Sara Davison – Romantic Excerpt – Part 1 of 1

Shannon here: Sara Davison shares how her real life romance differs from her books, along with an excerpt from her latest Romantic Suspense, Written in Ink, book two in The Rose Tattoo Trilogy. Deadline: Aug 21st, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Sara:

My husband, Michael, and I are both classic middle-children peacemakers, which means we both hate conflict. While we don’t always get along perfectly, we have never, in twenty-five years of marriage, had a huge blow-up fight or allowed any disagreements to drag on and on.

From day one, we have refused to even allow the word divorce to be uttered in our house, and whatever is going on, if either of us is having a bad day or we are not communicating well for whatever reason, it never even crosses my mind that he might leave.

All of that has provided us with twenty-five years of relative peace and absolute security in our relationship. Michael is still my best friend, my soul mate, and the first one I want to share anything that happens in my life with. I am grateful to God every day for the gift of our marriage.

This lack of conflict works wonderfully in real life and in our home, but it does not work well in suspense novels, where conflict adds intensity and interest to the story. In my book, Written in Ink, which released on August 4^th, hero and heroine Cash and Renee have been together for fifteen years. Suddenly, she is ending their relationship, and Cash has no idea why. 

Excerpt from Written in Ink:

Cash drew in a slow, steadying breath. Anger flared inside him, mingling with the hurt and confusion. A bad combination. If he acted on it, lashed out at her now, he could lose her forever.

A dark truth struck him like a blow to the chest. He’d lost her already. And he had no idea why. All he did know was that trying to stop what was happening between them was like attempting to close his fingers around a handful of mist.

Drained, Cash rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger before lowering his hand and searching her eyes. They were a dark green with a hint of gray, unlike any he’d ever seen and one of the many things he loved about her. He could have—and had—gotten lost in them for hours. “Why did you come here tonight?”

She blinked. “I wanted to talk to you, find out if there’s any truth to the rumors.”

After all their years together, he knew her better than that. Something else was going on, something she wasn’t telling him. “You know I would never cheat on you, so don’t pretend that’s what this is about. You came here to pick a fight with me, didn’t you? Why? So I would break up with you? Well, that’s not going to happen, Ren. I will never be the one to end things with us. If you are done with me, you’re going to have to say it.”

For several long seconds, she didn’t respond. Waiting for her to say what he now knew she would was like watching a car a hundred yards away leave the road heading straight for a utility pole. Every atom in his body recoiled in horror, crying out for her to change course before she did something, said something that would alter their lives forever, but he was as helpless to stop her as he would have been to have stopped that car before it smashed against the pole.

“All right. I did come here to end things with you. I don’t want to see you. Not ever again.”

Although he’d known those words were coming, they ripped him apart.

(Sara again) As much as I despise conflict in real life, my stories are filled with it. I’m sure that writing out all these scenarios and having my characters eventually work through whatever is happening does help me resolve any relatively small issues I might encounter in my own relationships.

And I hope and pray that it helps my readers to do the same.

About Sara: Sara Davison is the author of three romantic suspense series—The Seven Trilogy, The Night Guardians, and The Rose Tattoo Trilogy, as well as the standalone, The Watcher. She has been a finalist for more than a dozen national writing awards, including Best New Canadian Christian author, a Carol, two Selahs, a Holt Medallion, and three 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. The words on the mug she uses every morning pretty much sum up her life—I just want to sleep, drink coffee, and make stuff up.

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About the book – Written in Ink:

Everything he has built his life and future on has been torn away.

Cash McCall has loved Dr. Renee Dawson for half his life. Although they’ve talked about a future together, she has never believed it was the right time for them to get engaged. Now she has ended their relationship, and he has no idea why.

Everything Renee worked so hard for is in jeopardy. One agonizing decision has changed everything, and she has been forced to shatter the heart of the man she loves. And her own. The extremist militant group The Arm is on a mission. Its leader doesn’t care how many innocent lives are lost in the pursuit of the group’s end goal, and Renee has seen something she was not supposed to see.

If Cash can’t get to her in time, Renee could end up in the crosshairs of the terrorists, and he may

lose her—and any chance at the life he’d always envisioned—forever.

Can’t wait for the drawing? Worried you won’t win?

Get your copy now!      Written in Ink

Question for Readers: How about you? What have you found to be the best way to resolve conflict in any relationship in your life, whether with a spouse, children, parents, siblings, or friends?

Come back Aug 13th for Louise M. Gouge!