When I released my first indie book, I sent my street team a necklace along with the advance reader copy. The pendant, a gift from the hero to the heroine, figured prominently in the book. She had never had a home or family of her own, and desperately wanted one. The pendant symbolized love, family, belonging—and home.  One of my team members lost almost everything they owned a couple weeks after the book released in a massive fire that completely destroyed their barn and house. Thankfully, their entire family of eight, and all their animals, managed to escape. A week later she sent me this email: Hi Carole, I wanted to write and let you know what a blessing your book has been to me through this week.  When we left for church Sunday morning I decided to take my necklace off that I wear every day and replace it with your carnelian one.  While I'm sad to lose the other one (it was a mother's necklace with all my children's names on it - that did need to be re

Today I am honored to welcome Amanda Cabot to our When Reads the Heart series as she shares a heartwarming letter from one of her readers.     What made me I think I should write this story?   What made me think I could write it?   Those questions bounced through my head countless times as I was working on Scattered Petals , the second of my Texas Dreams trilogy.   Yes, it’s true that I write stories of healing.   Yes, it’s true that I begin each day by praying that my words will touch readers’ hearts and deepen their faith, but why did I feel compelled to create a heroine who’s raped on her way to a wedding?   The research was painful.   So, too, was the actual writing.   I wept as I wrote the scene where Priscilla’s parents are murdered and she’s attacked.   I wept as I wrote the scenes where she tries to deal with the trauma.   And all the while, I kept asking why ?   Why was I writing this story? The answers began to come soon after the book was published in early 2