Hello, Everyone! I'd like to introduce you to Christian historical author, Cara Grandle.
Cara Grandle writes historical Christian romance with all the heart, grit, and wagon-trail wonder you never knew you needed—think prairie sunsets, courageous heroines, and swoony moments set against the rugged beauty of the Oregon Territory. Author of the Sisters of the Porcelain Doll series, including The Rock, The Ribbon, The Rose, and The Ruby, Cara spins tales where faith and hope are never far from the trail dust and frontier challenges.
A born storyteller and unabashed history fan, Cara’s stories blend adventure, tender romance, and the kind of resilient characters who make you cheer out loud. Whether it’s an independent woman baking her way through timber camps or a former outlaw with a heart that softens as gently as a mountain sunrise, her characters feel like friends you’re happy to meet and hate to leave.
And here's her interview!
Hi, Cara, my
friend! So glad to get this interview-on-paper chance with you!
Voni,
thank you for asking me to do this. When I’m thinking of how we met way back on periscope and the friendship we forged over years… Years it makes my soul feel
good.
I agree! And when we get to see each
other in person, particularly.
To start out fun: What is your favorite
food? Make it at home or eat at a restaurant?
I guess I would have
to say that I am an at-home meal girl. We have this beautiful view of a creek
in our backyard, and my husband loves to sit out on the patio with a fire pit
burning. I like to make either salmon he caught or venison. We harvested with a
big garden salad that has so much fresh earthy flavors that it doesn’t need
salad dressing. That meal with my favorite person, my hubby, ticks so many
boxes. Not that I don’t enjoy a good restaurant date from time to time.
Ooh, I want to come over for one of those
meals!!!
Now, here’s the real first question…what
led to you becoming a Christian fiction author?
I’m kind of an anomaly in the author world. So many
of my friends have started their love for words when they were young and in
school or even pursued it in college. I didn’t do that at all. I think I read
my first books cover to cover, minus a small handful, after I was married when
I was swimming in little babies. I had five kids in 7-½ years. So that made for
a lot of home days. My sister-in-law got me hooked and we didn’t have the
Internet so we read out our local library, and we would sit and talk about what
kind of books we loved the best and which ones we hoped our favorite authors
tried to write next. I was a big Lori Wick fan. I still am and I hope my
readers find similarities between her and I. At one point, I said to my
sister-in-law, “I know I’ll write a book, and you can edit it.” She was like Beaker
on the Muppets. (if that doesn’t date me, I don’t know what does.) She got that
trapped look in her eyes. But that is exactly what I did. I started writing as
escapism and then 10 years later the Lord legitimized my play and what I so
enjoyed doing into something that He valued. I’m forever grateful for His words
that happily came before all the work of being a novelist.
Would you please tell us about your very
first published book?
Crazily enough, my first book, The Rock, is
actually the fifth book I wrote. Learning to be an author is no joke. I love
the story. It’s a true rags-to-riches, underdog-overcoming adventure. I like to
write settlers books, where they have to start a new life over on the
Oregon end of the Oregon Trail 1850-1885. So that definitely gives the fish out
of water feel for my poor heroine, Heather. And don’t forget the bad guy. One
of my favorite pieces of the story is that I got to write a curmudgeon. Don’t you
love a really good grumpy guy. Not as the main character, in this book the
curmudgeon is her father. He loves her in his own way, and that’s part of the
problem.
I don’t know why, but curmudgeons are always
fun and beloved. And loving.
What was the spark behind your Sisters of
the Porcelain Doll series?
What a fun interview question. I’m not sure anyone
has asked me that yet. When I wrote my first series that didn’t get published,
yet, one story grew out of another. But I didn’t know what to do. I had all
these other really fun story ideas that seemed like they would never get their
day in the sun, because I was constantly, organically, coming up with a story
that was an offshoot of another. I asked the Lord for help on how to create a
series out of four individual story ideas. The next thing you know, I was at a
friend’s wedding. She was much younger than me, and I was a mentor to her. She
had a dance after, all of her friends, her dearest closest friends were in a
line holding hands. Each one was so different and had such a different life
story, and each was in a different season of life, but they had created a tight
sister bond. Sisters by choice rather than blood, if you will. It’s kind of
like The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Do you remember that movie?
I still have a black-and-white picture of that moment on my wall.
Sometimes inspiration is just a moment.
What a moment!
(To check out the Porcelain Doll series, check out Cara's website: caragrandle.com)
What makes writing a challenge when you’re
sitting at your computer?
This is the fastest answer of the whole interview.
Picture me laughing. I feel like I have a bottomless supply of a story. But
every story requires editing, and smoothing, and always better craft. I’m so
much better at that part than I used to be, and I even enjoy it now that I feel
like a sculptor with words. But the diligence and discipline to stay in the
chair when it’s sunny outside and I could go play in my garden or with my
grandbabies is a force. I frequently have to remind myself that I can do hard things.
For me, it’s a movie or a TV series or
another book that wants to draw me away.
What book or books are you currently
reading? (Or are you re-reading?)
I’m an avid reader. And I was before I became a
novelist, and I promised myself that I wouldn’t lose my love for reading. So I
have some non-fiction and fiction books happening on my desk right now. I
usually have five books going at a time. I like a physical book, one on my
Kindle, one audiobook, one craft book which I include history and research in,
and one devotional style or self-help. So my devotional right now is Randy
Alcorn’s Seeing the Unseen about eternal perspective, self-help is The
Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Ruben, my Kindle read is Roseanna
White’s A Noble Scheme, my paper book is Pepper Basham’s The Highland
Heist, and the audiobook I’m just getting started with is the newest hunger
games book, Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins.
Wow. Five at once!
What other creative projects do you enjoy?
This is a hilarious question for me, because I’m
one of those people who is fueled in her creativity by doing creative things in
different lanes. So, I like a lot of things and I actively do a lot of things,
which makes me look scattered—until you look closer over years. I’m an avid
gardener, I resale on eBay, which means I thrift and pick. My niche is
collectible costume jewelry—think of your granny’s old brooches and you’re in
the zone. Journaling, painting, and calligraphy are a few more. And I rotate them.
I think creativity in that “scattered” way
spurs your writing creativity, for sure.
Since you’re from the wild Pacific Northwest,
what outdoor activities do you like?
I never know if it’s very PC to say, but I’m a
hunter—think head-to-toe camo, long wilderness hikes off-grid, and big guns—both
big game and duck. Duck hunting has just come to an end, but let me tell you
there’s nothing to relieve stress like shotgun therapy.
My hubby would sure love to hunt.
2026: New Year’s Resolution or Word of the
Year? (And will you share?)
Being a planner girl and a journal-er, I most
definitely have a word for the year. It’s always interesting to see what the
Lord draws up out of a word that you weren’t expecting or couldn’t predict. My
word for the year is Renaissance. I believe that 2026, for me, will be a year
of renewed interest, growth, revival in dormant places…that I will find
reinterpretation or discovery in things I’ve done before. Flourishing in the
arts, ideas, and thinking discoveries. I think there will be exploration and potentially
a pivot. (I can never say the word pivot without thinking of the Friends
episode of TV “Pivot!”) I love words of the year. I would absolutely love to
know what yours are. I think I grow and mature just hearing people talk about
the way they take on a word for the year.
Mine has been Live for the last few years.
Not as in You Only Live Once. YOLO means nothing to me. For me Live means to set
my roots deep in my life—because God gave me this life.
Last, but not least, what is your next
writing project? What can we look forward to?
This is fun to answer because I do have a book
coming out this fall. It’s called Burnt Secrets. It’s a
marriage-of-convenience, and reunion story mixed with a bank robbery, set in
1851. (Don’t you just love a good reunion story. I’ve been known to lose time
watching military reunions on social media.)
So true! Easy to lose time on social media.
Burnt Secrets also includes my experience with
both a house fire when I was young and being evacuated because of forest fires.
So, picture of the old movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers time period
and location with a biiiig fire… and bad guys.
OOOOOOooooh! I can’t wait for Burnt
Secrets, Cara!
Thanks for sharing all of this. I’m
glad you had fun with the answers, because that made your interview fun. Happy Renaissance year!
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