Just Read Blog Tour: “The End Begins (Book 1 of the Seven Trilogy)” by S. Davison- Author Interview

Welcome to the blog tour and giveaway for The Seven Trilogy, romantic suspense novels by Sara Davison, hosted by JustRead tours!

ABOUT THE BOOKS

Title: The End Begins (Seven Trilogy #1)
Author: Sara Davison
Publisher: Ashberry Lane/WhiteFire Publishing
Genre: Romantic Suspense

One of them is a prisoner and one of them is free. The same one.

Bookstore owner Meryn O’Reilly and Army Captain Jesse Christensen are on opposite sides of a battle. When martial law is declared, Jesse and his platoon are sent to Meryn’s city to keep an eye on the Christians and make sure they are not stepping outside of the confines of the law.

Fiery and quick-tempered, Meryn chafes under the curfew and other restrictions to her freedom. Jesse is equally amused, intrigued, and terrified by her spirit, knowing she could find herself in prison if she shows defiance to the wrong soldier.

His worst fears are realized when she commits a crime he cannot protect her from. Now they both face an uncertain future, and the very real threat of losing everything, including their lives. With time running out, Jesse works feverishly to convince the authorities to show leniency to Meryn. And to convince her that love can overcome any barrier that lies between them.

PURCHASE: Goodreads | Amazon

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Title: The Darkness Deepens (Seven Trilogy #2)
Author: Sara Davison
Publisher: Ashberry Lane/WhiteFire Publishing
Genre: Romantic Suspense

(formerly The Dragon Roars)

Their Secrets Protect Them … But Secrets are Hard to Keep

No one in the army can find out that Captain Jesse Christensen has become a believer. He and bookstore owner Meryn O’Reilly are forced to meet in secret, facing imprisonment or worse if they are found together. Their relationship deepens, but so does Lieutenant Gallagher’s hatred for the Christians in their city. As Gallagher’s power grows, it becomes clear that his connections go much further up the chain of command than anyone realized, putting all believers, especially Jesse, in extreme danger.

Meryn wants to give her heart to Jesse fully, but her past holds her back. Although circumstances conspire to keep her silent, she needs to tell him her secret. When he finds out what she has been keeping from him, nothing will stand between them anymore.

Or nothing will ever be the same.

PURCHASE: Goodreads | Amazon

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Title: The Morning Star Rises (Seven Trilogy #3)
Author: Sara Davison
Publisher: Ashberry Lane/WhiteFire Publishing
Genre: Romantic Suspense

In the Midst of all the Fear and Confusion, Only One Thing is Clear … This Isn’t Over Yet

Jesse Christensen is out of the army, but the real battle has just begun. Major Gallagher has taken over the city and his oppression of believers has intensified. But is Gallagher acting in a professional capacity, or is he carrying out a personal vendetta?

Meryn O’Reilly faces a dark and uncertain future after shocking revelations devastate her life. She is determined to follow God’s call, but her plans could cost her everything. She and Jesse struggle to surrender fully to a God who is always in control, even when circumstances suggest otherwise.

With the world descending into chaos around them, Meryn and Jesse face the greatest barrier to their love yet—a barrier that may prove too strong to breach.

PURCHASE: Goodreads | Amazon

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sara Davison is the author of the romantic suspense novels The Watcher and The Seven Trilogy. She has been a finalist for eight national writing awards, including the Word Award for Best New Canadian Christian author, a Carol, and two Daphne du Maurier Awards, and is a Word and Cascade Award winner. Sara has a degree in English Literature and 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

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My Interview with Sara Davison

 

Reverend Rebecca: How did you get the inspiration for The End Begins? Were there any situations or experiences from your own life that inspired you?

Sara Davision: A few years ago, I would not have believed you if you told me I would write a series set in the near-future that had any kind of an end-times feel to it. Like a lot of people my age who grew up in church, I had been traumatized by the types of books and movies that were popular in the eighties that portrayed the end times. They were graphic and bleak and I think, in the end, had the opposite effect their creators intended. Rather than driving people to Christ, many were turned off. A lot of my peers won’t even talk or think about anything to do with the last days. I was in the camp as well, until the pastor at my last church began a series on Revelation. Through his teaching, I came to love this book, and to realize that, instead of fear and intimidation, the book is filled with hope as it describes the final unfolding of God’s incredible plan to reconcile humanity to himself and to dwell with them forever. At some point during that study, the seeds were planted inside me for a series of books that would deal with the subject of what is (or might be) coming for Christians, but that would offer hope instead of fear (as the Bible itself does). In fact, the word that resonated in my mind as I wrote, as if the Holy Spirit wanted to continually remind me, was hope. God is sovereign and in control, all will happen according to his plan and his will, and in the end, all will be put right and made new again.

 

RR: What was your favorite part of writing this book? What did you find most challenging?

SD: My favorite part of writing the book was developing the relationship between Jesse and Caleb. The two of them had to walk a very fine line – they were best friends, brothers in every sense of the word except through blood, yet Caleb was Jesse’s superior in the Army. I loved incorporating tiny signals such as Caleb lifting his chin in a situation where Jesse was addressing him as a friend and not as his commanding officer, and having Jesse immediately come to attention and change his tone to an appropriately deferential one. Somehow they managed to walk that line between personal and professional, but it wasn’t easy (for them or for me). The biggest challenge for me was to try to get inside the mind of an antagonist as evil and sadistic as Lieutenant (and then Major) Gallagher. Everything he did and said gave me the creeps, even as I wrote out his dialogue or described his actions. The greatest challenge of all was creating a believable scenario from his past in which the reader might be able to understand, if not condone, what drove him to do the things he did, maybe even to feel the slightest amount of sympathy for him. To me, creating sympathy in the reader for an almost completely evil character is the greatest challenge there is in writing.

 

 

 

RR: Could you tell us a little bit about your writing process? When you first started The End Begins, did you know that it would be a trilogy?

SD: Yes, somehow I always knew the story would be a trilogy. Pretty much from the outset, I had at least a rough idea of how the story would go, and the main storylines of each book. As a writer, I land somewhere between a pantser and a plotter. I like to know the beginning and the end before I start writing, and I prefer to have at least a reasonable idea of how I am going to take the story from one to the other. The development of the characters and the playing out of those storylines is certainly fluid, however, and I often sit down at my computer as eager as I hope my readers will be at that point to find out what will happen next. Something I don’t do is sketch out my characters beforehand, certainly not in any detail. I have friends who know their characters and their back stories intimately before they begin writing. They have pictures cut out and pinned up near their workspace so they know exactly who they are and what they look like before they begin to write their stories. I don’t work that way. The characters form for me as I write, which I always find quite fascinating.

 

 

RR: Is there something specific you hope your readers will take away from your work? What do you hope they will carry with them? 

SD: My fervent prayer is that readers will be left with a strong sense of hope, even excitement, at the end of this series. Yes, the world is crazy and chaotic and appears to be spinning out of control. But nothing is out of God’s control. He has a plan and nothing will thwart the unfolding of that plan. Whatever Christians face in the years to come, they can know with absolute, unshakeable certainty that they will not face it alone. In the words of the King James Bible, which is what we memorized from when I was in Sunday School, Jesus said, “and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20). And, ultimately, all will be made new, perfect justice will be accomplished, and believers will dwell with God forever. To me, two of the most powerful verses in the Bible are found in Revelation: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:3-4). Whatever we may have to face between now and then will certainly pale to insignificance when that great day arrives.

 

 

 

RR: I see that your book was published by Ashberry Lane. What advice do you have for other Christian writers seeking publication? Any advice on querying or book proposals?

SD: Working with Ashberry Lane was such an amazing experience. I connected with them through a writer’s conference, which is one of the biggest pieces of advice I would give to writers seeking publication. Almost the only way to get an agent or a publisher now is to interact with them in person, and writer’s conferences are a fabulous way to do that. It’s harder for me in Canada—or for any writers outside of the US—to do that, as we have very few Christian writer’s conferences here (2) and it is expensive to travel to the States, but it is a very worthwhile investment. The other, equally important, piece of advice I would give is to be teachable and open to constructive criticism. Have your work (whether it is a query, a book proposal, or the manuscript itself) professionally edited if at all possible. Strictly adhere to the guidelines of the agency or publishing house to which you are submitting it. Show it to beta readers (other writers or those in the business, as well as avid readers of fiction in your genre) who can give you feedback, advice, and suggestions, before you submit it.

My policy with feedback is that I read and consider every word of it, and pray over it. If I don’t agree with it at that point, I don’t take it, unless two or three people say the same thing. In that case, I make a sincere effort to get over myself and make the change. As authors who are Christian, we honor God when we make our work as excellent as possible, and a big part of that process is taking advice and criticism from others. It may be painful, but as I remind my own editing clients, we are all on the same team, and we all want the same thing, to make the book as great as it can possibly be. The final piece of advice I would offer is, if you believe in your story, never, ever give up, no matter how long it takes to get the manuscript into the right person’s hands at the right time to get a contract to have it published. Trust God and his timing, but put in the work and effort while you are waiting.

 

RR: What is your current project? What are you working on that excites you most?

I’m very excited about a new series I am currently working on. It’s called The Night Guardian series, and book one, Vigilant, comes out in June 2019. In general, my books don’t follow the typical template for Christian Romantic Suspense novels. They tend to push the boundaries a little, possibly to the point of being somewhat edgy. My hope and prayer, though, is that they will get readers thinking and talking about what it is they truly believe and why, and how much they are willing to sacrifice for what they believe in. The thought of my words possibly inspiring others to have those types of discussions, with themselves and others, thereby deepening their faith and growing closer to God, excites me more than anything else in life ever could.

 

 

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TOUR GIVEAWAY

(1) winner will receive:

• a set of all 3 books in The Seven Trilogy (US/CAN only)
• $25 Amazon gift card

Enter via the Rafflecopter giveaway below. Giveaway will begin at midnight January 7, 2019 and lasts through 11:59pm January 21, 2018. Void where prohibited by law. Winners will be notified within a week of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.

Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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