For those of us who like romantic suspense – and there are a lot of us – the publishing world can be a frustrating place. Many of the bigger traditional publishers have decided that romantic suspense is not the seller it once was, and have drastically cut back on the number of suspense books they publish. A self-fulfilling prophecy if there ever was one, since making it harder for readers to find these books means they’ll eventually give up on romantic suspense and move on to other genres.
Fortunately, Harlequin is one publisher that still reliably produces romantic suspense, both through their category lines and their single title imprints. My guest author today is one of the many talented authors in Harlequin’s stable of suspense writers. She’s Karen Whiddon and she writes for Harlequin’s Silhouette Romantic Suspense line, and also for Nocturne, Harlequin’s paranormal line.
Luckily for us romantic suspense readers, Karen has a new book coming out in September. I really love these category novels. They have tight, suspenseful story lines and solidly satisfying romances that are great to gobble up in one go. I also like the fact that the heroines in a lot of these books are ordinary women in danger, rather than secret agents or FBI profilers. Not that I don’t like those types of heroines as well, but sometimes it’s fun to read about a character a little more like the rest of us!
Here’s the blurb for Karen’s new book, The Cop’s Missing Child:
Small-town cop Mac Riordan lost his wife in a car crash, but his infant son survived, only to later be kidnapped. Now, five years later, Mac locates him living in Anniversary, Texas, with beautiful Emily Gilley. The more he gets to know this mysterious mother of his son, the less he’s convinced she’s a coldhearted kidnapper. She might be a victim just as much as he is. So when Emily’s under-the-radar lifestyle is suddenly discovered, Mac comes clean. The threats against her—against their child—escalate and Mac must risk it all to protect his son…and the woman who’s brought him back to life.
Sounds like a great, classic romantic suspense story, doesn’t it? I’ll certainly be looking for Karen’s book when it hits the shelves in September.
And for my readers today, Karen is giving away a copy of one of her previous books, The CEO’s Secret Baby.
To win a copy of Karen’s book, just let me know what you think about the current state of the romantic suspense market. Do you wish there were more suspense books available, and where do you tend to find the ones you do read? One person who comments will win a copy of The CEO’s Secret Baby.
And be sure to stop by Karen’s website for a listing of all her books, including her backlist, now available in digital.
I have read a few of Karen’s books, love ’em. And I get about 3/4 of my books used, just because of the sheer volume of reading i do. As it is, i tend to spend $200 everytime i step foot in a bookstore. hehe, thank god for the trade in value in the used bookstore toward more!
Misty, I often rely on the used book store to find out of print or hard to get books. Books have such a short shelf life these days in regular bookstores.
This is so upsetting because romantic suspense is my favorite genre above all. Ugh how frustrating!
I usually get book recommendations on goodreads.com and have a lot of friends on there that are romantic suspense lovers.
Goodreads is a great place to get feedback on books!
I really enjoy the books with a lot of suspense. I wish there were more romantic suspense novels! I tend to get most of my reading material from Amazon, so I’ll discover new-to-me titles while browsing or from their recommendations.
Kelli, that’s a very useful function on Amazon, for sure.
I love Romantic Suspense of any kind, it serves to parts of my book likes in one! I would love to win this book…
Thanks for stopping by, Linda!
I also think that the genre is alive and well, there is so much to take from these days…and I for one am glad
Yes, there’s a lot of indie published romantic suspense out there too. You just have to know where to look for it.
i love suspense mixed with alot of romance. i get book recommendations from several sources … facebook, goodreads, kindle and wine, amazon, kindle daily … love, love , love to read … not enough hours in a day … throw a family in the mix and it gets very challenging! thank you for the giveaway! ;D
Kylarae, I agree – not enough hours in the day to read!
I dont read romantic suspense too often. There has been too much that disappoints. Now, I am very picky. Lori Foster, Cherry Adair,Cindy Gerard, Pamela Clare. I know it looks like a long list of writers. But it really isnt considering. There just arent that many that write it really well.
You’ve mentioned some of my favorite authors, Lisa – love them all. You might want to take a look at Karen’s books, too. And a new author I really like is Carey Baldwin. Her book First Do No Evil is really good.
I like this genre. It seems like there are a lot of books in this genre to read.
Harlequin does have a lot of great romantic suspense authors, bn.
I do enjoy reading Romantic Suspense. I must admit that a lot of my books of this genre I ‘borrow’ from my sister. I really ought to start up my own collection.