Meet author Carrie Fancett Pagels
Carrie Fancett Pagels, PhD, is the multi-award-winning author of over twenty-five Christian fiction books, including ECPA and Amazon bestsellers. She loves a good cup of tea and keeps her teacart well stocked. Twenty-seven years as a psychologist didn’t cure her overactive imagination! Carrie grew up in Michigan’s beautiful Eastern Upper Peninsula. Although she now resides with her family in Virginia, she vacations most summers at the Straits of Mackinac—where many of her stories are set.
Tell us about your newest book.
I got the rights back on this book, which was originally a short novella entitled Love’s Beacon in Barbour Books’ Collection Lessons on Love. I took only the kernel of the storyline and completely revamped the book. I threw at it what I wanted to write and what I would want to read. Since I am no longer writing new historical fiction, but have switched to Contemporary Women’s Fiction, I wanted to throw a Women’s Fiction angle at it, too, and I did! It was really freeing to write this book the way I wanted to without all the restraints I’d normally be under—some of them self-imposed!
What inspired you to write Mackinac Island Beacon?
As a former psychologist, I had been intrigued by the why of someone stealing a child. And when I was a little kid, back when there were dinosaurs periodically there would be stories in the papers about famous people having their kids abducted. My what ifs were: What if the person who abducted someone famous’s child but it had nothing to do with money? What kind of person would do that? And why? And who else would it effect?
How would you describe this book to someone in a 30-second blurb?
Plans hatched in 1897 bring friends and family from far distances toward Mackinac Island’s new twin beacons—the Round Island Lighthouse and the Social Affirmation Society’s training/retreat center. A missing daughter, a missing godchild—two young women’s lives have intertwined in ways they could never have known. The solution to both of their mysteries is revealed when all hope has been lost by those seeking them. Is romance out of the question for Val and Susan, when their hearts begin to heal? Will Paul and Lawrence, friends from their childhoods, brought to the island for work, be their beacons of hope? Can God bring all their paths together or will too many obstacles stand in their way?
Why do you write?
I write for the Lord and His people. I don’t know who would write simply to write, because it is very hard work. I have multiple health issues, and it is only in being obedient to God’s will that I can finish each and every book!
Who is your main character, and how did you choose that name?
My heroine, Valerie Fillman, is named for our neighbor’s granddaughter, who is a fantastic hair stylist and has become a friend. She was the cutest little girl and now she’s the beautiful mom of two adult kids.
What’s the best part of your author’s life?
My favorite thing is signing books at the Island Bookstore on Mackinac Island in the summer and meeting readers. I love talking to other people who love Mackinac and who love reading! And the store owners and the manager and staff are fantastic people. It’s a wonderful experience. So I keep going back every summer and it’s an encouragement to me in my writing.
What’s one thing your readers should know about you?
I am a Yooper woman by birth. I grew up in the Eastern Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I first went to Mackinac Island 50 years ago, when I was 16! I couldn’t believe that this beautiful island was only an hour away from where I lived—it was like going to another world!
How have you changed or grown as a writer?
I am well past the woohoo phase and heading toward a slowdown and some dabbling in other genres, possibly children’s books. I am not physically able to churn out new books every few months like some authors can and I do not push myself to do so. I know my limitations better and I truly have to trust in the Lord to do any and all of my work!
What is your favorite pastime?
Traveling up to Mackinac Island in the summer, of course. And writing about Mackinac Island.
Do you have other books? We’d love to know.
Other books in the Mackinac Island Romances series are: In Desperate Straits, a prequel, which will release in September, 2024, My Heart Belongs on Mackinac Island, Anchored at Mackinac, and my dual-timeline Behind Love’s Wall. Butterfly Cottage and Lilac Cottage, Mercy in a Red Cloak, The Mackinac Straits Lumberjacks series, The Fruitcake Challenge, as well as Lilacs for Juliana, and The Lumberjacks’ Ball. The Substitute Bride and The Sugarplum Ladies. I have over twenty-five books out, including also a Holt Medallion finalist—The Steeplechase!
What are you working on now?
My next Contemporary Women’s Fiction novel, Tandem Cottage, is now getting my first set of self-edits and should release in Spring, 2025. It is the third book in the Mackinac Cottages Series. The first two books won Selah Awards (both placing second in Women’s Fiction). I also have a re-released novella, In Desperate Straits, coming out in September under a cute new cover!
Website: www.carriefancettpagels.com
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Website: www.CarrieFancettPagels.com
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