Author Interview (and a Giveaway!): Lynn H. Blackburn & Unknown Threat

I’m delighted today to welcome Lynn H. Blackburn to the blog to chat about her new romantic suspense, Unknown Threat!

Lynn H. Blackburn loves writing romantic suspense because her childhood fantasy was to become a spy, but her grown-up reality is that she’s a huge chicken and would have been caught on her first mission. She prefers to live vicariously through her characters and loves putting them into all kinds of terrifying situations while she’s sitting at home safe and sound in her pajamas!

Lynn’s titles have won the Carol Award, the Selah Award, and the Faith, Hope, and Love Reader’s Choice Award. Her newest series kicks off in March 2021 with Unknown Threat, Book 1 in the Defend and Protect series.

She is a frequent conference speaker and has taught writers all over the country. Lynn lives in South Carolina with her true love and their three children. You can follow her real life happily ever after by signing up for her newsletter at LynnHBlackburn.com and @LynnHBlackburn on Bookbub, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.

UNKNOWN THREAT
SERIES: Defend and Protect #1
GENRE: Inspirational Romantic Suspense
PUBLISHER: Revell
RELEASE DATE: March 2, 2021
PAGES: 349

“Do. Not. Miss. This. One!”—Ronie Kendig, bestselling and award-winning author of The Tox Files

US Secret Service Special Agent Luke Powell is lucky to be alive. Three of his fellow agents have died in unusual circumstances in the past ten weeks. Luke is devastated by the loss of his friends and colleagues, and his inability to locate the killer feels like a personal failure. He and his team are experts at shielding others, but now the protectors are in need of protection.

FBI Special Agent Faith Malone is driven to succeed and confident in her ability to solve every case she’s assigned. She’s been put in charge of the investigation into the unprecedented attacks, and with Luke’s life in danger, the stakes have never been higher. But it’s hard to know how to fight back when you don’t know who the enemy is.

Luke has teamed up with Faith before, but he’s not convinced she’s up for the job and she’s not convinced he’s telling her everything he knows. As more agents are targeted, Luke and Faith will have to learn to trust each other and work together to bring a killer to justice and prevent any more names from joining their fallen brothers and sisters on the Secret Service Wall of Honor.

affiliate links used

Hi Lynn! Welcome to the blog!

Lynn: DOGS. I don’t hate cats, but I have no desire to have one in my house all the time.

Carrie: same!

Lynn: OVER. This is the only correct answer. Who are these “under” people??  😉 

Carrie: pfff  i have no idea <as I’m quickly changing the roll to over before Lynn sees it> haha!

Lynn: COKE. Always. I *will* drink Pepsi if that’s the only option, but I would never choose it otherwise.

Carrie: yes! Preach, girl!

Lynn: I’m not anti-board game, but I love card games. My husband’s family taught me to play Pinochle and it remains a favorite. I’m always up for learning a new game.

Carrie: I love card games (and board games) but I’ve never played Pinochle. Yet.

Q: Around here I like to say that reading is my superpower. If YOU had a superpower, what would it be?

Lynn: I would like the ability to re-read books for the first time while maintaining the knowledge that the story is going to be amazing. 🙂 I’m an avid re-reader and find a lot of joy from returning to a beloved story world, but sometimes I wish I could stumble through the wardrobe for the first time, or hear Gilbert Blythe teasing Anne about her hair and be shocked when she slams her slate on his head. 🙂

Carrie: oh wouldn’t that be amazing – you had me at ‘stumble through the wardrobe for the first time’ – yes!

Q: Who is your favorite book character from childhood?

Lynn: On a different day, I might give a different answer, but Anne Shirley would land in the top spot at least 5/10 times. 

Carrie: for very good reason 🙂

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

Lynn: She’s a coffee-drinking, chocolate-eating, sleep-deprived, word nerd. On any given day, she makes our lives miserable running us off the road, blowing us up, shooting at us, or actually shooting us and landing us in the hospital, all while giving us no clues to solve the complicated case that she came up with. Then, just when it looks like she’s finally going to kill us in some brutal torture sequence, she throws us into a romantic moment and we get to kiss. She likes writing the kissing scenes. At least when it’s all said and done, the girl gets the guy, the guy gets the girl, and they both get the bad guy. But she sure doesn’t make it easy on us.

Carrie: hahaha love that!

Q: Which character in Unknown Threat was the most difficult to write?

Lynn: Faith Malone – She’s very driven and career oriented and doesn’t allow herself to lean into her emotions much. I wanted to write her in a way that would be realistic but also keep her relatable. I needed her to be true to herself, but it was also important for readers to see the softness and gentleness that she brings to the relationships that are a priority to her. She’s the first heroine I’ve written that was so unlike me that I had to research personality and temperament and Enneagram numbers in the hopes of getting her right. The scenes that came easily were the scenes with her sister, Hope. I channeled by own relationship with my sister for those and they were some of my favorites.

Carrie: i think it’s awesome that you researched personality/temperament stuff to write her!

Q: Did you have the whole plot outlined before you started writing, or did you let the characters dictate what came next?

Lynn: Oh, I wish I had the whole plot outlined. I’ve tried, but I can’t do it. I usually don’t know what’s going to happen until it happens. Occasionally I have a few scenes in mind—In Unknown Threat, I knew what the first scene would be, and I knew how they were going to kiss!—but I wasn’t sure how they would get to that point or what would happen after.

Carrie: I think if I ever wrote a book it would have to be done that way too. And I adore that you knew how they were going to kiss! #priorities haha

Q: What is one of your favorite quotes from Unknown Threat & why do you love it?

Lynn: Quote – This wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. Faith hadn’t expected adulthood to be one endless game of whack-a-mole where all she did was beat into submission every new problem that popped up—all the while, standing still. Never going anywhere. Never changing the view. 

In many ways, this is how I feel about adulthood! As a kid I thought adults had it all figured out….boy was I wrong! I keep waiting to figure out how to make it all work…maybe it will happen in my 50s?? 🙂

Carrie: oh boy i feel that one too lol

Thank you so much for taking time to talk with me! 🙂 Before we say goodbye for today, tell us what‘s coming up next for you.

Lynn: I’m finishing the second book in the Defend and Protect series. When I turn it in, I’ll immediately start work on a novella and then the 3^rd book in the series.

Carrie: wow!

Revell is offering a print copy of Unknown Threat by Lynn H. Blackburn to THREE of my readers! (US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.) 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 makes you want to read Unknown Threat by Lynn H Blackburn?