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Carol J. Post is a New York Times bestselling author of fun and fast-paced Christian romance and Christian romantic suspense stories. Her books have won several awards and been nominated for two RITA® awards and an RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award. She is also a popular speaker, presenting workshops on a variety of craft topics.
Carol especially enjoys research trips, which usually involve camping, with some hiking, kayaking and bonfires thrown in when possible. She also loves playing the piano and writing songs with her musical husband. Her two grown daughters and grandkids live too far away for her liking, so she now pours all that nurturing into taking care of two sassy cats—Ziggy and Ziva—who also love camping and are known to occasionally take over her blog with their “It’s Zaturday!” posts.
Connect with Carol:
Website | Instagram | Facebook | Goodreads
Welcome to Heartbeats & Hideaways!
To celebrate her visit, our guest is offering a copy of Defending the Innocent Target. One winner will receive either a print copy (U.S. mailing addresses only)or a digital copy (outside of the US). Enter here.
Thanks for joining us today, Carol. I’m looking forward to getting to know you better.
How did you first find your way into writing Christian romantic suspense?
I’ve always enjoyed reading romantic suspense. I began reading Love Inspired Suspense books when they launched the line in 2005, and I decided then that I wanted to write for them. Once I made that decision, I stopped reading as a reader and began reading as a wannabe author, keeping detailed notes about how the authors developed the characters and plot, how they handled the arcs, at what points in the story different events happened, and everything else I could think of to track. (My OCD was definitely showing!) After a few starts and stops, I finally got “the call” in 2012, with my first book coming out in early 2013. Since then, I’ve completed 19 Love Inspired Suspense books and 2 novellas for their online reads program.
What role does your faith play in your writing—both in the way you build a story and in what you hope readers carry away when they close it?
My faith plays a very important role in my writing. I always pray that my stories will draw readers into a closer relationship with the Lord. Usually, at the start of my stories, one of the main characters is not a Christian and the other is struggling with some aspect of their faith, be it trust or forgiveness or self-reliance. I always hope that readers will be able to see themselves in one or more of the characters and be led to look to God for guidance and solutions and emotional healing. I think Jesus taught in parables so often because sometimes stories touch the heart in ways that straight preaching doesn’t.
Defending the Innocent Target released September 29 and is Book 5 in your Canine Defense series. What first sparked the idea for this story?
The first three books in the series feature three sisters, and I wanted the next three to feature another set of siblings. The hero in book three belonged to a band which broke up after the drummer overdosed. The heroes in books four and six are the other two former band members (brothers), with their sister starring in Defending the Innocent Target. In this story, she learns she was adopted when she inherits an old plantation-style home on the Mississippi River near New Orleans, a house that hides dark secrets. While the threats against her mount, she and her Coast Guard neighbor, with his explosives detecting dog, race to uncover the truth about her deadly inheritance. All the books in the series are standalone stories, so readers can jump in here even if they haven’t read the other books in the series.
You also have a story in the upcoming With All Your Heart collection. What was it like writing that piece, and how is contributing to a multi-author project different from writing a full Love Inspired Suspense novel?
This was especially fun to write. The story is actually a prequel to my Song of the Smokies series, my only series that is straight Christian romance instead of romantic suspense. It was fun bringing characters from the series into this story. Other than all of them being Christmas stories, the books in the collection are not connected to one another, which gives us all the freedom to write what we want. The project is called Books-4-Babies, with all the proceeds going to a Christian pro-life charity. I nominated our local pregnancy center where my husband is a father coach, but whatever charity they choose, I know the proceeds are going for a good cause.
You’re also developing an independent project set in Arkansas. What pulled you toward that setting, and what can readers expect from this story that they might not get from your Harlequin work?
After 20 years in the Navy, my son-in-law retired, and he and my daughter moved from where he was stationed at the submarine base in Groton, Connecticut, to Arkansas where they are now farming. They have goats and chickens and pigs, as well as a very large garden. We love going out there to visit, and I thought that would be a fun setting for a romantic suspense series, with a different sibling featured in each book. I have the first few scenes written but am tossing around the idea of setting the series on a ranch instead of a farm. One difference between that series and my Harlequin books will be the length. These will be a little longer, closer to trade length, which will give me room for a subplot involving family members. Another difference is that Harlequin’s Love Inspired Suspense books are very fast-paced, with the danger being constant from the very first scene. In this series, the suspense will build throughout.
 Defending the Innocent Target Post Danger in the shadows.
A K-9 keeping guard.
When Isaac Cooper and his K-9 partner investigate suspicious activity at the house next door, they discover Brandi Feldman, the frightened new owner who has been attacked. The home she inherited hides dark secrets, and there are traps around every corner. As threats against her escalate, it’s clear someone wants her gone—at any cost. Under Isaac’s vigilant protection, Brandi must uncover the truth about her deadly inheritance. But can they outmaneuver a killer determined to make Brandi’s next move her last?
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