Road Trip Reads Giveaway (Utah): A Mountain Too Steep by Robin Patchen

today’s book: A Mountain Too Steep by Robin Patchen

We are moving right along on our summer-long Road Trip Reads Giveaway where we will be visiting all 50 states on the pages of recently released books. Because road trips are always better with friends – and books – right? So grab your fave snacks, a cold soda or bottled water, an upbeat playlist and let’s head back West!

today’s stop: Utah

A MOUNTAIN TOO STEEP by Robin Patchen
SERIES: Coventry Saga #11
GENRE: Romantic Suspense (Christian)
PUBLISHER: JDO Publishing
RELEASE DATE: July 18, 2023
PAGES: 370

A car accident that might not be an accident at all. A murderer bent on revenge. And a woman desperate to keep her family together.

She’s already lost her soul mate. She’ll do anything to protect her children.

For the sake of her kids, Camilla Wright managed to survive after her husband’s murder. When she’s awakened in the night with the news that her teenage son and nephew have been in a horrific car accident, she rushes to the hospital in a haze of shock and panic.

The boys were supposed to be skiing in the mountains east of Salt Lake City. What were they doing so far west? More alarming, the wreck might not have been an accident at all.

While Jeremy fights for his life, Camilla is running out of time to discover who lured her son and her nephew into the desert. With each new clue, the terrifying truth becomes clearer.

Her husband’s killers are closing in…

Don’t miss this gripping thriller from a USA Today bestselling author.

affiliate links used

The True Story behind the Novel

by Robin Patchen, author of A Mountain Too Steep

Five years ago, July 13, 2018, my 19-year-old daughter, Lexi, fell out a second-story window.

She could have suffered a traumatic brain injury or been paralyzed. She could have died.

Thank God none of those things happened.

Instead, her wrists took the brunt of the damage. Both were crushed.

I got a call from a friend of hers at five o’clock the next morning, who told me Lexi was in the ER. I rushed there, and when we left a few hours later, she had casts on both her arms, one from fingertips to elbow, the other from fingertips to biceps.

I thought that was hard.

Three days later, on July 16 at about nine thirty at night, my sister called. My son Jacob was in Utah visiting her and her family at the time, and I knew when I saw her name on my caller ID that it wasn’t going to be good news.

When I answered, she said, “Robin, the boys have been in a terrible accident. They’re being life-flighted to Salt Lake City. They’re both alive. That’s all I know.”

My knees hit the floor. I didn’t fall, I just…went down. And then I was lying on the floor, asking my sister questions she couldn’t answer.

The next few hours were torture. Getting flights. Texting and emailing friends, begging them to pray. Trying to pack.

I kept walking back and forth from my closet to my suitcase, empty-handed. What would I need? How long would we be there?

What if he dies?

That thought kept creeping in, which had me in a constant state of prayer.

We left for the airport the next morning. Lexi had wanted to come with us, but with casts on both of her arms, she needed to stay home. Even though she was nineteen, she couldn’t even pour herself a drink, much less cook for herself, so my mother managed her care.

My husband and I arrived in Salt Lake City at about ten thirty the next morning.

Jacob and his cousin were in ICU. Joshua was suffering from a serious concussion and intestinal damage from the seatbelt.

Jacob had a broken wrist, a broken thumb, and three broken ribs. None of which mattered compared to the collapsed lungs and pneumothorax. He was intubated. Tubes drained blood and fluid and air from his chest cavity. If that worked, maybe his lungs would expand again. Maybe they would recover.

All I wanted to hear when we arrived was that he was going to be okay. But the doctors wouldn’t make that promise. We found out later that they didn’t think he would.

Thus began the longest days of our lives, watching our son fight to survive as machines kept him alive.

Meanwhile, back in Oklahoma, Lexi was scheduled for surgery. We wanted to be there with her, but we needed to be with Jacob. So Mom took her for the surgery and cared for her afterward.

Jacob spent a week in ICU, ten days in the hospital altogether. But he survived and recovered, as did his cousin. As did Lexi.

I will never stop thanking the Lord for how He protected our kids, and how He healed them. He showed all of us His amazing mercy.

That was such a unique and life-altering experience. When it was over—when we knew it was going to have a happy ending—I decided I’d write about it someday. And I have, a lot, in blog posts like this.

But, being a fiction writer, of course I wanted to use it in a story—which is why I wrote A Mountain Too Steep.

The accident the boys suffer in the novel is almost exactly what our boys went through. I wanted to show a heroine who trusts God even when her life is falling apart.

So often we see fictional characters struggle with their faith when tragedy strikes. But that wasn’t my experience. By the time of the kids’ accidents, our family had been through so much trauma, and in the process, I’d learned not to question God or blame Him, but to lean in.

He doesn’t cause the bad things in our lives, but He’s there to help us through them. I wanted to demonstrate in the story that, when we lean in to God, He holds us up. I know it’s true because I’ve been there, and God has always been oh, so faithful.

Robin Patchen is a USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of Christian romantic suspense. She grew up in a small town in New Hampshire, the setting of her Nutfield Saga books, and then headed to Boston to earn a journalism degree. After college, working in marketing and public relations, she discovered how much she loathed the nine-to-five ball and chain. After relocating to the Southwest, she started writing her first novel while she homeschooled her three children. The novel was dreadful, but her passion for storytelling didn’t wane. Thankfully, as her children grew, so did her writing ability. Now that her kids are adults, she has more time to play with the lives of fictional heroes and heroines, wreaking havoc and working magic to give her characters happy endings. When she’s not writing, she’s editing or reading, proving that most of her life revolves around the twenty-six letters of the alphabet. Visit robinpatchen.com/subscribe to receive a free book and stay informed about Robin’s latest projects.

Robin Patchen is offering a print copy of Vengeance in the Mist to one 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 A Mountain Too Steep by Robin Patchen? Have you ever visited Utah?