked into Starbucks for coffee and the building started to shake and the floors rolled in incessant waves. Blind panic overcame me and I screamed, grabbing onto the first person I saw—Ryan Reid.
Thank goodness, he had the presence of mind to pull me under a table with him where we waited for the earthquake to stop. Though ordinarily I wouldn’t panic and cling to a complete stranger, hysteria overtook me that day.
The funny part was, when Ryan prayed for me, his words were like a warm safety blanket, and I calmed down. I didn’t know much about religion, but I knew Ryan had something I wanted.
Okay, so some of you may have met a guy in an earthquake, but the next part of the story, I bet will surprise you. As I got to know Ryan, he shared the good news about Jesus with me, and I gave my life to the Lord. That’s when I started to fall in love with him. He was the kindest, most godly man I knew and respected me for who I was. But the problem was—though Ryan loved me as a sister, he wasn’t attracted to me. Or to any woman for that matter. He battled same sex attraction.
If you’d like to read more of our story, it’s Ryan’s Father by June Foster.
About June: An award-winning author, June Foster is a retired teacher with a BA in education and MA in counseling. June has written four novels for Desert Breeze Publishing. The Bellewood Series, Give Us This Day, As We Forgive, and Deliver Us, and Hometown Fourth of July. Ryan’s Father is available from WhiteFire Publishing. Red and the Wolf, a modern day retelling of Little Red Riding Hood and Books One and Two in the Almond Tree Series, For All Eternity and Echoes From the Past, are available from Amazon.com. June enjoys writing stories about characters who overcome the circumstances in their lives by the power of God and His Word.
About the book – Ryan’s Father:
A young man at war with himself
The rippling influence of Ryan Reid’s less than moral mother and absent father left a mark on his soul. Yet everything changed when the young teacher gave his life to the Lord…almost everything.
An earthquake hurls the beautiful Sandy Arrington into his life, tossing his world upside down. But when God calls him to build an annex for needy teens at his church, he finds himself battling an attraction toward his male partner in the project. His own struggles and Sandy’s growing feelings for him force Ryan to face the issue he’s long buried.
Can he dig his way out from under his secret to find Sandy’s love?
Question for Readers: What is the most unusual way you ever met someone who became a part of your life?
Come back July 15th for more from June!
Shannon, thank you so much for allowing me to share Ryan and Sandy’s story. I might add, Ryan’s Father was a finalist in the COTT Laurel Awards and finaled in the Oregon Christian Writers Cascade Writing contest.
Congrats June. Glad to have you here.
I had to think on the question. Most people in my world are either family, I met them at school, work, or church. But my husband is a different story. We did meet at school. But after we started dating, we realized we’d met as children. Our grandmother’s were friends and we both remember being at my grandma’s house as kids. I remember a bunch of little boys being there and he remembers a bunch of little girls being there. We don’t necessarily remember each other, but we remember doing the same things and playing the same games. I was around 5 and he was around 7.
I came home with a college friend and met a guy who was home for a long weekend from the Army. Eleven months later, he became my husband!