Grand Rapids, Mich., January 30, 2009 – Zondervan, a world leader in Christian Communications, is adding an exciting new suspense series to its Young Adult (YA) fiction line. The Rayne Tour series is co-written by bestselling novelist Brandilyn Collins, known for her trademarked Seatbelt Suspense^® and her daughter Amberly Collins, a college student. The first title in the series, Always Watching, will be available wherever books are sold in May 2009. The second book in the series, Last Breath, will release in October 2009.

Brandilyn and Amberly Collins love music and have always attended concerts together. When they were asked to collaborate as a mother/daughter writing team on a new suspense series, they knew it had to involve concerts.

“We have pictures of us attending concerts going way back to when Amberly was in junior high,” says Brandilyn Collins. “We know what the crowd experience is like. The excitement, the energy. What would it be like, we wondered, to be backstage? To be a teenage girl with a rock star for a mom? All the money and fame and traveling. Is that kind of life pure fun and adventure-or does it bring challenges the rest of us never even think about? And then-what if you threw a murder into the mix?”

The Rayne Tour series features Shaley O’Connor, 16-year-old daughter of a rock star. On tour with her mother’s popular band, Rayne, Shaley lives in a whirlwind of backstage secrets, hotels, security guards, and limos.

In the first book, Always Watching, Shaley stumbles upon the body of a friend backstage during a concert. Frightening messages arrive. Paparazzi stalk Shaley. Her private nightmare is displayed for all to see. Where is God at a time like this? As the clock runs out, Shaley must find the killer-before he strikes again.

Research for Always Watching took the mother/daughter team backstage at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, California to see the stage entrance, dressing rooms, the special building exit for performers, and more. Most importantly, they learned about concert security-something Shaley O’Connor will need in this series.

“When we were first offered this opportunity of co-writing a book I was 16 years-old,” says Amberly. “I was intrigued by the idea because I knew I could connect to my peers in a way an adult couldn’t. I could teach the power of God in an understandable and exciting way.”

The debut of The Rayne Tour series comes one year after Zondervan launched a new YA fiction line in May 2008, expanding its offerings in a publishing sector the LA Times recently called “booming.”