Getting to know Janie Crouch

USA TODAY bestselling author Janie Crouch writes what she loves to read: passionate romantic suspense.  She has won or been nominated to romance literary awards including the Golden Quill Award for Best Romantic Suspense, the National Reader’s Choice Award, and the coveted RITA© Award by the Romance Writers of America.

Janie recently relocated with her husband and their four teenagers to Germany after living in Virginia for nearly 20 years. When she’s not listening to the voices in her head—and even when she is—she enjoys engaging in all sorts of crazy adventures (200-mile relay races; Ironman Triathlons, treks to Mt. Everest Base Camp) traveling, and movies of all kinds. 

Angel: A Linear Tactical Romantic Suspense Standalone

Shunned by the town for committing a crime against one of their own and having the bad luck of being the daughter of the man who scammed half of the residents out of their retirement funds, Jordan Reiss returns to Oak Creek after six years of incarceration. 

Former Navy SEAL Gabriel Collingwood, aka Angel, does not trust Jordan, fearing that she weaseled her way into a job at his sister’s new bakery. One incident changes his views, and he becomes her “guardian angel.”

Whoever had the misfortune of being in Jordan’s shoes would know the feeling of unworthiness and despair that she felt for being blamed for something someone else did, for knowing that she was hated for causing a chain of events she had no control of. 

No matter what you do, even if you strive hard to do the right thing, biases and misconceptions born of years of thinking they were right to shun you—everything seems so hopeless. 

In today’s world where it is so easy to jump to conclusions, where hate, bigotry, and racism is at an all time high, Janie Crouch reminds us to take a step back and say, enough is enough. 

And what better way to do this than by looking at the world in the eyes of a child? Oh, you might argue, children don’t know anything, but that is just it! Children don’t know how to hate. They do not know how to look down on others. They do not look at the color of their playmate’s skin. They will ask, yes, for they are, and should be curious about the world around them. Who are we, really, to instill in them a fear of the unknown? 

Like the song goes:

In the eyes of a child there is joy, there is laughter
There is hope, there is trust, a chance to shape the future
For the lessons of life there is no better teacher
Than the look in the eyes of a child
--Air Supply

We can only be their guiding light. And, I hope, the light that we shine upon our kids is one that is filled with hope, joy, and laughter, because, the world we are in right now? We need our children’s light to glow for them to survive. 

Just like the Archangel Gabriel is the guardian of truth, often depicted with a white lily in his hands which is a symbol of purity and truth…the Archangel Gabriel leads us with tenderness and loving words to awaken our inner child. 

In the story, it was Gabe who eventually brought the truth to light in Jordan’s case.

Here’s hoping that Janie Crouch has, in her own way, given each one of us, her readers, hope that our guardian angel is walking among us.

Or, maybe, it is her reminder that we can be the guardian angel to others.