Lindsay A. Franklin is a best-selling author, award-winning editor, and homeschooling mom of three. She would wear pajama pants all the time if it were socially acceptable. She lives in her native San Diego with her scruffy-looking nerf-herder of a husband, their precious geeklings, three demanding thunder pillows (a.k.a. cats), and a stuffed wombat with his own Instagram following. You can learn more about Lindsay on her website.

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​1. What is your favorite dessert?
This is the hardest question anyone has ever asked me. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but I have a terrible sweet tooth. I like ALL the desserts. Today I feel like pumpkin pie, but tomorrow, it might be a white chocolate orange cupcake. Mmm.

2. What is your beverage of choice?
Coffee and tea! If not those, usually water.

3. What is your favorite movie and/or TV show?
Gah! I'm a person with 50 different "favorites" of everything. But if I had to pick one, I'd say Sherlock is my favorite TV show of all time. And I can watch the Lord of the Rings movies over and over without getting sick of them. 

4. Where is your favorite place to go on holiday?
London. When I last visited, I was ready to move my family halfway across the world and stay forever.

1. Who or what inspired you to become an author? 
I've been telling stories and writing them down as long as I can remember. But writing never occurred to me as a career option. I wrote my first novel when I was eleven and I still didn't understand writing was what I was supposed to do with my life! I had the most amazing English teacher my junior year of high school. She was highly educated and could have been a professor at a university, easily, but she chose to teach high school. In her class, I think it finally clicked for me how deeply impactful literature could be in a person's life. It took another eight years for me to realize I had the ability to create said literature, but I don't know that I ever would have realized the worth of that gift if not for my awesome American Lit. teacher.

2. What did you want to be when you grew up? Did becoming an author ever cross your mind?
I had a whole career path mapped out from the time I was in elementary school, which is probably why being a novelist never occurred to me. I was going to become an attorney and enter politics. Then I would be the first female president. Obviously. The older I got and the more I saw the binary nature of American politics, the less attracted to that field I became. Though I loved almost all subjects in school, I switched my focus to English and wanted to be an English teacher in my later teens.

3. Who are some of your favorite authors?  Do these authors inspire your own writing?
Oh, what a question. I loved the weirdness of L. Frank Baum's imagination in the Oz books as a kid. My favorite book in childhood was Lynne Reid Banks's The Farthest Away Mountain. I read children's fantasy constantly, then switched to classic literature and literary fiction in my teens, so I have a weird gap in my fantasy-reading background that I've been working on filling in. I love Jane Austen's snarky sense of humor. In my teens, I felt like J.D. Salinger was the only person on the planet who understood me (angst, you guys). And I like Steinbeck and Poe and Hemingway and Charlotte Bronte. J.K. Rowling blows my mind with her world-building and her ability to write friendships. Andrew Peterson's Wingfeather Saga is delightful and funny, and then sneaks up and punches you in the feels (in a good way). There are so many great storytellers out there. But I remember the moment in my writing journey when I realized I was allowing myself to be influenced too heavily by all the stories I love, and it occurred to me that I hadn't figured out what stories I wanted to tell or how I could tell them in a way that was uniquely me. That was a game-changing moment in my life and career. So I'd say I admire my favorites deeply (I haven't even listed half of them here!) but I make a point to preserve that which is unique to my own stories and the way I tell them.

4. When you are not writing, what other "hats" do you wear?
My biggest "hat" is my wife and mom hat. My day job is freelance editing, and I also homeschool my three kids part time. They're getting older and more independent now, and after eleven years of homeschooling exclusively, they are enrolled in part-time classroom programs at our excellent local charter school. And my oldest is taking college classes. *wail.*

1. What inspired the idea for The Story Peddler? 
I was sitting in a workshop at a writers' conference, and an acquisitions editor for a large publishing house was explaining her role in the publishing process beyond what aspiring writers typically saw her doing (rejecting our pitches, mostly). She talked about how she understood our struggles in pitching because whatever tiny handful of stories she liked and wanted to acquire, she had to turn around and pitch those projects to the publishing board, including sales team members, marketing folks, and executives. She made a little throwaway comment at the end of that explanation--something like: "I have to peddle your stories to executives. At the end of the day, I'm just a story peddler." Then she moved on to something else I didn't hear because my fantasy brain went wild with that phrase. I thought of what a "story peddler" might look like if we added a little wonder and a sprinkling of fairy dust to the equation. Then I imagined a story around it, and the rest is history.

2. What do you want readers to take away from reading The Story Peddler?
Creativity is a gift that reflects God, and everyone has it in some measure. We might express it through story, art, song, or on stage, but we might also express it by building things, designing things, growing things, or even figuring out a solution to a difficult problem. There are a lot of threads in The Story Peddler fabric--humor, heartache, magic, intrigue, politics, adventure, coming-of-age, the search for purpose, and even a little romance--but I think this celebration of human creativity is at the core of the story. 

3. What is your current WIP?  What can you tell us about this project?
Ooh, I'm not sure if I've announced this publicly yet, but... I'm working on the second book in The Weaver Trilogy, and it's titled The Story Raider. Avoiding spoilers for The Story Peddler, I'll just say that The Story Mage follows a desperate quest around the world as the veil between my heroes and the darkness haunting them grows ever thinner. Lives and the future of the empire hang in the balance--naturally! 

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1. What are the top 5 books you currently have on your TBR shelf?
1)Heart of the West by Penelope Williamson
2)Captain Rockford’s Reckoning by Susan Lodge
3)The Truth about Love by
4)Holding the Fort by Regina Jennings
5)Out of the Ordinary by Jen Turano
 
2. If you could go to tea with one of the characters in To Love a Spy, who would it be and why?
I would love to have lunch with Lord Camden. Not only is he a handsome hero, but he worked undercover in France for seven years before returning to England. He would have the most amazing stories! After all, being a spy is fascinating. Being a good-looking Lord is just a bonus!
 
3. What inspired the idea for To Love a Spy?
After writing the first two books of the series, it became clear that Kate needed her own happy ending. She felt she was the ignorant sister, disrespectful daughter, and a disobedient wife. Regardless of her trauma, the French spies were up to their usual tricks. They had infiltrated Parliament and were attempting to pass a bill that would end all funding for the war against France.
 
4. What do you want readers to take away from reading To Love a Spy?
Hope. Strength. Love. Also, ladies don’t always need dashingly handsome lords to rescue them; they can save themselves.
 
5. What is your current WIP?  What can you tell us about this project?
A Tangled Ruse, book #4 of The Beckett Files Series. It is in the hands of my editor and it is amazing! It continues the French story arc and has a swoony love story. It revolves around Lady Rachel and Eliza’s older brother, Lord Downshire. Plus, it is based in Rockcliffe, Scotland.

1. What do you like to snack on when you are writing?
I have found having an ample supply of Dr. Pepper around makes me super happy. And a Happy Writer has a Happy Life. 

2. About how long does it typically take you to write a novel?
Generally, it takes about two months to write a novel, because my kids like to be fed three meals a day.

3. What advice would you give an aspiring author?
Keep writing. You will stop and doubt yourself but keep writing. Also, not everyone is going to like your work, and that is OK. 

4. What inspired the idea for A Peculiar Courtship?
A Peculiar Courtship is the 2nd book in The Beckett Files and revolves around Lord Jonathon and Lady Hannah. 

5. What do you want readers to take away from reading A Peculiar Courtship?
I want the readers to enjoy the book and get lost in the witty banter and swoony love story.

 1. What is your favorite dessert? Anything chocolate.
 
2. What is your favorite beverage? My morning coffee
 
3. What is your favorite movie and/or TV show?
I love the classics. One of my favorites is “It Happened One Night”
 
4. Where is your favorite place to go on holiday?
Any place that has long sandy beaches

1. What did you want to be when you grew up? Did becoming an author ever cross your mind?
As a child, I was always drawing and painting, and I assumed that I would become an artist one day. But as I grew older, I was increasingly drawn to reading serious literature and ended up pursuing an academic career. It was only after teaching literature at the University of Toronto for many years that I realized that I wanted to write my own works of fiction, rather than merely teach the works of others. I guess I did pursue a career in art after all—just not visual art, but the art of crafting words on paper!
 
2. What authors do you enjoy? Do these authors inspire your own writing?
I like to read a wide variety of authors—from 19th century writers such as Jane Austen and Charles Dickens to modern writers such as Isaac Bashevis Singer and S. Y. Agnon. I don’t think any one particular writer has inspired me, although there is one thing that all my favourite writers have in common: great storytelling.
 
3. When you are not writing, what other 'hats" to you wear?
I’ve taught Hebrew and Yiddish literature at the University of Toronto for approximately 20 years, and have published two non-fiction books: Not a Simple Story about the Hebrew writer S.Y. Agnon; and Bridging the Divide which is a collection of my translations of the Hebrew poems of Hava Pinhas-Cohen.
 

​1. What inspired the idea for the Come Back for Me?  
The inspiration behind writing Come Back for Me is partly based on my childhood experiences. Despite growing up in a serene Toronto neighbourhood, I was haunted by the stories of war and loss that seemed to hover over the Jewish inhabitants of my leafy enclave. My best friend’s father had lost most of his family in Nazi concentration camps; my neighbour down the road had been hidden for four years in an Amsterdam closet; my father’s cousin had her arm brutally amputated while imprisoned during the war. Yet I was also perplexed by the fact that most of these people were somehow able to embrace life again, despite their losses. I wondered: how could they marry, raise children, build families and homes? How did they rediscover the ability to laugh? I wanted to find the answer to those questions.

2. What do you want readers to take away from reading Come Back for Me?
Unlike most novels about this dark period in Jewish history, Come Back for Me is ultimately a story of hope. Perhaps that is why the novel is also suitable for mature young readers, despite the fact that it was written for adults. My hope is that Come Back for Me will speak to readers of diverse backgrounds and religions since it is ultimately about the universal problem of human suffering and the possibility of healing.

3. What is your current WIP? What can you tell us about this project?
I am working on a new novel about a young man with mystical       inclinations who is searching for love.

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1. What does your writing process look like?
It is more pantster with a slight lean toward planning. Usually I get an idea, write it down (typically on my phone notes app), pray about it for a little while (or a long time for some ideas!), do some research to make sure my idea could actually work, and then go from there! Being more pantster, I usually write a rough draft, send it to a couple of friends who are good with plot ideas, and then do a rewrite or two before it looks more like the final draft.
 
2. Do you enjoy book signings?
I haven’t done very many, but what I have done, yes I do enjoy. I personally like connecting with my readers, not just selling books.
 
3. When you are not writing, what other "hats" do you wear?
Well, writing is actually more of my hobby. ;) My other “hats” are big sister (I’m #5, but that’s of 12 kids, so I still have a lot of younger siblings that I tend to be second-mom to), piano teacher, violin teacher, book formatter, church pianist, and, Lord willing, in the fall, college music student.
 
4. What inspired the idea for Quest for Leviathan?
I was actually reading through the book of Job, not even searching for a story, when the thought crossed my mind, “A boy whose father was killed by Leviathan. He is angry at L, and he is angry at God—yet just like Job needed to realize the power of God, so does he.”
 
5. What did you as an author take away from writing Quest for Leviathan?
Once again, I was reminded that God’s timing is perfect. I wanted the story to be finished fall 2017 (I got the idea in June 2017). Lo and behold, it took a full year to get from conception to publication. But in so very many ways, I can see how the delay was just a gift from God. One of those blessings was the idea to get it illustrated. Had I published in the fall, I probably wouldn’t have considered getting it illustrated, as the idea didn’t come until January 2018.

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1. What top 5 books do you currently have sitting on your TBR pile?
Hmmm, fabulous question! Currently, I have: The Accidental Guardian, by Mary Connealy, The Heart Between Us, by Lindsay Harrel, The View From Rainshadow Bay, by Colleen Coble, The Mayflower Bride, by Kimberley Woodhouse, The Melody of the Soul, by Liz Tolsma
 
2. When you are not writing, what other "hats" do you wear?
I used to say “too many!” But I’ve dwindled them down to my day job and being a wife and a mom. I don’t commit to much more than that, and my favorite of all three (including writing), is being a wife and a mom!
 
3. What type of research did you do for The Reckoning at Gossamer Pond?
I had a ton of help from my pastor who’s also a history-nerd. (And a far better researcher than I am!) I read old newspaper articles, studied how the Victorians wrote obituaries, played for hours on Ancestry.com (i know, tough right? :)), and other types of research not limited to how to break glass windows on a car.
 
4. What inspired the idea for The Reckoning at Gossamer Pond?
My overactive imagination. LOL! It started with the idea of what would happen if someone submitted an obituary for someone else before they died. Then it evolved into a story of a town with hidden secrets, two heroines with secrets of their own, ill-timed obituaries, and I figured we’d plop some tent revivalists in for good measure. :)
 
5. What did you as an author take away from writing The Reckoning at Gossamer Pond?
My Grampa used to sing an old hymn: “grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within”... TRAGP is all about grace. Because we can dissect our past choices into little bits and find nothing but the need for grace. How freeing is it when we can bring those secrets into the light and be washed clean?

6. What is your current WIP?  What can you tell us about this project?
My current project is final edits on The Curse of Misty Wayfair, which is releasing early 2019! I’m super excited about it. I can tell you it is probably the most personal novel I’ve written yet, focusing on identity, anxiety, and the struggle to find our purpose. Oh, and there are many haunting elements like an old asylum, a legend of a ghost, (don’t worry, this isn’t a paranormal story), and a hero who shoots bow and arrow. 

Sarah Monzon is a Navy chaplain’s wife and a stay at home mom to the two cutest littles in the world. Playing pretend all day with them isn’t enough, she spends the evenings after their heads hit the pillow to create her own imaginary characters. When she isn’t in the world of make believe, she can be found in the pine forests of western Washington taking care of her family, fostering friendships, and enjoying all the adventures each day brings. Her debut novel, The Isaac Project, skyrocketed to Amazon bestseller status while her Sophomore book, Finders Keepers, won the 2017 SELAH award for contemporary romance.

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​1. If you could travel anywhere in the world for book research (expense covered for you by an anonymous donor), where would you go and why?
Is a trip around the world cheating? If yes, then I’d have to say either South America or Italy/France as I have story ideas for both of those locations.

2. What genre(s) do you write?  Why do you choose to write in this genre?
Haha. I laugh because I was just talking to a friend that I have no brand and that readers don’t know what to expect when they pick up my books. I have written rural, urban, international; straight contemporary, dual-timeline, romcom/chicklit; first person POV and third person. What can I say? I love a good story no matter how or where it’s told, and I have to be true to the characters and how the story comes to me. That being said, I’d say I write in the Contemporary Christian Romance genre overall with some fun variations. *wink*
 
3. What top 5 books are currently on your TBR pile?
1) No One Ever Asked by Katie Ganshert
2) Fawkes by Nadine Brandes
3) Thirst of Steel by Ronie Kendig
4) The Heart Between Us by Lindsey Harrell
5) Olivia Twist by Lorie Langdon
 
4. What inspired your idea for Bookishly Ever After?
I just wanted to have fun and write something that might make people chuckle.
 
5. What do you want readers to take away from reading Bookishly Ever After?
I hope readers come away with a smile, if nothing else. I know that may sound trite, but I hope that the story will let readers escape for a few hours, laugh, and relax from the stresses of life.


6. What is your current WIP?  What can you tell us about this project?
I’m currently finishing up the third book in my Carrington Family series. This is a dual-timeline book set in present day Florida and spanning the first and second Seminole War. It’s a story about finding freedom and answering God’s calling in your life.

​Pre-order the collection HERE.

OR pre-order Bookishly Ever After HERE (link not yet available).

Basham is an award-winning author who writes historical and contemporary romance novels with grace, humor, and culture clashes. She’s a Blue Ridge Mountain native and an anglophile who enjoys combining her two loves to create memorable stories of hope. ​

1. If you could travel anywhere in the world for book research (expense covered for you by an anonymous donor), where would you go and why?
I think everyone is going to know my answer to this - TOP CHOICE - UK! Pretty much anywhere in the UK. I'd love to visit northern Scotland and Ireland. (Spain is on my wishlist too ;-)

2. What genre(s) do you write?  Why do you choose to write in this genre?
I write both historical and contemporary romance - Romance is my FAVORITE genre, so no matter where I place the story, timewise, I enjoy getting to sprinkle (or lather) romance throughout. This answer might sound paltry, but stories come to me in different time periods in my mind, so that's another reason why I write in both historical and contemporary settings. I love both - and it means I can travel to different eras as well as different places :-) Ah, the fashion!!

3. What top 5 books are currently on your TBR pile?
1)The Lacemaker by Laura Frantz
2) Love in Three Quarter Time by Rachel McMillan
3) The Impossible Saints by Clarissa Harwood
4) A Name Unknown by Roseanna M. White
5) Lady Jayne Disappears by Joanna Poulitano

4. What  inspired your idea for  Façade?  
It's a really funny story, actually. My agent, at the time, was working on a proposal for several authors to write a novella collection that spanned generations in the same family. I'd told her I'd write the WW1 era novella (my era) but on the proposal she'd mistakenly put WW2. So...well, I started writing a WW2 novella. In starting the research, I knew I wanted something with an espionage theme because I was a die-hard Agent Carter fan at the time (and still am!! #PeggyCarterisawesome)

5. What do you want readers to take away from reading  Façade?
That our ultimate value is in God - regardless of  how others may perceive us.

6. What is your current WIP?  What can you tell us about this project?
Well, I just finished my upcoming novel for Barbour entitled My Heart Belongs in the Blue Ridge. Oh my goodness, it's such a fun story and a little new for me because the romance is a lovely, slow, crock-pot kind of development between two new friends. It's set in 1918 Appalachia and gives off a little bit of a Catherine Marshall Christy vibe. 

​Pre-order the collection HERE.

OR pre-order a copy of Façade HERE.

1. If you could travel anywhere in the world for book research (expense covered for you by an anonymous donor), where would you go and why?
I would go spend a week traveling in the 3 state area of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. I've already visited South Dakota many times, but since I write stories mostly in those three states, that's where I'd love to spend my "real" time.

2. What genre(s) do you write?  Why do you choose to write in this genre?
I write mostly Historical and all of them are at least sweet, but most of them are also Christian romance. I don't want my readers to pick up a book by Kari Trumbo and have to wonder what they're getting. I've also written a few Christian contemporary romances.

3. What top 5 books are currently on your TBR pile?
1) The Captured Bride by Michelle Griep
2) More Than Meets the Eye by Karen Witemeyer
3) The Raveling by Tamara Leigh
4) Just the Way You Are by Pepper Basham
5) The Sea Before Us by Sarah Sundin

4. What  inspired your idea for Teach Me to Love?
Teach Me To Love was actually inspired by a reader. After I wrote Sparks in Spearfish, one of my readers sent me an email and she felt Izzy needed her own redemptive love story. She made a good case and I actually saw a lot of potential in Izzy. She turned out to be a wonderful, though wounded more than I ever expected, heroine. I put her in Belle Fourche because the history of ranching and strong cowboys is really strong there.

5. What do you want readers to take away from reading Teach Me to Love?
Forgiveness is there, we don't have to live in our hurt. It's okay to feel our pain, to work through it, but when we are ready to move on, the Lord has better plans for us.

6. What is your current WIP?  What can you tell us about this project?
I'm working on the second and third story in the Belle Fourche series (Teach Me to Love is book 1 of the series). I'm diligently working with my editor on What the Heart Holds and writing Deep Longing of the Soul. 

​Pre-order the collection HERE.

OR pre-order Teach Me to Love HERE.

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1. If you could travel anywhere in the world for book research (expense covered for you by an anonymous donor), where would you go and why?
England. I don’t think I’d be able to help writing a true regency romance if I ever went there and was able to take it all in in person. 
 
2. What genre(s) do you write?  Why do you choose to write in this genre?
I write historical romance from first person point of view (heroine’s inner perspective) set in New England during the 1890s. 
 
3. What top 5 books are currently on your TBR pile?
I don’t have much time to read right now (I have two little ones!), so I feel like this pile hasn’t changed in a really long time! 
 
Lady and the Lionheart by Joanne Bischof
Edenbrook by Julianna Donaldson
Blackmore by Julianna Donaldson
Mistress of Tall Acre by Laura Frantz
The Captured Bride by Michelle Griep
 
4. What  inspired your idea for Enchanting Nicholette?
When there’s a side character from a previous book that just needs the best, most romantic second chance at a happy ending—I just have to write one for them! 
 
5. What do you want readers to take away from reading Enchanting Nicholette?
That God works all things together for those who love Him. 
 
6. What is your current WIP?  What can you tell us about this project?
I haven’t started my next project (little kids!), but I’m outlining a few different plots to send proposals out for—there are two book ideas related to The Everstone Chronicles series, but which will be stand alone novels because they’re so far removed from the rest of the stories. One is about Roxy Blakeley and the other about Mabel Hawthorne. And then I have a completely unrelated book idea set during the same era, but based out of Cleveland, Ohio (which was a very prominent town in the late 1800s!) and the Great Lakes region. And I also have a Contemporary Romance... all of which will be written from first person POV.  

​​​Pre-order the collection HERE.

OR pre-0rder a copy of Enchanting Nicholette HERE.