Monday, April 13, 2020

FEATURED AUTHOR: CARA PUTNAM





ABOUT THE BOOK


Savannah Daniels has worked hard to build her law practice, to surround herself with good friends, and to be the loyal aunt her troubled niece can always count on. But since her ex-husband’s betrayal, she has trouble trusting anyone.

Jett Glover’s father committed suicide over a false newspaper report that ruined his reputation. Now a fierce champion of truth, Jett is writing the story of his journalism career—an international sex-trafficking exposé that will bring down a celebrity baseball player and the men closest to him, including Savannah’s ex-husband.

When Jett’s story breaks, tragedy ensues. Then a commercial airline crashes, and one of Savannah’s clients is implicated in the crash. Men connected to the scandal, including her ex, begin to die amid mysterious circumstances, and Savannah’s niece becomes an unwitting target.
Against their better instincts, Jett and Savannah join ranks to sort the facts from fiction. But can Savannah trust the reporter who threw her life into chaos? And can Jett face the possibility that he’s made the biggest mistake of his life?


Book Details:


Title: Flight Risk


Author: Cara Putman


Genre: romantic suspense


Publisher: Thomas Nelson
 ( April 7, 2020
)

Print length: 336 pages








LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT WITH CARA PUTNAM


A few of your favorite things:

    There are so many! But here are a few of my go-tos:
•    Nebraska football,
•    travel in Europe,
•    coffee,
•    books, books, and more books!
•    teaching my students at Purdue
•    writing (most days)

Things you need to throw out:
•    Paper. I love having real paper files. But it can get overwhelming.
•    Magazines. I really need to quit subscribing, but I love flipping through them.
•    Clothes I don’t wear. I do a decent job turning over my closet, but…

Things you need in order to write:
•    a little bit of noise in the background. Too much quiet is actually distracting to me. I need an odd balance of noise and focus. I’m listening to a webinar as I type this. I guess my minds needs a little bit of multi-tasking.
•    a computer…most days. I love writing on TheQuill.io because it allows me to write anywhere as long as I have a computer and WiFi. It means I don’t have to worry about having the right file with me because the book is stored on the cloud.
•    coffee, water, and almonds. Those are my go-to writing foods.

Things that hamper your writing:

•    OVERWHELM. I didn’t mean to capitalize the word, but it does work. I have a lot going on and many days they collide, but I love writing, so make it a priority.
•    research. I can take so many rabbit trails, because input is my strength. That means I’m always taking in information and categorizing it. I just do. So I find so much fascinating, I can easily get derailed. I’m also a perfectionist who wants to get it right. Even when it’s a novel. So for Flight Risk, I knew where I wanted the story to go, but also felt stymied until I found the right people to talk to. Fortunately, I kept asking, and I did, but sometimes not until ten days before the deadline.

Things you love about writing:
•    the community. Some of my best friends, and the ones I know will be there when I call, are from writing. That is an absolute gift.
•    the creativity. While I’m an attorney who also has a MBA, there is a very creative side to me as well. The right brain gets to play when I write.
•    the stories. There is no better feeling than getting to edits and thinking, “Wow, I really love these characters, this story.” And “I wrote that? It’s GOOD.”

Things you hate about writing:
•    the isolation. I am an extroverted people person, so I need my teaching job to help balance the hours in front of the keyboard.
•    sitting. I LOVE movement. It’s not unusual for me to get 2,000 steps in an hour of teaching. So the sitting…for hours…is draining.
•    writers block. It’s real. But after 35 books, I have strategies for dealing with it. The biggest is to walk away and do something else while my subconscious works on the issue.

Things you love about where you live:
•    the size of this town is awesome. About 150,000 it has all we need.
•    Indianapolis is only an hour away.
•    it’s the Midwest, sort of, so the people are amazing.
•    it’s a great place to raise a family.
•    Purdue gives it an amazing energy.
•    it gets all four seasons…most years.

Things that make you want to move:
•    I miss politics from DC.
•    I miss the endless options on how to spend your time on the weekend.


Things you never want to run out of:
•    coffee
•    fruit
•    toliet paper

Things you wish you’d never bought:
•    an instapot – I must not have the right recipes!
•    the third copy of Toy Story 3 – long story!
•    that suede pair of heels. Too many days I can’t wear them in the winter in Indiana.


Words that describe you:
•    kind
•    compassionate
•    loyal
•    dedicated
•    high energy
•    communicator

Words that describe you but you wish they didn’t:
•    overwhelmed
•    guarded
•    intense

Favorite foods:
•    runzas
•    berries
•    coffee

Things that make you want to throw up: 
•    fish: it’s a texture and smell issue for me.
•    too much of anything: I’m all about moderation
•    sacchrine

Favorite music:
•    worship music. I love turning it on and turning my thoughts to the One who really matters. It’s a great way to reset when I’m off.

Music that make your ears bleed:
•    heavy metal

Favorite beverage:
•    water
•    coffee
•    lightly sweetened tea

Something that gives you a pickle face:
•    straight lemons
•    pickle brine


EXCERPT

The conversation flowed over the antipasti course and into the pasta della casa. Every bite of Savannah’s manicotti alla fiorentina was wonderful, the ricotta and spinach blending perfectly. Just when she knew she couldn’t take another bite and get anything done afterward, thanks to the food coma, a waiter came out with a slice of cheesecake. Her mouth watered as she took in the raspberries atop the homemade delight. She put a hand on her stomach and then smiled. “I hope you brought fresh forks for everyone.”
The handsome waiter flashed a bright smile. “Whatever the birthday donna wishes is my command.” He gave a slight bow and turned away. A moment later when he returned, a fist of forks at the ready, his demeanor had changed.
Emilie watched him a moment. “What’s wrong, Antonio?”
“There has been a horrible accident. It is on the TV in the office.”
“What kind of accident?” Savannah leaned toward him. “Does it involve someone you know?”
“No.” The man shook his head, and not one of his dark hairs moved. Yet his eyes were weighted with sadness and the shadow of something more. “It is a plane. It looks bad.”
“Oh no.” The memory of a plane careening by as she looked out a courtroom window in downtown Washington, DC, years earlier flashed through her mind. Savannah fought a shudder as she withdrew a credit card from her phone case and placed it on the bill, only for Hayden to slide it back to her and replace it with her own.
“Thank you.”
Please let this be a terrible accident and not the beginning of another 9/11.
Jaime’s head was bowed over her phone as she clicked the screen. “Looks like an isolated crash.”
All Savannah could think was that Jaime should add so far to her sentence. “That’s what we all thought on 9/11 too.”
Then a second plane careened into the Twin Towers. She saw the plane that hit the Pentagon, and a fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania, killing one of her fellow law students. She cleared her throat and stood, motioning the gals to join her.
“Let’s get back to work and see what we can learn.”
As they left her favorite restaurant, her phone buzzed and she paused to pull it out of her pocket. She glanced at the text message on the screen and her blood froze.
911. From Addy. Their emergency code.
***
Excerpt from Flight Risk by Cara Putman. Copyright 2020 by Cara Putman. Reproduced with permission from Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.




ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cara Putman is the author of more than twenty-five legal thrillers, historical romances, and romantic suspense novels. She has won or been a finalist for honors including the ACFW Book of the Year and the Christian Retailing’s BEST Award. Cara graduated high school at sixteen, college at twenty, completed her law degree at twenty-seven, and recently received her MBA. She is a practicing attorney, teaches undergraduate and graduate law courses at a Big Ten business school, and is a homeschooling mom of four. She lives with her husband and children in Indiana. 



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