Escaping into romantic suspense... Lethal Target by Janice Cantore (Guest Post)


I've thoroughly enjoyed this series so far and am looking forward to the next book! You can read my review of Crisis Shot here and Lethal Target here. Check out the author's guest post below...

Lethal Target
(The Line of Duty #2)
By Janice Cantore
Christian Romantic Supsense
Paperback & ebook, 416 Pages
October 9th 2018 by Tyndale House Publishers

Summary

Police Chief Tess O'Rourke thought she'd taken care of her small town's drug problem last year. But now Rogue's Hollow residents are up in arms over a contentious vote on legalizing the sale of marijuana within city limits. And when an eighteen-year-old is found dead of a possible overdose, Tess wonders if the local pot farms might be involved and begins to fear that a new, deadlier drug supply chain has cropped up. As tempers flare and emotions boil over, Tess faces the possibility of losing the town's support.

With her relationship to Sergeant Steve Logan on shaky ground, Tess could really use a friend, and she feels drawn to Pastor Oliver Macpherson's quiet presence. But the anger she holds over her father's death prevents her from embracing his faith and finding peace.

Battling storms within and without, Tess is shocked when a familiar face from her past shows up in town to stir up more trouble. And his threats against Tess may prove lethal.

Read my review HERE.

(Affiliate links included.)

Guest Post:
Why You Should Choose Romantic Suspense for Your Next Read
By Janice Cantore

Why do you read fiction? I read to escape, to lose myself in an exciting, interesting, and fast-paced story world. Simple as that. The reasons I choose romantic suspense?

  1. First, suspense is exciting and fast-paced (that’s why it’s suspense). A good romantic suspense author is going to hit the ground running and make me keep turning pages.
  2. Second, usually there is an interesting mystery to solve, a crime, a disappearance–something. How the hero/heroine solves the crime puzzle is as important to me as the romance question.
  3. This leads me to the third reason to choose romantic suspense: the relationship between the hero and heroine, hopefully drawn in a way that makes me like and root for both.

Reading for me has always been an escape. I read my share of non-fiction, but when I dive into a novel I want to leave the real world behind. Wherever the story is set, I want to believe that I’m there. I want to see the place in my mind and let my imagination fill in any blanks. I want the story world to complement the story and come across as very real, even if it’s made up.

I like suspense because it’s thrilling. Suspense makes the story take off and keeps me turning pages. Suspense novels usually involve a fight between good and evil, and the cop in me always roots for the good guy and wants to see the bad guy crushed. The commission of a crime brings with it its own tension. Whatever the crime, who did it and whether or not they’ll get caught can add get suspense to a story. A suspense story is not always a mystery, and by that I mean that the reader can know who committed the crime, but the hero and heroine have to figure it out, and the suspense is generated by their race to catch the culprit. What gives the story punch and promise is how complicated the solution is and what the stakes are for the hero and heroine. Will they find the right clues and put them together in time to stop the bad guy? That question adds to the suspense.

The hero and heroine meet right away in romantic suspense novels. They may or may not like each other, but both should be compelling characters in their own right, likable and worth reading about. Woven in and out of the crime, the suspense, and the story world are the two main characters, and their relationship. There may be fireworks at first, and there may be tension, but a great joy in reading romantic suspense is how the author brings two dynamic characters together in the midst of danger, murder and mayhem.

Romantic suspense, no matter where it’s set, should take off like a rocket: I want to be invested in the story by the second page. By its very definition, suspense should keep a reader turning pages. And even knowing that it should wind up happy, with the romance capping everything off, a well-written romantic suspense novel makes the journey worth it. After a good story, filled with action and romance, when you get to the end, you’re a little sad. You’ll miss the characters and the story when you sadly put the book down. You’ll perk up again only when you find another book, open it, and the promise of another great romantic suspense hits you right between the eyes.

Other Books in the Series

Crisis Shot
(The Line of Duty #1)
By Janice Cantore
Christian Romantic Supsense
Paperback & ebook, 391 Pages
September 5th 2017 by Tyndale House Publishers

Summary

Tess O'Rourke dreams of becoming the first female chief of police in Long Beach, California. As commander of the East Division, she is well on her way . . . until the night she responds to an officer-needs-assistance call and fatally shoots an unarmed teenager. Despite being cleared of wrongdoing by a grand jury, Tess is so hounded by the public that she takes a job in Oregon to escape the bad press.

Winning over the residents of Rogue's Hollow might be more difficult than adjusting to her new role as police chief in the small, backwater town. Especially when her closest friend, the pastor's wife, goes missing and the woman's cousin is found shot. Tess finds an ally in sheriff's deputy Steve Logan, but as they track down Rogue's Hollow's first murderer, she worries that she's breaking one of her rules and getting too close to him.

Read my review HERE.

(Affiliate links included.)

About the Author


Janice Cantore is a retired Long Beach police officer who now writes suspense novels to keep readers engrossed and leave them inspired. Her twenty-two years of experience on the force lend authenticity to her stories. She has penned ten romantic suspense novels: the Cold Case Justice series, the Pacific Coast Justice series, Critical Pursuit, and Visible Threat. Crisis Shot and Lethal Target are the first two books in the Line of Duty series.



Have you read either book in this series? Do you like to escape into a romantic suspense?

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