Raquel married her college sweetheart seventeen years ago and you can still find them spending time together chatting over a cup of coffee like when they were first dating.
Her husband is her biggest fan and most ardent supporter. He encourages her to take time for writing as often as he can. He regularly gives her gift cards to her favorite coffee house so that she can go there to write and relax.
He has been known to whip up his famous chicken quesadillas complete with guacamole and brownies for dessert.
Raquel has written books for more than a decade. She loves to do research and has taken private detective courses, gun classes, and underground tours to get every detail right for her novels. She writes romantic suspense with an edge-of-your-seat pace. Stories filled with faith, love, and adventure.
In 2009 she signed with agent, Terry Burns, at Hartline Literary. Terry worked to get her Shades of Hope series sold and in 2010, White Rose Publishing purchased the three-book series.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
A painful past. A love returns A desperate plan.
Former street kid, Ruby now reaches out to runaways through her medical clinic in the worst part of the city, but her escalating battle with a gang leader puts that in jeopardy.
Cavalier, a risk-taker, charming… Ruby’s first love is now on the right side of the law and the center of a dangerous DEA sting involving her clinic. Tom’s disappearance ten years ago broke her heart and rattled her faith. As their romance relights, memories of what it costs to love him flood her with fear.
Ruby’s battle with the gang ignites a firestorm of danger, and a pattern of lies from within her own camp emerges. With Tom’s life in the balance and her world cast in shadows, can Ruby trust God as she once did…or has she strayed too far, for too long to ever return?
Watch the book video:
If you would like to read the first chapter of Ruby Dawn, go HERE.
Learn more about Raquel and her books on her Website.
MY REVIEW:
Looks like I have yet another author to add to my gotta read list if Ruby Dawn is any indication of Raquel Byrnes’ talent. I have already tagged “Purple Knot”, the first book in the Shades of Hope series as one I NEED and have also noted that the third installment of the series, “Bayou Blue” is to be released sometime this year. I plan to read them all. Is there a support group for Christian fiction addicts?
Not only is someone trying to destroy everything Ruby has worked for or holds dear but they are also doing a pretty good job of providing enough evidence to implicate her. To escalate her stress levels, a man from her past has suddenly reappeared and has placed himself directly in the middle of the maelstrom of her life. Can Ruby allow herself to trust Tom with her life or even her heart?
Ruby Dawn is a page turner from the very start with lots of action, suspense, emotion, and romance. Ruby is strong, stubborn, and spunky but is also more vulnerable than she thinks. Tom is the perfect hero – handsome and tough yet sensitive and caring. The villains are pretty rotten. They are violent and unscrupulous but at times even their humanity manages to peek through. The plot moves at breakneck speed with so many twist, turns, and surprises that I didn’t want to put the book down. An excellent story about trust, second chances, forgiveness, and faith, Ruby Dawn is a must read for lovers of romantic suspense.
