2019 Carol Award Finalists Q&A (and a Giveaway!): Lynette Eason & Called to Protect

Happy Wednesday! Continuing through Saturday (culminating with a list of winners), I have the privilege of sharing mini interviews with nearly all of the 2019 ACFW Carol Award Finalists! Today I’m covering the mystery/suspense/thriller & romantic suspense categories, including Lynette Eason and her Carol Award nominated book Called to Protect! You can check out a list of all the finalists HERE.

FYI – There will be several posts per day, and a week-long giveaway, so make sure you catch them all!

Lynette Eason is the bestselling author of Oath of Honor, Called to Protect, and Code of Valor, as well as the Women of Justice, Deadly Reunions, Hidden Identity, and Elite Guardians series. She is the winner of three ACFW Carol Awards, the Selah Award, and the Inspirational Reader’s Choice Award, among others. She is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and has a master’s degree in education from Converse College. Eason lives in South Carolina with her husband and two children. Learn more at www.lynetteeason.com.

CALLED TO PROTECT
SERIES: Blue Justice #2
GENRE: Inspirational Romantic Suspense
PUBLISHER: Revell
RELEASE DATE: July 31, 2018
PAGES: 320

For the past year, Chloe St. John has been working as a K-9 cop with her German shepherd partner, Hank. After being dumped by her fiance for another woman, Chloe has decided that Hank is just about the only male she likes. She’s over the whole romance thing and focuses her attention on doing her job. Because a serious case of human trafficking with connections to her missing cousin just landed in her lap.

When US Marshall Blake MacCallum’s daughter goes missing, he’s ordered to kill the judge he’s protecting and tell no one about his daughter’s disappearance or she will die. Blake races against the clock to rescue his daughter while Chloe and Hank are asked to be a part of the task force assembled to bring down the traffickers. Chloe finds herself attracted to the silent, suffering man, but thanks to her previous bad judgment, she wonders if she can trust him. And can Blake trust himself around this firecracker of a woman?

amazon affiliate link used

Hi, dearest Lynette! Welcome back to the blog!

Q: Why do you write fiction? And, why specifically Christian fiction?

Lynette: I write fiction because I like making stuff up and because of the control factor. I’m a control freak so writing fiction is a great fit for me. I think I write Christian fiction simply because I can’t imagine writing a story without God and the faith element. I know there are secular books with those things in them, but I really enjoy the Christian market. I can trust it. 🙂

Carrie: It’s why I love reading Christian fiction too ♥

Q: Other than the Bible, what are a couple of your most cherished books and why?

Lynette: Honestly, I must be really weird (okay, that’s a proven fact), but I don’t really have a favorite book, cherished or otherwise. I read, enjoy the story, and move on to the next one. LOL. That’s really sad, isn’t it? I suppose if you twisted my arm, I would have to say, Dee Henderson’s Danger in the Shadows and The Negotiator are two of my all time favorites. And I’ll give Terri Blackstock’s Smokescreen a shout out. I got to read an early copy and it was amazing.

Carrie: Ok it was touch-and-go there for a minute LOL but you redeemed yourself by listing those two Dee Henderson books which are also two of my all-time faves 😉

Q: What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever Googled while researching a book?

Lynette: Hahaha…what does a decomposed body look like after being in the water for two weeks.

Carrie: LOL ohhhh this question is always so fun with suspense authors haha!

Q: If I asked your characters to describe YOU as an author, what would they say? 

Lynette: She’s crazy. You should see how she writes a book. She paces and talks to herself and her dog and then she goes and takes a shower or a bath because it seems to help her think. Nuts. But most authors are so…

Carrie: Yes, but we all still love y’all anyway 🙂

Q: Which of your main characters (either in Called to Protect or over all you’ve written) is most like you?

Lynette: Probably Emily Chastain in Code of Valor. Not EVERYTHING about her, but a lot.

Carrie: oh yay! that’s my very fave book in the Blue Justice series!

Q: What is something God taught you while you wrote Called to Protect?

Lynette: God really opened my eyes to the evils of human trafficking. But he also showed me there are wonderful people out there fighting it and offering hope to survivors.

Carrie: Yes!! It’s definitely something we need to be talking about – in real life and in stories -and I love that Called to Protect addresses it so well.

I am offering one reader any TWO books (print copies) that finaled in the 2019 Carol Awards! (open internationally as long as Book Depository ships to your address) This giveaway is subject to Reading Is My SuperPower’s giveaway policies which can be found here. Enter via the Rafflecopter form below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What about you? What interests you most from Lynette Eason’s Q&A or the romantic suspense Carol Award finalist Called to Protect?