GUEST BLOG: WHAT WAS I THINKING? (TIDE OF LIES)

I'd like to welcome Sarah Ballance to For The Love of Reading! It's great have you back! I enjoyed Familiar Light and am really happy to have you come by and chat a little about it's sequel Tied of Lies and about daily vacation from kids in the form of writing!

What Was I Thinking?

by Sarah Ballance

            I admit it: I get bored easily. Everything sounds like a fantastic idea until I get in the middle of it, then I start wondering what the heck I was thinking. Like when baby #6 was less than a week old, I decided to paint the family room. So there I was with a newborn, an open can of paint, my shirt soaked with sour milk, and five kids running haywire. I ended up crying because I thought the color was too light ( it wasn't ) and yelling at my husband for "letting" me do such a thing by myself. ( He said *of course* he let me do it by myself—*he* sure as heck didn't want to be there for it. I laugh now . . . and I let him live then. Ha! )

            I also have frequent what-was-I-thinking moments about homeschooling. With six kids, at the moment I'm teaching five different grades. What this amounts to is discussing ionic and covalent bonds with a six-year-old while a toddler screams bloody murder because she can't eat crayons and a teenager stomps around because she *really* doesn't care what x equals, but her eleven-year-old brother can do the problems twice as fast which is *clearly* makes math the end of the world. ( Yeah, I only mentioned four kids . . . the other two are quiet somewhere and you experienced parents all know what *that* means. GAH! )

            Now, I don't regret the kids, mind you. ( Not even the teenager. ) And I've been insanely happy with my husband for over sixteen years now, and we've even lived in the same house for more than a decade ( although we are ready to move, so that might not count, lol ). I've had the same car for 10 years ( it's not that I don't like a new car smell . . . it's just there's nothing wrong with it and I'm cheap frugal ). But when it comes to most everything else, I lose steam once reality sets in.

            . . . Which means writing is just about as perfect as a job can get. You know why? Because, through my characters, I can do anything I want to do. I can be anyone I want to be, and I can go anywhere I want to go. Free travel and no jet lag or lost luggage? ( And, um, a daily vacay from parenting/schooling six kids? ) Heck YEAH, sign me up!

            Of course, not every "trip" is brochure-worthy. In fact, since my heart lies with romantic suspense, some of mine are downright gritty. My latest release, TIDE OF LIES, may take readers to the beach, but amid the betrayal and secrets, there's very little time for lounging in the sun. But what fun would that be without a little excitement? I hope you'll check out the story to find out!

~Sarah Ballance

Tide of Lies

A devastating secret. A shocking betrayal. A deadly obsession.

Haunted by three unsolved murders, Detective Holden Whitlow is stunned when his cold case takes a heated turn. Julia Cohen, his ex-lover, is back in town, and in the face of a brutal attack she's ready to run. No matter how tightly she holds her secrets, for Holden, turning away from the woman he's spent a decade trying to forget isn't any more an option than walking away from his job . . .even when it threatens to cost Julia her life.

Julia is still reeling from a past she can't bear to face. When she becomes the target of a killer, fate throws her back into Holden's arms, but she's yet to recover from a truth that has stripped her of everything—and everyone—she loves. Will she tell him the secret that will destroy him, or will her lie destroy them both?

Read the first chapter for free ( no registration required ): https://www.nobleromance.com/Books/409/Tide-of-Lies