The Romantic Side of Suspense podcast

On this episode of “The Romantic Side of Suspense,” my guest is Jaime Jo Wright, author of time-slip suspense. She’s a winner of the Christy, Carol, Daphne du Maurier, and INSPY Awards. She’s also the PW and ECPA bestselling author of three novellas. Jaime brings to life the stories of the past and intertwines them with the present, to bring readers award-winning
time-slip novels.

“I’ve seen time slip done a couple of different ways, like when the characters are tied together by an event or an article in history,” Jaime said. “With my characters—whether they know it or not—the past is directly influencing the life of the current heroine. So you can’t separate the past heroine from the current heroine because the current day heroine wouldn’t be who they are.”

Connect w/Jamie
Website: www.JaimeWrightBooks.com
Facebook: facebook.com/jaimejowright
Twitter: twitter.com/jaimejowright
Instagram: instagram.com/jaimejowright

Listen to the podcast for more from our interview, plus an excerpt from The Souls of Lost Lake.

On this episode of “The Romantic Side of Suspense,” my guests are Mary Alford and Robin Patchen. Among other topics, we discussed how good and evil are played out on the pages of our books.

“We see enough of the other kind of stories where the bad guy doesn’t get his in the end,” Robin said. “I like what they call whole stories, where good is good and bad is bad and good wins. I like to write whole stories.”

“We live in a very fallen world, and it’s nice to get away from the reality that evil doesn’t always get punished right now,” Mary said. “It’s good to have books where the hero and heroine have everything worked out in the end, the bad guy gets punished and there’s usually a happily ever after at the end of the story.”

Mary is a USA Today bestselling author. Her titles have been finalists for several awards, including the Daphne du Maurier, the Beverly, the Maggie, and the Selah. She and her husband live in the heart of Texas in the middle of 70 acres with two cats and one dog.

Connect w/Mary
Website: https://maryalford.net/
Facebook: @ MaryAlfordAuthor/
Twitter: @maryalford13

Robin is a USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of Christian romantic suspense. She grew up in a small town in New Hampshire, the setting of her Nutfield Saga books, and then headed to Boston to earn a journalism degree. Working in marketing and public relations, she discovered how much she loathed the nine-to-five ball and chain. After relocating to the Southwest, she started writing her first novel while she homeschooled her three children. The novel was dreadful, but her passion for storytelling didn’t wane. Thankfully, as her children grew, so did her writing ability. Now that her kids are adults, she has more time to play with the lives of fictional heroes and heroines, wreaking havoc and working magic to give her characters happy endings. When she’s not writing, she’s editing or reading, proving that most of her life revolves around the 26 letters of the alphabet.

Connect w/Robin
Website: https://robinpatchen.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RobinPatchen/
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/robin-patchen
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5187882.Robin_Patchen
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Robin-Patchen/e/B00A289790/

Listen to the podcast for more from our interview, plus teasers for Among the Innocent and Lineage of Corruption.

On this episode of “The Romantic Side of Suspense,” I’m chatting with Sami Abrams, who grew up hating to read. It wasn’t until her 30s that she found authors that captured her attention. Now, most evenings you can find her engrossed in a romantic suspense. In her opinion, a crime and a little romance is the recipe for a great story. She lives in Northern California, but she will always be a Kansas girl at heart. She has a love of sports, family, and travel. However, a cabin at Lake Tahoe writing her next story is definitely at the top of her list.

Under Susie May Warren’s Sunrise Publishing, Sami worked with Lynette Eason in the Elite Guardians story world developed by Lynette in a previous series. “Lynette is my mentor for this book,” Sami said. “We collaborate as far as brainstorming, but she does help me if I run into a problem. … And she’s also the one editing it, so it’s a Lynette-style book.”

Connect w/Sami
Website: www.samiaabrams.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/samiaabrams/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/samiaabrams
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/samiaabrams2
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21487374.Sami_A_Abrams
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/sami-a-abrams
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Sami-A-Abrams/e/B094S4WWWX

Listen to the podcast for more from our interview, plus an excerpt from Impending Strike.

On this episode of “The Romantic Side of Suspense,” my guests are Dana Mentink and Terri Reed. Among other things, we chatted about the dangers of exploring Death Valley with GPS and introducing too many characters at once.

“You can’t really hand over your brain to any electronic,” Dana said. “I say that as somebody who’s lost all the time—I’m perpetually lost everywhere.”

“You don’t want people to have to have a roadmap to get through your book,” Terri said. “That’s the beauty of series, though. You can introduce a seemingly throwaway character in the first book that’s going to be very, very important later.”

Dana is a USA Today and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author as well as a two-time American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award winner, and the recipient of a Holt Medallion. She’s written over fifty titles in the suspense, lighthearted romance and mystery genres. She is pleased to write for Harlequin’s Love Inspired Suspense, Harlequin Heartwarming and Poisoned Pen Press.

Connect w/Dana
Website: danamentink.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authordanamentink/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7tY41VV_Velenocrku4LJw
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Danamentink
Instagram: dana_mentink
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/dana-mentink

Award-winning, multi-published author Terri found solace from a chaotic childhood in the pages of books that took her far away to different realms and realities. When she discovered Christian fiction, she also discovered her own story telling voice. Now she writes books of heart-warming romance and heart-pounding suspense infused with faith. Her romance and romantic suspense novels have appeared on Publisher’s Weekly top ten and Nielsen BookScan top hundred lists, and have been featured in USA Today. She’s a member of the Honor Roll of Romance Writers of America. Her books have finaled in Romance Writers of America RITA contest, National Readers’ Choice Award, Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award, and the American Christian Fiction Writers Carol Award. One of her romance novels was adapted into a Hallmark movie for Christmas 2019. Terri resides in the Pacific Northwest with her college-sweetheart husband. When not writing, she enjoys spending time with her family and friends and running the agility course with her Australian shepherd.

Connect w/Terri
Website: https://www.terrireed.com/
Newsletter: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/o4x4h1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/terrireedauthorpage/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terrireedauthor/
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/terri-reed
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Terri-Reed/e/B001H9VYCQ%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/178940.Terri_Reed

Listen to the podcast for more from our interview, plus teasers for Death Valley Hideout and Detection Detail.

On this episode of “The Romantic Side of Suspense,” my guest is Shannon Redmon, who remembers the first grown-up book she checked out from the neighborhood bookmobile. A Victoria Holt novel with romance, intrigue, dashing gentlemen and ballroom parties captivated her attention. For her mother, the silence must have been a pleasant break from non-stop teenage chatter, but for Shannon, those stories whipped up a desire and passion for writing.

Shannon hopes her stories immerse readers into a world of joy and escape while encouraging faith, hope, and love. Her debut novel Cave of Secrets released by Harlequin’s Love Inspired Suspense line in October 2020.

Her other published works have appeared in Spark magazine, Splickety magazine, The Horse of My Dreams compilation book, Romantic Moments compilation book, the Lightning Blog and the Seriously Write blog. She won first place in the Foundation Awards and is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency.

“I have been writing for a really long time,” Shannon said. “When I was a kid, I used to write poems and songs. I would [also] write breakup letters for my friends’ boyfriends. They would ask me … how to say this without hurting his feelings. [My writing] grew from that.”

Connect w/Shannon
Website: www.shannonredmon.com
Goodreads: https://bit.ly/SRGoodreads
Amazon Author Page: https://amzn.to/3suOv7F
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/shannonredmon/
YouTube: https://bit.ly/SMRYouTubeChannel
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shannon.redmon
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/shannon_redmon

Listen to the podcast for more from our interview, plus an excerpt from Secrets Left Behind.