SUSPENSE SISTERS: Sarah Hamaker

BY PATRICIA BRADLEY

Wondering what's HOT in Inspirational Suspense this week? Here are two books releasing this week! Click on the title for the Goodreads information!

The Dark Atonement

A translator and a medical researcher team up to find a long-lost scientist with an innovative cancer treatment.

German translator Lena Hoffman thought her grandfather died years ago. But the unexpected arrival of a cryptic postcard seems to indicate otherwise. As Lena delves into her grandfather’s past and uncovers information about him and his cancer research work in East Germany four decades ago, she unwittingly puts her own life in danger.

Dr. Devlin Mills works as a cancer researcher at the National Institutes of Health and lives across the hall from Lena, although they’ve never formally met. But when Lena is nearly run down by a vehicle, Devlin finds himself thrust into the role of protector. As their lives intersect, the pair find themselves in a race to discover the whereabouts of her grandfather—and whoever wants to silence him—before the past catches up with the present.

Fall Out

Samantha Williams’s carefully crafted life is about to be demolished as thoroughly as her art classroom when a careening SUV smashes into the school.

In the dusty farming community of LaCrosse, Washington, art teacher Samantha Williams manages to save her students when an SUV crashes into the school. Her car isn’t so lucky. Oddly, her purse—containing her driver’s license, credit cards, and other identification—is missing from the wreckage, forcing her to rely on the kindness of strangers. Never one to trust easily, Samantha is thrust into a world far different from her simple life of jigsaw puzzles, children’s books, and lectures at the library.

WE LOVE BOOKS!

by Patricia Bradley

This week we welcome Sarah Hamaker to the Suspense Sisters! To celebrate being here, she's giving away two digital books (two winners). Just leave a comment to be entered with your contact information.

Sarah Hamaker loves writing books “where the hero and heroine fall in love while running for their lives.” She’s written romantic suspense novels and nonfiction books, as well as stories in Chicken Soup for the Soul volumes.

As a writers coach, her heart is encouraging writers. Her podcast, “The Romantic Side of Suspense,” can be found wherever you listen to podcasts.

PB: What is your favorite part about writing?

Sarah: Having written! Least favorite. The squishy middle. I usually have no trouble with the beginning and always have a clear view of how it should end. Sometimes, though, I get stuck in the middle, and that’s when I take more breaks and have to refresh my mind with a walk or a think on my front porch swing. Being outside is my favorite refresher, as there’s something about a breeze, the sun and hearing birds chirp or watching squirrels play that helps me to regroup.

PB: Having written--so know what you're talking about! So, what do you do when you’re not writing? Any interesting hobbies?

Sarah: Naturally, I read a lot, though not as much as I used to before the kids came along. I also enjoy knitting and have made blankets for the family and also one for each of my daughters to take to college, plus one for my “bonus” daughter (a close friend of my oldest daughter).

While not a hobby, my husband and I are therapeutic foster parents, so much of my non-writing time is spent managing our current placement’s appointments and keeping his team informed of his progress. Since he’s a special needs kindergartner, we have some additional challenges with his care, but he’s a delightful little boy and we’re blessed to be able to provide him with a safe and loving home for now.

PB: What a wonderful thing you and your husband are doing! I know you get a special blessing but I'm sure it's also challenging. Does writing energize or exhaust you?

Sarah: Energizes! When I’m in the writing zone and the words are flowing, I feel excited about the story and characters. It can sometimes take me a while to return to the real world. Writing a synopsis exhausts me, but I haven’t met a writer who loves to compile a synopsis.

PT I hate writing a synopsis!!! What is the most valuable piece of advice you’d like to give to unpublished authors?

Sarah: Keep writing. Writing is hard, and the more you write, the better you’ll become. Also, keep trying. Rejections are part of your writing life. Everyone—even best-selling authors—have their book proposals rejected sometimes. Sure, rejections hurt, but the writers who eventually succeed are the ones who don’t take the rejection personally, who read through the comments and use them to make their writing better.

As Christian writers, we’re writing for an audience of One ultimately. It’s so important that we keep writing, keep trying, keep pressing forward when we’re called to write. Sometimes, we’re in a season of life where we write less and sometimes, we’re in a season of life where we write more. Sometimes, we receive accolades for our books and other times, we don’t. Sales figures go up, sales numbers go down. Like life itself, our writing will have highs and it will have lows. The key is to keep writing through it all.

PT: All I can say to that is AMEN, Sarah. Thanks so much for being here with us. Sarah is giving away a copy of The Dark Guest and a copy of The Dark Atonement. I recently reviewed The Dark Guest on my Reader Friday blog and you can read it here.

Back cover:

The Cold War is over, but The Wolf is still at the door.

When Violet Lundy isn’t cleaning rooms at Happy Hills Assisted Living Facility, she loves spending her free time with resident Rainer Kopecek. Hearing his stories of the dangerous life he led behind the Iron Curtain in East Berlin makes her own life seem more tolerable. But when Rainer is found dead and his room in disarray, Violet suspects foul play.

Dr. Henry Silverton lives among his books, teaching and writing about the Cold War. A letter about an East German traitor known only as “The Wolf” propels Henry out of academia and into Violet’s life. Together, they embark on a perilous quest to uncover the truth about Rainer’s death and the traitor’s identity.

Can Violet and Henry uncover the secrets of the past before one of them ends up as The Wolf’s next victim?