Waylaid by Jerusha Agen Review and Giveaway

Welcome to the Blog Tour for Waylaid by Jerusha Agen, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

About the Book

Title: Waylaid
Series: Windy City Westons #1
Author: Jerusha Agen
Publisher: SDG Words, LLC
Release Date: March 27, 2025
Genre: Christian Romantic Suspense

Someone wants to kill her. She wants the killer to finish the job.

Spring Weston will do anything to rise in the ranks of pro cycling and prove she isn’t the one failure of the five Weston siblings. Anything except cheat. When she learns of doping on her cycling team, she’s determined to uncover the truth. But she can’t if she’s dead.

Sergeant Torin Cotter may not be the hero the public thinks he is, but he recognizes fear when he sees it. When he takes over the investigation of the collision that landed Spring in the hospital, he’s compelled to protect her from whatever danger she’s in, even though he knows he might fail. Again.

Spring’s faith in God isn’t enough to help her face the living nightmare she awakened to after the accident. But neither she nor the handsome sergeant see the greater threat that’s coming until it’s too late.

If they’re going to survive, Spring and Torin will not only have to confront their worst fears—they’ll have to find a reason to live.

Waylaid is the first installment in the thrilling Windy City Westons series that features five siblings who encounter danger and love in the city of Chicago.

PURCHASE LINKS: Goodreads | Jerusha Agen | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop | BookBub

More in This Series

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About the Author

Jerusha Agen imagines danger around every corner but knows God is there, too. So naturally, she writes suspense infused with the hope of salvation in Jesus Christ. With a B.A. in English and a background in screenwriting, Jerusha is a speaker, writing instructor, and Fear Warrior who sounds the call to battle against fear in our everyday lives. Jerusha loves to hang out with her big furry dogs and little furry cats. You’ll often find her sharing irresistibly adorable photos of them in her newsletter and on social media.

Connect with Jerusha by visiting jerushaagen.com to follow her on social media, subscribe to email newsletter updates, find more of her thrilling, fear-fighting novels and get a free suspense story.

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My Impressions

“Keep quiet. Or we’ll have to kill you.”

Jerusha Agen sure knows how to plot and flesh out a romantic suspense story! She starts out her new series, Windy City Westons, with Waylaid, a novel that (dare I say it?) waylaid my intentions of doing anything else until I had reached the suspenseful conclusion. Spring Weston is a professional cyclist on a racing team. One minute she is on a training ride, the next finds her in the hospital, paralyzed from the waist down. Embittered and in pain, Spring refuses to try to help in her own recovery. Instead, fear and despair take center stage. “She couldn’t face the One who had allowed this to happen to her. It hadn’t mattered that she’d been praying and running praise songs through her head as she’d cycled to the beat. If this is where that got her, she was more scared of praying than anything else.”

However, the anything else is pretty scary, too! Spring cannot bring herself to cooperate with the handsome cop who takes over her case, due to constant threats via texts on her phone. Threats she discovers are very real. 

Unfortunately, Spring suffers a different kind of threat in her ultra rich, ultra successful father. He constantly berates her for being less than her siblings before the accident. Even the accident doesn’t seem to change that. 

Spring may not have her father’s support, but she certainly has her siblings’. While it’s a very serious matter, I almost wanted to laugh at the sibling relationships and the length the siblings would go to, to look out for Spring.

Discovering a needy little boy in the rehab hospital brings out the best in Spring. She begins to care about someone besides herself, becoming protective and as helpful as possible.

“Do you know what I do when I’m scared?” He shook his head. “I ask God for help. He’s much stronger than any person.”

I loved the slow burn romance between Spring and Torin. But wow, both individuals are so hurt and have so much healing to do before they can consider sharing a love.

I enjoyed the twists that Agen incorporates. I did not see the ending working out like it did. But what a thrilling ride it is, as Spring learns that God has not left her!

I received a copy of the book from the author and publisher through JustRead Tours. I also bought a copy of the book. No positive review was required, and all opinions are my own. 

Notable Quotables:

“God doesn’t stop existing because you don’t believe in Him.”

“Sometimes we won’t listen to God until something hard happens. Sometimes that’s what it takes to get our attention.”

“We’re Westons.” Robert grinned. “We can do anything we set our minds to.”

“The pain in your heart doesn’t always come at a convenient time.”

My Rating

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Magnificent!

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Tour Giveaway

(1) winner will receive a signed paperback of Waylaid, a $25 Barnes and Noble gift card, and a Waylaid mug, notebook, and magnet!

Full tour schedule linked below. The giveaway begins at midnight April 14, 2025 and will last through 11:59 PM EST on April 21, 2025. Winners will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to JustRead Publicity Tours Giveaway Policies.

Enter Giveaway

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Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!