About the Book

Book: Sheltering You (Wright Heroes of Maine Book 4)

Author: Robin Patchen

Genre: Christian Romantic Suspense

Release Date: August 6, 2024

In the sleepy town of Shadow Cove, Maine, a woman’s desperate flight becomes a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse.

After escaping Iraq with her twin sister, Jasmine seeks refuge from Qasim, the terrorist she was forced to marry. She’s determined to carve out a safe haven in this peaceful coastal town for herself and her unborn child. But her polygamous husband’s relentless pursuit threatens to shatter her fragile world, leaving her with nowhere to hide.

Enter Derrick, a guardian angel in the guise of a friend.

Drawn to Jasmine’s quiet strength, Derrick vows to shield her from harm, even as the boundaries of friendship blur into something deeper. Unaware of Jasmine’s secret, he agrees to help her rescue and hide another Iraqi refugee woman and her younger brother in the US. Derrick will do anything for Jasmine, his heart yearning for a connection she refuses to embrace.

All the while, Qasim is closing in.

He took Jasmine as his second wife for one reason, and she carries that reason in her womb. Once his heir is born, nothing will stop Qasim from bringing him home to his beloved first wife and disposing of Jasmine—and he will take out anybody else who stands in his way.

Join the Wright Heroes of Maine for an edge-of-your-seat international romantic suspense that takes you on the run with a heroine in hiding, a secret baby, and unrequited love.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Robin Patchen is a USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of Christian romantic suspense. She grew up in a small town in New Hampshire, the setting of her Coventry Saga books, and then headed to Boston to earn a journalism degree. Working in marketing, she discovered how much she loathed the nine-to-five ball and chain. After relocating to the Southwest, she started writing her first novel while homeschooling her three children. The novel was dreadful, but her passion for storytelling didn’t wane. Thankfully, as her children grew, so did her writing ability. Now that her kids are adults, she has more time to play with the lives of fictional heroes and heroines, wreaking havoc and working magic to give her characters happy endings. When she’s not writing, she’s editing or reading, proving that most of her life revolves around the twenty-six letters of the alphabet.

More from Robin

Back when I first started writing fiction, I used to worry that each story idea would be my last, that I’d never get another good one. Since then, I’ve learned that stories somehow beget more stories.

For instance, back in 2022, I created a character named Grant, who was secretly in love with his coworker, Summer. In the process of figuring out who Grant was, I realized he had five brothers. All I knew about them was that they grew up in Maine and one had a limp and blamed Grant for it.

I had no idea why.

Grant’s story came out in Courage in the Shadows, the ninth book in the Coventry Saga. Then I told his brother Daniel’s story in A Mountain Too Steep, book eleven in the same series, a bridge to the Wright Heroes of Maine.

In the middle of writing Running to You, the first book in that series, which is about Sam, I “met” his older brother, Michael, a CIA agent, and thought, wouldn’t it be fun if his girlfriend was kidnapped? Oh, and what if she was Middle Eastern? And what if she was taken by terrorists?

Well, crazily enough, that’s what happened. (It’s fun to be the little-g-god of my little story world, always submitting to the Big-G-God in the real world, of course.)

In Rescuing You, Michael heads to Iraq to rescue Leila and meets her twin sister, Jasmine, who’s also being held against her will. And their family has ties to terrorists, which gave me a great idea for the next book, Finding You, which takes place in Germany with Bryan, the brother with the limp.

After he and his beautiful heroine, Sophie, survive their plot, we head back to the US, which brings us to Sheltering You, my most recent release.

And now it’s getting really fun because Jasmine is hiding from her terrorist (and bigamist) husband, who’s searching for her and his unborn child.

See what I mean? Each story births the next.

You’re going to love Sheltering You. Derrick, the youngest of the Wright brothers, is already smitten with Jasmine, but he has no idea she’s married and expecting a child. And she might loathe her husband—so much that she ran from him and is hiding a half a world away. Even so, she’s married, and that means something. So no matter what she feels for Derrick, she can’t act on it.

The situation is complicated, and it just gets more complicated as the story progresses. Which is what makes it So. Much. Fun!

And guess what. This series isn’t over, not even close. We’ve gone through all the brothers, but  there are more Wrights out there…cousins. I don’t know all their stories yet, but Alyssa’s is already coming together. It’ll release in the winter of 2025 with some familiar faces—good guys, of course, and maybe bad guys as well.

I hope you’ll check out Sheltering You and all the stories in the Wright Heroes of Maine series.

Interview with Robin

How long does it take you to write a book?

If we’re talking about the actual process of putting words on the page in the first draft, then I write approximately a thousand words per hour. Since my books are usually between 95k and 100k words, that means I’m spending about a hundred hours typing the story.

As a full-time writer/indie publisher, I dedicate at least forty hours a week to my work. On a good week, though, I probably write for 15-18 hours, so it’ll take me about six weeks to finish a full-length novel.

(I wrote a 105k-word novel last year in 30 days, but that was an anomaly—one of those months with few distractions—and one of those books that just flowed off my fingertips. Would that they were all so effortless.)

Of course, that doesn’t account for the character building and plotting that I do in advance of starting the writing, which probably takes another 10 hours-15 hours. Nor does it include the re-reading and editing that comes after the first draft, which, if I include all the rounds of edits, probably takes another 15 hours at least, and maybe as many as 25, though I’ve never counted.

Altogether, I probably spend at least 130 hours taking each book from that first glimmer of an idea to a finished product, which includes a week or so of plotting and character building, about six weeks of writing, and then, over the next few months, a day here and there for editing.

Phew. When I jot it all down, it feels exhausting. But I love (almost) every minute of it.

What is your real-life work schedule like when writing? 

I generally set time goals instead of word-count goals when I’m drafting a novel, which I find works better for me. In a typical week, my goal will be eighteen hours of writing time, which translates to a little more than 3½ hours a day—assuming I can write every day without interruption. That’s rare, though, so I’ll aim for four hours a day on the days when I can, knowing some days I won’t get three.

Ideally, my day starts with writing. No emails, no distractions—just writing. When I do that, meeting my goal by lunchtime is usually pretty simple.

But I don’t live in an ideal world, and email beckons, as does the to-do list with its false promise of just cross this one thing off so you can focus on the writing…

It never quite works out like that. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done the “one thing” on the list and then looked up to find it’s ten thirty, or lunchtime, and I haven’t written a single word. And then I’m still trying to put words on the page late in the afternoon, which is, for me, so much harder.

Ideally, I would finish my writing by twelve thirty and then spend my afternoon doing all the other tasks on my to-do list—publishing, marketing, occasional editing and critiquing for a few friends. I use Saturdays for all that didn’t get done Monday through Friday.

Thank God for Sundays and rest!

What are your favorite books to read?

I love all sorts of genres, and I consume books in series like M&Ms in a jar. Lately, I’ve been binge-reading two general market mystery series. (They’re mostly clean, as long as you don’t mind a little salty language.) I like women’s fiction in both the Christian market and the general market. I like Christian historical fiction, though most of my editing clients and critique partners write historical, so I rarely choose that genre for pleasure. I enjoy Christian romance and Christian suspense and, when I’m not working on a book of my own, Christian romantic suspense.

(I have to be careful when I’m drafting a novel not to read my own genre. Otherwise, I find myself slipping into other authors’ voices. It’s the weirdest thing!)

I’m not a huge fan of fantasy and science fiction, but if I get a recommendation for a book in one of those genres, I’ll often give it a try.

One deal-breaker for me: A book has to have a happy ending, or at least a satisfying ending, or I will never read another book by that novelist. If I want tragedy and sadness, I’ll read the news.

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

Yes! This fall, I’ll be releasing the second edition of Finding Amanda, fully updated with brand-new content. Then, in November, Sleigh Bells and Stalkers, a new Nutfield story, will release in a novella collection called Christmas in Nutfield. Fans have been clamoring to go back to the little New Hampshire town, so we’ll visit Nutfield this Christmas and see a lot of old friends—and meet some new ones. Daniel Nolan was just a little boy when we first met him in Innocent Lies. Now, he’s a college student who’s picked up a stalker—not that he’s afraid of a girl…but the all-grown-up little sister of his best friend should be.

And then, come January, the next Wright Heroes story will release. Protecting You will feature some new heroes and heroines—and an old villain. Enemies to more, a fake relationship, and maybe a secret baby? I think readers are going to like this one.

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

Check out my website at http://robinpatchen.com or follow me on Amazon or Bookbub to find out more about my books. And you can find me on Instagram and Tiktok, too, and check out my Youtube channel for free audiobooks.

Blog Stops

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, August 10

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, August 10

Locks, Hooks and Books, August 11

Stories By Gina, August 12 (Author Interview)

Texas Book-aholic, August 12

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, August 13

Book Looks by Lisa, August 14

Betti Mace, August 15

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, August 16

Blossoms and Blessings, August 17

Blogging With Carol, August 18

For the Love of Literature, August 19 (Spotlight)

Holly’s Book Corner, August 20

Artistic Nobody, August 21 (Spotlight)

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, August 22

Back Porch Reads, August 23 (Spotlight)

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Robin is giving away the grand prize package of a $50 Amazon gift card and a copy of Finding You!!

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/2dbe4/sheltering-you-celebration-tour-giveaway