Tag Archives: romantic suspense

Review: Storm Warning, by Linda Hall

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Storm Warning, by Linda Hall (Steeple Hill, 2010)

Nori Edwards doesn’t feel at home anywhere since her husband’s tragic death. In search of a fresh start, she buys a tourist property on scenic Whisper Lake, Maine. She plans to fix up Trail’s End before her teen daughters return from their volunteer stints at summer camp. She and the girls will live in the main building, an old hunting lodge, and rent out the cabins.

Finding workers is only her first problem. Except for the attractive Steve, the local workforce wants nothing to do with Trail’s End. Rumour is, the place is haunted—by the ghost of its original owner, and perhaps by a crazy killer lurking in the woods.

Strange events multiply until Nori begins to think there really is a ghost. Or is it someone very much alive?

Steve Baylor hopes helping with Nori’s renovations will let him find traces of the two teens who vanished there two summers ago. The fact that the new owner is attractive is a nice plus, but Steve has secrets of his own and needs to keep his distance.

As always, Linda Hall’s characters are realistic and their struggles resonate with our own. Both Nori and Steve carry hurts that still need healing and that make it hard to trust and love again. Steve is learning to depend on God, and Nori needs to re-learn the same thing.

Nori is a muralist, another of the interesting careers Linda investigates for her heroines. We don’t learn a lot about it in this book, but it adds to the story’s appeal.

Award-winning Canadian author Linda Hall can be counted on to deliver a good read with strong characters. Storm Warning is her 16th novel, and I think I’ve only missed reading one. Her next novel in the Whisper Lake series, On Thin Ice, releases in April 2010. You can find Linda online at her website and at the Craftie Ladies of Suspense blog.

Review copy purchased by reviewer (from Chapters.ca).

Review: Beguiled, by Deeanne Gist and J. Mark Bertrand

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Beguiled, by Deeanne Gist and J. Mark Bertrand (Bethany House, 2010)

Rylee Monroe is a dog-walker and pet-sitter for the elite in Charleston, South Carolina. Unfortunately she’s also a key suspect in a rash of thefts by the “Robin Hood burglar,” since most of the victims happen to be her clients.

Journalist Logan Woods wants an inside scoop on the burglar for his paper, but it’s even more important for the book he’s writing on local criminals.

The two meet when one of Rylee’s charges mistakes Logan for an attacker and chases him. Despite first impressions, the two team up to catch the thief, since the police don’t seem to be making much headway. But faced with a growing attraction, can Rylee and Logan trust the other’s motives?

The authors deliver a page-turning mystery that’s not too scary to read before bed. The one problem might be putting it down to get your sleep. I’m unfamiliar with Charleston, but they claim to have reproduced the South of Broad neighbourhood with only very few touches of artistic license.

Rylee, Logan and their friends are sympathetic characters that I was rooting for from the beginning. The opposition is strong as well, and interesting.

I chose this book because of the back-cover blurb, before seeing the cover art. Based on sight and title, I’d have passed it up as a straight romance and missed a good read. (Not that romances aren’t good reads! I just like something extra thrown in.)

Deeanne Gist and J. Mark Bertrand are each novelists in their own right. Deeanne’s most recent historical romance is A Bride in the Bargain, and Mark’s first crime novel, Back on Murder, releases July 2010. Beguiled is their first collaboration, and I hope they’ll do more.

Beguiled is available now at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group. For reviews, audio and video interviews and all kinds of reader tidbits, visit the Beguiled page at Bethany House.  You can read an excerpt here, or if you’ve already read it you may want to check out the discussion questions here.

Review copy provided by Graf-Martin Communications Inc.

Cara Putman: author of historical romance and romantic suspense

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Cara Putman is the author of three historical romances: Canteen Dreams, Sandhill Dreams and Captive Dreams (Barbour’s Heartsong Presents) and a romantic suspense, Deadly Exposure (Love Inspired Suspense).

She’s also an attorney, wife, mom, women’s ministry leader, and publicity officer for American Christian Fiction Writers and adviser to the Indiana chapter.

JS: Welcome, Cara, and thanks for taking time to join us. Along with all the other things you do, you’ve just had four books release in under a year. Wow! Do you have any advice for us on how to juggle priorities? Or do we simply have to give up sleep?

CP: Giving up sleep is part of it. LOL  But if writing is a dream and a passion, then you find ways to squeeze it in. And having deadlines makes it critical. I’m not writing just because I want to. I now have houses depending on me hitting deadlines. But I’ve cut 99% of TV watching, I’m very careful about commitments, and focusing on what I have to do. The rest slides to the side – at least for now.

JS: You started with historical fiction. Tell us a bit about your three Dreams books from Heartsong.

CP: Each of these historical romances tells a homefront story from World War Two. You could call these the stories of my heart, since I get to tell the world about the wonderful people of my home state, Nebraska. Canteen Dreams is a novelized telling of my grandparents’ story along with the North Platte Canteen. The canteen served more than 6 million servicemen and women during the war. An amazing story of sacrifice and service. Then Sandhill Dreams pulls out the story of war dogs trained at a Fort way up in northwestern Nebraska. That one was fun to research! And Captive Dreams uses the prisoner of war camps scattered across Nebraska as the historical backdrop. Those elements make the stories unique, then the romance and characters blossom from there.

JS: It sounds like setting is important to you. Are you a writer who likes to immerse herself in details of the setting while incubating the story idea?

CP: Absolutely. The series I’m starting right now is set in Ohio. I’ve driven through, but never been. So I took a research trip there and am changing the setting for the first book because I couldn’t get up to the town and was having a terrible time getting resources and people to call me. Rather than get it wrong, I’m moving it. The history is too important to get it wrong.

JS: What differences did you find in writing romantic suspense?

CP: For me, the biggest challenge was making sure there was enough romance. I loved the suspense thread. And because of the tight timing I had to really work to get the romance thread to work in a way that was believable to me. The research is in different areas, but still very important. And it’s all about getting the heroine in lots of trouble. Gotta love that.

JS: Did you have all three Dreams stories written before writing Deadly Exposure?

CP: Actually Deadly Exposure was the first book I started. I wrote Canteen Dreams in the middle because an editor wanted to see that book. I wrote Sandhill Dreams while I edited Deadly Exposure. Talk about challenging. Music became an important cue to remind my brain which story I was writing.

JS: Which songs did you choose to identify each story?

CP: “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” for the 1940s – though I have a CD of War era music that I’d listen to. And then for Deadly Exposure it would be contemporary praise and worship or Carrie Underwood 🙂

JS: Are you going to keep writing in both genres?

CP: I’m currently working on a three-book Ohio World War Two series. It will be a lot of fun! And a sequel to Deadly Exposure. I’m in one of those crazy places they always tell you not to go. I write historical romance and romantic suspense. I plan to move to legal thrillers, but right now, I’m straddling genres. I can’t wait to get back to Deadly Judgment, the sequel to Deadly Exposure. All kinds of chaos – and I love the ticking time bomb that suspense has. But I love writing books set in the early 40s, too. One day I’ll have to decide, but right now I get to write in two genres that I love.

JS: Working on so many different projects, do you ever find yourself thinking of one character only to remember that he or she is in a different book?

CP: Not often J But I use music and other cues to help me switch gears. And I keep photos of key characters in a file so I can pull them out when I get a tad lost.

JS: What do you like best about the writing life?

CP: I love creating a world and characters that are familiar, but bigger than my life at the same time. And I love the letters that let me know a truth that was sprinkled into the story resonated with a writer at the right time.

JS: What do you like least?

CP: The solitary nature. That’s why I’m so active in groups like American Christian Fiction Writers. I’m not an introvert, so I need to find time to be with others and sharing what I’m learning.

JS: What do your husband and kids think of your writing?

CP: They are literally my biggest cheerleaders. Abigail is quick to tell others about my books and booksignings. And Eric is always talking me up. I couldn’t do this if they weren’t excited and behind me.

JS: Writers are told to read widely and voraciously. I think that’s one of the perks of the deal. What are you reading these days?

CP: I read all the time! Love books. A Passion Redeemed by Julie Lessman was a great romance. And Sandra Byrd’s new book Bon Appetit was a delightful surprise. I LOVED Randy Singer’s latest By Reason of Insanity – move over, John Grisham, there is competition in town.

JS: Thanks so much for taking time to let us get to know you a bit, Cara. May the LORD continue to bless you and make you a blessing to others-in every area of your life.

CP: Thank you so much for having me. I so appreciate it, Joanna!

You can visit Cara’s website, or catch her at her blog, The Law, Books and Life. Cara is also the Thursday blogger at Craftie Ladies of Suspense.

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“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine! When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, Nor will the flame burn you. For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Saviour. Isaiah 43

In Sandhill Dreams, Lainie Gardner finds herself on a train to Crawford, NE, and Fort Robinson. It’s the last place she wants to be, but if she wants to be part of the war effort she has no other options. Tom Hamilton enlisted to work with the thousands of horses at Fort Robinson, and finds himself assigned to the War Dog Training Camp.

From the moment Lainie and Tom meet, sparks hot enough to light the prairie on fire fly between the two. Tom is assigned to train the dogs that have been sent to the army by a patriotic public. The only problem is he’s afraid of dogs after being bit by one as a child. Lainie travels to Fort Robinson to find a civilian job at the post after her plan to ship overseas with the Army Nurses Corp. is ended by illness. Join them in their adventure during the summer of 1943.

Sandhill Dreams released in May08 from Barbour’s Heartsong Presents. Right now it’s available from the publisher, and it should be in the online stores sometime this fall.

Cara graciously gave me a copy of Sandhill Dreams. I enjoyed it, and learned something too: I hadn’t known dogs were used in WWII–nor that patriotic Americans were encouraged to donate their family pets!