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

1)What does success as an author look like to you?

MB: When my stories or books make a positive impact on my readers. Several have shared how one or more of my books helped them while going through a hard time or gave them courage, or made them laugh when they needed a win. Those experiences remind me why I write–because I do want to bring light into people’s lives, one story at a time–like so may authors have done for me over the years.

2)Which character did you connect to best in this book?

MB: Ginnie and I have been together for longer than I’d like to admit. 🙂 She started out as sort of an imaginary friend and we have shared many adventures. When I was younger –she helped me be brave. Now that I am quite a bit older than she is, I still enjoy her insight–she’s not one to allow fear to keep her from trying new things and I love her enthusiasm.

3)Which part of the book was the most difficult to write?

MB: Chapters 2-4 were written a few books ago. They weren’t hard to write, in fact, I believe they were inspired. However, sometimes they are hard to read. I often tear up (as do my readers), because losing someone you love is hard. Shortly after I decided that these chapters belonged in this book, Chase Your Dreams West: A Ginnie West Adventure, my 20-year-old son, Ryan, died in a car accident. I chose to stop writing for a while as my family adjusted to the loss of Ryan, but I always knew I would keep writing Ginnie and her family’s stories. I’m glad I did, because Chase Your Dreams West is about overcoming hard times, finding joy in the journey of your life, and realizing that even when okay doesn’t look or feel like you think it should, being okay (again) is possible.

4)What inspired this book?

MB: Originally I had decided to use chapters 2-4 as a denouement to this book. But after my son died, on occasion, I would feel him nearby and the thought of him checking in on our family brought me comfort. My original idea had been to write this book differently, but when I got to the point where I could write again, I decided to fully embrace Queenie West (Ginnie’s mother who passed away when she was 3.) the way I know Queenie would want to be written. In so doing, I hope to bring comfort and peace to my readers who have lost someone close to them.

5)Which author influenced you the most?

MB: Many authors have influenced me at different times of my life. As a kid, I read all of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books and read articles on where she lived and anything else I could find about her. Her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, and I share a birthday. I tended to read every book I could find by certain authors: Louisa May Alcott, Katherine Paterson (who I met recently in real life–she wrote Bridge To Terabithia and The Family Tree among over 3 dozen others.) I loved Madeleine L’Engle and Erma Bombeck and a host of other authors. While I enjoyed reading a lot of fantasy as a teen, when I started writing,

I found I enjoyed writing contemporary books with humor, probably because of Erma Bombeck and Theresa Bloomingdale–who were women who enjoyed being mothers and found that humor made the harder parts of motherhood more enjoyable. I have 12 kids and fostered over 100 kids–having a sense of humor is a must.

6)What is your favorite Bible verse or life verse?

GL: My grandfather had a cast iron hand pump painted red in front of his house that was his only source of drinking water. Next to it sat a ceramic pitcher and hand painted sign that read: “Always leave enough for the next one to prime the pump.” The older I get the more I’m inspired by its eternal implications.

7)What is your vacation spot?

GL: The deck on my house.

8)What are you reading right now?

GL: Just finished 1356 by Bernard Cornwell, True Horsemanship Through Feel by Bill Dorrance, Hatchet for the 4th time and Long Winding Trails.

9)Describe your view as you’re sitting in your writing chair.

GL: I’m surrounded by my paintings, finished and WIP and a picture window looking out onto the desert and the horse corrals.

10)If you could have one book or piece of art or music on a deserted island, what would it be and why?

GL: A sketch book so I could record the present instead of live in the past.