About the Book

Book: The End Begins (Rerelease)

Author: Sara Davison

Genre: Dystopian Romantic Suspense

Release Date: July 15, 2024

Which of them is the prisoner and which one is free?

Bookstore owner Meryn O’Reilly and Army Captain Jesse Christensen are on opposite sides of a battle. After a series of terrorist attacks in 2053, martial law has been declared in Canada and the military has taken over. When a radical Christian group claims responsibility, Jesse and his platoon are sent to Meryn’s city to keep an eye on the Christians and ensure they are not stepping outside the confines of the law.

Fiery and quick-tempered, Meryn chafes under the curfew and other restrictions to her freedom. Jesse is equally amused, intrigued, and terrified by her spirit, knowing she could end up in prison if she shows defiance to the wrong soldier, namely Lieutenant Gallagher.

Jesse watches out for Meryn when possible, although she wants nothing to do with him. His worst fears are realized when she commits a crime he cannot protect her from. Now they both face an uncertain future and the very real threat of losing everything, including their lives.

With time running out, Jesse works feverishly to convince the authorities to show leniency—and to convince Meryn that love can overcome any barrier that lies between them.

 

Click here to get your copy!

 

About the Author

Sara Davison is the author of The Night Guardians, The Rose Tattoo, two sparrows for a penny, and In the Shadows series, as well as the standalone, The Watcher. A finalist for more than a dozen national writing awards, including the Christy Award, Davison is a Cascade, Word, and two-time Carol Award winner for romantic suspense. She lives in Ontario with her husband, Michael. Like every good Canadian, she loves coffee, hockey, poutine, and apologizing for no particular reason.

 

 

More from Sara

Most, if not all, great fiction begins with the question, “What if?” This is likely truer for The Day Draws Near Series (formerly The Seven Trilogy) than for any of my other stories.

The seeds for this series were planted as I worked my way through a study on Revelation at our church. Each of those seeds represented a what if question.

What if the Bible was outlawed and taken away from believers? What if restrictions such as a curfew or being forced to wear an identity bracelet were placed on Christians? What if the consequences for not following those restrictions became serious, even deadly? What if publicly declaring that you were a follower of Jesus Christ made it harder to buy or sell items? What if the churches were closed and believers forced to meet underground? What if teaching your children from the Bible meant you risked having them taken away from you? What if all this happened in Canada and the US in the very near future?

And the big question the entire series asks is: What if we are not ready?

Those seeds grew into the characters and storylines that make up the dystopian romantic suspense books The End Begins, The Darkness Deepens, and The Morning Star Rises.

The Day Draws Near Series is a revised and updated-with-new-content version of The Seven Trilogy, originally released in 2015 and 2016. While I don’t for a moment claim these books are prophetic, between their original release and now, many of the things that happen in the series, including a global pandemic, have since come to pass.

My hope and prayer for each book in this series is that readers will be left with a deeper awareness that time is short and that we are living in a society increasingly hostile to Christianity and in a world of darkness that hates the light. However that hostility and hatred plays out, life will become more difficult for Christians in the future, as the Bible clearly claims.

However, the tone of the book and what I pray readers will take with them is one of peace and hope. The most powerful message these stories convey is that there is no need to be afraid. God’s ultimate plan of redemption and reconciliation is playing out in front of our eyes. Nothing can thwart that plan. Nothing can happen that God does not allow.

Above all, every believer can know with absolute certainty that, whatever happens in the future, we will never face it alone. God will be with us, watching over us and giving us the strength and the courage to endure to the end.

Interview with the Author

1. What literary pilgrimages have you gone on?

Hmm. That is a great question. I’m not a big traveller, so I can’t honestly say I have been on many pilgrimages, although I am working on a story set in Prince Edward Island and recently travelled there with that story in mind. All my books and stories are set in Canada, in places I have been – Vancouver, Ottawa/Kingston, Toronto – so I haven’t specifically needed to travel for research. When my characters do travel to other places such as Chicago, Puerto Rico, or, most recently, Tahiti, I do a ton of online research, including watching YouTube videos, which can make you feel as though you are right there. I also try to have people who have been to those places read it over to check for accuracy. Not the same (or as fun or interesting) as travelling there in person, but so far that is how I have been able to write about places I have yet to visit.

2. What’s your favorite under-appreciated novel?

I’m not sure it is under-appreciated now, but A Wrinkle in Time was certainly underappreciated when Madeleine L’Engle was first trying to get it published. It was such a different book, publishers didn’t know what to do with it. In the end, of course, it did end up being an award-winning, impactful, and enduring story. That makes it my favourite because my books rarely follow the typical Christian romantic suspense storylines, which means publishers and readers don’t always know what to make of them. It’s also what makes a lot of readers love them (apparently). I can’t write any differently, so I have to leave that part up to God.

3. How do you select the names of your characters?

Funny, unlike a lot of writers I know, this isn’t something I spend a lot of time on. The names seem to come to me along with the storyline, and I rarely have to look up lists and go through a lot of names to find the right one. This has, however, led to a lot of my male characters having one-syllable names (Cash, Gage, Tag, Cole, Tane, Beck, Jax), I have realized in hindsight, so mine might not be the best way of doing things 😊

4. What was your hardest scene to write?

I don’t want to give too much away, but by far the hardest scene in The End Begins is one in which the hero, Jesse, has to carry out a sentence handed down to the heroine, Meryn. It was such a tricky scene because although the punishment is harsh, I didn’t want the focus to be on that (or the agony of either them). Instead, I wanted it to be on the way both are praying for strength for Meryn and that divine strength comes to her when she needs it. Readers have commented that they were worried about getting to this part as the story built toward it, but it ended up being the most powerful and hopeful of the book, which I pray is true.

5. What is your favorite childhood book?

It depends on how you define “childhood”. My earliest favourite was called “Where’s Willy” about a lost kitten (spoiler alert, he was in the laundry basket). Later, I fell in love with The Great Brain books, The Bobbsey Twins, and Encyclopedia Brown. When I was a bit older, I read and was deeply impacted by A Wrinkle in Time. Those are the ones that stand out most, although I read voraciously as a child, so there are many, many more I could add to the list.

6. If you had to do something differently as a child or teenager to become a better writer as an adult, what would you do?

Other than the fact that we didn’t travel much as a family (my mother hated flying and I’m not a big fan of it myself) which would have helped expand my horizons early on, I’m not sure I would have done anything differently. We moved a lot, so I was often in the position of having to start over in a new town with all new people and experiences, which has been great in terms of allowing me to put myself in unfamiliar situations as they come along in my stories. The first thing I would do whenever we moved to a new place (and still do) was find the library. I would basically camp out there reading every book I could get my hands on, which was the absolute best thing I could have done to prepare myself to become a writer later in life.

7. What comes first, the plot or characters?

My books are very character-driven. The characters and their relationships and journeys are by far the most important thing to me, so they always come first. The rest is background for the journey they take and the way they learn and grow as the story unfolds.

8. Who is the author you most admire in your genre?

Oh boy. So many for different reasons. C.C. Warrens and Lisa Phillips are doing incredibly well, which is opening a lot of doors and raising the bar for indie writers. Many others, notably DiAnn Mills and Colleen Coble, are amazing at reaching down to lift up the writers coming after them. And there are so many whose names I don’t want to list because I will definitely miss some that are providing stories that entertain while conveying deep spiritual truths. I just want to be like all of them when I grow up.

9. What do you like to do when you are not writing?

My favourite things to do are reading (of course), watching old black and white movies, spending time with family, walking along the water, taking road trips, going out for coffee or dinner with friends, and watching baseball or hockey (live or on TV).

10. If you could invite one person to dinner, who would it be and what would you cook?

If it’s okay to invite someone no longer living, it would have to be Jimmy Stewart. He’s my all-time favourite actor but also, from all accounts, an amazing man of faith, committed to his family and country. When he died, I remember being so disappointed that I would never be able to meet him in person, so I can at least imagine having him over for dinner. As for what we would eat, I have a fairly limited repertoire, so I would likely make him my family’s favourite dish, a chicken-broccoli casserole with salad and fresh bread and some kind of pie for dessert.

Blog Stops

The Lofty Pages, September 19

For the Love of Literature, September 20 (Author Interview)

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, September 20

Locks, Hooks and Books, September 21

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, September 22

Through the Fire Blogs, September 23 (Author Interview)

Texas Book-aholic, September 23

Life on Chickadee Lane, September 24

Betti Mace, September 25

Artistic Nobody, September 26 (Author Interview)

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, September 27

Jodie Wolfe – Stories Where Hope and Quirky Meet, September 28 (Author Interview)

Simple Harvest Reads, September 29 (Guest Review from Donna Cline)

Beauty in the Binding, September 30 (Author Interview)

Library Lady’s Kid Lit, October 1

For Him and My Family, October 2

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Sara is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon card and a paperback copy of the book!!