Friday, September 25, 2026
Interview with Lori DeJong
Dear Readers,
I am thrilled to introduce author, Lori DeJong to you. She has recently dipped her toe in the suspense/thriller world, but is no stranger to writing great stories. Her novel, Mistletoe and Malice, was a 2026 Carol Award finalist, and its sequel, Sanctuary and Sabotage released September 15th.
Lori DeJong (pronounced DeeYung) is a contemporary Christian romance author who enjoys penning stories full of grace and the redemptive power of God’s love that inspire others to hope regardless of circumstance, find joy in the moment, and grow in their faith.
Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Lori arrived in Texas in 2005 and dug those roots right in. She currently resides in beautiful Georgetown, north of Austin, with her husband of thirty-plus years. Other than their two fur-babies, their nest is empty, as their daughter and son-in-law are settled in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.
Lori loves to write about love and romance and all that fun stuff, with a firm foundation of faith. Clean but sassy, sparkly, and even goose-bumpy romance, with God in the middle and characters seeking and learning and changing, couldn’t be more heartwarming or spine-tingly.
Lori is an ACFW Genesis Award winner, a two-time ACFW Carol Award finalist, four-time Selah Award finalist, Angel Award winner, and runner-up in the Faith, Hope, and Love Christian Writers Reader's Choice Awards.
Welcome, Lori, to the Suspense Sisters.
Tell us about your new release.
· Sanctuary and Sabotage is Book 2 of my
Guarded Hearts Series featuring bodyguards with an international security
company based in Houston. Trevor, my male protagonist, appeared in Book 1, Mistletoe
and Malice, and I knew immediately I wanted to write his story. For some
reason, I felt he would be perfect for a brother’s best friend trope. So I took
him out of the big city, plopped him down at his family’s ranch, and back into
the life of Kinsley, the little sister of his boyhood best friend. Sparks fly
but they’re both hiding secrets that could send everything toppling.
What sparked or inspired this
story?
· I honestly don’t know. When I “met” Trevor, I saw an ex-Army special ops soldier now working as a security specialist with an impressive skill set. One who now questions his place in the world due to some personal tragedies for which he blames himself. I felt his story was of a man in a crisis of faith. Not such that he doesn’t trust God, but that he doesn’t feel worthy of God’s attention.
Do you have
a favorite character in this book?
· I would have to say Trevor. There’s just something about a cowboy who’s also a bodyguard. Especially one with a soft heart and fierce protective instincts.
Who was the
most difficult character to write?
· Kinsley took the most research because of her vocation as a large-animal veterinarian. And there were times when she proved a bit stoic and it could be a challenge to get a read on her emotions. But she’s definitely someone I’d want to be friends with.
What is
your favorite setting?
· Sanctuary and Sabotage is set in the Piney Woods of Texas, northeast of Houston. Trevor’s family ranch and the land where Kinsley’s practice sits are right next to each other. I really enjoyed creating Kinsley’s veterinary practice with its various buildings and outdoor spaces.
Did this
book require you to do any interesting research?
· Definitely. First, I have no idea about Delta Force or Army special ops, which is where Trevor served while in the military. That was some impressive information, and while I’m sure I took some dramatic license, I hope I represented it well in Trevor’s story. And, of course, all of the veterinary processes, equipment, and even the educational track Kinsley would’ve had to take to become a surgical specialist.
How long
have you been writing?
· You’d think that would be an easy question to answer, but I had an eleven-year hiatus from 2009 to 2020. I joined my first writers’ organization in 2002 and started writing in earnest until our lives were turned upside down in early 2009. I had to go back to work, we had to sell our house, and I pretty much put my manuscripts away for eleven years. I came back to it in January of 2020, so I guess the true answer would be actively writing for thirteen years – seven years the first time and the past six.
Did you
always want to be an author?
· In high school, I really enjoyed writing and thought it would be cool to be an author. But I had a teacher who discouraged me from that track, and it took almost another twenty years to get back in touch with that dream. But once I joined a writers’ group and started learning the craft, I was all in.
You have
written in multiple genres, what has been your favorite?
· My first series was straight-up contemporary romance, while my current series (Book 3 releases next September) is romantic suspense. I find it a bit easier to write contemporary romance because a suspense thread adds another layer to the story that I never had to before. But my romantic suspense novels lean hard into the romance with the suspense thread being the catalyst for bringing the characters together. It’s actually been a lot of fun, even if more of a challenge.
If you
could be a character inside any one of your romantic suspense books, which one
would you choose?
· Wow, that’s a great question. I love both of my female protagonists so much, they feel like friends. But I think I’d choose Kinsley. I would love to have red hair, live on a ranch, be super smart, and end up with Trevor. If I was thirty years younger. Haha!
Which of
your villains is your favorite?
·
Hmm.
A favorite villain. That’s interesting because you think of ‘favorite’
being something you like, and I don’t like the villains in my stories. If I had
to pick one, though, I think it would be the bad guy from Mistletoe and
Malice. He was despicable, but he was interesting to write because he was a
man of many disguises. Someone talented enough to have lived a good life but
who let jealousy and bitterness turn him into something evil.
Which do you enjoy more, creating
villains or heroes?
· Definitely heroes. No question. I find it difficult to get into the head of a villain, but I can imagine all sorts of heroes.
The greatest threat isn’t the enemy outside—it’s the secrets between them.
Security Specialist Trevor Paxton returns to his Texas hometown searching for sanctuary after the death of a colleague under his leadership. The family ranch should be a place to regroup, recover, and make peace with the past.
Instead, it leads him straight back to Kinsley Talbot.
The freckle-faced tomboy he remembers is now a beautiful, determined veterinarian fighting to protect her clinic, her family’s land, and a future built on faith and grit. Trevor never expected to fall for the sister of his boyhood best friend, but the more time he spends with Kinsley, the harder it is to walk away.
When her clinic is sabotaged and danger closes in, Trevor’s instincts tell him the attack is no accident. Kinsley is holding something back, and though she refuses his offer to involve his security agency, Trevor knows the threat is too serious to ignore.
As Kinsley begins to trust him with her heart, Trevor makes a choice that could shatter that trust. Working behind the scenes may be the only way to keep her safe, but Kinsley has a secret of her own, and the truth between them may be as dangerous as the enemy closing in.
Perfect for fans of Robin Patchen, Lynn H. Blackburn, and Dee Henderson, Sanctuary and Sabotage is a Christian romantic suspense novel filled with small-town danger, buried secrets, and a Texas mystery where love and trust are tested under fire.
Start reading Sanctuary and Sabotage today and uncover a Texas mystery where every secret comes with a price.
https://www.amazon.com/Sanctuary-Sabotage-Christian-Suspense-Collide-ebook/dp/B0HC86XLFV/
Giveaway: Leave a comment below to be entered in to a giveaway for an eBook copy of Lori's Sanctuary and Sabotage. Please leave your email address so you can be contacted if you win.
Tuesday, September 22, 2026
Has a book ever touched you in a meaningful way?
Melissa here! The first book I ever wrote was rereleased this week, and I’ve been working on the other three books in that series. While I edit and rewrite, I came across a section that struck a memory. In the final book, someone has a miscarriage. I won’t divulge who or the circumstances, but we’ll say it was an intense situation. The mother is distraught, of course, and a nurse comes and talks to her. The nurse tells her, yes, she is a mother—she carried a baby and she loved it. She suggests the mother honor her baby with a name.
I remember when that book was edited the first time around
years ago. The editor is one of my favorite editors, though she’s no longer editing
(not sure if I’m sad or mad about that!). Anyway, she told me in her comments during
her first review that she had had a miscarriage and had thought she was
supposed to just forget about her baby. This section of the book helped her see
that she did not have to forget her baby, that she was allowed to grieve, that
her baby was real and she loved him/her. I still get teary whenever I think
about it.
I’ll set aside my rage that our society tells mothers they
shouldn’t grieve their babies, that babies in the womb are just a “clump of
cells,” which is biologically and scientifically illiterate.
It is amazing to me that my book touched someone that much.
My book (through God’s guidance) helped give a mother the freedom to grieve. How amazing is that?
And I remembered that experience when I went through my own miscarriages. My husband and I named them and do other things to remember them. And I will be sure our daughter knows she had a big brother and twin sister, whom she'll meet someday in Heaven. God used that one small section of a book to help both my editor and me.
That makes me wonder if anything else I’ve written has
touched someone in some meaningful way. I do believe stories can
help people see things more clearly, can even help people heal. I pray every
day that God guides me to write what he wants me to and that he will put that
story into the hands of anyone who needs to hear it.
How about you? Has any book you’ve read affected you in some
deep way? Don’t share the story unless you’re comfortable, but type “yes” in
the comments if you’ve had that kind of experience.
Please also include your email address if you want to be entered into a drawing to win a free copy of the first book in the series, Endless
As The Rain.
~~~
"And that surely is why our works never mean to others quite what we intended: because we are recombining elements made by Him [God] and already containing His meanings. ... It is impossible we should ever know the whole meaning of our own works, and the meaning we never intended may be the best and truest one."
C.S. Lewis
~~~
Melissa Koslin is a fourth-degree black belt and
certified instructor, with a background in multiple disciplines, including
Taekwondo and Krav Maga. In her day job as a commercial property manager, she
secretly notes personal quirks and funny situations, ready to tweak them into
colorful additions for her books. She, her husband, their young daughter, and
two feisty cats live in Yulee, Florida, where they do their best not to melt in
the sun. Find more information on her books at MelissaKoslin.com.
Endless As The Rain available now.
For Adriane Graham, the real question comes down to whether she’s Alec Kaden’s guest or prisoner…
If she’s a guest,
then that means Alec freed himself from his family ties to organized crime and
that he’s telling the truth when he says he’s protecting Adriane from dangerous
men. It means they both can shake off the shackles of haunted pasts and begin
anew together.
If she’s his guest,
then Adriane Graham is no longer alone. She’s safe. And maybe…just maybe…she
can finally find the strength to love.
But…
If Adriane is Alec’s prisoner, that changes everything.
It means his
tenderness is simply a ruse to keep her under control; his kindness is just
poisoned hypocrisy. It means Alec is a cruel liar, and that somehow, by some
desperate way, she’s got to get out of this charming man’s well-guarded
house…before it’s too late.
Troubling questions pour like fountains through Adriane’s
heart…flowing…
Endless as the Rain.
Monday, September 21, 2026
WHAT'S HOT in Christian Romantic Mystery and Suspense
Marji Laine here.
What a juicy find! I'm definitely hooked!
Deadly Schemes
by Penny Zeller
Kennedy
Olohan loves her new job at the local senior center, where she not only plans
activities but also does her best to advocate and protect the participants she
sees each week. When someone begins targeting Kennedy for her concern over
murmurings of shady real estate dealings aimed at seniors, she finds herself
the victim of carefully planned deceit.
Detective Trace Ridgely is finally healing from a snowmobile accident sustained
while volunteering with the local mountain rescue team. As he settles into his
job, one of his first new cases is the suspicious death of an acquaintance.
Peculiar circumstances follow, including a hit-and-run on an elderly Lake
Radford resident and a missing heirloom ring. Are the latest events connected
to the suspicious death of his acquaintance?
When Kennedy and Trace meet for a blind date arranged by mutual friends, they
form an instant connection. But when Kennedy becomes the common denominator,
seeking to educate seniors and prevent them from falling for nefarious scams,
she becomes a target. When she’s caught in the crosshairs of a madman’s
schemes, can Trace protect her before it’s too late?
An elaborate plan.
A get-rich scheme.
A deadly outcome.
Saying Goodbye to A Sister
A few days ago, we lost one of our sisters. Mary Ellis was part of the Suspense Sisters for a long, long time. When she stopped writing, she stayed with us anyway. And we wouldn't have had it any other way. She was truly one of us, and it was an honor to know her - not just because she was an author - but she was also our friend. Mary was kind, generous, and had such a big heart for people and for God. We loved her very much, and we will miss her more than words can express. And for writers, that says a lot.
Friday, September 18, 2026
Sit Down with Author Ann Swindell about Secrets in the Castle Library
Kristen here. I am absolutely delighted to welcome Ann Swindell to the Suspense Sisters! I am a huge fan of her In the Castle Library Christian romance series that includes just enough delicious suspense to keep me reading well after my bedtime. While this series is not your typical suspense (FBI agents, detectives, etc.), it features a long-lost queen, castle royalty and a brilliant stewardess, British researchers, and American history students. If you're not intrigued yet, just keep reading as Ann shares about the latest book in this series, Secrets in the Castle Library.
There is one experience in particular that has probably shaped my desire to craft Lethersby more than anything else—and that is a memory from the summer when I was nineteen. I spent that summer studying abroad in the United Kingdom, and thanks to one of our professors pulling some strings, our entire group stayed for three nights in Hampton Castle, a lesser-known castle in the countryside of Herefordshire, England. Each morning, I awoke in a four-poster bed, pulled on a robe, and padded past the armor on the walls and down the stone staircase to the Orangery, where chocolate croissants and tea were the order of the morning. The days were spent exploring the magnificent garden maze and grounds before reading Shakespeare under ancient trees, and the evenings were spent singing hymns with friends in the chapel. I met the Lord in that beautiful place in a way that still brings me to tears.
Perhaps all I write about Lethersby is, in some way, touched by a desire to go back to that castle and those carefree days as a young woman. But I know that even more than that, Lethersby exists in my heart because it points me to the heavenly home my heart truly aches for—the Kingdom that has no end.
If you could step into one scene from the book—not the dangerous ones—where would you go and why?
The castle library when the heroine and hero see each other for the first time! The moment is a bookish/academic meet-cute, but it also happens to be in an ancient, beautiful library that carries the whiff of vanilla and worn leather. I crafted that library to bring together multiple elements that I love about libraries in the first place, and then I added in cozy touches of plush carpet and a spiral staircase. I’d love to relax and read in that library for hours!
What’s one part of your daily routine that quietly fuels your creativity or keeps you grounded?
Reading the Bible and praying are central routines in my life. As a church planter’s wife and homeschooling mom, there are many, many days each month where I’m not writing at all and the most creative thing I do is figure out how to get dinner on the table without burning anything (ha!). But when I’m in the Word, connecting with the Lord, my soul is able to rest and refresh in the deepest of ways. Then, when I can return to my creative writing work, I’ve got a deep well that I can draw from.
What’s one theme in this book that reflects something you’ve personally wrestled with or learned in your own life?
God’s ways are not our ways. The main character of Secrets in the Castle Library, Melanie, is trying to figure out why her life isn’t going to plan. What she discovers across the book’s narrative arc is that her plan isn’t the one she really wants—but it takes a while to get there. I think so much of my own journey with the Lord has been learning to surrender my own desires for His...and finding that His are so much better than my own.
What are you working on now?
I’ve had so much fun in the fictional country of Lethersby that I’m not ready to leave it yet—and neither are my readers! I’m starting a new series set in historical Lethersby, writing about the royals from several hundred years ago and how the nation began. As always in Lethersby, there are mysteries waiting to be solved in every generation!
Where can your readers learn more about you?
I’m most active on Instagram (www.instagram.com/annswindell) and on my website (www.AnnSwindell.com), and I love getting to connect with readers! I also teach writing courses for fellow writers over at www.WritingWithGrace.com.
Thank you, Ann, for sharing your time and story with us! Keep reading to learn more about Ann and her story, Secrets in the Castle Library.
Ann Swindell is the author of the award-winning In the Castle Library novel series, as well as the nonfiction devotional The Path to Peace and the spiritual memoir Still Waiting. Her writing has been featured widely by The Gospel Coalition, Risen Motherhood, Well-Watered Women, Proverbs 31 Ministries, and many other publications.
Ann is the owner of Writing with Grace, where she has been teaching Christ-centered writing courses for women around the world since 2015. Prior to that, she was a college instructor at Wheaton College (IL). She holds an MA in Writing from DePaul University and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction Writing from Seattle Pacific University, and lives in West Michigan with her church-planting husband and their children. Connect with her at www.AnnSwindell.com.
Now, here's more about Secrets in the Castle Library, which releases September 22.
The past year of Melanie Tallebois’s life has unraveled, both professionally and personally. Usually unflappable, she can’t understand why life isn’t going to plan. So when she’s offered a professorship at the University of Lethersby, she seizes it as her chance to find the happiness that has eluded her for as long as she can remember. The fact that her best friend is the nation’s princess and has invited her to live in the castle for the summer doesn’t hurt, either.
The only thing eluding Eddie Canon are answers. As director of the National Museum of Lethersby, he’s spent years chasing the truth behind Queen Alma’s disappearance over a century ago. Now, tasked by the royals to tie up the loose ends of the national mystery, he’s studying in the castle library and still coming up empty-handed.
The last person Eddie wants to work with is Melanie, who inserts herself into his research—and his life. She’s brash, annoying, forthright…and altogether brilliant. Eddie thinks it wise to push her away, but as the research continues to stall, he can’t ignore that their friendship has begun to blossom.
When the long-lost queen’s mysteries finally come to light, Melanie is plunged into darkness—and Eddie questions everything he thought he understood about faith and love. Together, they must uncover the secrets in the castle library and decide whether they’re willing to trust God with a story far greater than their own.
That's it for today! I hope you enjoyed meeting Ann and take some time to check out her In the Castle Library series for yourself.
Leave a comment, along with your email address, for your chance to win an eBook copy of this incredible book!
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Congratulations to Sharon J. on winning the eBook copy and for everyone who commented!
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