Interview with Shirley Raye Redmond

Recently, I interviewed Shirley Raye Redmond.

WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO START WRITING?

I have wanted to write ever since I was in 5^th grade and read Little Women. I wanted to be like Jo March, scribbling stories in the attic. I was 16 when my first article was published in a newspaper and I’ve never looked back.

WHAT AUTHORS HAVE INFLUENCED YOUR WRITING STYLE?

Too many to list! But C.S. Lewis, Georgette Heyer, Mary Stewart, Victoria Holt, and Grace Livingston Hill would definitely be in the top ten.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO ASPIRING AUTHORS?

You’re never going to “find the time” to write. You have to make the time. Give up a night of television, computer games, etc. I know too many people who promised themselves they would start writing when their children were grown or when they retired, but they are, instead, raising their grandchildren or they didn’t live long enough to retire. Don’t wait!

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR LATEST RELEASE. 

Viper’s Nest (Harborlight/Pelican Book Group) is a romantic suspense novel set in Jacksonville, Illinois. Allan Partner, a handsome history professor and his widowed research assistant, Wren Bergschneider, find themselves in danger when they explore an old insane asylum slated for demolition, unearthing a scandal someone is willing to kill for to keep secret.

WHAT IS THE MOST INTERESTING THING YOU HAVE LEARNED FROM YOUR RESEARCH?

I actually had a private tour of the Jacksonville Insane Asylum many years ago. Mary Todd Lincoln was a patient there briefly following the death of President Lincoln. Built in the mid 1840s, the asylum was the product of humanitarian Dorothea Dix’s impassioned plea to the Illinois Legislature. Miss Dix was a stalwart advocate for mentally ill individuals mistreated by society. Some were locked away in cellars and attics. Others were put on display in county jails. No medical aid or social services were available at the time for those declared insane. Everyone was lumped into the same category—whether one was a cruel psychopathic killer or a melancholy young mother suffering from postpartum depression.  Dorothea Dix changed that.

Originally, I wrote about my tour of the asylum for a Writer’s Digest nonfiction contest. My submission won an Honorable Mention. People who read the piece urged me to “do something else” with all the historical information I’d collected.  After toying with the idea of for quite a while, I decided to write a suspense novel, using the abandoned asylum as the backdrop of the story.

HOW CAN READERS CONTACT YOU AND/OR LEARN MORE ABOUT YOU AND YOUR WRITING?

I love to hear from readers! They can contact me through my website at www.shirleyrayeredmond.com or visit my author facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shirley-Raye-Redmond-Author/533496973399344

Sharon Dunn: Wilderness Target

By Kelly Bridgewater

Back Cover Copy:

A WANTED WOMAN 

Clarissa Jones is running for her life. Though she has no idea why her ex-boss wants her dead, the killers at her heels are very real. Deep in the Montana woods she finds what seems like the perfect hideout, in Ezra Jefferson's survival training school. The ex-military outdoorsman has the skills and training to keep her safe…but only if she'll lower her defenses enough to let him help. When her attackers close in, Ezra's protection and Clarissa's fierce determination are all that will keep her alive—while the growing bond between them gives her a reason to fight to survive.

My Review:

I enjoy Love Inspired Suspense books. They are short and sweet, yet pack a punch of mystery while not taking too much time to read. I refer to them as day books.

In Sharon’ Dunn’s book, Wilderness Target, Ezra and Clarissa make quite a pair. First, Ezra started out seeing Clarissa as a city girl who wouldn’t know her way around the great outdoors, but Clarissa surprises him. I really enjoyed getting to know and spend time with Clarissa. She is a strong, determined heroine who doesn’t want others to pay for the mistakes she has made in her life. As for hero’s, Ezra was really not one of my favorite. He seemed very underdeveloped. Ezra knew a lot about the outdoors, but as a wife of a survival fanatic, some of the survival tips seemed off to me.

Clarissa and Ezra moved through the pages of the book, trying to outrun the external conflict. While Dunn kept the reader on the run with their imagination, I would have liked to have been a little more surprised who the bad guy was. It appeared to be just a big chase scene through the mountains and woods, begging from one shelter to the next.

The romance between Clarissa and Ezra was not too my taste either. Way too fast and way too cheesy. Sorry!

Overall, Sharon Dunn’s Love Inspired Book, Wilderness Target, kept me rushing through the book with all the hurried action, but the villain was introduced in the first chapter. Even though Clarissa was a strong and determined heroine any woman could admire.

Sharon Dunn’s Writing Bio:

Sharon Dunn first fell in love with mystery and suspense about the time she read Nancy Drew mysteries in the fifth grade. Her country school library had a whole collection of them with pink covers. She began taking herself seriously as a writer when her oldest son was born. About twenty years and three babies later, she is an award winning author of not only humorous mysteries but romantic suspense novels. Her first book in the Ruby Taylor mysteries Romance Rustlers and Thunderbird Thieves was a finalist for the Romantic Times Inspirational Book of the Year. The second book in that series Sassy Cinderella and the Valiant Vigilante was voted Book of the Year by American Christian Fiction Writers. Her first book in the Bargain Hunters series garnered a second place award from ACFW for Book of the Year. Her education makes it look like she couldn’t decide what she wanted to be when she grew up. She had degrees in Film Production and History with lots of English and theater classes thrown in the mix. About everything she studied contributed to her becoming a better writer in one way or another.

Where to connect with Sharon Dunn:

Author’s Personal Website

Where to purchase Wilderness Target:

Amazon

Barnesand Nobles

Christianbook

Do you enjoy Love Inspired Suspense books? Why or Why not?