Book Talk with Cara Putman

There are some episodes of Book Talk that are a special treat and today's is one of those. Sarah Arthur and I met briefly at the Christy Awards where everyone was abuzz about her nominated novel Once a Queen . What I learned quickly is that novel and her latest, Once a Castle , are heavily influenced by her love of Tolkein, Lewis and L'Engle. She has written many non-fiction works includin...

Kim Vogel Sawyer and I have been friends since we served on the ACFW board together, so it is a delight to have her on Book Talk today as we talk about her next book Hope's Enduring Echo . I loved hearing about how she came up with the idea for a book set in Colorado in 1915 with dinosaur bones and line walkers. It's always so fascinating to hear the story behind how a book comes to be. Ki...

Today it's my pleasure to introduce you to my writing friend Patricia Johns . She has written more than 20 novels, so it is well past time to have her on Book Talk. Her best-selling Amish novels have been delighting readers, but I can't wait for y'all to dive into Green Pastures . It's a twist on the genre because the heroine is returning after leaving to get married and attend vet...

Today it's a delight to have my friend Crystal Caudill back on Book Talk. The last time I saw her was at the Christy Award Ceremony in November when we were both finalists in the Short Form category for our novellas in We Three Kings, the collection we wrote along with Angela Strong for Kregel. It was such fun celebrating with her when she won! Today we are talking about her latest novel Writt...

Elizabeth Goddard and I have been writing friends for a long time, and her romantic suspense novels are some of my favorites. Storm Warning is one that races from the first page with the perfect blend of romance and intense suspense. What I didn't realize until we talked is that there are actual lodges like the one in this novel where people retreat to watch storms blow in. A perfect setting f...

Y'all, there are some people that I just love getting to introduce you to and Sarah Monzon is one of them. Her book An Overdue Match is a fun romantic comedy with real depth to it. Those two things don't always go together, so when they do, I think it's a real treat. And sometimes a book is very personal to an author. An Overdue Match is that kind of book for Sarah Monzon. The heroine,...

Today I've taken a slight detour with Book Talk by inviting my friend Jill Williamson to join us. She writes amazing fantasy and creates worlds that readers adore. If y'all know me, you know that's not usually the book I'll grab first, but Jill is a friend who does it so well! While Jill and I had a great time talking about her brand-new novel, Squire of Truth , we also loved talki...

I always love celebrating an author's debut novel with them and chatting with Janya Breigh about her first novel The Hunted Heir was a delight! Jayna worked for ten years to see her dream come true, but she has loved words since her mother first started reading books like Pat the Bunny and Go Dog Go to her. Because she is an attorney who practiced in the LA area in Trusts and Estates litigatio...

Who doesn't love a good Christmas story? And who doesn't love celebrating someone's first novel? In this episode of Book Talk with Cara, we get to do both. Ann Swindell is my guest and we're talking about her brand-new novel Christmas in the Castle Library . This novel allowed Ann to explore novel writing after years of study and working with non-fiction including a devotional and spiritual memoir...

It's almost Christmas, and that means it's time to read Christmas books. Today I've got three delightful authors on Book Talk to talk about their novella collection A Louisiana Christmas to Remember . In these three, interconnected Christmas novellas, you experience three wonderful stories of love and hope. In A Louisiana Snow by Morgan Tarpley Smith , meet Mattie: A passionate visionary who learn...

Today it is such a pleasure introducing you to my friend and author Tessa Afshar . She is the author of 12 award-winning, best-selling novels, but it has been a journey for her to get here. She first started writing in her twenties, but after two rejections stopped. Then years later felt called to finish one of her novels after years of starting many, but not getting past the first 20 or 30 pages....

Writing can be an intense process, and today I'm talking to a woman who has written 18 full-length novels since 2013 in addition to many shorter-length romantic suspense books. Patricia Bradley is wonderful at creating stories that pull you deeply into character-driven stories that are filled with questions because she starts with a question. What if?... As a plantser, she often feels like she's d...

In this episode of Book Talk, I have the pleasure of introducing you to my friend Robin Jones Gunn . Robin is such a light — I adore spending time with her even if it's constrained to Zoom. Today we're talking about her brand new novel Tea with Elephants . We've both had the privilege of traveling to Kenya and going on safaris (mine much shorter than hers). Tea with Elephants is a story of friends...

Y'all, I have been a huge fan of Irene Hannon's romantic suspense for years. I have so many of them on my bookshelf and can't get rid of them. It is a delight to host her on Book Talk today to talk about her latest book, Over the Edge . She first started writing at ten — and is now approaching 70 books published. That's pretty prolific! We share a love for Nancy Drew that propelled both of us into...

Today it's delightful to welcome Mesu Andrews to Book Talk. In our conversation, Mesu shares how she never imagined being a writer. Then one day she got sick and needed to teach. The rest is history. Mesu likes to write about the unknown women in the Bible. That's exactly who she focuses on in her latest book, Brave . In this book, she explores what the life of one of King David's unknown wives mi...

Welcome back to Book Talk, ya'll. In this episode, I have the pleasure of introducing you to my friend Michelle Griep . I love her historical romantic mysteries and our conversation was so much fun. We talked about her brand new novel Of Gold and Shadows , which is set in 1888 England. This one may have been inspired by Indiana Jones and the Mummy with its heroine who's an archaeologist who's focu...

On this episode of Book Talk, I have the pleasure of introducing you to author Holly Varni . She carries a joy that is effervescent and carries through in our conversation. Holly writes books that might remind you of Jan Karon's Mitford series because of the small-town setting and strong sense of community. She also has strong senior citizens who bring their wit and wisdom to the young charact...

I love celebrating, and today we're celebrating Kit Tosello's debut release The Color of Home . While we initially bonded over the teas we were each sipping, what we really connected about was the way that home and its theme resonated for each of us. Kit uses the power of story to ask important questions like am I where I belong in this season or am I playing it safe? Am I making my home i...

Welcome back to Book Talk, everyone. In today's episode, I'm delighted to introduce you to Melissa Koslin , who writes some really great romantic suspense. Her next novel, The Lost Library , started with the hero/aka the Beast, and she built the story from him. I love how for each author and each story, the genesis of the story can be so very different. After focusing on the beast, she loo...

Today it is my pleasure to host my friend Carrie Turansky on Book Talk. Carrie writes the best books set in England during the Edwardian period. Her most recent book A Token of Love is set in the Foundling Hospital and Foundling Museum. I love the story of how she found the what-if for this book — but you'll have to listen or watch to learn all about it. 🙂 One of the questions she does like t...

Today I'm delighted you to Amanda Cox . Her fourth novel, Between Sound and Sea , is one that I'm excited about because one of the threads takes place during the Uboat attacks along the North Carolina coast. As you can imagine, the two of us geeked out on all the cool research we did on this topic—her for this novel and me for my novella Across the Shores . She also wondered what it would...

It's always so fun to talk with Connilyn Cossette , and today's episode of Book Talk is a delight. In her latest novel, Shield of the Mighty , she brings a character from her prior series back — only now he's a grown-up soldier in Saul's army. The heroine is a widow who hates everything about Saul, so there is a clash from the first moment the two meet. Fundamentally this book is a...

Jocelyn Green is one of those authors that I always love to talk with. She's such a smart writer who cares deeply about the history and characters of the books she writes. I love her books, but I love even more digging into why she picks the stories she does. Today we're talking about The Hudson Collection , her latest novel that is about a woman who is an ornithologist who is assigned to...

Today I have the fun of bringing together three of my writing friends for a conversation where we talk about our books, how we research, and whether our genres chose us or we chose them. Janine Rosche writes contemporary romance with women's fiction threads, and her latest book The Road Before Us released in May. Janyre Tromp writes historical, primarily WWII, with gritty realism and a thread...

Rachel Hauck is one of my dearest writing friends so it is always a treat to have her on Book Talk. I had such fun talking to her about her newest book Meet Me at the Starlight . We got all nostalgic about rollerskating and the place rollerskating rinks played in our growing-up years. Rachel's process is a little different than mine. She likes to just keep writing and trust that the story will...