The Restorative Power of Nature

 

My new book, Double Protection Duty, comes out at the end of September. Part of the story takes place in Wind Caves National Park in South Dakota. Throughout my life, I have had a chance to visit almost all the national parks in the west as well as many state parks. I live in a place where a hike is a ten minute drive away and the town I live in has even incorporated trails within city limits. There are numerous city parks a short walk from my house. I feel like I have been given a gift to have such easy access to nature. 

Nothing calms my anxiety as well as a walk on a tree covered trail. To see the beauty of flowers in bloom makes me appreciate all that God creates. Spotting a red tailed hawk or seeing geese land on a pond lifts my spirits. 

I have experienced God's presence way more intensely while out in nature than in a church. I have had deep prayer time listening to a river flow or walking a trail. To me, there is restorative power in getting out in nature that I cannot find anywhere else. 

Sometimes just looking at the beauty of the petunias in my pot on my patio (say that fast five times) is enough for me to know that I am richly blessed and God has so many gifts waiting for me just out my door. I know dear reader that some of you live in cities that maybe were not planned with access to nature in mind or maybe your health makes a hike too big of a task, but think all of us in one way or another can find a way to enjoy nature in some form. How do you connect with nature? Camping? A garden? A climb up a mountain? Sitting on a porch and watching a storm  move in? Let me know in the comments and leave  your email address. I will be giving away five pre-release copies of Double Protection Duty which is part of the Dakota K-9 series. I hope you have a chance to get out today and see all the beauty God has gifted to us. 

I will be giving away more copies of Double Protection Duty and other books in my newsletter in the coming months. You can sign up to receive a copy at my website www.sharondunnbooks.net. 

Sharon Dunn

AUGUST GIVEAWAY

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

WHAT'S NEW IN INSPIRATIONAL SUSPENSE

 Wondering what's HOT in Inspirational Suspense this month? MARTHA'S VEIL by Award Winning Author Urcelia Teixeira.

Behind the veil of sweet intentions, danger bakes in silence.

She vanished meeting a man who doesn't exist. The clock is ticking—and she's not his first victim.

In the fog-shrouded coastal town of Weyport, head baker Martha Porter lives a life of quiet control—perfect cakes, polite smiles, and a heart safely tucked behind emotional walls. But when a charming man begins messaging her through an online Christian forum, Martha dares to hope again… until she vanishes on the very night she agrees to meet him.

The missing-person case falls to Sheriff Angus Reid, whose investigation takes a dark turn when another woman’s body washes ashore—another victim who’d been speaking to a mysterious online suitor. What begins as a local missing person case quickly unravels into a disturbing pattern: a calculated predator is using faith-based communities and online forums to hunt vulnerable women across coastal Maine.

As Angus uncovers a chilling network of digital manipulation, stolen identities, and religious deceit, the race to find Martha becomes more urgent. Each clue leads deeper into a twisted mind hiding behind a mask of righteousness, and the line between justice and judgment begins to blur.

Can Angus unmask the predator before Martha becomes his next victim? Or will the fog that shrouds Weyport's coast hide another tragedy forever?

Perfect for fans of Charles Martin, Terri Blackstock, Frank Peretti, and Colleen Coble, Martha’s Veil is a tense, faith-driven thriller that explores the intersection of trust, trauma, and spiritual restoration.

Gritty, redemptive, and pulse-pounding to the final page, Amazon #1 Best-Selling author and award-winning Christian mystery writer Urcelia Teixeira delivers a gripping addition to her acclaimed Christian thriller series—where high-stakes suspense meets soul-deep faith and redemption.

★ A clean read free from graphic violence, sexual content, and profanity

★ Christian themes of redemption, truth, and spiritual transformation

★ Small-town mystery meets high-stakes conspiracy

★ Page-turning suspense with spiritual depth

★ Part of the bestselling Angus Reid Mysteries series but can be read as a standalone

Join Martha's journey from broken to transformed in this gripping story of deceit exposed and divine love revealed. Scroll up and one-click to start reading today!

Martha's Veil is book 6 in the bestselling Angus Reid Mysteries series. You can get this missing-person case Christian Thriller on Amazon!

I hope you LOVE it! ~Marji Laine

THIS WEEK ON THE SUSPENSE SISTERS

We have exciting things planned for you this week on the Suspense Sisters!

On Tuesday, Suspense Sister Marji Laine will tell us what’s hot in inspirational suspense and mystery.

Wednesday, we’ll hear from author Sharon Dunn. She’ll be talking about the healing power in nature and will also give away a pre-release copy of her new book, DOUBLE PROTECTION DUTY.

When a toddler goes missing, a K-9 team must move fast.

A family trip to the Wind Caves National Park quickly turns into a nightmare when K-9 officer Kenyon Graves discovers one of his twin boys has been abducted. Now Kenyon needs the help of his team and his longtime friend Raina McCord to save his toddler son. But the kidnappers are elusive—and intent on killing anyone who stands in the way of their sinister scheme. With threats closing in, time is of the essence to catch these criminals…before Kenyon and Raina pay the ultimate price.

From Love Inspired Suspense: Courage. Danger. Faith.

ORDER IT HERE 

Friday, Mary Alford will share her thoughts about suspense novels set in the mountains. She’ll also be introducing her new series, DEADLY MOUNTAIN SECRETS. She’s giving away a copy of either AMONG THE INNOCENT or BESIDE THE DEAD, the first two books in the series, to one person who comments.

Here’s a little something about AMONG THE INNOCENT:

When Leah Miller's entire Amish family was murdered ten years ago, the person believed responsible took his own life. Since then, Leah left the Amish and joined the police force. Now, after another Amish woman is found murdered with the same MO, it becomes clear that the wrong man may have been blamed for her family's deaths.

As Leah and the new police chief, Dalton Cooper, work long hours struggling to fit the pieces together in order to catch the killer, they can't help but grow closer. When secrets from both of their pasts begin to surface, an unexpected connection between them is revealed. But this is only the beginning. Could it be that the former police chief framed an innocent man to keep the biggest secret of all buried? And what will it mean for Leah--and Dalton--when the full truth comes to light?

USA Today bestselling author Mary Alford keeps you guessing as two determined souls plumb the dark depths of the past in order to forge a brighter future--together.

ORDER HERE 

Don’t forget to enter our monthly contest!

THE SUSPENSE SISTERS

WE LOVE BOOKS

My Heroine's Mistakes That I've Made Too

Kristen here. When crafting my heroine for Watch Your Back, I initially thought she and I did not have much in common. Avery Reynolds is a self-made private investigator, while I’m a former English teacher and stay-at-home mom. She holds a grudge against God and won’t let Him or anyone else get close because of scars from her past. Though my Christian walk is far from perfect, I’m grateful that I came to know Jesus Christ as my Savior at a young age.

As I pressed further into Avery’s story, though, I discovered an unexpected kinship: her mistakes aren’t that different from some of my own. Perhaps you can relate to these as well.

Mistake #1: Making Assumptions instead of Seeking to Understand

At the shared Airbnb for their mutual friends’ wedding party, Avery stumbles upon Coast Guard veteran Ethan Bridger having a PTSD episode in the middle of the night. She assumes he has a sleepwalking problem and brushes him off by saying, “You should go have that checked out—and warn your friends about it.” Her thoughtless words sting and fuel Ethan’s own fears that no woman could ever understand what he’s going through.

When is the last time you made a false assumption? Yesterday? Five minutes ago?

Case in point. Recently, my wonderful husband didn’t take out the trash, and I quickly judged that he had forgotten. Turns out, he didn’t take out the trash because our toddler had already woken prematurely once that evening, and he wanted to make as little noise as possible.

Instead of jumping to conclusions, we must first seek to understand the other person’s perspective and put ourselves in his shoes.

Doing so requires a mindset shift. Philippians 2:4 tells us, “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others” (NKJV). Seeking to truly understand another person means putting that individual first and cultivating an attitude of humility: thinking of our interests less and his interests more.

Mistake #2: Believing Failure Defines Her

Failure dogs Avery’s every step. So far, she has failed to bring the mob boss responsible for her foster brother’s death to justice. She has failed to protect her colleague. She has failed to keep her goddaughter safe, and she has failed to arrange a prisoner swap for the mob boss’s impossible ransom demand.

If we’re honest, you and I are no strangers to failure and the self-doubt it brings. As a writer, I struggle with imposter syndrome. As a mom, I take too personally when my toddler refuses to eat dinner or suddenly regresses with a skill.

The truth is, we can’t control much in this life. What we can control is our response to what happens. Scripture advises us to “be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath” (James 1:19). If we can bite our tongues, we can also nip negative self-talk in the bud before it spirals out of control.

Parting Encouragement and a Giveaway

We all make mistakes, but they aren’t meant to define us. Our identity doesn’t come from our mistakes, or for that matter, from our accomplishments. It comes from Whose we are. According to Colossians 2:10, we are “complete in Him” (Christ) if we are children of God.

Today, I'm giving away one Kindle copy of Watch Your Back. To enter, simply leave a comment with your email address and answer to this question: Who is one of your favorite heroines, and which of her flaws helps you best relate to her?

REVIEW: FIRE MOUNTAIN by Dana Mentink

Hi, Marji Laine here. 

I have been a fan of Dana Mentink since I first met her through Suspense Sisters almost a decade ago. Some of her books are on my all-time favorites list. So I was so excited to review Fire Mountain.

I was a sophomore in high school in 1980, the year that Mt. St. Helens erupted. The before version of the mountain was considered the Mt. Fuji of the US because of it's perfectly shaped top and almost perfect symmetry to its shape. I vividly recall the months of warnings over Mount St. Helens, the weeks of evacuation, and the days when we held our breaths until the lady finally blew her top. I remember looking at before and after images, seeing what was left of towns, lakes, forests, and the profile of the mountain itself. A third of its top had disappeared, leaving a gaping crater and 230 square miles of destruction.

Reading this story was like walking the ridges of Mount St. Helens in its final days. I can honestly say, I felt like I was experiencing the same apprehension and panic right along with Kit and Cullen.

Settings are my thing. In fact, I wrote a Suspense Sisters post about settings just last Friday, HERE. So this story falls right into line with one of my sweet spots. The mountain, the ridges, the roads, even the gullies and blackberry bushes, become so visible, so real. All by itself, this wavering Mount Ember gives a percussion to the suspense with periodic tremors, fissures, and other issues from underground activity.

This is the framework where Dana Mentink places her long-hauling female truck driver, Kit Garrido. And then adds a couple of people who seem to be evil incarnate bent on finding her in order to destroy someone or something.

This story begins with riveting intensity: Cold and ice-pick pain bored into Kit Garrido’s temples. Her limbs were leaden, her body a deadweight in the driver’s seat of her big rig. Grit coated her tongue and teeth. She tasted blood. Try as she might, she couldn’t reach out to unbuckle her seat belt. Panic bubbled up inside her.

See what I mean? Fire Mountain had my shoulders tensing before I finished the first paragraph. And Mentink is a master of pacing, giving the reader just enough time to breathe before the next unexpected happens. And between the baddies and the mountain, there are plenty of options for those unexpecteds!

If you’re familiar with my suspense ranking post from a couple of months back (You can see it HERE), you’ll understand when I set this as a 9 or 10 on the intensity spectrum. This ranking is purely a scale for how intense the suspense is. I don’t rank how well I like books. If I’m reviewing it at all, it has high merit!

And this one certainly fits that category. Every word—every sentence—seemed to have impressive intentionality - I might even call it precision - that blows my mind. The setting, as I mentioned, is a masterpiece. The characters have broken histories with building understanding of their redemption throughout the story. Memorable indeed. And the plot stays at an amped up level throughout the entire book. Kudos to Dana Mentink for yet another thrilling success!

Here's a little more about the book:

Fire rains from above as they fight to discover the truth and stay alive.

In the shadow of a threatening volcano, long-haul trucker Kit Garrido wakes up in her crashed big rig, unable to recall what happened or why she's suddenly in possession of someone's baby. Fiercely independent, she has to admit that perhaps this time she could use a little help.

As the threat of eruption grows, former cop Cullen Landry refuses to leave his cabin in the evacuation area, which is why he's the only one left who can help Kit escape the crumpled cab of her truck. He doesn't want to get tangled up in the mystery of the beautiful woman with an abandoned infant, but when he sees the bullet hole in the windshield and the bloody handprint on the interior, he realizes that he's in this thing, like it or not.

When two armed men with ill intent approach, the race is on to stay alive, discover the truth, and find the baby's missing mother--all while a deadly mountain rains fire from above.

This nail-biting clean romantic suspense will appeal to readers of Lynn H. Blackburn, Nancy Mehl, and Susan May Warren. Packed with thrilling twists and themes of natural disasters, an amnesia trope, and an abandoned baby.

Our own Suspense Sister, Mary Alford, says about this book: "A flawless suspense with characters that will have readers turning pages. I couldn't put it down."

I echo that – listening to the entire thing over the course of two thrilling days, only putting it down when I absolutely had to! Read this one. Suspense fans will LOVE it!

You can find it on Amazon and Audible HERE!