About the Book

Book: Persuade Me Not

Author: Joanne Markey

Genre: Christian Contemporary Romance

Release date: April 4, 2023

Forgiveness is only a prayer away… or is it?

As the oldest daughter at Kellynch Station, Elizabeth Elliot prides herself on her exemplary public image. In fact, women could learn a thing or two by following her example—her public example.

There are things Liz doesn’t want known, and she guards them closely. In fact, keeping everyone except her best friend from ever seeing the truth behind her impenetrable facade is the only thing she can control.

Enter Michael Page. Unassuming and too stubborn for his own good, Mick bucks trend by bringing sheep back to cattle country. Just a small flock at first, but their numbers are growing. There’s just one problem to deal with now. Liz Elliot.

With all her airs and fancy ways, and the unreasonable demands she makes of the town and its people, Liz is a walking antagonism. Maybe he should’ve stayed home after that first meeting, but something keeps bringing him back. If nothing else, someone has to foil her outrageous attempts to do who-knows-what with the town.

Then a carefully worded slip of the tongue hints at a mystery that might be worth digging into.

As the truth comes to light, and Liz’s carefully crafted world comes crashing down, who can either of them trust?

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Originally from Australia, Joanne Markey now lives in Ohio with her husband and seven children. When she’s not reading or writing, you might find her wandering the property with her kids in search of whatever seasonal treasure they’re trying to find.

More from Joanne

I don’t remember exactly when it was that I first started thinking about writing Persuade Me Not. I know I was still writing Persuade Me, the first book in the Daughters of the Bush series. At the time I started writing, I only planned to write one book in that setting. However, the more I wrote, the more I thought about the other characters. And somewhere along the way, I started thinking that, if Liz ever got her happily-ever-after, it would have to be with someone unexpected.

That idea slowly took hold. It would have to be a man as unlike her father as it was possible to be. Someone humble and down-to-earth. Someone with both the integrity to dig deeper to find the truth, and the stubbornness to knock down all the walls Liz had put up.

Right about then I came across an interesting coffee table book about old shearing sheds in Australia. Being an Aussie living in the US and finding that book on the shelves in a store here meant I instantly bought it. And after flicking through the pages, another idea started to form…

At one point in time, Clermont—the town where my book is set—had a substantial wool industry. Which meant sheep. Which meant it could theoretically be possible for there to be a run-down shearing shed on one of the cattle stations in that area. And, to Walter Elliot, what could be worse than running sheep in cattle country?

As far as Walter Elliott is concerned, he is a cattleman with a long and illustrious heritage. Therefore, only those who emulated his lifestyle would be worthy of the attention of his daughter. (Obviously, no other man would rise to the heights of perfection as he, but they could try.)

I don’t know if there are any sheep in the Clermont area now, but if there are, they’re not a big thing. I don’t remember ever seeing any when I lived there as a kid. It was cattle country, and sheep were something we saw when we were driving to visit my grandparents in Victoria (south of the dingo fence, in other words).

With all of that in mind, if, for the sake of the story, one man brought sheep back… and that one man ended up being stubborn and determined to uncover the truth… we’d have a book.

And that is how Persuade Me Not came to be.

Author Interview

• Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say?

Very rarely, actually. And when I do hear from anyone, it’s usually about something totally unrelated to my books. Most interaction with readers in places like my Facebook author page happens when I don’t post about my books. Sometimes it feels like they prefer to see photos, recipes, and things like that. 🙂

• Do you read the genre you write? Why or why not?

Yes! I love to read contemporary romance as much as I love writing it. The same can be said for romcom. And romantic suspense. Those are my preferred genres to read, but if the story is good I enjoy reading just about anything.

• How did you come up with the title for your book?

The title-choosing process was simplified for me. I had a working title chosen for the first book in the series based on the premise of “he loves me, he loves me not” which meant the first book would be called Persuade Me, Persuade Me Not. Which was wordy, but fine if the series had stopped with the first book. It didn’t though. I went right from writing book one to writing book two, which meant I needed to come up with a second title. Unable to solve my dilemma, I took the problem to a friend, another author. She took one look at the working title of my first book and told me I had both titles right there. Problem solved!

• What’s your favorite writing snack, drink, and/or music?

In order of the question… dark chocolate, water, and Lee Kernaghan. We have a T1D kid so we only keep water on hand for drinking. That makes life easier on him—he doesn’t feel left out—and it’s healthier for the rest of us. Chocolate is a great brain booster, and the darker the chocolate, the more likely the T1D kid is able to eat it for a snack too, so we all switched to only eating dark.

As for the music. I rarely listen to anything while I write, but when I do need something to put me in the mood, my artist of choice is Lee Kernaghan, an Aussie country music singer. I started listening to his music soon after he started recording, and have always been a fan.

• What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve been given about writing?

Write. Write. Write.

The more you write, the better your writing becomes, and you learn things by writing.

I started writing long before anyone told me this. By then, I’d written and rewritten my first story at least three times in an attempt to “get it right”, followed by another five book series, and then another separate book. Each one is around 80,000-100,000 words, which means I wrote a lot before I ever published my first book.

At the time, it felt as though I would never “make it” as an author. I had all these books and nothing to show for it. But in looking back now, all that writing taught me a lot more than I knew at the time. And I’m glad I worked out all those quirks before I published! It was so much kinder to have a close friend point out things I might want to change than to learn about them through bad reviews.

Blog Stops

Locks, Hooks and Books, May 5

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, May 6

Simple Harvest Reads, May 7 (Author Interview)

Christina’s Corner, May 7

Texas Book-aholic, May 8

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, May 9

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, May 10

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, May 11

Artistic Nobody, May 12 (Author Interview)

Mary Hake, May 12

Guild Master, May 13 (Author Interview)

Gina Holder, Author and Blogger, May 14 (Author Interview)

For the Love of Literature, May 15 (Author Interview)

For Him and My Family, May 16

Blossoms and Blessings, May 17 (Author Interview)

Becca Hope: Book Obsessed, May 18

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Joanne is giving away the grand prize package of a $25 Amazon gift card and a copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/25ca5/persuade-me-not-celebration-tour-giveaway