SUSPENSE SISTERS: OCTOBER GIVEAWAY

Suspense Sisters: October Giveaway

Behind-the-Scenes of The December Target

Kristen here. I'm feeling grateful and blessed because my new story, Silent Fight, was recently published as part of The December Target, a Christmas collection of three Christian romantic suspense short novels.

Every story starts with a spark or a "what if" moment, and my story in The December Target is no different.

The first idea for Silent Fight came from the Christmas carol, "Do You Hear What I Hear?" One of the lines includes the phrase, "with a voice as big as the sea." I'm planning this story to be part of a larger series set in Rosemary Beach, Florida where the ocean plays a role in every story.

I wondered, "What if a concert vocalist with a big voice and big reputation suddenly lost it?" From that spark emerged this story. 

Though I'm not a concert vocalist and you may not be either, I think we can all relate to the idea of losing something we cherished or life not turning out the way we expected. For my heroine Nadine, she not only loses her voice, but also finds her picture-perfect marriage in shambles--and desperately needing rescue.

What do we do when our dreams crumble, and how do we pick up the pieces? I explore that idea, among others, in this story. 

In the Bible, Joseph received impressive dreams for his future, only to have them shattered when his brothers betrayed him and sold him into slavery. But God was working through his slavery and prison years to pave the way for the fruition of those dreams in a way Joseph could never have imagined. As he later told his brothers, "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today" (Genesis 50:20 ESV).

Sometimes, what seems like the death of a dream may be a redirection or a new opportunity that can bloom into something beautiful, by the grace of God. 

About The December Target

This collection features three stories in one by authors Lisa Phillips, Sara Davison, and me. I hope you enjoy this preview!

Silent Fight - Kristen Hogrefe Parnell

Nadine Rivas’ vocal career crumbles after someone sabotages her private music studio with chlorine gas. For her recovery, she and her emotionally distant husband Dante relocate to their Rosemary Beach condo, where Nadine hopes counseling might save their marriage. As a biotech company executive, Dante wants Nadine to relaunch her career by headlining his company’s Christmas gala. More threats to their lives occur, and Nadine suspects her husband is the real target. She resolves to unmask the perpetrator at the gala, risking everything for the truth and another chance for their marriage.

The Light of Christmas – Lisa Phillips

Newly settled in as sheriff, Beau Mitchell is determined to prove Rend is no longer ruled by fear and corruption. Christmas should be a season of peace and restored trust—but Beau knows the past doesn’t stay buried just because the town strings up lights.

True crime podcaster Heidi Walters arrives from New Hampshire with a secret agenda and no plan to stay. Officially, she’s fixing up a neglected old mansion for the holidays. Unofficially, she’s investigating the cold case no one in Rend wants reopened: her mother’s murder thirty years ago. As Heidi digs through whispers and buried files, strange things at the mansion—footsteps, broken locks, missing notes, personal warnings—make it clear someone knows why she’s there.

When the threats turn real, Beau must decide whether to stop Heidi or help her. Because if her mother’s murder is tied to secrets still alive in Rend, someone will do anything to keep the truth buried.

The Ice List – Sara Davison

Bodyguard Dale Earnhardt Torrens can’t decide who’s his biggest threat—the bad guy threatening his client or the client herself.

Dale isn’t happy when his boss calls him into work as he’s about to go on vacation. His mood goes from bad to worse when he realizes the woman he is tasked with keeping safe is the one who destroyed his life three years earlier.

Forced to go into hiding with the last person he ever wanted to see again, Dale vows to keep whoever is targeting her from exacting his revenge. Now he just has to keep himself from doing the same.

Available in Kindle and Paperback Versions

The December Target is available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback versions, and I also have a special link for a discount on the paperback version.

Special paperback pricing: https://shop.ingramspark.com/b/084?params=tkETivKTTbxwAIHJqOZrisp31zXjfqRkbeq7pyH289v

Enter to Win a Kindle Copy

Leave a comment, along with your email address, for a chance to win a Kindle copy of The December Target. I'd love to hear from you: What is your favorite Christmas carol, or what Christmas carol do you think could inspire a romantic suspense novel?

WHAT'S HOT in Christian Mystery and Suspense

Marji Laine here. 

This is the collection of Christmas suspense that I mentioned to you last week. The one involving our own Suspense Sister Kristen Hogrefe Parnell! I'm so excited to grab my copy of this! 

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The December Target:
A Christian Romantic Suspense Collection

By Kristen Hogrefe Parnell, Lisa Phillips, and Sara Davison   

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Silent Fight -
Kristen Hogrefe Parnell
Nadine Rivas’ vocal career crumbles after someone sabotages her private music studio with chlorine gas. For her recovery, she and her emotionally distant husband Dante relocate to their Rosemary Beach condo, where Nadine hopes counseling might save their marriage. As a biotech company executive, Dante wants Nadine to relaunch her career by headlining his company’s Christmas gala. More threats to their lives occur, and Nadine suspects her husband is the real target. She resolves to unmask the perpetrator at the gala, risking everything for the truth and another chance for their marriage.

The Light of Christmas – Lisa Phillips
Newly settled in as sheriff, Beau Mitchell is determined to prove Rend is no longer ruled by fear and corruption. Christmas should be a season of peace and restored trust—but Beau knows the past doesn’t stay buried just because the town strings up lights.

True crime podcaster Heidi Walters arrives from New Hampshire with a secret agenda and no plan to stay. Officially, she’s fixing up a neglected old mansion for the holidays. Unofficially, she’s investigating the cold case no one in Rend wants reopened: her mother’s murder thirty years ago. As Heidi digs through whispers and buried files, strange things at the mansion—footsteps, broken locks, missing notes, personal warnings—make it clear someone knows why she’s there.

When the threats turn real, Beau must decide whether to stop Heidi or help her. Because if her mother’s murder is tied to secrets still alive in Rend, someone will do anything to keep the truth buried.

The Ice List – Sara Davison
Bodyguard Dale Earnhardt Torrens can’t decide who’s his biggest threat—the bad guy threatening his client or the client herself.

Dale isn’t happy when his boss calls him into work as he’s about to go on vacation. His mood goes from bad to worse when he realizes the woman he is tasked with keeping safe is the one who destroyed his life three years earlier.

Forced to go into hiding with the last person he ever wanted to see again, Dale vows to keep whoever is targeting her from exacting his revenge.

Now he just has to keep himself from doing the same.

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Get your own copy of this second book of A Thrill Before Christmas HERE! 

THIS WEEK ON THE SUSPENSE SISTERS

We have exciting things planned for you this week on the Suspense Sisters!

On Tuesday, Suspense Sister Marji Laine will tell us what’s hot in inspirational suspense and mystery.

Wednesday, Suspense Sister Kristin Hogrefe Parnell talks about her story, SILENT FIGHT, part of THE DECEMBER TARGET, a collection of three romantic suspense stories that you’ll really enjoy! Kristin is giving away an eBook copy of the book to someone who leaves a comment. Here’s something about Kristin’s story.

SILENT FIGHT

Nadine Rivas’ vocal career crumbles after someone sabotages her private music studio with chlorine gas. For her recovery, she and her emotionally distant husband Dante relocate to their Rosemary Beach condo, where Nadine hopes counseling might save their marriage. As a biotech company executive, Dante wants Nadine to relaunch her career by headlining his company’s Christmas gala. More threats to their lives occur, and Nadine suspects her husband is the real target. She resolves to unmask the perpetrator at the gala, risking everything for the truth and another chance for their marriage.

ORDER IT HERE 

Friday, author Gina Holder is interviewing Janyre Tromp about her book, THE SCORPION THIEF

A deadly Cold War political game.
A cursed Egyptian artifact.
Two sisters: one the treasure’s guardian, the other its thief.

Egyptologist Noura Marquette has spent her life piecing together remnants of the past, but nothing prepares her for the day her sister resurfaces in Cairo. Estranged for years, Estelle unleashes a web of whispered threats and dangerous connections that capture Noura in a treacherous snare of betrayal, espionage, and political gamesmanship.

As plans solidify to send King Tutankhamun’s artifacts on an unprecedented U.S. tour, forces far older than any tomb begin to stir. Revolutionaries lurk in the crowded streets. Art thieves circle like vultures. And in Washington, Nixon’s administration maneuvers to use the boy king’s treasures as a glittering tool of propaganda.

What begins as a family reckoning spirals into a deadly game where political agendas and ancient curses intertwine. In the streets of Cairo and the hurricane-lashed bayous of New Orleans, something older than history watches, stalking Noura as loyalties fracture and the lines between history and myth blur. Some curses never sleep and some debts can never be paid.

You’ll love The Scorpion Thief if you enjoy…

• Standalone books with series Easter eggs

• Cold War intrigue
• King Tut and Egyptian mythology
• historical thrillers with a touch of magical realism
• emotionally rich suspense
• smart, capable heroines
• closed-door romantic tension
• questions of loyalty, identity, and redemption

This standalone book is perfect for book clubs who enjoy discussing:
• family loyalty and betrayal
• the ethics of museum artifacts and cultural ownership
• how governments manipulate history for political gain
• sister relationships and forgiveness
• whether curses and legends shape human behavior
• moral gray areas and impossible choices
• Cold War politics and propaganda
• identity, belonging, and inherited wounds

ORDER IT HERE 

Don’t forget to enter our monthly contest!

THE SUSPENSE SISTERS

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GETTING TO KNOW ME...

One of my favorite things is hearing from readers, especially when they have questions! Today, I'm answering a few more of them, and there are still plenty to come. I hope you enjoy getting to know me a little better through my answers!

Wanda Sewell asked: Tell us how you got saved.

I believed in God even as a child. I never questioned His existence. I grew up in a church that taught people they had to be members of that particular church to go to heaven. Every Sunday was just a list of the things we weren’t doing well enough. Even so, I went to church every time the doors were open, even when my mother and brother didn’t go. On Sundays, after I learned to drive, I carted my friends to different churches. I was searching for God.

When I was in my twenties, a friend of my mother’s loaned her some books by Hal Lindsey. Then she passed them on to me.

First, I read The Late Great Planet Earth. I found it fascinating. After that came Satan Is Alive and Well on Planet Earth. That was mind-blowing. My church never, ever talked about the devil.

Then came The Liberation of Planet Earth. This one was mind-numbing. Every chapter seemed to say the same thing: Jesus came to earth to die for our sins. We could exchange our unrighteousness for His righteousness.

I was incredibly bored and ready to stop reading it.

One afternoon, on my way to work, I stopped at a red light and prepared to turn left toward the building where I worked. The book was on the seat next to me. I looked over at it and thought, This is it. I can’t read another chapter. Every single one says the same thing. Jesus came to earth to die for our sins so we could exchange . . .

And then I stopped.

I’d been taught that Jesus was the Son of God. I knew He died on the cross. When I was baptized in the church I’d attended for so many years, I was asked if I believed Jesus was the Son of God. I said yes, and that was it. Supposedly, I was saved.

But at that moment, for the first time in my life, I understood the cross—that I could trade my sinful life for His righteousness.

If I were a cartoon, there would have been a light bulb over my head. This sounds nuts, but I swear I could see that light bulb!

That night, when I got home, I got down on my knees and accepted the great exchange.

When I stood up, I was a different person.

Eventually, I found another church where I heard the Word and discovered who God really was.

I never turned back.

Mary Gessner asked: I'd like to know how you got the (brilliant) idea to put the names of your fans in your books. It makes reading them feel a little like reading your own story, not to mention feeling somewhat immortalized. But most of all? It's FUN!

I honestly don’t know what made me do that. I might have seen another author do it. But it really is a blast. I use the names of readers and friends in my books—but only with their permission. I’ve never made any of them the bad guy—even though a few thought it might be fun!

I have more reader questions for my next column. I intend to get through them all eventually! Leave a comment, and you could win an eBook copy of my latest release, FATAL FINALE.

WHEN LIFE GOES SIDEWAYS

 By Patricia Bradley

I think I've posted about this subject before. That said, I don't know about you, but it seems the older I get, the more life goes sideways. This time, I had just received my edits, and they were due in three weeks. Did I say they were extensive? 

But the death of a beloved family member trumped everything. Focusing on edits or anything else was impossible. What do you do when something like that happens?

You do the next thing, starting with prayer. Thankfully, my publisher was understanding when an emergency came up and granted me an extension, but what if it's one of many emergencies? That happens sometimes--you've heard of the rule of three, right? Actually, the rule of three doesn't exactly refer to things happening in threes, and is a whole other blog post, but have you ever noticed how bad things sometimes come in clusters?

Even with an extension and getting back to the new normal--don't you just hate that phrase, new normal? Anyway, I'm finding it hard to wrap my head around how to make the changes the story needs...Like, I need to take a character out, and that means a whole storyline...so what do I do?  

I procrastinate. 

But procrastinating can be bad, you say. Yes and no. Yes, it will put pressure on me a few weeks from now when the deadline approaches, but since I work better under pressure, that might be good. And no, procrastinating is not always bad because it gives the girls in the attic (guys call the subconscious the boys in the basement) time to sort out what I need to do. 

Again, all of this is bathed in prayer, which is my first line of defense. Because bad things are going to happen. All.The.Time. We have to learn how to adjust to things as they happen, and if we're prayed up, it's easier. I'd also been praying that if my brain doesn't start working soon, could I have more time on the deadline? 

I learned Friday that was a real possibility and I didn't even have to ask for it. The downside is that the book is being pushed back a couple of months, but at this point, I'll take it. But see what prayer does? God knew my brain wasn't ready to start working yet.

I guess the point of this rambling post is that when life goes sideways, do the next thing after doing the first thing -- pray. At least I'm really excited about this book, and I trust my editors, so the changes will make this a really good book. 

So what do you do when life goes sideways? Leave your answer in the comments, and I'll enter you in a drawing for a $10 gift card. And don't forget to enter our $100 giveaway!