The Escape Game Tour & Giveaway
About the Book
Book: The Escape Game (The Game Masters Book 2)
Author: Gina Holder
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Release Date: May 5, 2026
20 years ago, the world’s leading enigmatologist disappeared…
Demi Kayne, owner of a popular puzzle shop, has spent years searching for her father, who vanished without a trace. When she cracks the code he left behind, the trail leads her to a secluded mansion—and straight into danger.
Liam Shepherd, a missionary with a passion for puzzles, is desperate to find his missing sister. His investigation brings him to Silver Falls, where his path collides with Demi’s in ways neither of them expects.
Drawn into a deadly escape game designed by a brilliant and vengeful mind, Demi and Liam must unravel twisted riddles and confront buried secrets before time runs out. Losing could cost them everything. Their faith and each other may be their only means of escape.
Click here to get your copy!
About the Author
Gina Holder is a Christian award-winning author of romantic suspense and cozy mysteries filled with faith, intrigue, danger, romance, and epic twists you’ll never see coming.
She’s had an infatuation with books for as long as she can remember. She loves sharing uplifting messages from God’s Word and introducing readers to new and new-to-them authors on her blog.
When she’s not writing, Gina enjoys playing the piano, cooking, reading, watching Hallmark mysteries, and solving “escape room” puzzles. She loves growing in her craft as an author. She published her debut novel in 2017. Gina lives in Wyoming with her husband and daughter.
More from Gina
The Book I Almost Gave Up On
When I turned in the first full draft of The Escape Game last September, I hated it.
Not in a playful, self-deprecating way. I really, truly hated it.
I had that awful, hollow feeling in my stomach. The one that whispers, This isn’t good enough. You aren’t good enough. Why did you ever think you could pull this off?
Honestly, I believed this book was beyond my abilities.
And it was.
But I forgot I have Someone on my side who can do all things.
Back in 2022, this story idea was supposed to be simple. A shorter novel inside a collection. I had a fun premise, a few intriguing characters, and a basic plot: a second chance romance with the two main characters locked in a deadly mansion.
Easy peasy, right?
Wrong.
I realized the story needed space to breathe, so I wrote something else for the collection, and put this story back on the shelf until the right time.
Fast forward to 2025. The Escape Game was proposed as book 2 of The Game Master series.
I started writing. Characters pushed back. They wouldn’t talk. Inside my head, there was silence.
Some books flow. This one fought.
I wrestled with tone and pacing. I rewrote entire sections only to delete them again. Scenes that sparkled in my head fell flat on the page. I second-guessed everything.
My heroine was supposed to be the faithful Christian girl who wins the bad boy to the Lord.
She wasn’t.
And my hero? He was all wrong.
So, I did something terrifying.
I replaced him.
Completely.
I created an entirely new character—Liam Shepherd.
On the surface, Liam was perfect—kind, protective, devoted to the Lord, close to his family. Every Christian girl’s dream.
But fiction doesn’t work that way. Perfection isn’t compelling.
I asked God to show me Liam’s wound.
When it came, I cried.
No, I bawled like a baby.
Liam wasn’t abused. He didn’t come from a broken home. He had love and stability. Then tragedy struck, and he faced a choice.
He chose wrong.
And it haunted him.
But the troubles were far from over.
This wasn’t just a tricky plot or a stubborn manuscript.
This story touched some deep places in my own heart—places I didn’t expect to have to revisit. Writing it meant digging into tender, uncomfortable emotions, facing truths about fear, grief, and courage that I hadn’t fully confronted. It hit a little too close to home.
Some days it felt less like writing fiction and more like surgery.
And surgery is exhausting.
By the time I reached the end, I wasn’t excited. I was just tired. I turned it in because it was due, not because it felt finished.
Then the editing began.
If drafting this book was wandering through a dark forest, editing was finally being handed a flashlight. Sentences tightened. Motivations clarified. Scenes I thought were essential were cut, and others grew stronger. What felt hopeless started to feel possible.
Slowly—painfully at times—the story started to come into focus.
My editor asked hard questions. I rewrote the entire book. (Not completely, but it felt like it.)
Each round of edits chipped away at the parts I disliked and revealed the story underneath—the one I’d been trying to tell all along.
Somewhere along the way, something unexpected happened.
I stopped hating it.
More than that, I started to like it.
Everything clicked. The story finally had the depth—and the heart—it had been missing.
And now, sitting on the other side of the process, I can honestly say something I never imagined saying last fall:
I’m proud of The Escape Game.
Not because it’s perfect—no book ever is—but because it represents persistence. Growth. The courage to dig into hard places and stay long enough to find the heart of the story.
And that heart is what I hope you feel when you read it.
What started as a small, simple idea grew into something deeper than I expected. Something that required more from me than I thought I had to give.
And in the end, it became something God and I built together.
This book reminded me of something important:
We’re all first drafts.
God is shaping us, molding us … and we fight back. We look at our lives and wish things were different. We replay our wrong choices. We feel regret, frustration, and fear.
Sometimes, we even hate what we see.
But hating your draft doesn’t mean you’ve failed.
“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” Philippians 1:6 (KJV)
It just means God isn’t finished yet.
And sometimes, the stories we struggle with the most end up being the ones we’re proudest to hold in our hands.
MY REVIEW
Riveting, powerful and intense brings this story to the top of my best of 2026 must reads. I loved how the author delivers a story where every turn is dangerous and every decision can cost a life. The ingenious clues brought me much entertainment and impressed me with how clever they are. This book has definitely been well researched and brings readers inside an escape room where nothing is what it seems.
The main characters are flawed yet work well together as they try to solve the mystery. I have thought of going to an escape room but I’m not sure I could handle the pressure. We see how Demi has never given up on finding out what happened to her father. I was so impressed with her intelligence and how she graduated at only fifteen years old. This shows me again how much research the author has done to make this story realistic .Her determination to find the truth is almost too much at times. She won’t move forward in her life until she finds the truth. I like how the author pairs her up with Liam because he is grounded in his faith and is willing to help Demi overcome her past.
Liam cones to town to find his missing sister which leads him to Demi and a plan that will challenge them both. Liam has traveled many places spreading the Word of God with his sister. Their parents were missionaries which Liam and his sister want to continue doing to honor their parents sacrifice. Working with Demi brings out a bond between them as they tirelessly work through each room to escape the evil that is behind everything .
I love how the author illustrates jealousy, fear, trust and finding God. The part where each character has to reveal a deep secret kept me on the edge of my seat. The woman behind this game wants to expose each of them and judge them. In her mind it makes her feel superior to them. What it really does is release bondage from the past for one, accept Jesus for another and allow one to share what her dream in life is. It brings them closer to God and allows them to begin to trust again.
This is a must read for all mystery fans who like twists and surprises. Don’t get comfortable because the story is a puzzle that will test your endurance. Grab a copy and get ready for adventure like you have never experienced.
I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.
Blog Stops
SydneySchmied books, June 26
Book Reviews From an Avid Reader, June 27
Lyssa Loves Books, June 28
Book Looks by Lisa, June 28
Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, June 29
Inspired by Fiction, June 30
Texas Book-aholic, July 1
For Him and My Family, July 2
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, July 3
Holly’s Book Corner, July 4
Mary Hake, July 5
Pause for Tales, July 6
Cover Lover Book Review, July 7
The Lofty Pages, July 8
Lights in a Dark World, July 8
Lily’s Corner, July 9
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, July 10
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Gina is giving away the grand prize of a copy of The Puzzle Within and a $50 Amazon gift card!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
https://gleam.io/P1o9U/the-escape-game-celebration-tour-giveaway
From bestselling author Mary Connealy comes a poignant Western romance about second chances, redemption, and the healing power of faith—a moving tale of a heartbroken young widow, a compassionate rancher, and the love that helps them both find their way home.
Mary Connealy writes romantic comedies with cowboys and is celebrated for her fun, zany, action-packed style. She is a two time Carol Award winner, and a Rita, Christy and Inspirational Reader’s Choice finalist.
Five sons of an English duke, all raised in the Rocky Mountains…
Misty M. Beller is an ECPA and USA Today bestselling author with over 1 million books sold. She writes romantic mountain stories, set on the 1800s frontier and woven with the truth of God’s love.
Her Heart Is Set on One Man
Anne Blackburne lives and works in Southeast Ohio as a newspaper editor and writer. She is the mother of five grown children, has one wonderful grandchild, and a spoiled poodle named Millie. For fun, when she isn’t working on Amish romance or sweet mysteries, Anne directs and acts in community theater productions and writes and directs original plays. She also enjoys reading, kayaking, swimming, searching for beach glass, and just sitting with a cup of coffee looking at large bodies of water. Her idea of the perfect vacation is cruising and seeing amazing new places with people she loves.