Meet and Greet: Dana Mentink

Book Giveaway Drawing!
Read the details later in this post.

Dana Mentink

Dana Mentink lives in California where the weather is golden and the cheese is divine. Her family includes two girls (affectionately nicknamed Yogi and Boo Boo.) Papa Bear works for the fire department and he met Dana doing a dinner theater production of The Velveteen Rabbit. Ironically, their parts were husband and wife.

Dana is a 2009 American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year finalist for romantic suspense and an award winner in the Pacific Northwest Writers Literary Contest.  Her October release, Betrayal in the Badlands, has been nominated for a 2010 Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award. 

She spent her college years competing in speech and debate tournaments all around the country. Besides writing, she busies herself teaching Sunday school and working in second/third grade combination class. Mostly, she loves to be home with her family, a dog with social anxiety problems, a chubby box turtle and a quirky parakeet. 


Howdy, all. 


I’m Dana Mentink, a harried mom of two who writes inspirational romantic suspense for Harlequin’s Steeple Hill line. My newest book, Turbulence, is on bookshelves this month. Though I started out as a mystery writer, these days I write mostly suspense. I enjoy fast-paced, action-packed books which have a thread of mystery and intrigue running through them. My books are Christian fiction, which means they also have a faith element.

My newest release is about a woman who has suffered the tragic loss of her young nieces in an accident that leaves her father on the brink of death. In the process of delivering a prototype mechanical heart to him, her plane crashes into a snowy mountainside. One of the other survivors is Dr. Paul Ford, her former fiancé and the man she blames for the death of her nieces. Sticky situation, no? To make matters worse, someone is determined to make sure the little band of survivors doesn’t make it off that mountain alive.

My favorite character is Maddie Lambert, because she is stubborn, deeply wounded and angry at the world. It’s a great starting place for character growth, not to mention a lovely stewpot for tension and conflict! I got the idea for the story after I read about the Berlin Heart which is a prototype mechanical heart not yet approved for use in the U.S. If it’s eventually approved, it might save the lives of many people waiting for donor hearts.

My next few books are going to be about treasure hunting I think. What could be more fun in a story than a little romance, a smidge of treasure and a whole lot of suspense?

Frequently people ask me to recommend books on writing. Anyone who is interested in writing professionally should check out Donald Maas’s book , The Fire In Fiction. Also Stephen King’s book on writing is really inspirational. Fictionally speaking, one of the finest suspense writers I’ve ever read is Harlan Coben, though he’s not a Christian fiction writer. That man can fool me every time!

Thank you for letting me share today. I’d love to chat via my website at www.danamentink.com or my Facebook Reader Page.

Thanks again and happy reading! 

Posted by Janalyn Voigt, author of novel books

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Book Giveaway Drawing: Dana Mentink will give away a free copy of Turbulence to a reader of this blog. To enter, leave a comment to this post. If you are a follower of Book Readers Central and tell me so in a separate comment, I'll give you an extra chance to win. 

Please include a valid email address in an anti-spam format (example: youremailhandle[at]gmail[dot]com]) or your entry will become invalid. Entries will be accepted until this Thursday at midnight (Pacific Time/US).

I'll announce the winner on Book Readers Central on Saturday. The winner must respond within two weeks of notification. Detailed rules of giveaways on Book Reader's Central are located in the footer of this blog.


**Janalyn Voigt is an Amazon Associate and benefits when products are purchased through links from Book Readers Central.