Latest Books UNFORGIVEN with Shelley Shepard Gray

Ex-con Seth Zimmerman has spent the last three years making amends by helping the vulnerable in his former Amish community. Lately, this mission includes calling on Tabitha Yoder, whose divorce from her abusive husband has isolated her from the community. Even though she never comes out of her house to talk to him, Seth knows she watches him from the window while he chops wood, clears her driveway, and drops off food.

An uneasy friendship is just starting to take hold between them when small gifts begin to appear at Tabitha’s home–gifts that can only be from her ex-husband. Seth might be Tabitha’s only hope at maintaining her hard-won freedom from the man whose violent outbursts had almost cost her life. But coming to her rescue might mean he ends up behind bars once again.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Shelley Shepard Gray recently sat down with The Big Thrill to discuss her latest romantic suspense, UNFORGIVEN.

Shelley Shepard Gray

A novel is such a major undertaking; there’s the writing of it, of course, then you’re spending months and months revising, polishing, and then promoting it. How did you know this was the book you wanted to spend the next couple of years on?

I’m a bit of an unusual writer because I usually work on more than one book at a time. In addition to whatever book or books are on deadline, I almost always have a book that is just ‘for me’. This is a novel that I don’t have a contract for but I can’t seem to get out of my head. UNFORGIVEN was one of those books. Because it was such a departure from my usual books, I wrote a lot of Tabitha and Seth’s story just for me.

I liked the characters, I liked their dark histories, and I also kind of liked that I wasn’t writing for anyone but myself. Only when I had about two hundred pages of it did I decide that it might be strong enough to share with others. I had no expectation that either my agent or an editor would like it, too. Needless to say, seeing this particular book in print has made me very happy.

In addition to a great read, what do you hope readers will take away from this story?

I sincerely hope that if someone is a victim of abuse that they’ll be inspired to seek help.

What can you share about what you’re working on next?

I’m currently working on several novels yet again-one of which is another ‘book for me’. This one happens to be a historical mystery set during the middle of the Great War. LOL, It’s also a mystery to me whether it will ever be seen by anyone but myself!