About the Book

Book: Chase Your Dreams West: A Ginne West Adventure (Book 5) Authors:Monique Bucheger and G. L. Rasmussen Genre:Contemporary Upper Middle -Grade Release date: November 22, 2024

12-year-old best friends, Ginnie West and Tillie Taylor, navigate changes in their family. Tillie’s long-absent birth father reappears and she has to juggle two dads while Ginnie’s mischievous Uncle Jake escalates their prank war. Meanwhile, Tillie desperately wants a horse of her own while Ginnie is determined to follow her late mother’s equestrian legacy as a trick rider, something her dad has forbidden. Can Ginnie shape her own destiny and persuade her dad to support her ambitions? Get ready for a heartwarming adventure filled with friendship, family, and the power of chasing your dreams!

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About the Authors

Monique is a bestselling author, a certified Farland Fiction Coach, and an empowerment speaker, dedicated to championing the underdog, in both her writing and real-life adventures. Having a heart for families in crisis, Monique creates stories that capture the essence of real-life challenges and triumphs, with a touch of humor. Monique’s upper middle-grade series, ‘The Ginnie West Adventures,’ delves into sensitive and weighty themes such as parental loss, abandonment, and overcoming abuse. She delivers stories not only for tween readers, but for those young at heart. Drawing from her experiences nurturing a dozen of her own children and fostering over a hundred more, Monique’s experiences shape her books, creating novels in a number of genres, including a historical family saga, contemporary family dramas, a fun picture book, and a middle grade series weaving whimsy and heart into her tales.

A country boy by birth and by choice, Gary spent his youth working on the family farm, for local farmers and ranchers, on horseback or playing sports. Offered scholarships in Agriculture and Advertising Design, he opted for the bright lights and big city. Eight years in the advertising field convinced him that wasn’t where he wanted to be. Gary freelanced in design and illustration, converted his love of writing for advertising to a newspaper column about the country lifestyle. He has also worked as a ranch manager, cowboy, rancher, and horse trainer. An avid painter and author, Gary shares his talents through mentoring others, is a past president of the Western Art Guild and Idaho Writers League and is an active member of Western Writers of America. Gary and his wife, Margie are the parents of four children and ten grandchildren and have traveled extensively throughout Europe, Great Britain and the United States.

More from Monique

Chase Your Dreams West: A Ginnie West Adventure took me too long to finish. I was working on it when one of my sons was killed in a car accident. I paused writing for a few years as our family adjusted to losing Ryan. An author friend invited me to a writer’s retreat a few years ago, knowing I was stuck and that week unlocked a lot of things for me. Including deciding to change where I placed what is now the first four chapters. I wrote them two books ago thinking they would make a great denouement, but after my son’s death, I realized they would make a better beginning. This book is a little different from the first four as Ginnie explores horsemanship training with her mare, Calliope–with her dad’s blessing, and perhaps is given a little help from her mom. Ginnie is given back one of her mom’s journals and gets to know the mom she doesn’t really remember and her dad didn’t really talk about… until recently.

Interview with the Author

Do you read books in this genre? If so, who do you like to read?

GL: Patrick McManus, Larry McMurtry, Will James, Mark Twain, Tom McGuane, Rod Miller, Janet Evanovich

MB: Katherine Paterson (Bridge to Terabithia), Laura Ingalls Wilder, Louisa May Alcott, Madeleine L’Engle, Jennifer Holme

If a reader were to ask you what author you are like, what would you answer? GL: Patrick McManus. He writes humor about the outdoors but he writes it from the inside looking out having grown up in Idaho not from the outside looking in like Zane Grey.

What helps you to write? Do you eat snacks, listen to music?

MB: Visualizing a scene that interests or excites me. I seldom listen to music while I write–though some songs do help me get in the mood to write. I am partial to country music–the songs about God, country, and family–and I am also partial to songs about front porch swings. 🙂 I enjoy drinking all flavors of Dr. Pepper (especially coconut) and white cheddar Poppables.

If you could travel back in time, what time period would you go to?

MB: I’ve always been partial to the late 1800’s–when the pioneers homesteading America sought out new frontiers. But I’d want to bring a large bottle of Tylenol.

What is your favorite book and why?

GL: Lonesome Dove. It portrayed the times and lifestyle beautifully and the movie brought the characters to life. However, I can’t forgive the portrayal of Capt. Call’s Kiowa mare who was a gelding in the movie.

What is your favorite hymn and why?

GL: Till We Meet Again. Sometimes hope is all we have.

What is one thing readers would be surprised to learn about you?

GL: I’ve been characterized as a Renaissance Cowboy. Don’t hold your breath if you think I’ll be sauntering into town in tights and spurs anytime soon.

What inspired you to write this book?

MB: Lots of things, but mostly I want kids (the young and the young at heart) to know that life is a pretty cool adventure, hard things happen to everybody, and it’s okay to keep going and enjoy your life rather than get stuck when things are hard.

Love is an infinite commodity and it’s meant to be shared. And if you lose someone special to you, they aren’t gone forever and they don’t want you mired in sadness. Life is meant to be enjoyed and it’s more fun with good friends.

Share with me a few of your favorite things.

MB: Good friends, inspirational sayings, when a reader lets me know one of my stories impacts them in a positive or meaningful way, when my kids enjoy spending time together, looking at pictures of friends and family and recall good memories we have made together.

What is one question you would like readers to ask you? What would be your answer?

GL: If there was anything about my life I could change, what would that be? I do have some regrets but the life lessons learned are incalculable and make for good fodder in my writing.