Category Archives: Secrets and Lies

Free and Discounted: Kobo Only (ends Feb. 26)

Start reading the Redemption’s Edge series on Kobo and save big! (ends Feb. 26/18)
Heaven's Prey free for Kobo with promo code FREEBOOK Ends Feb. 26/18

Secrets and Lies (Redemption's Edge book 2) is 40% off for Kobo until Feb. 26/18 with promo code 40SALE

40% off Secrets and Lies

If you haven’t read my romantic suspense novel, Secrets and Lies, now’s the time. You can grab a copy for Kobo at 40% off from October 26-30, 2017.

Don’t usually read on Kobo? No big deal. The reading app is a free download from the Google Play store or the Kobo site. New customers get a $5 credit, which means you get my book for free with some credit left over!

40% off Secrets and Lies for Kobo, worldwide. Oct 26-30/17

Save on Secrets and Lies

Secrets and Lies, Redemption's Edge Book 2, on sale for $2.99 until Sept. 11/17.Now available for Google Play as well as Kindle, Kobo, Nook, and iBooks. Sale price for ebooks ends September 11, 2017.

40% Sale: Secrets and Lies

Secrets and Lies, by Janet SketchleyFlash Sale!

40% off Secrets and Lies for Kobo Dec 15-19. Use promo code 40DEC at checkout.

Shop here: Secrets and Lies.

Novel Research: the fun and the strange

“What’s the strangest tidbit you discovered in researching your novel?”

That’s a question I like to ask other writers in interviews. Or, “what’s the most interesting thing you learned,” or “what was the most fun to research?”

Today I’m asking myself those questions. Writing suspense novels means most of what I research is unpleasant. Sometimes I even wonder if someone in a uniform will show up at my door to take away my laptop. I try to get the difficult topics out of the way first, so I can reward myself with the lighter things.

So… here’s what I’d call the most fun… and the strangest:

Heaven’s Prey: most fun: definitely the racing. In the name of research, I attended the movie Kart Racer, about a boy learning to race competive go-karts. Much later in the process, I discovered a slew of online videos on driving tips and engine sounds.

Secrets and Lies: most fun: spending a day with my husband, visiting the Centre Island Park where Carol and Joey picnicked in the novel.

Paddleboard and sailboat as seen from Toronto's Island park.

Carol and Joey may have seen views like this.

Without Proof: strangest: causes of small plane crashes. In all seriousness, plane crashes are not funny. People get hurt or killed, costly damage happens. But setting the tragedy aside momentarily, some of the circumstances of these accidents are highly amusing. My favourite, I think, is the crocodile incident as described below:

A passenger brought aboard a crocodile hidden in a sports bag. The crocodile escaped, causing a panic among passengers who all rushed to one end of the plane. This caused an imbalance in the aircraft which led to loss of control and a crash.
[source: http://www.planecrashinfo.com/unusual.htm]

The article at the PlaneCrashInfo.com site is lengthy, but it’s an interesting history of unusual accidents from 1933 to 2010. Some are sabotage, others are stupidity. If you’re so inclined, there’s a lot more things to check out on the site.

What about my new series? The crime and health resources would give spoilers for the books, and they’ve been neither fun nor strange so far. One thing I’ve been looking at is dory photos, to find out what the boat looks like in front of the Green Dory Inn. (The boat’s not seaworthy, and the owner has turned it into a flower garden.)

Oh — and what I think may be the most fun research? I’d like to know what the best chocolate dessert is in the Town of Lunenburg, and where it’s available. Who says research can’t be hands-on?

Flash Sale on Kobo Ebooks

Extra post this weekend… because I found out that my books are included in a half-price sale in the Kobo store! [Don’t have a Kobo? They have a free app to download for your tablet, phone or computer.]

If you wanted to read them before Without Proof comes out in November, now’s your chance. The following links are for the Canadian store, but Kobo sells worldwide. Outside of Canada, just go to your country’s Kobo store and search “Redemption’s Edge Sketchley”.

To buy: add the book(s) to your cart, proceed to checkout, and scroll down to see where to add a promotion code. Type SALE50 and you’ll see the discount apply. It works on more than one book, so stock up for fall reading! Sale ends August 31.

My Canadian Kobo links: Heaven’s Prey and Secrets and Lies.

Christian Suspense Giveaways

Just a quick post to let you know about two opportunities to win a copy of my books:

At suspense author Patricia Bradley’s blog: one copy of Secrets and Lies (Canada and US only, ends Aug. 16)

At the Koala Mom’s blog: one set of Heaven’s Prey and Secrets and Lies (Canada and US only, ends Aug. 31) There are plenty of other giveaways at this site, too, since author Bonnie Way is celebrating a blogging anniversary.

Secrets and Lies Interview

Secrets and LiesRon Hughes from HopeStreamRadio interviewed me last month, and while it’s not archived on their site, I’ve posted it to mine. We talked about a few aspects of writing and about my novels, and I read an excerpt from Secrets and Lies. The interview is about ten minutes long, if you’d like to have a listen (just click the “play” triangle in the media player below).  And do check out HopeStreamRadio. They currently provide about two hours of content per day, which repeats throughout the day. There’s teaching, music, and a variety of interesting content (including author interviews!)

[Media player didn’t show up for you? Click here to listen to the interview.]

Book Giveaway: Clean Indie Reads

CIR Blog Hop March Madness

The Clean Indie Reads group is giving away over 40 ebooks! One winner gets them all, and will be well-stocked for reading for the next little while 🙂 The books for the Grand Prize can all be seen at the March Madness Grand Prize link.

You can enter at each stop on this blog hop, and the more times you fill out the form, the more chances you’ll have.

My contribution to the Grand Prize is a copy of my Christian romantic suspense novel, Secrets and Lies. 

Secrets and Lies, by Janet Sketchley

Carol Daniels thinks she out-ran her enemies, until a detective arrives at her door with a warning from her convict brother. Minor incidents take on a sinister meaning. An anonymous phone call warns her not to hide again.

Now she must cooperate with a drug lord while the police work to trap him. Carol has always handled crisis alone, but this one might break her. Late-night deejay Joey Hill offers friendship and moral support. Can she trust him? One thing’s certain. She can’t risk prayer.

Several of the Clean Indie Reads authors have dropped their prices for a sale at the same time. Grab a good read (or more!) now at the CIR sale site.

Enter below for the Grand Prize, and remember you can enter at each blog. So, once you’ve entered, click the blue frog image at the bottom of this post to reach the other stops on the blog hop. Contest dates: March 16-20, 2015. As always, contest void where prohibited by law.

[Edited: Congratulations to Shelly Hammond, winner of the Grand Prize package. Forty-one books… hmm… I’m not sure that’s a full year’s worth, but it’ll keep Shelly reading for a while. Thank you to everyone who participated in the blog hop. I hope you had fun and discovered some new-to-you authors.]

If the entry form doesn’t load properly for you, you can enter the draw by following this link.

Ready to hop on to the next stop?

 [Don’t see the frog? You can reach the blog hop list here.]

Secrets and Lies Photo Album

Most of the settings in Secrets and Lies are fictional: Carol’s café, the Linden House art gallery, the apartments, Paul’s school. Two sites are real: the Roy Thomson Hall where Carol and Patrick attend the symphony, and the Toronto Island parks.

I wrote the island scenes with some help from Google Maps, but in 2013 my husband and I were in Toronto and visited the island parks. Like Carol and Joey, we took a water taxi to the islands and rode back on the regular ferry. I took hundreds of pictures, to capture the feel, and although we visited in mid-August and Carol and Joey went in September, they may have seen things like this:

Toronto Island gardens

Some of the Toronto Island gardens [photo credit: Janet Sketchley]

This is the path they walked along before the guy stole Carol's bag. If you walk far enough, it becomes a boardwalk. This is the concrete wall they'd have leaned on to watch the paddleboarder.

This is the path they walked along before the guy stole Carol’s bag. If you walk far enough, it becomes a boardwalk. This is the concrete wall they’d have leaned on to watch the paddleboarder.

Plenty of activity on the water -- the paddleboarder they watched may have looked like this.

Plenty of activity on the water — the paddleboarder they watched may have looked like this. [photo credit: Janet Sketchley]

This is the regular passenger ferry to/from the Island parks, with the CN Tower in the background.

This is the regular passenger ferry to/from the Island parks, with the CN Tower in the background. [photo credit: Janet Sketchley]

Roy Thomson Hall... sadly, we didn't get inside to enjoy a performance.

Roy Thomson Hall. What an interesting shape! Sadly, we didn’t get inside to enjoy a performance. [photo credit: Janet Sketchley]