Welcome to this week's guest--Anne Perreault.
I was born and raised around Hamburg, Germany. My father was a sea captain and my mother was a music teacher. When I was 14, my family and I moved to Dubai. My father's job allowed him to bring his family. I attended a British school, while my younger sister attended the American School in town. I lived in that beautiful place for 3 years, then attended an American Boarding School in Austria for high school. I called Dubai home for holidays and summers for ten years.
My plan was to prepare to study veterinary medicine after graduating from high school. God had something else in mind. I met my husband during my first year in college, which I attended in England. After a year, we attended the main college in New Hampshire, and got married when we graduated. We moved back to his native Connecticut and began raising a family.
I was blessed to spend a lot of time with my three children, as I was a stay-at-home mom. At night, I taught horseback riding at a nearby stable. After graduating from graduate school with a Masters of Art in secondary education, the Lord decided to really stir up my life. He called me to put aside my own desires and homeschool my three kids. I had an 8th grader, a 5th grader, and a two-year old. School was... fun. We figured out a way to learn at home with all the distractions. But I'm a driven person and decided that schooling my children wasn't enough – even though it was plenty challenging. I attained my therapeutic riding instructor certificate and helped start a therapeutic riding center in our town.
And then God threw a wrench into our lives that turned them upside down. My husband and I decided to let him go to Iraq for two years as a contractor, leaving us at home. It was a difficult time for all of us, but God became my everything. He kind of took my family and my husband under His mighty wing and kept us all safe. When my husband returned, we decided to move from the suburbs of Hartford to rural Vermont and build a house.
That's when it got really interesting. It was during that time that God nudged me to write down the stories that had been playing in my head my whole life. I'm a storyteller by heart. That was about 10 years ago. I took 4 years to just write and write, amassing about 40 novel-size stories. 17 are published. About 6 years ago, I started publishing. It's been an incredible journey. Writing is a mission field for me in which I can serve God and my fellow readers at the same time. I love doing it.
I'm a pretty cheerful person. I enjoy making jokes all the time. I will probably crack a joke or two within the first five minutes of meeting a new person. I like to encourage people and I like to get to know them for who they really are.
Tell us about your book—title and back cover blurb.
My latest book is called The Gift.
God opens doors, but it’s up to us to walk through them.
Dakota Taylor is stuck in a rut. Her dead-end job as a manager of a pizza place is unchallenging, she gets dumped by her obnoxious boyfriend and feels completely unloved by her family. That all changes in an instant when God steps into her life.
On the way home from a late shift, Dakota finds herself in a terrifying situation. Thankfully, two Boston police officers out on patrol come to her rescue and see her home safely. Dakota is certain that their paths will never cross again. She couldn’t be more wrong.
Shane Donavan likes his job as a Boston police officer. He’s thrown for a loop when he’s assigned to train a rookie but soon begins to appreciate his new partner’s sharp intellect and wit, especially when Shane finds himself staring at the wrong end of the barrel.
As a friendship develops between Dakota and Shane, Dakota accepts his invitation to participate in a weekend scavenger hunt. Shane quickly discovers that stakes are higher than merely lounging by the pool or fishing by the lake.
Will God turn this opportunity into something that will change Dakota and Shane’s lives forever?
Share one thing that you found difficult or challenging about writing this book.
This book nearly got tossed to the discard pile. I got super frustrated with the characters because they wouldn't allow me to get to know them well. I felt we were having a very superficial relationship, and that really bothered. I was right because my editor felt the same way. She was halfway through the book when she told me that she felt there was a huge chunk missing. And so... I had to dig real deep to get down to the nitty gritty of who the characters really were. I started rewrites in chapter 14, something super unusual. Basically, I wrote this story 3 times. The first draft, the second attempt, and then I finally nailed it. But I often wondered if it was worth it. It has been super duper worth it.
An excerpt.
The noise from the bullpen was deafening, but not loud enough to drown out the one voice everyone dreaded to hear. And there it was. Calling his name, of all people.
“Donovan!”
How had Shane snagged the attention of the lieutenant?
The cop at the desk next to him, a veteran of fifteen years, gave him a look of pity as he went off to meet his doom. Shane gave him a nod as if reassuring him he’d make it through this.
He might as well get this over with. It wasn't every day that a beat cop was called in to see the lieutenant. Whatever happened next, Shane was proud of the job he had done up to this point. He had served with distinction and had a good, solid arrest record. He was sure he wasn't about to receive a reprimand.
As Shane entered the cramped space overflowing with reports, another man stood at attention. Shorter than Shane by an inch, his hair was jet black. Dark brown eyes shone when they met his gaze unflinchingly.
Okay, he had no idea what that was all about. Shane waited patiently.
“Donovan. Meet Carpenter. He's your new rookie partner,” the big man behind the desk roared.
Still standing at attention, Shane cocked his head. “Sir, I wasn't aware that I had signed up to be a Field Training Officer. I would rather not.” He glanced at the pup next to him. “No offense.”
The kid shook his head. “None taken, sir.”
The notion of this guy calling him sir-
“You don't have a choice, Donovan. It's all set up. Go on. Play nice.”
The older man sitting behind the desk littered with stacks of paper motioned toward the door.
“Dismissed - both of you. Go and arrest someone.”
“Might I suggest you hire an assistant to help you with your filing? We are going to come in one morning and find you've disappeared under all that paper. Think of your wife and children, sir.” A cheeky smirk spread across Shane’s face. The man had neither a wife nor children.
“Out!” he roared, the portion of his face that was visible turning ruddy.
Ask the blog reader a quirky question or two.
What is your favorite childhood Christmas memory?
I'll share my answer below--thank you so much for being a guest, Anne!