Read the #SweetRomance Never Retreat by Bonnie McCune @BonnieMcCune #RLFblog #ContemporaryRomance

Never Retreat, a sweet romance, by Bonnie McCune features a feisty single mom who clashes with an ex-military, macho corporate star at a business retreat in the wild Colorado mountains, where only one can win a huge prize. But when a massive flood imperils

their love and survival, they learn the meaning of true partnership.

Bonnie, welcome to Romance Lives Forever. I’m Kayelle Allen, author and owner of this blog. Happy to have you here! Please tell us about Never Retreat.

Never Retreat by Bonnie McCune

Genre sweet romance

Book heat level (based on movie ratings): PG

Years ago, Ramona (‘Raye”) Soto faced harsh reality when a roving con man knocked her up. Now at thirty-something she’s concentrating on her career in a major telecommunications firm and funding college for her teenaged son. Enter Desmond Emmett—a fast talker and smooth operator. New to the office, the ex-serviceman possesses every negative quality for a guy Raye should avoid.

Thrown together at a corporate retreat in the wilderness, the reluctant duo struggles to complete management’s extreme mental and physical tests for a huge reward. But only one can win the prize, and Des needs the money to underwrite medical treatments for his adored younger sister.

See-sawing between attraction and antagonism, the mismatched couple, Raye and Des, face their biggest challenge: learning the meaning of true partnership. When a massive flash flood sweeps down the rocky canyon and threatens their love and survival, they must put aside their difference to rescue their colleagues—and their future as a couple.

Tell us about your favorite toy as a child.

In a foretelling of my lifelong passion, when I was four, I got a child’s record player and some stories on records that were bright red! The stories were about kings, queens, and magic. I adored it and played records over and over.

When you read for pleasure, what kind of books do you choose?

I’m the type of reader who reads cereal boxes if nothing else is handy. I especially like novels featuring regular people, and this shows in the theme of my blog: ordinary people, extraordinary lives. I believe all lives have stories salted throughout them. I tend toward women’s fiction, science fiction (if not too science-y), accessible literary fiction that tells about people, particularly women, meeting challenges and learning from life. Some favorites: The Handmaid’s Tale; Pride & Prejudice; A Tale of Two Cities; The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan; The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien; The Golden Notebook, Doris Lessing; Caramelo, Sandra Cisneros; The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie; anything by Carl Hiaasen; anything by Alexander McCall Smith in The Number One Ladies Detective Agency series; I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith; Main Street, Sinclair Lewis; several by Roddy Doyle, including The Woman Who Walked into Doors; Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann; A Gentleman from Moscow.

What kinds of things do you read when you’re researching a new book?

In today’s world, so much info is electronic, research is printed and online. For Never Retreat, my most recent, I spent hours in History Colorado’s library, listening to taped interviews from the survivors of one our great flash floods. I also watched YouTube videos and photos of flash floods. Since the heroine is part Latina, I found myself researching that cultural group, especially with roots in Colorado, although a roommate in college was a feisty Chicana, so that helped. The hero is ex-military, as is my husband, so I dug through many resources on service in the Middle East. Hot, hot, hot! And dangerous. My own employment history contains one and a half years in a law office, so that fit right in, as did my experience with two teens.

How long have you been writing?

I decided when I was ten and sent a poem to the Saturday Evening Post, where it was immediately rejected. I never looked back. Although I got discouraged over the decades and thousands of rejections.

Are you a writing mom/dad?

Yes, and grandma. I’m trying to write a young adult thriller with my grandson set at a boarding school with an ominous new headmaster. I learned very early to squeeze writing in whenever I could, not waiting for “inspiration” but utilizing perspiration. Writing has to be a high priority in your life. (but obviously, not as high as the kids) Everyday life provides many of my ideas, along with my not-so-secret fears, such as flash floods. For example, in Never Retreat, I used a corporate mountain lodge I’d visited, very posh yet rugged, as the setting.

What is the single most important part of writing for you?…

Writing lets me explore ideas, thoughts, people, relationships, politics, social situations, loves, hates, in short, all of life, in private safety.

Where to buy Never Retreat

Publisher https://www.totallybound.com/book/never-retreat
Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Never-Retreat-Bonnie-McCune-ebook/dp/B086WR658L
Barnes and Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/never-retreat-bonnie-mccune/1128507678?ean=9781913186739
iBooks (Apple) https://books.apple.com/us/book/never-retreat/id1478403800
Kobo https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/never-retreat
Google Books https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=p9nhDwAAQBAJ
First For Romance https://www.firstforromance.com/book/never-retreat

Bonnie McCune Social Media

Bonnie McCune has been writing since age ten, when she submitted a poem about rain rushing down the gutter to the Saturday Evening Post (it was rejected). Her interest in the written word facilitated her career in nonprofits where she concentrated on public and community relations and marketing. She’s worked for libraries, directed a small arts organization, and managed Denver’s beautification program.
Simultaneously, she’s been a free lance writer with articles in local, regional, and specialty publications. Her civic involvement includes grass-roots organizations, political campaigns, writers’ and arts’ groups, and children’s literacy. For years, she entered recipe contests and was a finalist once in the Pillsbury Bake Off. A special love is live theater. Had she been nine inches taller and thirty pounds lighter, she might have been an actress.
Her true passion is fiction, and her stories have won several awards. Never Retreat is her third novel and her fifth book of fiction. She and her husband have two adult children, and three grandchildren. For reasons unknown (an unacknowledged optimism?), she believes one person can make a difference in this world. Visit her at www.BonnieMcCune.com, where you also can read her blog “Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives.”
Website https://BonnieMcCune.com
Blog https://BonnieMcCune.com/blog
Twitter https://twitter.com/BonnieMcCune
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AuthorBonnieMcCune
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/authorbonniemccune/
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6436876.Bonnie_McCune
Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Bonnie-F.-McCune/e/B001K8W5GI