What inspired you to write How Sweet It Is? 

In 2017, I was reading my well-loved Bible (the one I’ve used since 1997) which is full of highlights and many notes and dates in the margins. Suddenly I wondered what this Bible might mean to members of my family after I'm gone. Will one of my daughters or grandchildren or great-grandchildren one day leaf through this book and hear God speaking to them because of something I wrote therein? This sparked the idea for the Legacy of Faith series where an ancestor’s Bible would touch the lives of those who hadn’t known him. 

During the course of writing the series, I fell completely under the spell of Andrew Henning (the ancestor) and his family, including the great- and great-great-grandchildren who became the heroes and heroine of the books. So I suppose I would have to say that my inspiration for How Sweet It Is was primarily the need to give readers a satisfying ending to the series, to let them enjoy, one more time, the wisdom that Andrew found and shared, via his Bible, with those who came after him. 

If you could sum the book up in one sentence, what would you say? 

He's lost his brother and she's lost her dream, and together they might find what they’re really looking for. 

What challenged you about writing this story? 

The greatest challenge was probably the time setting for Andrew’s story. The historical thread that runs through the series began in Who I Am with You during the Great Depression and continued in Cross My Heart during World War II. In How Sweet It Is, the setting is 1969. Although it was a tumultuous time, it wasn’t on the same scale as those other years-long events, so I had to find “smaller” ways to draw readers into the past. 

Which character do you most relate to and why? 

There are pieces of me in every character I write, bits of my experiences and my thoughts and my desires in each character who appears on the page. In the contemporary part of How Sweet It Is, I suppose I relate the most with Holly because she feels buried by debt and unwelcome responsibilities. Plus she’s seen a dream die. I’ve experienced all of those things and know how overwhelming and unending it can seem. 

What do you hope readers will take with them after they’ve read it? 

First, I hope readers will find a sweet romance at the center of the story. I enjoy writing about two people who don’t want to fall in love but who fall in love anyway. Second and most important, I pray that readers will take one step closer to God because of something they find in How Sweet It Is. 

What is something about you that is unique or that we may not know? 

Something you may not know about me is that my great-great-grandfather, Gideon M. Ashmore, was an antislavery innkeeper in Illinois. In the summer of 1845, he hid Anthony and Jane Bryant and their children, escaped slaves who had been brought up from Kentucky to work a farm owned by Robert Matson. They were kept in Illinois longer than the law allowed and ran away. My great-great-grandfather went to an attorney by the name of Abraham Lincoln, but Lincoln had already been consulted by Matson so couldn’t represent the Bryants. Fortunately, Lincoln did not win this particular case, and the Bryants gained their freedom. It’s said that Matson returned to Kentucky without paying Lincoln his fee. And that’s my distant connection to Abraham Lincoln.

Welcome to my blog tour with Prism!

I’m thrilled to be celebrating the release of my new book, Her Surprise Engagement, in my series City by the Bay Stories with Harlequin Heartwarming. Her Surprise Engagement is a sweet contemporary romance that brings together single mom, Nichole Moore and football star, Chase Jacobs.

To impress the executives buying her app, Nichole Moore enlists the help of old friend and pro quarterback Chase Jacobs. A pretend marriage is the perfect ruse: Chase’s celebrity status will impress the executives, while likable, hardworking Nichole could fix his fading career. But as their fake relationship plays out under the glare of the public eye, Nichole realizes her feelings might be the real deal.

Happy Summer!

Cari Lynn Webb

Welcome and thank you for joining my launch and tour. I’m also super excited that I’ve finally finished this book. I began it almost three years ago, but due to other commitments, both professional and personal, and a serious case of writer’s block, not to mention a minor identity crisis, this book was a long time in creation. This is Book 5 in the Rogue Hearts Series, a familial series about the Amesbury family, but it’s written as a stand-alone novel, so you don’t need to have read any of the other books in the series to enjoy this one. 

Not a Fine Gentleman is about Lady Margaret, who is accused of murdering her husband and has gone on the run, and Connor Jackson, the Bow Street Runner assigned to bring her back to face justice. But as Connor’s feelings for the courageous women grows, as do the list of suspects, he can no longer clearly see the lines between truth and lawlessness. 

This romantic story of loss and betrayal, forgiveness and redemption, will leave you laughing, crying, and swooning. Sprinkled liberally with suspense, mystery, and heart-melting kisses, this is not your ordinary historical tale. Fans of Victorian and Regency Eras as well as those seeking clean and wholesome romance with plenty of chemistry will love this story!

One thing definitely inspired the location of the story: I wanted to write a novel that was based in my country. My first two novels – The Baggage Handler (that’s the one that won the Christy Award in 2019) and The Camera Never Lies – were set in an Any City and I’ve had feedback from readers around the world thanking me for writing a story that felt like it happened in their home town.

But this next one isn’t set there. Where the Road Bends is firmly placed in my home.  Outback Australia.

I’m an Aussie writer and I wanted to transport readers to my home – places I’ve visited; places I’m proud of. While the protagonists are American characters getting together fifteen years after graduation, the landscape is a character in itself.  It’s rough and rugged but it’s beautiful and delicate. There is a big expanse of nothing, but it’s so full of life. 

Where the Road Bends is a story to reflect on and enjoy – reflect on the theme of where you are on the road of life, and enjoy the delicate beauty and rugged danger of outback Australia.

My biggest challenge was to do justice to the landscape of Australia. I wrote passages to help paint a picture of what it’s like, but most of the time I felt like I was battling the feeling of being an art student gripping a brush for the first time while taking on a Picasso painting. So I spent time over those passages, like this: 

This is what it’s like to fly into central Australia. We all pretty much live on the coast, so when you fly out of our capital cities and toward the outback, for thirty minutes there are signs of life and then there’s … nothing. But the thing you notice most is the change of color, and you know you’re over the outback when everything below you is red.

Or this particular passage:

When you’re in the outback, you’re in the middle of nowhere. You are, at times, hundreds of miles from the next person. And at night, the stars unroll until the heavens are filled. I’ve never seen anything like it. You feel so insignificant, yet so in wonder of the power of creation. 

All four of my American characters are in their late 30s and wondering why they have arrived at this point in each of their lives. Lincoln has not quite recovered from having his heart broken in College. Eliza is highly successful but something leaves her feeling empty. Bree’s dream never materialized and now she’s living a life she never thought she’d live. And Andy just wants to run away and start again.

I think I relate a little to each of them. Based on the conversations I have with those people around me, I think we can all relate a little to each of them.

I write all of my novels so that once the back cover is closed and the final page is turned, that is the start of something: a conversation, a thought process, a prayer. It’s my hope that a reader will finish Where the Road Bends and think about where they are on the road of life, and where they’re going from here.

I would also love them to fall in love with outback Australia like we all have down here. It truly is a wonder of creation. 

Well, I’m an Australian male writing in Christian fiction in the USA, and the first Aussie-based author to win a Christy Award. That’s pretty good in terms of point of difference right there.

As a writer, I’ve now written and published three novels in just under 18 months. I have developed a process of think-dictate-write-edit that enables me to keep the stories flowing. What this process involves is thinking, talking and writing on a loop to help keep pushing my story forward, and getting around the idea of waiting for the inspiration to arrive.

Oh, and as an Aussie my favorite foods are seafood, lamb and meat pies. In that order.