Welcome!

Introducing Sara Davison!

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 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.

Social Media Links:

Facebook – Author Sara Davison | Facebook

Twitter – Sara Davison (@sarajdavison) / Twitter

Instagram – Sara Davison (@davisonsara) • Instagram photos and videos

Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4784774.Sara_Davison

Amazon Author – https://www.amazon.com/Sara-Davison/e/B00JI21YKG

Book Bub – @saradavison1

Website (to subscribe to short, monthly newsletter) – On the Edge Suspense – On the Edge Suspense (saradavison.org)

Interview with Sara

I’m excited to have you here on my blog, Sara. I’ve been looking forward to introducing readers to you and your books. Welcome!

Readers love to know what their favorite authors are reading, so start off by telling us what book you are currently reading?

At the moment, I am finishing up the True Lies of Rembrandt Stone series, written by the trio of authors who go by David James Warren. One of those series that I want to eagerly devour but make last at the same time.

I’ve heard a lot about those books, and they sound great. Now, let’s get to know you a little better. Have you always wanted to be a writer?

I’ve wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, I basically lived in the library of our small town, which was actually an old house with a huge, Gone-With-the-Wind style staircase and creaky wooden floors. I have a vivid memory of being nine years old and walking along one of the aisles between shelves of books, running my fingers along the spines and thinking, All these people have written a book. It can be done. I can do this. A second thing that happened around this time was my class took a school trip and then we were all asked to do a write-up of what we had seen and done. My article was chosen to go in the school newsletter. To this day, I can still remember the thrill of seeing my words in writing and knowing that people were reading them. I knew then that that was what I wanted to do with my life.

Your childhood library sounds so cool. And I love hearing how authors catch that first vision. If you could travel anywhere for research, where would you go?

I just finished writing a book called Forged, which is set in Canada, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico. Although I’m not a big traveler, as I did research for this book I developed a huge interest, a longing, even, to travel to Puerto Rico. Thankfully, given the times we are in, the Internet offers great options to traveling. I watched so many YouTube videos of the country that I almost felt as though I had been there. Someday, though, I really would love to go there in person to see this beautiful country, especially the El Yunque Rainforest where much of my story is set.

That would be such a neat trip. I hope you get to visit there someday. So, tell us about your first published book? What was the journey like?

Although I always knew I wanted to write a book, the idea of actually sitting down and doing it was so daunting. I completed a degree in English literature and then took every course, seminar, and workshop I could find on creative writing. Basically I did everything except actually sit down and write. Then one Sunday morning in church the idea for a story came to me. The whole thing—characters, beginning, middle, ending, everything. I went straight home and started writing. Within a couple of months, I had what I thought was a decent first draft. I showed it to an editor and realized quickly that I had no idea what I didn’t know. I went on to work on that first draft for five years, writing, rewriting, editing, overhauling, and polishing it in preparation to submit it to a writing contest. A few weeks before the deadline, I felt as though the book was close, but something was still missing. I realized that it was the timeline. With suspense, a tight timeline is critical, and my book was more of a sweeping epic suspense that took place over twenty years, which didn’t really work. I came up with the idea of adding in a non-human narrator and numerous supernatural “beings”, which enabled me to reduce that timeline to six days. However, it also required basically a complete rewrite and I only had weeks to accomplish it. I literally finished the day before deadline and sent off the book without anyone else being able to read it. I had no idea whether the idea worked or even made sense. That book, The Watcher, ended up winning the contest and was subsequently published in 2011 (vastly different from my original draft and yet with the same beginning, middle, ending, characters etc. that had come to me in church that day). On its tenth anniversary, in 2021, I acquired the rights back, updated the story and added several new chapters, and re-released the book. So it was a long, challenging, humbling, exhilarating journey, and I wouldn’t change a moment of it.

What comes first for you — the plot or the characters — and why?

Although this is a bit unusual for the suspense genre, my stories are more character-driven than plot-driven. For me, the power of story lies in the relationships—between a character and God or between one character and another. This is what gives depth to a story, what readers resonate and identify with. The plot carries those relationships and allows them to develop through what the characters go through but, in my books at least, it is secondary to who the characters are and who they become throughout the by the end of the story.

Does one of the main characters hold a special place in your heart? If so, why?

Actually, both main characters hold a special place in my heart. Starr is such an enigma. Despite years of extreme trauma, she emerges with a strong faith, sense of humor, empathy for others, and light in her eyes that Cole can’t fathom but is irresistibly drawn to. Her simple, childlike trust in a God who loves her and who never abandoned her deeply impacts him and causes him to re-examine his own thoughts about who he thought God was. And Cole is so remarkably patient, kind, and determined to protect Starr and to respect her complicated feelings about their romantic relationship. Although I love all my characters, these two are definitely special to me, and I loved writing about them and seeing how they came to life as their story unfolded.

What were the key challenges you faced when writing this book?

I faced two main challenges when writing this book: the very tough subject matter and the right way to authentically portray it without being graphic or offensive. Starr is initially caught up in sex trafficking, although she is rescued early on. Then she and Cole need to work through her understandably complex issues with having any kind of physical relationship with him. Both topics were a challenge to handle in a way that portrayed them clearly and honestly while not alienating my Christian readers or in any way dishonouring God. I prayed a lot over this story, and while some readers may still push back at a little of the content (or not read it at all if the subject is at all a trigger for them, which I fully support), I believe I have written the story God gave me to write the way I was meant to, so I can rest in that.

What is the key theme and/or message in the book?

The key theme of both this book and the entire series (and really, of all my stories) is that we are never alone. Starr is caught up in a horrific situation as a victim of sex trafficking for eight years. Even after she is rescued, she struggles with nightmares and the ever-present threat of her trafficker tracking her down in an attempt to permanently silence her so she can’t testify against him. Through all of that, Starr’s faith never wavers. She knows God is with her, that He sees everything she is going through, and that one day justice will be done. The series is called two sparrows for a penny, and is based on Matthew 10:29, which says, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.” That verse captures the theme of all three books in the series—that wherever we are or whatever we are going through, we are never outside of our Father’s care.

Where can readers find out more about you and your books?

My website is www.saradavison.org. Readers can find out more about my books there as well as subscribe to my short, once-a-month newsletter. Also, my Amazon page (https://www.amazon.com/Sara-Davison/e/B00JI21YKG) and Facebook Author page (Author Sara Davison | Facebook) are great places to read more about me and my work.

Any current or upcoming projects you’d like to tell us about?

Forged, the fourth and final book in my Night Guardians Series, will release in September. While it is not absolutely necessary to read the earlier books in the series, it would be helpful in order to follow the development of the characters and their stories. I have two novels coming out in 2023 – Sharp Like Glass (The Rose Tattoo Trilogy, Book 3) and Every Flower of the Field (two sparrows for a penny, Book 2), and then the two sparrows for a penny series will conclude with Every Bird that Falls early in 2024, so lots going on!

About The Book

Title: Every Star in the Sky

Series: The Mosaic Collection: Two Sparrows for a Penny

Author: Sara Davison

Genre: Christian Suspense

Publication date: March 2, 2022

Back Cover Blurb:

She is willing to testify against her trafficker.
If she can stay alive that long.

“You’re safe here, Starr.”
How many times has Detective Cole Blacksky said that to her since helping her escape the life she’d been forced into eight years earlier?
Starr desperately wants to believe him, but she knows Brady Erickson, her former captor, too well. Although Cole has promised her protective custody on his family’s remote ranch, no place on earth is safe enough. Brady will stop at nothing to permanently silence her before she ever reaches the witness stand.
And he is powerful enough to do it.
If Starr wants to help the other women, she has no choice but to put herself in God’s hands. And Cole’s. But the longer she and Cole stay hidden, the more her life is at risk.
And her heart.

Purchase Link: https://www.amazon.com/Every-Mosaic-Collection-sparrows-penny-ebook/dp/B09HSVSC5H

Giveaways

Sara is giving away a paperback copy of Every Star in the Sky. Comment below to enter. Giveaway ends March 13, 2022. (If you want to enter and are having difficulty, please email me using the contact page on this site and I will add your name to the drawing.)