Author Terri Reed

  

                       Terri Reed, Author                                         Available by preorder.

Hi everyone, Gay N. Lewis here. I’m excited to introduce to you Terri Reed today. Terri Reed writes heart-warming romance and heart-pounding suspense. Her books have appeared on The New York Times Bestseller list, Publisher's Weekly Bestseller List, Nielsen's Bookscan top fifty, Amazon Bestseller List and have been featured in USA Today.

Terri met her husband in college. After college, they moved around the country before settling in Oregon to raise a family. Her two children are both adults now, but she has a beautiful Australian shepherd to keep her company while she’s writing.

Terri has been writing for over thirty years. During that time, she raised a family, provided daycare in her home, taught aerobics at a gym, and worked weekends at Nordstroms. She says when her kids reached high school, she was able to concentrate solely on writing. Now writing is her job and passion.

Gay: How many books do you have in print?

Terri: I have 60 books in print with Love Inspired, and three more coming next year.

Gay: That’s amazing! I can’t imagine coming up with all those stories so quickly. Tell us about your book that became a movie.

Teir:  I have five other books I’ve written for various other publishers other than Love Inspired. Most notably, A Family Under the Christmas Tree. It was published by Howard Books and adapted into the Hallmark movie titled, Picture a Perfect Christmas.

Gay: Congratulations on the Hallmark movie! We all wish one of our books would make it to the screen, and you did it!  How did you find your publisher, Harlequin?  And how long have you been with them?

Terri:  I discovered the publisher through my grandmother. She was a huge romance reader. When I decided I wanted to be an author, I looked at Harlequin and was so excited when they opened their Christian fiction lines. I started submitting to them in the mid-90s and finally sold my first full-length book to them in 2003.

Gay: You write a lot of suspense and romance. Where do you get ideas? How do you come up with so many twists and turns?

Terri:  Like many writers, I have an active imagination. I can spin most anything, a nugget of an idea, into a story. Sometimes those nuggets come from the news, or snippets of overheard conversations, and from playing the ‘what if’ game; this prompt leads to many of the twists and turns in my stories. And while the romance comes out developing characters who will have strong reactions to the ‘what if’.

Gay:  You also write about dogs. Tell us briefly about your K-9 Series.

Terri: Yes! I write many stories where dogs are central characters. Dogs are so intelligent, trainable, fun, and loving. I love my Australian shepherd; she’s so clever and attentive. We do agility training, mostly to keep us active and bonded. Though to be honest, she’s my shadow all day long.

Gay: How many Christmas novels have you written, including your upcoming book, Texas Christmas Cover-Up?

Terri:  I love to write Christmas stories. I have written at least a dozen. My upcoming book is set on South Padre Island, Texas, so it was a bit different writing a book in such an interesting setting. In my research, I discovered that the island offers a variety of fun Christmasy activities. They have a sandcastle Santa’s village, put Christmas trees on the beach, have a Christmas parade and light show. I tried to touch on all of these in the story amid the danger and romance.

Gay: I live in Texas and did not know South Padre Island does that. Maybe I’ll check it out. It sounds fun. Christmas will be here in a few weeks. What’s your happiest Christmas memory?

Terri: My happiest Christmas memory is being with my grandparents during the holiday. They were very generous and loving, and I always felt safe and cared for when we went to their house.

Gay: Tell us about your latest book.

Terri: Texas Christmas Cover-Up is the companion story to Trained to Protect, which came out last February and made the New York Times Bestseller list. In Texas Christmas Cover-Up, the hero, Police Chief Jeremy Hamilton, is reunited with his ex-high school sweetheart, Kara Evans. Kara is an FBI profiler and widowed mom who returns to the island to sell her childhood home. But soon it’s apparent that Kara and her young daughter are in danger, and it has something to do with Kara’s father’s unsolved murder. Jeremy will do everything he can to protect them while he and Kara work together to solve the mystery.

Gay: What do you want your readers to take away from this latest book?

Terri: This is a book of second chances, which we all are offered through Jesus.

Gay: I can hardly wait to read this book! It is available now on preorder, and I have ordered it. It will be delivered on October 28. Here’s a bit more about it.

When widowed FBI agent Kara Evans returns to sell her late mother’s home, eager to shed reminders of her tragic past, she’s assaulted by a masked attacker. With the house ransacked and a daughter to protect, Kara must turn to her former love, police chief Jeremy Hamilton, to track down her assailant. But when the trail of clues leads to unanswered questions about her father’s cold case murder, it’s clear that someone is determined to keep Kara from uncovering the truth. As a string of new murders unfolds, can they expose this deadly plot before Kara is silenced forever?

Gay: Thanks, Terri for visiting with us. I hope everyone will read your books. I’ve read many, and I’ve never been disappointed. 

You can visit Terri online at www.terrireed.com, sign up for her newsletter for exclusive content, or email her at terrireedauthor@terrireed.com