WHAT WE CARRY, by author KALYN FOGARTY

**The Kindle copy is on sale for $1.99 this month. Grab your copy now!

Fans of Caroline Leavitt will relish this rich, complex novel born of the author's own loss and grief, about how one can overcome tragedy through bravery and self-discovery.

Cassidy Morgan's life has always followed a carefully laid track: top education, fulfilling career, and marriage to the love of her life, Owen. The next logical step was starting a family. But when a late-term miscarriage threatens to derail everything she's worked so hard for, she finds herself questioning her identity, particularly what it means to be a mother. Unable to move past her guilt and shame, she realizes there's more to fix than a broken heart. Grief illuminates the weaknesses in her marriage and forces her to deal with her tumultuous relationship with her own mother.

Cassidy hopes her work as a veterinarian specializing in equine reproduction will distract her from the pain but instead finds that one of the cases she's working on shines a spotlight on the memory of her unborn son. For once in her life, Cassidy is left untethered and wondering why she wanted to become a mother in the first place. 

Then the unexpected happens when Cassidy becomes pregnant again. But the joy over her baby is tempered by her fear of another loss as well as her increasingly troubled marriage. Now, she must decide whether to let her pain hold her back or trust that there's still something to live for.
 
What We Carry is a thought-provoking response to the author's own miscarriage and lack of fiction surrounding the topic, that she and other women in her situation crave.

Praise for What We Carry:

“Layers of insightful, beautifully rendered prose and absorbing monologues shine a light through a multi-faceted prism of loss and grief that ultimately reflects the hopeful beauty of learning how to start over.”
—Shelf Awareness

"Heartbreakingly honest and wonderfully emotional, What We Carry is a poignant and heartfelt novel of learning--and loving--through loss, filled with characters you long to root for."
—Kate Hewitt, USA Today bestselling author of When You Were Mine

“In a tender story about one woman’s anguished choices in her determination to become a mother, Kalyn Fogarty takes an unsparing look at the raw courage it sometimes requires to do those things most people take for granted. Fogarty understands human nature and the ways in which compassion for another species — in this case, horses — can teach us the truest understanding of ourselves.”
—Jacquelyn Mitchard, author The Deep End of the Ocean

"What We Carry takes readers on a journey from to the depths of despair and back again in a moving tribute to motherhood. The family dynamics between Cassidy, Claire, and Joan are gripping. Their story of functional dysfunction will keep you turning pages to find out what happens next."
—Jennifer Bardsley, author of Sweet Bliss

"Few losses are as shattering as the death of a child, but when that loss occurs as a miscarriage, parents often find themselves isolated in their grief. This fresh, unflinchingly honest story depicts the chronic ache of grief, the challenge of self-forgiveness, and ultimately, the achievement of a new sense of balance. With fully drawn characters that will live in your heart long after the last page, this moving portrait is not to be missed."
—Rebecca Hodge, author of Wildland

Some Q & A with Kalyn ~

Tell us a little about yourself and how you started writing.

I’m an author and professional horseback rider and instructor. I began writing at a very young age- mostly books about ponies!- but have evolved over the years to writing Women’s Fiction. I am also trying my hand at a YA series.

What are some things you enjoy when not writing?

I am an avid reader. I love Women’s fiction, psychological thrillers and anything by Stephen King. I ride horses for a living and enjoy anything horse-related.

How do you start your day (a routine of sorts?)

When I am in the middle of drafting, I like to write from 4:30-6:30. This is the only time of the day that is quiet in my house. My two kids (3 year old and 15 months old) wake up around seven and from then until bed time I’m full speed.

Finish this: “I can’t write without…”

Coffee and my notebooks.

What did you think you’d be when you became an adult?

A horse trainer or veterinarian. Although, I always secretly wanted to be an author.

What is something about you that people would surprise people?

I am am introvert by nature, but my job and life are very extroverted.

Do you have a ‘day job’ as well?

Own my own horseback riding instruction business.

Is there a particular author or book that influenced or inspired your writing or decision to write?

I love Jodi Picoult’s style and ability to take very important- and often controversial- topics and show all the different sides and facets of that topic.

If you had to go back and do it all over, is there any aspect of your novel or getting it published that you’d change?

I pitched to agents and small presses simultaneously. I actually heard back from the small presses first and ended up going with one of my top choices. However, after signing the contract I was contacted by a few dream agents. But since I already got the deal, they asked me to send my next project to them. I wish I had waited a few extra months to get the agent first!

How do you market your work?

Social media, especially Instagram. 

What are you working on now?

Novel 2, a women’s fiction story about an unlikely friendship between a young mother experiencing postpartum depression and a septuagenarian widow. I am also in the early stages of a Young Adult series- think Oregon Trail meets Jumanji and Outlander.

Is anything in your book based on real-life experiences?

The inciting incident of WHAT WE CARRY is a late-term miscarriage. It is loosely based off my own experience of miscarrying my first pregnancy at 17 weeks in 2017.

Do you have a favorite chapter or scene?

I love the parts of the novel where the main character is describing her equine patients. It was really fun to combine my two passions- horses and writing.

What would your job of choice be if you didn’t write books?

My day job is my other dream job, so I’m very lucky!

Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

Write truthfully. Readers are very perceptive and can tell when the writing is coming from a place of honesty. I think this resonates the strongest.

What are the downfalls of your writing career? The best parts?

The self-promotion and marketing are tough, but I love the writing and research. I especially love the revision process.

Favorite band or music? 

Anything country. I love Tim McGraw.

Place you’d like to travel?

Safari in Africa, road trip through the Rockies, and adventures in Costa Rica are all high up on my list.

Kalyn's social media links:

www.instagram.com/kfogartyauthor

Website is kalynfogarty.com

THE WAY WE WEREN'T, by author PHOEBE FOX

This debuts November 9th, and is an Amazon pick for November! 

An unlikely friendship between a septuagenarian and a younger woman becomes a story of broken trust, lost love, and the unexpected blooming of hope against the longest odds.

"You trying to kill yourself, or are you just stupid?"
 
Marcie Malone didn't think she was either, but when she drives from Georgia to the southwestern shore of Florida without a plan and wakes up in a stranger's home, she doesn't seem to know anymore. Despondent and heartbroken over an unexpected loss and the man she thought she could count on, Marcie leaves him behind, along with her job and her whole life, and finds she has nowhere to go.
 
Herman Flint has seen just about everything in his seventy years living in a fading, blue-collar Florida town, but the body collapsed on the beach outside his window is something new. The woman is clearly in some kind of trouble and Flint wants no part of it—he's learned to live on his own just fine, without the hassle of worrying about others. But against his better judgment he takes Marcie in and lets her stay until she's on her feet on the condition she keeps out of his way.
 
As the unlikely pair slowly copes with the damage life has wrought, Marcie and Flint have to decide whether to face up to the past they’ve each been running from, and find a way to move forward with the people they care about most.

Reviews ~

"A story of the reassessment of the lives of two unlikely strangers who meet--an old man and a young woman--who together discover that the place in life they have chosen for themselves does not bring the fulfillment they had worked to have.  An insightful and compelling read of the courage to change horses in midstream to reach the shore of new beginnings.”—Leila Meacham, New York Times bestselling author of Dragonfly

"Phoebe Fox simply keeps getting better. Her latest The Way We Weren’t is so deeply satisfying on every level that it will continue to resonate with you long after you turn the page on one of the most exquisitely perfect endings you are likely to encounter in some time. As finely wrought as all of Fox’s characters are, special mention must be made of how fully and lovingly  she brings the Gulf Coast of Florida to life. The Way We Weren’t  is exactly the beach-trip-in-a-book that you are yearning to dive into right now.  An achingly artful portrayal of love lost and love reclaimed."—Sarah Bird, author of Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen

"Fox’s sharp storytelling will endear Marcie and Herman to readers, and a solid support cast (especially bar owner Darla) adds some heft. It’s a simple story, but the author gets it just right."—Publishers Weekly

Some Q & A with Phoebe ~

What did you think you’d be when you became an adult? 

I’ve always written, from the time I learned how to write, but I didn’t think it was something you could make a living at until I became a features journalist and entertainment reviewer, in my thirties.

When I was younger I thought I’d be a psychologist. Later I wanted to be--and was, for many years--an actor. The connective tissue of those careers—what I realize I really wanted to do all along—was figure out why people did what they do, to tell their stories.

What is something about you that people would surprise people? 

I’m six feet tall! Especially in the era of Zoom and social media I always forget that’s unusual for a woman (especially living in Texas) until I meet people in person, and invariably the first thing out of their mouths is: “You’re so tall!”

Do you have a ‘day job’ as well? 

I’ve been a book editor for the last thirty years, and I think I’m the luckiest person on the planet to do what I love most for a living. Now I don’t just get to tell my own stories--I’ve gotten to help thousands of authors tell theirs too.

Where do you get your ideas? 

Almost always it’s inspired by something in my life that suggests some “nut” I want to crack—something I’m trying to work through or figure out for myself.

For my first book, The Breakup Doctor, I’d had a very out-of-character reaction to a guy I’d been dating suddenly ghosting me after a very ardent courtship. I am usually cool as a cucumber in situations like that (my friends called me the breakup ninja), but this time I catastrophized it. I wanted to write about what happens when someone who advises people about moving past their breakups falls apart after a bad one of her own.

(BTW, that guy is now my husband, and he would like everyone to know that he did not in fact disappear, but went to a “no phones/no internet” yoga retreat for a week, which he’d told me about in advance, and called me from the airport en route both to and from the place.)

For my last book, A Little Bit of Grace, I wondered how you could forgive the unforgivable with someone you loved. For The Way We Weren’t, I wanted to explore what might happen in a relationship after a foundational breach that seems insurmountable. I seem to write a lot about family and forgiveness, in various permutations.

Can you tell us about your challenges in getting your first book published (or this book?)

Yes, please--authors, take note! I got my agent after 113 queries. With my first submitted manuscript we got a full round of publisher rejections on it, followed by another full round of rejections on a second manuscript. I did a major overhaul of the first manuscript (reworking and rewriting all but one scene), and we finally found a publisher for it, which turned into a four-book series.

Then I pulled my fifth book from the publisher before publication, worrying my writing career was over—till my wonderful agent Courtney Miller-Callihan submitted it elsewhere and we got a two-book deal with Berkley/PRH, a dream publisher for me.

Everything in this crazy career is a challenge. Know that going in and understand what an author friend of mine was kind enough to share with me early in my career: What separates published authors from unpublished ones often comes down to persistence.

What are you working on now?

Last May I released a book for authors on how to edit their own work, Intuitive Editing (under the name Tiffany Yates Martin), based on my thirty years working as an editor in the publishing industry. I’m currently working on the first of a series of follow-up books for it that dive deeper into specific areas of craft.

Do you have a favorite chapter or scene?

In The Way We Weren’t there’s a party scene, and things get…well, a little wild. Now, I’m the farthest thing from a cool, hip party chick, so I had to call a good friend of mine who is much more savvy about such things and have her talk me through an Ecstasy trip. I have no idea if it’s true to life, but if it’s as much fun to actually do it as it was to write about it, I get the appeal. 😊

Do you have a favorite character?

In the Way We Weren’t, Darla, the beef jerky of a woman who owns the run-down beach bar where Marcie winds up working, just kills me in every scene. I would love to meet her.

What would your job of choice be if you didn’t write books? 

I’m doing it--I love helping authors bring their vision to life on the page as an editor.

Favorite book and/or movie? 

Please, please put this interview down and go watch I Love You, Man right this minute. You can thank me later.

Is there anything you’d like to say to your readers and fans? 

Just thanks, with all my heart. Readers are the reason we do this—to share our stories, and they don’t come fully to life until they’re in readers’ hands.

And thank you, Jill, for inviting me to share some of my writing life with your readers!

Author bio:

Phoebe Fox, a former journalist and actor, is the author of A Little Bit of Grace; the Breakup Doctor series; and—as Tiffany Yates Martin—of the bestselling nonfiction Intuitive Editing: A Creative and Practical Guide for Revising Your Writing. Her most recent novel, The Way We Weren’t, releases November 9 from Berkley/PRH. Visit her at https://phoebefoxauthor.com.

To connect with Phoebe: 

www.phoebefoxauthor.com

https://www.facebook.com/PhoebeFoxAuthor

Insta/Twitter: @phoebefoxauthor