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Author Interview,  Giveaway,  Hope-filled Fiction

Interview with Lori DeJong & a Giveaway

October 15, 2025 / 45 Comments

I’m happy to welcome Lori DeJong back to the blog this week with an interview about her new release, Mistletoe and Malice, a Contemporary Romance with a suspense element.

If you’d like a chance to win a paperback of her book, be sure to comment below by October 21! (US resident only)

Welcome back, Lori. Please start off by telling us a little about yourself and your family.

I live in Georgetown, Texas, just north of Austin, and have been married to my husband Eric for coming on 33 years. Our daughter and her husband live in the DFW area, and we have the sweetest granddog ever. We also have our two fur-babies keeping our nest from feeling too empty.

We also have a daughter who lives near DFW. I’d love to know how and when you started writing.

I started writing back in the late ‘90’s, thinking I could send my stories to Harlequin and they’d be delighted to publish them. It wasn’t until I joined a national writers’ group in 2002 that I learned there’s a whole craft to this writing gig, and I was grateful I hadn’t sent my truly awful first manuscripts to Harlequin. I grew a lot in those early days of my writing education, until our lives were upended by the economic downturn in 2009. I quit writing altogether and didn’t get back to it until 2020. So a rather twisty road, with two “starts” to my writing career.

I’m so glad you gave writing another go! What would you tell your younger writing self?

Don’t. Give. Up. I regret that I wasted eleven years that I could’ve been building a career. But I can’t live there. I’m just grateful I found my way back and am now writing full-time. 

That’s great. What genre do you write and what inspired you to write that particular genre? 

I write contemporary romance and romantic suspense. I love writing romance because I do love a happy ending. Having said that, I also desire to write characters dealing with real-life struggles and challenges. A couple who sees the flaws in the other and commits to staying and making a life with this flawed individual, knowing they’re far from perfect themselves. I think that’s a true romance – sticking together knowing life will never be perfect but that, together, with God in the middle, you can conquer all.

Amen! What do you enjoy most about being a writer?

I love using my imagination to tell stories that will hopefully minister to others, or, at the very least, entertain them for awhile. And I love the Christian writing community. It’s a very encouraging one where folks are genuinely happy to help another achieve success, celebrate their victories, or hold them up through disappointments or discouragement. 

I totally agree about the Christian writing community. Such a great group of people. Do you have critique partners or a critique group? What are the pros and cons of participating in such a group? 

I have two amazing critique partners, and I have no cons about that whatsoever. They give me excellent feedback and have definitely gone above and beyond when I’m on a tight deadline and need critiques back quickly. In fact, Mistletoe and Malice is dedicated to them. Kristi and Wendy, my sisters on this journey that I love with all my heart. 

It took some time to find these amazing ladies, and I experienced some pretty negative things with other groups. It’s important to keep in mind that most critique groups really do just want to help you succeed. Every now and then you may get someone who isn’t very diplomatic with their critiques and they appear more critical than helpful. I found those to be few and far between, though, so I highly encourage any new writer to diligently look for those folks you mesh with and share the same goals.

Great advice. Shifting to a spiritual note, how do you incorporate Christ and hope into your writing?

First, prayer. I pray over every phase of a novel – from the idea stage, through character development, over my story as I write it, and when it’s released, that it will be used by God. 

Second, to write Christian fiction that carries spiritual messages of hope, joy, redemption, forgiveness, and so on, it’s important that I protect my own spiritual well-being. If I’m not studying my Bible, having daily time with the Lord, and participating in my church and other events, the well dries up and I don’t have anything for my characters to say or do, because if I’m not walking close to the Lord, they aren’t. 

That’s not saying I have all the answers and that I’m perfect in doing all of that. But I strive to include messages in my books that people can use in today’s social climate and with real-life pressures and challenges. I can’t do that if I’m not living there myself.

I love that, Lori. What is the setting of your current novel? Is it a real location or fictional? Tell us about it.

All of my stories are set in Texas. Mistletoe and Malice, the first book in the Guarded Hearts Series, takes place in Houston. Riley, my female protagonist, comes from a wealthy family who runs an international financial empire. And Colton, my male protagonist, is the son of a pastor who founded a church that is now a very large, not quite mega-church. 

So I needed to place the story in a city that could believably accommodate a corporate headquarters of that magnitude and a church that big. She’s also a defense attorney, so I wanted her to be where she would be involved in some high-profile cases. 

What is the premise of Mistletoe and Malice?

He’s a bodyguard in a crisis of faith after a personal loss who’s asked to give up a well-earned and much-needed vacation to protect an heiress after an unsuccessful kidnapping attempt. He’s not thrilled to be babysitting a spoiled American princess, and she hates the idea of having bodyguards. 

Over time, they each discover the other is not what they assumed, and as the threat against her escalates, they have to work together to discover who and why, while at the same time, she’s attempting, in her capacity as a defense attorney, to free an innocent man from prison.

Sounds great! What do you hope your readers take away from the story?

I hope they take away that God has no favorites based on socio-economic status, background, upbringing, vocation, whatever. That His love covers any pain, mistakes, or brokenness we may experience and can make something beautiful out of it.

That’s a wonderful takeaway. What’s next from you?

I’m currently working on The Quiet Watch, book two of the Guarded Hearts Series, that releases in September 2026. I loved bodyguard Trevor from book one so much that he’s getting his own story. Very excited about that one!

Thanks so much for sharing about your new release, Lori. I pray God will continue to bless your writing and publishing journey!

Visit the #HopeFilledFiction blog and comment on Lori DeJong’s author interview by 10/21 for a chance to win her new release, #MistletoeandMalice! (US only) #giveaway

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Join the conversation. Have you read any of Lori’s books? Does her new release sound like something you’d enjoy? What questions or comments do you have for Lori?

Be sure to comment below by October 21 for a chance to win a paperback of Mistletoe and Malice! (US only)

Mistletoe and Malice by Lori DeJong

Click the book cover for purchase link

He’s sworn to protect her life … but guarding his heart may be his biggest challenge.

After barely escaping an attempted abduction, Houston attorney Riley Hudson is forced to accept her wealthy father’s demand for private security. The last thing she wants is a bodyguard—especially one as maddeningly arrogant, bossy … and handsome as Colton Blankenship. Yet as the threat against her escalates, she begins to rely not only on his skills, but his steadfast presence.

Colton isn’t thrilled about giving up his hard-earned holiday vacation to protect a spoiled heiress. But he soon learns Riley is nothing like he expected. Fierce, independent, and unwavering in her faith, she’s everything he thought he’d left behind after tragedy shattered his own beliefs. As the unknown threat circles closer, the tension between them ignites into something deeper … and far more perilous.

When a second attempt on Riley’s life nearly succeeds, Colton faces a terrifying truth. Protecting her means risking more than just his life. Haunted by a past he can’t outrun, and a faith he’s all but lost, he must decide if he can trust God again … before he loses Riley—and his heart—for good.

Lori DeJong (pronounced DeeYung) is an award-winning contemporary Christian romance author who enjoys penning stories full of grace and the redemptive power of God’s love that inspire others to hope regardless of circumstance, find joy in the moment, and grow in their faith. 

Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Lori arrived in Texas in 2005 and dug those roots right in. She currently resides in beautiful Georgetown, north of Austin, with her husband of over thirty years. Other than their two fur-babies, their nest is empty, as their daughter and son-in-law are settled in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. 

Lori loves to write about love and romance and all that fun stuff, with a firm foundation of faith. Clean but sassy, sparkly, and even goose-bumpy romance, with God in the middle and characters seeking and learning and changing, couldn’t be more heartwarming or spine-tingly.

Lori’s debut novel, Love’s True Calling, released in 2023, was the 2022 winner of the ACFW Genesis Award for Romance, a double finalist in the 2024 Selah Awards, and was named the 2023 Scrivenings Press Contemporary Book of the Year. Love’s True Home, released in June 2024, was also a Selah finalist. Love’s True Measure released in June 2025. Lori’s Christmas novella, Jingle Bell Matchmakers, a part of “A Match Made at Christmas” novella collection, released in October 2024, and was named a 2025 ACFW Carol Award finalist.

Connect with Lori: Website / Newsletter / Instagram / Facebook / Pinterest / Amazon / Goodreads / BookBub

Lori DeJong head shot

Please share Lori’s interview on social media to help spread the word about her book!

If you missed Karen Malley’s spotlight on Love in a Lifeboat last week, FIND IT HERE.

As a Jesus girl for more than thirty years, Deena Adams understands how important hope is to daily life, which fuels her passion to inspire others through hope-filled fiction based on true to life stories. She is a multi-award-winning author, an active ACFW member, and a six-year ACFW Virginia board member. Connect with Deena through her website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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