Guarded Blog Tour: Author Interview + Giveaway

Welcome to the Blog + Review Tour & Giveaway for Guarded by Sara Davison, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

Title: Guarded
Series: The Night Guardians, Book 2
Author: Sara Davison
Publisher: Mountain Brook Ink
Release Date: February 1, 2020
Genre: Suspense / Thriller

The tip the stranger left sent Nicole a painfully clear message. The past is no longer in the past.

Nicole is fighting to bury the memories. Someone else is fighting to keep them exposed.

Detective Daniel Grey is back in town, and diner owner Nicole Hunter isn’t sure how she feels about that. It’s been almost seven years, and now she doesn’t just have herself to think about but her six-year-old son as well. If she does find the courage to take a chance on love, her heart could be smashed into pieces. Again.

And it’s not only her heart that is in danger. Someone is working hard to disrupt her present with reminders of the past she has worked hard to forget, especially her darkest memory—of the night her husband was gunned down in the street in front of her. As much as she might want to push Daniel away, Nicole needs him closer now than ever before.

But the one she trusts to keep her and her son safe has a secret that may prove to be the biggest threat of all.

PURCHASE LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon

Sara Davison is the author of the romantic suspense series, The Seven Trilogy and The Night Guardians. She has been a finalist for eight national writing awards, including Best New Canadian Christian author, a Carol Award, and two Daphne du Maurier Awards for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense. She is a Word and Cascade Award winner. She currently resides in Ontario, Canada with her husband Michael and their three children, all of whom she (literally) looks up to.

CONNECT WITH SARA: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Hi Sara! Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions and giving my readers the chance to get to know you and your newest book- Guarded- a little bit better. I always like to begin these interviews the same way with something fun… tell us 5 random facts about yourself that we WON’T find in your bio!

1) I don’t love to fly, so my preferred method of travel is always a road trip.2) Disneyworld is my favourite place in the world.3) I once literally bumped into Donny Osmond on a sidewalk in Toronto.4) I won the science award in eighth grade and several public speaking awards in elementary school. Nowadays, science and public speaking are two of the things I hate doing more than anything else.5) I am an extreme night owl and not someone you want to interact with before I have my coffee in the morning.

Let’s talk writing! Did you always know that you wanted to pursue writing as a career or is that something that came about later?

I kept a diary when I was really young (although now I hate journaling, go figure), but it wasn’t until fourth grade that I knew for sure I wanted to be a writer. During that school year, I had an article published in the school newsletter, and I can remember to this day how it felt to see my words in print and to know that other people were reading them. I knew with absolute certainty that day that I wanted to be a writer when I was older.

Why romantic suspense? What first drew you to this genre and why do you enjoy writing it?

Romantic suspense has always been my favourite genre to read, so when I started writing, even though I hadn’t intentionally decided to write that way, those were the types of stories that came out. I love the balance of the edge-of-your-seat dread and excitement and the love story that ups the ante to an extreme level.

What type of research goes into creating this type of story?

To be completely honest, I don’t love the research aspect of writing, and I tend to only do as much as I need to in order to make sure the story details are accurate and to lend authenticity to the writing. After that I typically ask someone who is an expert in a certain area to read the story to ensure the details are correct. For example, I have a friend who is a former police officer, so she reads my books and fixes any procedural errors I may have made with regards to the police work.

Can you tell us a little bit about Guarded? What do you hope readers will take away from this book?

Guarded is the story of Detective Daniel Grey and diner owner Nicole Kelly. In book one of the series, Daniel and Nicole meet when he is investigating her boyfriend for potential involvement in a string of kidnappings. When they meet again seven years later, both Daniel and Nicole are reluctant to get involved in a romantic relationship. They overcome their fears and get together, but Daniel is keeping a secret from her that could tear them apart again. As well, Nicole starts to receive threatening items that bring up memories of the past she has tried to forget.

The major theme of all of my books is that, whatever you are going through, you are never alone. God is always with you. This is the main thing that I hope readers will take away from Guarded as well, in addition to the idea of trusting that God is sovereign and in control and, even when it doesn’t feel like it, His plans for us are best.

This is book number two in your Night Guardian Series. Will readers need to catch up on book one, or can Guarded be read as a standalone?

I have tried to include enough back story in Guarded to enable readers to catch up quickly even if they haven’t read Vigilant, but they will likely get more out of the story if they read book one first.

I have found that writers are so often some of the best readers too. If we were to take a look at your TBR, what might we find there?

A lot of Christian romantic suspense novels. I am currently reading Mind Games by Nancy Mehl. Before that I read The Killing Tide by Dani Pettrey and I have Forget Me Now by Alanna Terry on the go on my Kindle. I read a lot of books for my editing work and belong to two book clubs and need to read a book a month for each of those, so I don’t get a ton of reading for pleasure time in.

Thank you again for taking the time to answer my questions. Before we go, can you give us an idea on what we can look forward to next? Any projects you are currently working on that you can share?

I belong to The Mosaic Collection of authors, and one of us releases a book each month. These are all contemporary Christian novels, but we write in various genres and styles with the common theme of Family by His Design. My book with the collection, Lost Down Deep, releases April 1, 2020, and will be the first in a new romantic suspense series, The Rose Tattoo Trilogy. In 2021, I will be releasing the third book in The Night Guardians Series, Driven, as well as the sequel to Lost Down Deep, tentatively titled Written in Ink. So lots happening!

(1) winner will receive a signed copy of Guarded and a $25 Amazon gift card!

Be sure to check out each stop on the tour for more chances to win. Full tour schedule shown below. Giveaway will begin at midnight February 1, 2020 and last through 11:59 PM EST on February 8, 2020. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US/CAN mailing addresses only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.

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