Offshore Ambush Interview and Giveaway

About the Book

Book: Offshore Ambush Author: Sherri Wilson Johnson Genre: Christian Romantic Suspense (contemporary) Release Date: January 9, 2024 Sometimes people aren’t who you think they are. Gretchen Overton’s world is shattered when someone murders her brother on a remote offshore platform in the Gulf of Mexico. As medicolegal death investigator for Baldwin County, Alabama, she vows to uncover the truth and bring the killer to justice. But little does she know, her path to finding answers requires the help of Everett Forrester, the rig’s Drilling Foreman and her ex-boyfriend. While tensions rise and the body count increases, danger lurks around every corner…and it becomes clear that someone is determined to eliminate Gretchen and Everett before they uncover the truth. Can they untangle the web of deception and expose the killer before everything rips them apart again?  
Click here to get your copy!
 

About the Author

Sherri Wilson Johnson is a Christian romantic suspense author and lover of all things book related. She’s always been a sucker for a good love story—whether it’s in real life or fiction (both historical and contemporary). Completing her first novel at the age of eighteen, and later burning the only copy in the fireplace, she continued learning the craft of writing and now writes Contemporary Romantic Suspense and Historical Romance with a splash of suspense and/or mystery. When not writing, she’s usually assisting other publishing professionals or helping authors realize their dreams of becoming published. Sherri and her husband are empty-nesters and live in Georgia with their two dogs. She loves spending time with family, vacationing at the beach, curling up with a good book or working on her current work-in-progress. She dreams of a second home on some beach somewhere someday, where she can plot and write romantically suspenseful novels.

More from Sherri

The idea for Offshore Ambush came from my annual visits to the Gulf Shores and Fort Morgan, Alabama area. Just like how the idea for Desolate Escape (book one in my Jeopardized Reunions series) came about while sitting on the deserted beach at the Bon Secour Wildlife Refuge where I imagined someone discovering a dead body on the beach, discovering the oil and gas platforms out in the Gulf but not knowing what they were sparked my creative juices. So I began researching what these were while eating dinner on the screened-in porch that viewed Mobile Bay where we were staying (across the street from the beach). When I discovered that they were drilling platforms, my husband and I started brainstorming. Yes, Dan is one of my biggest brainstorming resources, for lack of a better word. He always titles my books for me, always listens daily as I fill him in on what I’ve written, and never fails to cheer me on when I’m dreaming up the next book or series idea.   I had planned to end the series (for now) with one final book that reached beyond what I’d written before. Since this series has been set on Mobile Bay and the beaches surrounding the Bon Secour Wildlife Refuge plus some of the rivers that flow into the bay, I felt like it would only be fitting to venture out into the ocean. So the first half is set on the Lapis Lazuli oil platform, then the rest is set in Gulf Shores.   Now for an interesting story about how I named the Lapis Lazuli… I’ve been reading the Bible all the way through this year, this time in chronological order. Because I’m a slow reader, I use a Bible app and let the British narrator read it to me. I follow along in my Bible and make notes or underline verses that touch me. Well, in at least two handfuls of places in the Old Testament the stone lapis lazuli is mentioned, and every time the British narrator pronounced it, it made me smile. I don’t know why, but it did. So when I did a search on what it was and found out that it was this gorgeous deep blue (which happens to be one of my favorite colors), I suddenly felt compelled to name the oil platform the Lapis Lazuli.   Exodus 24 talks about Moses and Aaron and the elders going up the mountain where they saw the God of Israel. Verse 10 says: “Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky.” Can’t you just see it?!   It’s mentioned that the priestly garments had lapis lazuli in the breastpiece. And in Song of Songs chapter five, the woman describes her beloved as this: His arms are rods of gold set with topaz. His body is like polished ivory decorated with lapis lazuli. Okay, so now I’m in the mood for a good love story. How about you? 😉 Offshore Ambush is another one of my second chance romantic suspense stories that reminds me of how God is the God of second chances, forgiveness, and unconditional love. I hope you will find this story to be as inspiring to read—and yet thrilling due to all the danger our hero and heroine find themselves in—as I did while writing it.

Interview with the Author

  1. Do you read books in this genre? If so, who do you like to read?
    • Yes, I sure do! I love to read Patricia Bradley, Nancy Mehl, CD Gill, Christy Barritt and many others.
  2. If a reader were to ask you what author you are like, what would you answer?
    • Oh goodness, I honestly don’t know!
  3. What helps you to write? Do you eat snacks, listen to music?
    • I like to listen to instrumental movie tracks from movies like Inception, Braveheart, The Last Samuri, and Gladiator while I’m writing. Anything that feels dramatic and causes me to feel it in my chest. It tunes out the house noises and shifts my left-brain tendencies into right-brain creativity.
  4. If you could travel back in time, what time period would you go to?
    • I love the late 1800s, so I would probably want to go back to that time period. Atlanta or New York (Greenwich Village) would be my first choices in spot to travel to.
  5. What is your favorite book and why?
    • There are too many books to choose from, but one that really resonated with me was Bridge to Haven by Francine Rivers. It has been a while since I read it, but I remember it being gritty and deeply moving. The message of forgiveness and redemption rang loud and clear.
  6. What is your favorite hymn and why?
    • It is Well with My Soul. My dad clung to that song while he was dying of cancer, and any time I hear it to this day, it grips my heart.
  7. What is one thing readers would be surprised to learn about you?
    • There are probably plenty of things that readers might find surprising about me. 😉  I don’t really fit into the mold of what many might think. Some might suspect that I’m quiet and shy, but I’m not. Even though I’m an extroverted introvert and love being at home, I also love going to the fair or an amusement park and screaming at the top of my lungs while riding roller coasters. I’m fighting getting old, I guess you could say.
  8. What inspired you to write this book?
    • Offshore Ambush first came into my dreams while sitting on the beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama with my husband. We kept looking out at the horizon trying to figure out what the ships or buildings were that popped up all over the place. A little research revealed that they were oil and gas platforms. That sparked a year-long hunt for more information and from there, the story blossomed.
  9. Share with me a few of your favorite things.
    • Spending time with friends and family
    • Volunteering for the production team at church
    • Writing, of course
    • Serving my clients and helping writers become published
    • Sitting on the beach gawking at the ocean
    • Petting puppies
    • Bengal tigers
  10. What is one question you would like readers to ask you? What would be your answer?
    • That’s a tough one! I guess I’d love for readers to ask me to share with them why I write stories that involve second chances between strong heroes and heroines. I would answer by saying that I don’t think many of us get anything in life right the first time around and that it’s through our trials, temptations, mistakes and do-overs that we become stronger. But it’s also during those times that we see just how strong we already are. For believers, we’ve already got all the strength inside of us that we will ever need for any battle we may fight.

Blog Stops

Locks, Hooks and Books, March 22

Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, March 23

Gina Holder, Author and Blogger, March 24 (Author Interview)

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, March 24

Texas Book-aholic, March 25

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, March 26

Fiction Book Lover, March 27 (Author Interview)

Blogging With Carol, March 28

Betti Mace, March 29

Back Porch Reads, March 30 (Author Interview)

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, March 31

Because I said so — and other adventures in Parenting, April 1

Blossoms and Blessings, April 2 (Author Interview)

An Author’s Take, April 2

For Him and My Family, April 3

Life on Chickadee Lane, April 4

Giveaway

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

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/2a8f6/offshore-ambush-celebration-tour-giveaway


Posted

in

by

Tags: