Bookish Flights: Themed Book Recommendations & Author Interviews

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In today’s episode, I’m chatting with Carmela Dutra, a Bay Area–based writer who loves food trucks, family, and cozy mysteries. With a love for quirky characters and humor-filled storytelling, Carmela draws inspiration from everyday life, farmers’ markets, and the unexpected moments that make a story memorable.

In our conversation, we talk about the inspiration behind her food-truck-centered mystery, A Murder Most Fowl, writing sibling dynamics, and how she balances humor with high-stakes crime. Carmela also shares what readers can expect next in the series—including book two, Hot Wings and Homicide.

Episode Highlights:

• The inspiration behind a food truck–centered mystery, including brainstorming sessions with her husband.
• Writing twins and the dynamic between Beth and Seth.
• Why food and cozy mysteries are such a perfect pairing.
• Balancing humor with suspense in a murder mystery.
• A peek into book two: Hot Wings and Homicide. If you’ve pre-ordered a copy of the book, make sure to email, [email protected] for your exclusive recipe cards. 

Connect with Carmela:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Website

📚 Next Meet the Author Event
🗓️ April 21st | 🕓 5 pm PST / 7 pm CST / 8 pm EST

If you’d like to join us for an upcoming discussion, next month’s pick is The Secret of Orange Blossom Cake by Rachel Linden - a beautiful story set in Italy that weaves together a magical cookbook, family history, and a summer of second chances. Rachel will be joining us live, and you’re invited to read along and be part of the conversation. Register Here.

Books and authors mentioned in the episode:

• Carmela’s previous Bookish Flights episode
• Sarah Adams books
• And Now, Back to You by B.K. Borison
• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Book Flight

• The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco by Michelle Chouinard
• A Tour to Die For by Michelle Chouinard
• Murder and Mamon by Mia P. Manansala

The BFF Book Club is becoming a family affair! ❤️ This our FREE virtual book club, where we read together each month and have live author chats.

Each Family Book Flight pairs our BFF Book Club pick with:

• One chapter book for growing readers
• One picture book for our littlest readers
• A few family conversation starters + a simple activity

Three books. One common theme.

→ Join us here: https://bookishflights.kit.com/bfffamily

Support the show

Be sure to join the Bookish Flights community on social media. Happy listening!

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• Facebook
• Website

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Today’s conversation is a tender one. I’m joined by Sheila Hamilton — journalist, speaker, and author of All the Things We Never Knew, a memoir she wrote in the aftermath of her late husband’s descent into mental illness. This book is part story, part resource — and it captures the confusion, grief, hope, and fierce love that come with navigating a fractured mental health system while trying to hold a family together.

If you’ve ever loved someone who was struggling…this episode is for you. We talk resilience, motherhood, sisterhood — and the powerful books that shaped Sheila along the way.

Episode Highlights:

• Why Sheila felt compelled to write All the Things We Never Knew after her husband’s mental health crisis.
• How her background in journalism shaped the book into both memoir and resource.
• The realities of navigating the mental health system while trying to support a family.
• Why honesty about struggle can help people find connection and community.
• What resilience really looks like in the middle of grief and uncertainty.
• The role motherhood played in helping her move forward.

Connect with Sheila:

• Instagram
• Podcast
• Website

Books and authors mentioned in the episode:

• Virginia Woolf books
• The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch
• McGlue by Ottessa Moshfegh

Book Flight

• The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
• Wild by Cheryl Strayed
• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

The BFF Book Club is becoming a family affair! ❤️ This our FREE virtual book club, where we read together each month and have live author chats.

Each Family Book Flight pairs our BFF Book Club pick with:

• One chapter book for growing readers
• One picture book for our littlest readers
• A few family conversation starters + a simple activity

Three books. One common theme.

→ Join us here: https://bookishflights.kit.com/bfffamily

Support the show

Be sure to join the Bookish Flights community on social media. Happy listening!

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Website

Send us Fan Mail

In today’s episode, I’m chatting with Wendy Hively—a Navy spouse, retired scientist, and entrepreneur who has spent more than a decade building a business that supports military families. After giving up two jobs in her career field during her husband’s service, Wendy experienced firsthand the employment challenges many military spouses face. That experience led her to entrepreneurship as a way to create both stability and purpose.

She is the founder of Charliemadison Originals, a lifestyle brand named after her daughters and inspired by three generations of military service in her family. The brand not only celebrates military life but also gives back—5% of every purchase is donated to organizations supporting servicemembers and their families. Wendy also shares about her newest venture, Charliemadison Labs, a women-led coaching community that helps entrepreneurs get out of their own way and grow their businesses.

Episode Highlights:

• Starting a business with $200 in the bank.
• The employment challenges military spouses often face.
• Why entrepreneurship can be a powerful alternative career path.
• Skills military spouses develop that translate to business success.
• Building community through Charliemadison Originals.
• Wendy’s newest venture: Charliemadison Labs women-led coaching for entrepreneurs.
• Her book flight celebrating women who empower women.

Connect with Wendy:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Website

Show Notes

Some links are affiliate links, which are no extra cost to you but do help to support the show.

Books and authors mentioned in the episode:

• The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
• The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho
• Kills Well with Others by Deanna Raybourne

Book Flight

• The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
• The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict
• Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourne

The BFF Book Club is becoming a family affair! ❤️ This our FREE virtual book club, where we read together each month and have live author chats.

Each Family Book Flight pairs our BFF Book Club pick with:

• One chapter book for growing readers
• One picture book for our littlest readers
• A few family conversation starters + a simple activity

Three books. One common theme.

→ Join us here: https://bookishflights.kit.com/bfffamily

Support the show

Be sure to join the Bookish Flights community on social media. Happy listening!

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Website

Send us Fan Mail

Today on Bookish Flights, I’m joined by Katherine Scott Crawford, award-winning author of The Miniaturist’s Assistant and Keowee Valley, history enthusiast, and self-proclaimed recovering academic. An eleventh-generation Southerner, Katherine directs writing retreats at a remote mountain lodge in Western North Carolina, where she lives with her family and would much rather be in the woods with her dog than anywhere else. A former backpacking guide and adjunct professor, her writing has appeared in newspapers across the country and abroad. If you love historical fiction, this conversation is for you.

Episode Highlights:

• The deep, layered history of the American South
• Her novel The Miniaturist’s Assistant, set in Charleston and the research and imagination behind bringing 1804 and 2004 to life
• Why historical fiction is the best form of time travel
• Her writing process and the rhythms of a creative life
• The idea that reading is a hobby you actively choose above all else
• How living in Western North Carolina means you can’t “trip over a rock without tripping over history”

Katherine describes herself as a history nerd, and it shows in the best way. We talk about time as something mysterious and porous,  how the past presses into the present, and how fiction allows us to experience that overlap in deeply human ways. Her biggest hope for readers? A truly transportive experience into both 1804 and 2004 Charleston.

Connect with Katherine:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Website

Show Notes

Some links are affiliate links, which are no extra cost to you but do help to support the show.

Books and authors mentioned in the episode:

• Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
• The Black Wolf by Louise Penny
• The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
• The Electricity of Every Living Thing by Katherine May

Book Flight

• The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon
• The Lost Book of Eleanor Dareby Kimberly Brock
• The Literary Undoing of Victoria Swann by Virginia Pye

The BFF Book Club is becoming a family affair! ❤️ This our FREE virtual book club, where we read together each month and have live author chats.

Each Family Book Flight pairs our BFF Book Club pick with:

• One chapter book for growing readers
• One picture book for our littlest readers
• A few family conversation starters + a simple activity

Three books. One common theme.

→ Join us here: https://bookishflights.kit.com/bfffamily

Support the show

Be sure to join the Bookish Flights community on social media. Happy listening!

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Website

Send us Fan Mail

In today’s episode, I’m chatting with Tracie Peterson, often called the Queen of Historical Christian Fiction. An ECPA, CBA, and USA Today bestselling author of more than 110 books, Tracie has spent decades weaving together faith, history, and romance for readers around the world. Her guiding motto in both life and writing is Soli Deo Gloria — For God Alone the Glory. A Kansas native now living in the mountains of Montana with her husband, Jim, Tracie joins me to discuss her latest novel, Faithful of Heart, part of the Minnesota Legacy series.

Episode Highlights:

• Her deep research process, especially her love of firsthand historical accounts.
• Why setting functions almost like a secondary character in her novels.
• The heart behind Faithful of Heart and what’s ahead for the Minnesota Legacy series.
• Balancing reading and writing, and how deadlines shape her reading life.
• The themes of hope and forgiveness that thread through her stories.
• Her book flight includes historical Christian romances that beautifully blend faith, perseverance, and love.

This conversation is thoughtful, grounded, and rooted in a lifetime of faithful storytelling.

Connect with Tracie:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Website

Show Notes

Some links are affiliate links, which are no extra cost to you but do help to support the show.

Books and authors mentioned in the episode:

• Jane Austin books
• Tom Clancy books
• Jaime Jo Wright books

Book Flight

• A Song in the Dark by Kimberley Woodhouse
• Mail Order Duchess / Mail Order Baroness by Misty M. Bellar
• Christy by Catherine Marshall

The BFF Book Club is becoming a family affair! ❤️ This our FREE virtual book club, where we read together each month and have live author chats.

Each Family Book Flight pairs our BFF Book Club pick with:

• One chapter book for growing readers
• One picture book for our littlest readers
• A few family conversation starters + a simple activity

Three books. One common theme.

→ Join us here: https://bookishflights.kit.com/bfffamily

Support the show

Be sure to join the Bookish Flights community on social media. Happy listening!

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Website

Send us Fan Mail

In today’s episode, I sit down with USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and internationally bestselling author Wade Rouse. Many readers know Wade by his pen name, Viola Shipman, his grandmother’s name chosen to honor the woman whose stories and heirlooms inspire his fiction. But this novel marks something new. That’s What Friends Are For is the first book he has published under his own name. Inspired by The Golden Girls, the novel follows four gay men “of a certain age” who have built a vibrant chosen family in Palm Springs, until an unexpected family arrival begins to unravel long-held secrets.

Episode Highlights:

• Why Wade chose his grandmother’s name as his pen name
• What publishing under his own name represents at this stage of his life
• The Golden Girls inspiration behind “The Golden Gays”
• Writing about aging in America
• The power of found family and chosen friendship
• Humor as a doorway to deeper emotional truth
• The legacy behind his beloved Viola Shipman novels

If you have ever built family beyond blood, navigated reinvention, or believe friendship carries us through life’s hardest seasons, this episode is for you.

Connect with Wade:

• Website
• Instagram
• Facebook

Show Notes

Some links are affiliate links, which are no extra cost to you but do help to support the show.

Books and authors mentioned in the episode:

• Erma Bombeck books
• David Sedaris books
• I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron
• Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs
• The Last of the Savages by Jay McInerney
• Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
• So Old, So Young by Grant Ginder

Book Flight

• Awake by Jen Hatmaker
• The Forget-Me-Not Library by Heather Webber
• Hazel Says No by Jessica Berger Gross

The BFF Book Club is becoming a family affair! ❤️ This our FREE virtual book club, where we read together each month and have live author chats.

Each Family Book Flight pairs our BFF Book Club pick with:

• One chapter book for growing readers
• One picture book for our littlest readers
• A few family conversation starters + a simple activity

Three books. One common theme.

→ Join us here: https://bookishflights.kit.com/bfffamily

Support the show

Be sure to join the Bookish Flights community on social media. Happy listening!

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Website

Send us Fan Mail

I’m chatting with Matt Mattson, a writer, speaker, social mystic, & spiritual leader dedicated to cultivating sacred human connection. Matt is the founder of BETWEEN, an innovative and deeply inclusive global faith community that invites people into curiosity, conversation, and shared moments of meaning. His work blends ancient wisdom with modern insight, helping people notice and name the sacred woven into everyday encounters. We are here today to celebrate the release of his newest book, Cathedrals of Connection.

Connect with Matt:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Website

Books mentioned:

• Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
• How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• Everything is a Story by Kaitlin B. Curtice

Book Flight

• Aflame by Pico Iyer
• The Healing Power of the Santuario de Chimayó by Brett Hendrickson
• Holy Envy by Barbara Brown Taylor
• The Girl Who Baptized Herself by Megan Watterson

The BFF Book Club is becoming a family affair! ❤️ This our FREE virtual book club, where we read together each month and have live author chats.

Each Family Book Flight pairs our BFF Book Club pick with:

• One chapter book for growing readers
• One picture book for our littlest readers
• A few family conversation starters + a simple activity

Three books. One common theme.

→ Join us here: https://bookishflights.kit.com/bfffamily

Support the show

Be sure to join the Bookish Flights community on social media. Happy listening!

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Website

Send us Fan Mail

Today is our latest BFF Book Club. This month, we’re joined by by Annie Harnett, author of The Road to Tender Hearts. Annie is the award-winning author of two additional novels, Rabbit Cake and Unlikely Animals. 

Episode Highlights:

• The inspiration behind The Road to Tender Hearts and how Annie transformed personal anxiety into sharp, heartfelt fiction.
• Her writing process of “going for the joke first” and then layering in what she calls the “emo copy” to bring emotional depth.
• Why humor is her entry point into heavier themes.
• How her experience as a former bookseller shaped her storytelling and reading life.
• Annie’s book flight featuring four of her all-time favorite books.

Connect with Annie:

• Instagram
• Website

📚 Next Meet the Author Event
🗓️ March 15th | 🕓 3 pm PST / 5 pm CST / 6 pm EST

We’re thrilled to welcome Carmela Dutra, author of A Murder Most Fowl, a cozy food truck murder mystery, to our next Book Club gathering! Come for the conversation and stay for the community. 👉 Register Here.

Books and authors mentioned in the episode:

• Karmen Somers episode featuring The Road to Tender Hearts (E168)
• Moby Dick by Herman Melville
• Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
• Save the Cat by Blake Snyder
• Emily Henry’s book
• Margo’s Got Money Trouble by Rufi Thorpe
• Shark Heart by Emily Habeck
• The Wedding People by Alison Espach
• Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
• Anxious People by Fredrik Bakman

Book Flight

• Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
• The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
• Swamplandia! by Karen Russell
• John Irving’s books

The BFF Book Club is becoming a family affair! ❤️ This our FREE virtual book club, where we read together each month and have live author chats.

Each Family Book Flight pairs our BFF Book Club pick with:

• One chapter book for growing readers
• One picture book for our littlest readers
• A few family conversation starters + a simple activity

Three books. One common theme.

→ Join us here: https://bookishflights.kit.com/bfffamily

Support the show

Be sure to join the Bookish Flights community on social media. Happy listening!

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Website

Send us Fan Mail

In today’s episode, I’m chatting with Lindsay Marie Morris, a novelist and journalist based in Los Angeles whose work is deeply rooted in her Sicilian-American heritage. Lindsay’s debut novel, The Last Letter from Sicily, was inspired by her grandmother’s story and explores love, resilience, and long-held family secrets during World War II. Her second novel, Beneath the Sicilian Stars, returns to this era, following a family divided between California and Sicily as the war forces them to confront questions of loyalty, belonging, and sacrifice.

Episode Highlights:

• The often-overlooked history of Sicilians and Italian Americans during World War II, including the impact of the Alien Enemy Act and the internment of Italian Americans, history rarely taught in American schools.
• How family stories are often passed down in fragments, and the role fiction can play in uncovering the fuller, more complicated truth.
• Exploring Sicilian culture through food, including why arancini are shaped differently depending on where you are on the island.
• A Sicily-focused book flight, plus additional reading recommendations on Italian and Italian-American history.
• How Lindsay connects with readers through her newsletter, sharing behind-the-scenes insights, upcoming events, and travel notes from the road.

Connect with Lindsay:

• Website
• Facebook
• Instagram

Show Notes

Some links are affiliate links, which are no extra cost to you but do help to support the show.

Books and authors mentioned in the episode:

• Una Storia Segreta by Lawrence DiStasi
• Laura Ingalls Wilder books
• Neopolitan Quartet by Elena Ferrante
• Eternal by Lisa Scottoline
• Renata Tebaldi: The Voice of an Angel by Carlamaria Casanova

Book Flight

• The Peoples of Sicily by Louis Mendola & Jacqueline Alio
• The Leopard by Giovanni Di Lampedusa
• Sicily on My Mind by Joseph Cione

The BFF Book Club is becoming a family affair! ❤️ This our FREE virtual book club, where we read together each month and have live author chats.

Each Family Book Flight pairs our BFF Book Club pick with:

• One chapter book for growing readers
• One picture book for our littlest readers
• A few family conversation starters + a simple activity

Three books. One common theme.

→ Join us here: https://bookishflights.kit.com/bfffamily

Support the show

Be sure to join the Bookish Flights community on social media. Happy listening!

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Website

Send us Fan Mail

In today’s episode, I am chatting with Ashlee Sullivan. Ashlee, CEO and founder of woman + warrior®️THE first OFFICIAL APPAREL BRAND line of it’s kind, made for the military family! Because we deserve to be seen, look good, and feel great while doing this thing called the military. 

This episode is part of our Military Spouse Series, and Ashlee shares her journey transitioning from a Coast Guard Reserve family to an Active Duty Army family. We talk about starting a business rooted in representation, using creativity and humor to cope during hard seasons, and the challenge of finding support in a transient military lifestyle.

Resources Mentioned

• Military One Source
• InDependent, for military spouse wellness
• Stronghold Food Pantry, to help military families facing food insecurity. 

Episode Highlights:

• Starting a mission-driven business as a military spouse.
• Using creativity and humor to cope during difficult seasons.
• Why finding military resources can feel so hard.
• Building real community in a constantly changing lifestyle.
• Mental health, burnout, and giving yourself permission to rest.
• Reading as both a luxury and a necessity.
• Showing up online with intention and influence.
• Her book flight is for those with big dreams and how to get you there.

Connect with Ashlee:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Website

Show Notes

Some links are affiliate links, which are no extra cost to you but do help to support the show.

Books and authors mentioned in the episode:

• Wisdom Takes Work by Ryan Holiday
• Originals by Adam Grant

Book Flight

• Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon
• Discipline is Destiny by Ryan Holiday
• Courage is Calling by Ryan Holiday
• The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday

The BFF Book Club is becoming a family affair! ❤️ This our FREE virtual book club, where we read together each month and have live author chats.

Each Family Book Flight pairs our BFF Book Club pick with:

• One chapter book for growing readers
• One picture book for our littlest readers
• A few family conversation starters + a simple activity

Three books. One common theme.

→ Join us here: https://bookishflights.kit.com/bfffamily

Support the show

Be sure to join the Bookish Flights community on social media. Happy listening!

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Website