SUSPENSE SISTERS: DECEMBER QUILT GIVEAWAY

Suspense Sisters: December Giveaway

ANNOUNCING THE SUSPENSE SISTERS' CHRISTMAS CONTEST!!!

Once again, the Suspense Sisters are presenting their December Christmas contest! Someone will win a beautiful Christmas quilt, lots of books, and some lovely Christmas items.

Stay tuned! Our contest will go live this afternoon!!!

Congratulations to the winner of our November contest, Shelly Peterson!!

The Opposite of Comparison

Give Thanks in all circumstances.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 

by Sharon Dunn

One of my goals this year has been to stop comparing myself to others. I really think it gives Satan a stronghold in my life. I'm trying to catch myself when I find myself comparing in relationships, in what I own, in health, in achievements and with where my adult children are in their lives. When I start listening to that tape playing in my head, I find that it happens a lot. 

The strongest weapon I have found against comparison is gratitude. When my mind is occupied with what other people have, I miss out on God's abundant provision in my life. Focusing on big things like being cancer free is a good place to start. But I also think it is the little gifts that God gives every day that can help me flip the script on comparing myself to others. At the end of the day when I lay down to go to sleep, I ask myself what was good about the day. The list is abundant: a baby's smile, a friendly dog, a meaningful conversation with a friend or stranger, clothes or jewelry that made me feel pretty, the sun on my skin, a good book, watching the snow fall from inside my cozy house. I could add so much more to that list. 

How about you? What are some of the little things you are grateful for? Maybe there is something big in your life that you are celebrating in this season of gratitude. Leave a comment along with your email address. I will be giving several randomly chosen readers copies of the three Christmas books I've written. Alaskan Christmas Target, Christmas Hostage, and Tasha's Christmas Wish (USA only). 

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.

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