The Romantic Side of Suspense

“The switch [to writing for adults, rather than children] was difficult because you have to have more content when you’re writing for adults than when you’re writing for children,” Sheri says. To generate enough content in the first romantic suspense book, “I picked four characters to highlight, one female and three men, and put myself in the place of those people as I wrote about their perspectiv...

During this episode of “The Romantic Side of Suspense” podcast, you’ll hear from six authors about their romantic suspense books available this month. The post July 2023 Quick Takes in Christian Romantic Suspense (Episode 94) first appeared on Author Sarah Hamaker .

“My very first book was a romantic suspense, and I felt like I was trying to copy what everyone else was doing,” Tina says. “I loved cozy mysteries, so I thought I’d have a lot more freedom if I got away from all the rules that there are in romance and just kind of have fun with it and do what I want to do. It was great because it gave me time to develop my voice.” The post How Tina Wheeler Found...

During this episode of “The Romantic Side of Suspense” podcast, you’ll hear from six authors about their romantic suspense books available this month. The post June 2023 Quick Takes in Christian Romantic Suspense (Episode 92) first appeared on Author Sarah Hamaker .

“I have a whole lot of different interests, and the fun thing about writing is that I get to use that creativity in creating characters or inventing plots,” Caitlin says. “My vision when I was going to write full time was to wake up and write in the morning, then I’ll have lunch and I’ll want to write again in the afternoon, and I’m going to get so many books written this way. That didn’t happen.”...

“[With our busy ministry], people are asking how am I also writing a book? Doing it on the run,” Kate says. “What’s awesome is my husband bought the an iPod Pro, so it’s always connected to 5G, it has Scrivener on it, which is what I use for writing, So I can open it up and write… and get that writing done in the car or on an airplane.” The post Kate Angelo Writes on the Run (Episode 90) first app...

During this episode of “The Romantic Side of Suspense” podcast, you’ll hear from nine authors about their romantic suspense books available this month. The post May 2023 Quick Takes in Christian Romantic Suspense (Episode 89) first appeared on Author Sarah Hamaker .

“All of my books are set in the mid-Atlantic, mostly in Virginia,” Linda says. “I know the weather and knows how the weather moves across the state. … I like the mountains and I like the beach. It’s got everything I need as far as setting is concerned.” The post Why Linda J. White Likes Virginia as a Story Setting (Episode 88) first appeared on Author Sarah Hamaker .

During this episode of “The Romantic Side of Suspense” podcast, you’ll hear from seven authors about their romantic suspense books available this month. The post April 2023 Quick Takes in Christian Romantic Suspense (Episode 87) first appeared on Author Sarah Hamaker .

“I think that writing is just one more way to connect,” DeeDee says. “We all desire those relationships and that connection, and some of us are better at it than others. … It’s important for us to have those relationships, have those connections because we were made for that, for relationships.” The post DeeDee Lake’s Many Connections (Episode 86) first appeared on Author Sarah Hamaker .

“Starting with my debut, I’ve put a couple of farms scenes in my book,” Elle says. “[My farm and its animals] are in my books a lot. … [To write,] I sit on my screened porch in fall, spring and summer because I can look out over the acres and enjoy the animals. That’s my favorite go-to place to write. In the winter, … I usually sit on my couch to write.” The post The Farm Life Inspires Elle E. Kay...

During this episode of “The Romantic Side of Suspense” podcast, you’ll hear from X authors about their romantic suspense books available this month. Here’s the list of authors and books for March 2023, with the book’s release date if not available now. Patsy Conway/Theme Park Abduction Karen Randau/From Chaos (3/13) Rebecca Hopewell/High-Stakes Blizzard Lynn Shannon/Tactical […] The post Mar...

PeggySue collaborates often with writers and others to get their stories told. “I write well with others,” she said. Her co-author Max Garland gave her 10 bullet points and told her to write The Patent, and the two collaborated on the details and plot. The post The Collaboration of PeggySue Wells (Episode 83) first appeared on Author Sarah Hamaker .

I’m debuting a new format for “The Romantic Side of Suspense” podcast—Quick Takes in Christian Romantic Suspense. The first Wednesday of each month, I’ll bring you the latest books in the genre with mini-interview with the authors about their new releases. I hope you’ll enjoy hearing from your favorite romantic suspense authors talk about their […] The post February 2023 Quick Takes in Chris...

“I’ve been a writer since I was seven years old, “Debbi said. “I wrote my first story when I was in first grade even though I couldn’t read or write. … I told my mom a story and she wrote it down for me and I took it to my teacher and she read it. That was my very first entry and I continued to write all through grade school … and won my first writing contest in seventh grade.” The post Debbi Migi...

“I love different genres in romance,” Michelle said. “Now I write both straight romance and romantic suspense. … But I do have suspense elements in my contemporary romance. … I feel like it enhances the romantic side of the story. … I really love playing in both worlds, so it’s been a good fit for me.” The post Why Michelle Aleckson Loves Romance (Episode 80) first appeared on Author Sarah Hamaker...

“My writing has evolved over my lifetime,” Amy said. “From when I was a little girl and up through college, I wrote poetry and short stories. … But I’ve always loved fiction—it’s been my escape from everything. … When I decided I was going to write a book, … I just naturally went to fiction.” The post The Many Writing Hats of Amy Schisler (Episode 79) first appeared on Author Sarah Hamaker .

“As a child, I wanted to be a teacher, and I ended up being a lawyer, but what has been consistent throughout my life is my love of books and my love of story,” D said. “I read a lot as a kid. … I think I really had a dream of having one of my books in the library one day.” The post How DL Wood’s Love of Reading Spurred Her to Write Her Own (Episode 78) first appeared on Author Sarah Hamaker .

“I picked Alaska because I love it up here,” Sara said about where she lives and writes. “There’s a lot of adventure that happens just out my front door. … I like writing from an Alaskan point of view.” This series “is spread out through North Carolina, from the Outer Banks all the way down to Wilmington,” Dani said. “We actually vacation in [that area … ], and I just think the area is so beautifu...

“I used the term ghosts for several reasons,” Linda explained. “My hero … calls these disturbances [in a house] ghosts because he doesn’t know what else to call them. … I choose the ghosts for the title because I think it’s important for us to understand as Christians that Satan will use any means to deter or deflect our relationship with the Lord.” The post Linda Wood Rondeau’s “Ghostly” Writing...

“The repeat pattern of my [book] themes is taking a woman who has been broken … and walking her through the steps of forgiveness, things like that, to show her that her past doesn’t take away her future,” Lori said. “My books are dual timeline,” Wendy said. “This is a wonderful, rags-to-riches immigration story that has God woven through all of it and how he carries us through so many things.” The...

She got started writing about wildfires because of a personal encounter with one. “A wildfire came [close to our cabin in Arizona] and we were watching it from our front porch,” Cathy said. “That gave me the original idea for the first book I did … about hotshots. … That was a subject that was personal for me.” The post Cathy McDavid’s Fiery Writing (Episode 74) first appeared on Author Sarah Hama...

“I wrote [my hero in Critical Alliance] into the first two books, but I didn’t really know who he was or what he was doing exactly,” Elizabeth said. “I really left him as an enigma—and even the other characters in the book were like, what is he doing and where is he going. I answered those questions in book three.” “I wish I was that clever that I could have it all plotted out beforehand,” Virgini...

“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.” The post How Ja...

“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 a...