Settlers and Toffs by Caryl McAdoo

Today I have returning Author Caryl McAdoo on the blog for a sweet Author interview, a little about her new book Settlers and Toffs, plus a Giveaway too!

I’m grateful Kimmie invited me to come visit today! I enjoy letting readers know more about my writing and a little about who I am. So, thanks, Kimmie, and big blessings to you and all your blog readers.

What is your favorite book that you have written and why?

There’s just no way to pick a single favorite out of my sixty-six published titles. I can choose three that rise to the top of the list and are special to me.

HEARTS STOLEN was my first independently published title after Simon & Schuster released VOW UNBROKEN and is one of my favorites. I love my heroine Sassy (Rose) and her little Charley, a four-year-old, just stole my heart! That story got so hard on her and her Texas Rangers hero that I could not see how the Lord could fix it all but did He ever!

Another favorite is THE BEDWARMER’S SON that is a beautiful story of a young slave girl Jasmine who steals the book from her son, then an old man about to stand trial for murder in the Jim Crow days of Dalton, Georgia., So there’s a storyline in 1850s and ‘60s, and one in 1920s. I loved going back and forth. Some reviewers call it my magnum opus. 😊

And the other favorite (and these are in no particular order) is I AM MY BELOVED, a Biblical fiction story that tells the story of Abishag, a virgin queen. Brought in to be David’s last queen, on his death, she becomes the property of Solomon who has his brother killed for asking for her, It’s the story of the writing of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon books in the Bible, too.

How do you pick your character’s personalities, or looks?

I suppose the heroine and hero’s personalities are set when we choose their names and compile their back stories in the very beginning. We look up the meanings of names and what a character has been through—the death of a parent, natural disasters, or illness—indicates who he or she is presently. Whether she was brought up in a Christian home or not…these things set their personalities.

As to what they look like, we hardly ever describe a character in a book. The hero almost always thinks the heroine is beautiful, and she swoons over how handsome he is, but very few descriptions are given unless it’s something that is special or makes her/him stand out and is pertinent to the story, like a scar on the face or red hair. We like for readers to form their own opinions and images of the characters and their surroundings.

What is your favorite genre to read? What is your favorite genre to write? And why are they your favorites?

I love to read historical romance and Biblical fiction, but if I had to choose between them, then Biblical fiction—as long as it adheres to the Scriptures. If it changes God’s story, I put it down and won’t read that author again.

The same two are my favorite to write. I love the research on these genres, digging for historical tidbits to include like on the Oregon Trail there is a place where in the hot desert, you can dig down to an underground spring and actually find ice! What a boon for those sojourners!

I love digging in God’s Word, too, for undiscovered facts to the majority of Bible believers. For instance, how Noah’s three sons were triplets! Never heard that before, I imagine, but right there in Genesis 5:32, we read “And Noah as five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” All three boys born in Noah’s 500^th year!

What is one thing in your life that you would say has had the greatest impact on your writing? Or in your life in general?

The one and only answer to this question is coming to know and accept the salvation of Christ who gave me access to his Father because I believe in Him. That happened when I was nine years old at a Baptist summer camp. Since that life-changing event—I was made brand new—I have sought to bring Him glory. My author’s motto is “Praying my story gives God glory!”

I owe everything to Him. He has so blessed me through my life, shown Himself to be faithful and true, and showered me with so much mercy and grace! Nothing but Him and His commandments are important. I am so humbled before Him that He gave me a husband like Ron and gives us stories that can teach readers His ways and draw them to a closer walk with Him.

Nothing—NO THING—in this life is more important than making that decision to surrender to His Lordship, sealing your name in His Book of Life to have eternal life in His glorious presence. It isn’t a hard process, it’s easy. I have written hundreds of salvation experiences in my stories. No two are alike. What a blessing when a reader tells me my story caused her to seek a deeper relationship with the Father!

Lastly, what was your favorite book growing up?

As a little girl, I was obsessed with horses and read every horse book I could get my hands on. One that stood out was Marguerite Henry’s BLACK GOLD. I loved that horse! 😊 I got my first pony, Twinkle Toes, at age nine then a Morgan mare, Dolly, when I was eleven. Ron bought me a horse for my twenty-fifth birthday, Hosanna, and now I still have a horse, Bliss, an American Quarter Horse mare.

Thank you, again, Kimmie for the opportunity to come today! Blessings!

About Settlers And Toffs

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Book: Settlers & Toffs

Author: Caryl McAdoo

Genre: Historical Romance

Release Date: August 23, 2023

Find it on Goodreads, Amazon, Bookbub

New and old collide in SETTLERS & TOFFS as Ambrose Lee and Blaire build a hotel and a new life together with a remnant from the wagon train he captained in ’49. Settling in Auburn, California, they deal with the gold rush boom town’s growing pangs while the next Earl of Farnsworth, William Cromwell, voyages home to England with his intended Clara and her family. Though separated by a country and an ocean, troubles and trials plague them all. Revisit old friends from Book One WAGONS WEST and meet new ones in this second novel of the New Beginnings Family Saga! This story has been previously published on Kindle Vella with the same title as episodes for Season Two. Season Three, ANSWERING THE CALL episodes are now available at Kindle Vella now.

A Little About Caryl McAdoo

Award-winning author Caryl McAdoo prays her story brings God glory, and her best-selling tales—coming up on seventy titles now published—delight readers all around the world. The prolific writer also enjoys singing the new songs the Lord gives her; you may listen to those at her YouTube channel.

She loves working in the yard at The Peaceable, her home tucked away on twenty acres, mowing and planting flowers. She lives there with Ron, her high school sweetheart and husband of fifty-five years, five dogs, two dairy goats she milks daily, a flock of chickens, and a plethora of barn cats.

The couple shares four children and twenty-seven grandsugars, six are greats. Caryl and Ron love their quiet, country life in the woods south of Clarksville, seat of Red River County in far Northeast Texas and wait expectantly for God to open the next door so they may do His will.

More from Caryl

I started writing “episodes” for Kindle Vella the first month they opened the new format with WAGONS WEST, season one in the New Beginnings Family Saga Season One. For those who don’t read at Kindle Vella, after the ”season” has been up thirty days, the author can create a book!

The episodes become chapters and WAGONS WEST debuted last November 2022! The SETTLERS & TOFFS story is “Season Two” and I’m tickled pink with it! Book One in the series was an epic wagon train story that ended when they got to the gold fields around Auburn California.

In Book Two, the characters spread out across the globe, and we follow them all. Some of those who arrived in covered wagons began to build the pioneer town of Auburn, making a new home for themselves. Some panning for gold and others building hotels and businesses the miners need.

Some travel to merry old England where one of the wagon train sojourners has been called home after his older brother’s death to be the future Earl of Farnsworth. Having fallen in love, he couldn’t bear to leave Clara behind, so arranges for her family to accompany him. So many of the main characters sail away cross the seas.

The third storyline in SETTLERS & TOFFS becomes another wagon train when the scout in book one decides with his wife to go and bring another group of settlers to the new land—a very lucrative business venture for the captains who knew the way.

There are plenty of characters who come in and out as the story progresses. I’ve come to love the primary ones. There are struggles at every turn. Trials and tribulations fill many of their days, but there are those joyous ones as well!

Through it all, the Lord—still on the throne and in control in 1850—helps His children overcome and blesses them beyond measure . . . just as He does today. He is the Rewarder of those who diligently seek him and obey His commandments—then and now.

My author’s motto is “Praying my story gives God glory!” I also pray that its readers will be drawn into a closer walk with the Almighty as they walk alongside these awesome, stalwart folks who settled the West! They had it rough, but God . . . PRAISE HIM!

They sure do! And so do I!
BLESSINGS!