Author Interview (and a Giveaway!): Sherri Wilson Johnson & Desolate Escape

Please join me in welcoming author Sherri Wilson Johnson to the blog today to chat about her romantic suspense, Desolate Escape! Now that I live in Georgia, I love featuring Georgia authors (just as I did/still do with Kentucky authors) so I’m delighted to have her here today 🙂

Sherri Wilson Johnson is an Inspirational Romance novelist and graphic designer. She lives in Georgia with her husband and their two dogs, and they are empty-nesters. Sherri loves spending time with family, vacationing at the beach, curling up with a good book or working on her current work-in-progress. She dreams of a second home on some beach somewhere some day, where she can plot romantically suspenseful novels all day and night.

Follow Sherri on Instagram and Facebook plus on Amazon and Bookbub. Find out more about her on her website: http://sherriwilsonjohnson.com

DESOLATE ESCAPE
SERIES: Jeopardized Reunions #1
GENRE: Inspirational/Clean Romantic Suspense
RELEASE DATE: October 5, 2021
PAGES: 219

It was just a weekend reunion among old friends. How did it turn so deadly?

Dr. Lacey Elrod is the first-ever medical examiner for her hometown, a place that should be safe from serial killers. But when someone murders one of her high school best friends on the morning of the wedding of two other friends, Lacey must trust U.S. Fish and Wildlife Officer Matthew Flick, the man she left fourteen years ago, to keep her safe and help her find the Dunes Killer before he strikes again. After more murders among their friend group, Lacey and Matt suspect one of their old friends of being the Dunes Killer. But when that friend turns up dead too, they must work together to rid their town of the killer.

Can Matt move past his hurt with Lacey for how she handled their unwanted teenaged pregnancy and how it ruined his plans to go into the ministry? Will Lacey be able to forgive herself? Both struggle with their faith and with each other as they track the Dunes Killer before he succeeds at killing them.

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Other Books in This Series

Hi Sherri! Welcome to the blog!

Sherri: Dogs! I’m allergic to cats, plus I enjoy playing fetch and “hide and seek” with dogs. Cats don’t typically do that. And I can’t stand changing a litter box.

Carrie: Dogs are pretty fun 🙂

Sherri: Music. I get too distracted with plotting out future books while listening to audiobooks.

Carrie: My mind wanders SO much while listening to audiobooks that i never have any idea what just happened.

Sherri: Oceans, although mountains do run a close second for their beauty. But I have a fear of curvy, mountain roads because I almost drove off one in a snowstorm.

Carrie: oh yikes!

Sherri: Print, because I stare at a computer screen all day at my day job as a virtual assistant/graphic designer.

Carrie: that makes sense!

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

Sherri: Enhanced Writing! According to https://powerlisting.fandom.com/wiki/Enhanced_Writing “the user can write at unrealistic speeds and write with unbelievable detail, sentence structure and all; making it so that the user can do things like write stories in a short time and not only that, make it well written.” So if I had one, that would be the one I’d want to have!

Carrie: ooo that sounds cool!

Q: Which books are “on your nightstand”?

Sherri: Dead Fall by Nancy Mehl, In the Shadows by C.D. Gill, So Long, Normal by Laura Story and Trained to Defend by Christy Barritt.

Carrie: excellent choices!

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

Sherri: Arsonist profiles and how to commit arson without leaving trace evidence behind (for my book Unfortunate Homecoming, which releases April 5, 2022).

Carrie: i’m intrigued! 🙂

Q: What surprised you about Desolate Escape or your characters as you wrote their story?

Sherri: Desolate Escape helped me process a lot of recent hurts, helped me reach a place of forgiveness toward some folks who had betrayed me.

Carrie: Fiction can be a powerful teacher ♥

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

Sherri: For years, every time we would go on vacation to Fort Morgan, Alabama, near Gulf Shores, I kept thinking that the desolate beach we visited each day would be a great place to find a dead body. For two years as I researched the area, I called the book my “dead body on a beach” book. Other than the opening scene where the medical examiner arrives on the beach, I had no idea where the book was going. As I wrote, it all fell into place and kept me quite surprised through most of it. I would even tell my husband, “You’re not going to believe what Matt and Lacey did now!” Haha!

Carrie: haha!

Q: What do you most want readers to take away from Desolate Escape?

Sherri: As I wrote this book, I kept coming back to the fact that no matter what we’ve done in the past and no matter how “off” we might be in thinking we can’t start over, when we give it all to God, He directs us to a better future. I stumbled upon this name for God recently: El Roi (the God who sees me). I want readers to know that God knows your situation, knows your doubts, understands when you’re not sure if you’re moving in the right direction, wants to guide you into the plan He has for you and loves you regardless of your past. He sees you!

Carrie: Amen!

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.

Sherri: Next, book two (Dangerous Inheritance) in the Jeopardized Reunions series releases in January, and then book three (Unfortunate Homecoming) comes in April. I’m currently writing a prequel to the series, which contains all three heroines from the books. They come together as medical examiner, deputy fire marshal and psychologist to solve a crime. Or maybe a murder. We will have to see how it goes. This prequel will be FREE for anyone who signs up for my newsletter and will possibly be available on Amazon. So readers can stay tuned!

Sherri Wilson Johnson is offering a Kindle copy of Desolate Escape to THREE of my readers! (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.

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What about you? What makes you want to read Desolate Escape by Sherri Wilson Johnson?