About the Book
Book: Forged
Author: Sara Davison
Genre: Action/Suspense
Release date: October 5, 2022
The one missing person he can’t find
is the one who matters the most.
Private Investigator Jax Rodriguez has been searching for his brother, Diego, for twenty years. When he stumbles upon another lead, he makes an agonizing decision—he will follow this last trail until it grows cold, and then he will marry the woman he loves and abandon his quest once and for all.
Artist Mikayla Grant is terrified of losing another person close to her, but she has to let Jax go after his brother. Given the secrecy surrounding Diego’s disappearance, clearly Jax is heading into danger. When all contact with him is abruptly cut off, can Mikayla trust that God’s promise to never leave or forsake Jax will be enough to bring him safely home, or does she need to take matters into her own hands?
As Jax attempts to survive the dangerous streets of Caracus, Venezuela and then face the myriad of unknown threats in the El Yunque Rainforest in Puerto Rico, he is not the only one following his brother’s trail.
A ruthless drug lord bent on revenge is using all his resources to hunt them down. If they can’t stay one step ahead of their pursuer, then, like his brother, he and Mikayla could disappear and never be heard from again.
Click here to get you copy!
About the Author
Sara Davison is the author of four romantic suspense series—The Seven Trilogy, The Night Guardians, The Rose Tattoo Trilogy, and two sparrows for a penny, as well as the standalone, The Watcher. A finalist for more than a dozen national writing awards, she is a Word, Cascade, and two-time Carol Award winner. She currently resides in Ontario with her husband, Michael, and their three mostly grown kids. Like every good Canadian, she loves coffee, hockey, poutine, and apologizing for no particular reason. Get to know Sara better at www.saradavison.org and @sarajdavison.
More from Sara
It’s never easy writing a book during a global pandemic. Writing one that is set in three different countries when traveling is either prohibited or, at best, extremely complicated, is an even greater challenge. Thankfully, the digital world is still very much accessible.
Through the wonders of modern technology, while writing Forged I was able to travel virtually to two places I had never been—Caracas, Venezuela and the El Yunque Rainforest in Puerto Rico. I did a search for “driving down the street in Caracas” and suddenly found myself behind the wheel of a car, experiencing the sights and sounds of that city. The only things missing were the feel of the warm breezes against my skin and the smells of the food trucks lining the sidewalk. Which was unfortunate, since the research I did on Venezuelan food definitely had my mouth watering.
Next, I looked up “hiking in the El Yunque rainforest” and was able to share the experience of that lush, beautiful place with people who actually had their boots on the ground there. I could hear the singing of the tree frogs, or coqui, the soundtrack of Puerto Rican-Canadian private investigator Jax Rodriguez’s flight through the forest with a drug dealer in hot pursuit. I was treated to the sight and sound of La Mina Falls as well as the countless plants and trees growing there.
Virtual traveling might never offer the full experience that going somewhere in person can, but in times like these, I am thankful for those who have gone somewhere I would love to see and who were willing to offer me a glimpse into their experiences from the safety and comfort of my home.
Although, smelling one of the more than fifty kinds of orchids in the Puerto Rican rainforest or trying the cachapa Jax bought—pork, spices, and cheese wrapped in a corn pancake—from a street vendor in Caracas are now both high on my bucket list of things to do in person. Hopefully someday. Until then, I will continue to explore the planet through the eyes of others and at least attempt to capture the experience in my stories as effectively as they did through the lens of a camera.
Interview with Sara
- How do you select the names of your characters?
Choosing the names for my characters is critical for me. Until I do so, I can’t picture them or what they are like. As soon as I hit upon what I know is the right name for him or her, I immediately start to form a mental image of them and their personality, voice, backstory, temperament etc. Some of my characters have come into my head already named, which obviously makes things a lot easier for me. Other times, I have to do a lot of searching to find the right one. Because I like to include diversity in my stories, I do a lot of research into names—first and last—common among those with their background and ethnicity. Cole Blacksky, for example, my Anishinaabe hero in Every Star in the Sky, or Tala Tangalou, Cole’s half-Filipina love interest. Detective Laken Jones is the African-Canadian MC in my most recent release, Every Flower of the Field, and Tane Temauri is the Tahitian lead in an upcoming series of mine, the tophelia novels. I do find that I gravitate toward certain names, particularly for my male characters. I love one-syllable male names (my sons are Luke and Seth) and also, apparently, names that start with J, C, and T. I have a number of those spread out over my various series (Jude, Cole, Jax, Cash, Ty, Cale, Trey, Tag), something I am trying to be aware of as I come up with names for future stories. Once I have a name and have begun to write their story, it is almost impossible for me to change that name. It would be like someone asking me to change the name of one of my children when they were two or three years old. They are that person to me now, and I can’t imagine calling them anything else.
- What was your hardest scene to write?
As I tackle (with a great deal of fear, trepidation, and prayer) a lot of extremely difficult topics in my writing, this is a tough question to answer. If you will allow me, I’ll mention a few. These would include: the opening scene of Vigilant, in which two young brothers cower in a closet as their drunk father tears apart the bedroom looking for them and eventually finds them; a scene in The End Begins, which is set about 30 years in the future when Bibles have been outlawed. The heroine is arrested for smuggling Bibles through her bookstore, and the hero, a soldier sent to keep an eye on the Christians, is forced to flog her so she doesn’t face a worse punishment. The opening chapter of Every Star in the Sky when Starr, a woman who has been trafficked for eight years, attempts to intervene when her trafficker and his men are dragging another woman from the house to get rid of her because she has become pregnant. A lot of my scenes and stories are difficult to write, although reviewers often state that I do not sensationalize or give too many details as I tell them. I write all of these books with a lot of prayer and as many humorous moments as possible to give the readers—and myself—a break from the tension. And I (almost) always end these stories with my main characters finding love, redemption, justice, and hope for the future.
- What is your favorite childhood book?
I was an extremely voracious reader as a child. Our family photo albums are filled with shots of my family doing some kind of activity up front while I am in the background curled up with a book reading. So many books come to mind when I contemplate this question, but my absolute favourites would have to be The Bobbsey Twins series, The Great Brain books, and the Encyclopedia Brown mysteries.
- Who is the author you most admire in your genre?
There are so many fabulous Christian romantic suspense authors, it’s difficult to pare it down to one favourite, but an author I deeply admire is Angela Hunt. What I love about Angela’s books are that they are all different. She doesn’t follow a formula but it willing to push boundaries and try new and exciting storylines and ways of telling stories. I have always tried to do this in my own writing as well. Occasionally this means losing writers, many of whom tend to like to know what they are going to get when they pick up a Christian romantic suspense novel. Thankfully, there are also a lot of readers who are looking for something different, something they’re not expecting. It’s a risk to depart from the usual formula, but it makes writing that much more interesting and exciting for me, and hopefully it makes the stories that much more interesting and exciting for my readers.
- If you could invite one person to dinner, who would it be and what would you cook?
I have really only ever had the strong desire to meet one celebrity, and, as he has passed on now, it isn’t going to happen in my lifetime. But if I could have invited one person over to dinner while he was still alive, it would have been Jimmy Stewart. I am a huge fan of classic movies, and James Stewart is, in my opinion, the greatest actor of all time. I love his movies, particularly earlier ones like It’s a Wonderful Life and Harvey. What I love most is that the sweet, humble man on screen was, by all accounts, who Jimmy Stewart truly was in real life. He was a man of deep faith, a man who put his career on hold to fight for his country and refused to receive special treatment when he did so, and a man who enjoyed a long and happy marriage with his wife. I truly would have loved to sit down with him over dinner and have a deep, extended conversation about life, faith, and the art of telling stories.
Thank you, Sara, for letting us get to know you better!
Blog Stops
Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, April 1
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, April 2
Texas Book-aholic, April 3
Locks, Hooks and Books, April 4
Betti Mace, April 5
An Author’s Take, April 5
Ashley’s Clean Book Reviews, April 6
Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, April 7
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, April 8
Blogging With Carol, April 9
Artistic Nobody, April 10 (Author Interview)
Cathe Swanson, April 10
For Him and My Family, April 11
Lily’s Book Reviews, April 12
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, April 13
Becca Hope: Book Obsessed, April 14
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Sara is giving away the grand prize package of a copy of the book and a $50 Amazon card!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
https://promosimple.com/ps/2525b/forged-celebration-tour-giveaway