A Thanksgiving Prayer for You

It’s Kristen, and I’m honored to have the chance to wish you a blessed Thanksgiving on the day before Thanksgiving. My little family will be driving to spend the holiday with my parents, brothers, and their families. It’s going to be loud, chaotic, and so much fun.

It’s going to be the kind of Thanksgiving my character Avery Reynolds in Watch Your Back has never experienced.

After her parents walked out of her life when she was seven, she grew up in foster care until she aged out of the system. But one foster family deeply impacted her. Foster “Mama Casale” once told her, “You can be anything you want to be.” Eleven-year-old Avery believed her, but thirty-one-year-old Avery doubts if she should have. 

Now a private investigator on a mission to avenge her foster brother Anthony Casale’s death, Avery hits wall after wall in the case to track down the Tampa mob boss responsible. Coast Guard veteran Ethan Bridger becomes her unlikely ally. When he invites her to join his family for Thanksgiving dinner, the question lets loose a torrent of emotions in this hardened private investigator. 

Does she agree to go? You’ll have to read the story to find out. This is a spoiler-free zone. 😉

Seriously, though, Avery’s story reminds me that not everyone has the chance to spend Thanksgiving with family, due to distance or life circumstances. That’s why tonight, we invited some friends to our church’s pre-Thanksgiving dinner. I hope they come and see that they’re not alone in what they’re going through. 

If you feel alone this time of year, please don’t isolate. Find community. Maybe it means a pre-Thanksgiving celebration or volunteering somewhere to bless others. Maybe it means picking up the phone to call someone. Maybe it means opening your Bible to read God’s love letter to you.

Wherever this holiday finds you, I want to pray for you. Please put your name in the blanks below and know you are seen and loved by the most generous God, who is our Creator, Savior, and Father. 

Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for Thanksgiving, which reminds us of all the ways You have lavished Your love and goodness on us. For those traveling, keep them safe. For those hurting, be near to them. For those overflowing with joy, remind them that You are the source. For _________ today, You see and know his/her heart, needs, and longings. Draw _____ closer to You this Thanksgiving and fill _______ with Your love, peace, joy, and hope. Amen.

 

Suspense Sisters: November Giveaway

WHAT'S HOT IN INSPIRATIONAL SUSPENSE?

Wondering what's HOT in Inspirational Suspense this week? THE LONE RICE BOWL by USA Today Bestselling Author Camy Tang!!

A Hawaiian Christmas, an undercover investigation—and maybe a second chance at love.

Mimi Sakai has held the infamous title of the Oldest Single Female Cousin in her family for many years now, but her independent streak enables her to ignore the nagging and pitying looks. When she spends Christmas in Hawaii to help her favorite aunty out at her high-end cosmetics store, Mimi is reunited with Tosh, a boy she wronged when she was much younger and much more stupid. She tries to meet with him to apologize, but she unexpectedly becomes embroiled in his undercover work.

Security consultant Tosh Kusunoki has become a loner after being hounded by the gossip about his father’s fatal car accident, which happened to also kill his girlfriend. He never expected to see Mimi again after all these years, nor could he have predicted that she would be caught up in his investigation into drugs on the North Shore.

Mimi agrees to help Tosh, and as they work together, they fall back into the comfortable friendship they had in the past. But Mimi struggles with loneliness, with regret over who she used to be, and uncertainty over who she wants to become. She knows she’s just a mass of emotional baggage and Tosh should run away screaming.

Despite all that, could Mimi possibly hope to receive the gift of a Christmas romance in paradise?

THE LONE RICE BOWL is Book #1 in the Mahina Security Christian Romantic Suspense series and you can get your copy at THIS LINK! 

I hope you LOVE it! ~ Marji Laine

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, Kristin Hogrefe Parnell talks about her latest novel, WATCH YOUR BACK.

You can’t watch your own back.

Private Investigator Avery Reynolds leads the charge to expose Tampa's supposedly “extinct” mob. The crime boss responsible for her foster brother’s death is within her grasp—until she hits a wall in the form of Ethan Bridger, a Coast Guard veteran who unknowingly derails her sting operation. When the elusive “Big Eddie” comes out of hiding, he targets their mutual friends about to tie the knot.

Avery sets aside her angst toward Ethan to focus on ending the crime boss’s reign of terror. But working together exposes her trust issues and his PTSD stemming from a comrade's tragedy. When Avery goes solo into a prisoner exchange operation, she discovers her vulnerability too late—and must lean on Ethan and the God she thought had abandoned her. But will that help reach her in time?

ORDER IT HERE 

Friday, we’ll hear from author Sharon Dunn. She’ll talk about gratitude. She’ll also be giving away one of her Christmas books. Here’s something about one of them, CHRISTMAS HOSTAGE.

In this inspirational romantic suspense thriller, an undercover FBI agent must rescue an innocent hostage from deadly criminals at all costs.

Taken hostage by bank robbers on Christmas, security expert Laura Devin suspects one of the thieves is not who he appears to be. When the danger heightens after Laura sees the leader's face, undercover FBI agent Hollis Pryce is forced to blow his cover to free her. He'll risk everything to assist her escape from the Montana mountains and the criminal mastermind hunting them ...

From Love Inspired Suspense: Courage. Danger. Faith.

ORDER IT HERE 

Don’t forget to enter our monthly contest!

THE SUSPENSE SISTERS

WE LOVE BOOKS

Do you ever wonder about how authors research material for a new book?

Around half of my books are contemporary romantic suspense titles set in the West. 

I think I started my general research when I was six years old, after my dad bought me an elderly mare and bridle for $75. From then on, I was on horseback constantly unless I had to be in school or my parents had other plans.

I grew up riding bareback through our part of the county with my horse-owning friends. We were little girls in pigtails, racing across meadows, following every gravel road we could find, and swimming our horses in the nearby lake.

It was before the time when parents became afraid to let their kids out of sight, and what a magical world that was. But now I look back and can only be thankful that my guardian angel must have been working overtime.

I grew up to raise, train, and show my own horses, and many of our relatives raised cattle--even more accidental research for the novels I've set on ranches out West.

Some of my childhood horses have even appeared in my books. 

Cherokee, for instance. He was a lanky 17-hand Clydesdale/thoroughbred cross. But tall as he was, he would lie down and shimmy under the pasture fence to escape at night, and he did that on a regular basis, despite my dad's efforts to improve the fence. He apparently liked to go sightseeing, and he was particularly fascinated by houses and the people he could spy inside.

One night, a couple looked out their window and saw an eerie white form with glowing eyes floating just outside. Sure they were seeing an alien (these were the days of Twilight Zone on TV), they called the sheriff. Several patrol cars soon arrived to find Cherokee standing on their rosebushes and staring at them through the window. Given his other escapades, the officers knew exactly who to call. Some of Cherry's adventures appeared in one of my books. 

But beyond life experiences, deeper research is so much fun. People are often delighted to talk about their lives and careers, and there's nothing like those interviews for adding personality to a fictional character. Law  enforcement officers, firefighters, doctors, private investigators, attorneys, rodeo contractors, and ranchers in a particular part of the country have all been helpful. 

And then there's the Internet, where a writer can find all sorts of classes on crime, forensics, firearms, and the court system--to name just a few.

I do love setting books in the small towns of northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. But each time I start a romantic suspense involving a ranch and a hero wearing a Stetson, I feel like I've come home again!

Leave a comment, and you will be in a drawing for my most recent book, DANGEROUS DECEMBER

Happy trails to all of you!

Roxanne Rustand.

BOOK REVIEW: On the Edge of Trust by Suspense Sister Patricia Bradley

Great mystery in this excellent book, and a GREAT romance! 

Patricia Bradley has hit another homerun with her 18th publication. This one returns to Logan Point, the setting for her first series, and this place holds both a comfortable homeyness and intense danger. 

It also has some delightful folks who speak with a relaxed drawl and an encouraging tone. 

Ah, and then there is the tension... Well that begins with an attack at the very beginning of the book, at the scene of a situation that brings new meaning to the word stressful. Between that event, and the appearance of a young man at the scene of a murder, this story's twisted wheels begin turning. 

Our main character, Tori Mitchell, deals with the popularity of a true crime podcast that seems to collect enemies, the pain of tragically losing a loved one, the trap of addition, and the emotions that are entangled with all of these situations. She also deals with memories of a summer crush and the return of that man, shocking her with feelings she'd forgotten. 

And then there's the shooter. Oh, and the fire. Yeah, the threats and intensity of the suspense keeps rocking with so many suspects and so many possible motives for the attacks Tori experiences. 

Scott Sinclair, the source of her long-ago crush, as a temporarily off-duty FBI undercover agent, wavers between thoughts that he is the target of the shooter and concern for a woman who had touched his heart a decade before. He wasn't about to take Tori's safety for granted, though. The two of them are thrust together as he struggles to keep her safe while she tries to figure out who is trying to kill her. 

Is it someone involved with the murder blamed on her nephew? 

Is it one of the physical abusers of the women she'd helped to escape?

Does it have something to do with past murders solved or maybe it's something else?

This mystery checks all the boxes! Here's a little more about it. 

Sometimes the closer you get to justice, the deadlier it becomes

When decorated FBI undercover agent Scott Sinclair suffers a gunshot wound in his right arm, the injury threatens his future career in the field. He is determined to regain his former job by training himself to use his left hand, and failure is not an option--especially when he's unofficially pulled into an investigation.

Tori Mitchell is a passionate crime reporter and podcaster who has dedicated her life to seeking justice. Her relentless pursuit of the truth has freed a wrongfully convicted man from prison, making Tori an enemy of the true killer. When her nephew is accused of a different murder, nothing can stop her from getting involved and clearing his name.

Soon after Tori and Scott reconnect on the case, shots are fired, leaving them to wonder which of them has been targeted. As the investigation intensifies, so do the threats and the sparks between them, but Tori's doubtful if she can extend grace and trust to Scott. They'll have to combine their skills and rely on their growing relationship to outsmart the killer.

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So what is your favorite type of suspense? Do you lean toward thrillers, romantic suspense with a little bit of a slower pace, or do you prefer the tension with a strong side dish of mystery? 

Leave your answer (and your EMAIL address) in the comments. You might just win an e-copy of the first book in the Logan Point series - SHADOWS OF THE PAST. 

And let me know if you've read AT THE EDGE OF TRUST. I'd love to know your thoughts about it!