Writer’s Desk: Robin Jones Gunn
Tricia GoyerRobin Jones Gunn is the bestselling author of over 100 books with several award-winning fiction series including the timeless Christy Miller, Glenbrooke and Sisterchicks® novels. Her newest series is the bestselling Suitcase Sisters collection.
Robin’s popular nonfiction includes her memoir, Victim of Grace along with Praying for Your Future Husband co-authored with Tricia Goyer. She also has ten giftbooks and devotionals published along with fourteen children’s books and fifty articles. Sales of her diverse collection of books top 6.5 million copies.
Four Hallmark Christmas movies were created from her novels. The three Father Christmas films starring Erin Krakow, Niall Matter and Wendie Malick, premiered as the Most Watched and Highest Rated films on the Hallmark Movies and Mystery channel. A Glenbrooke Christmas, inspired by her novel, Secrets, re-airs frequently on the Hallmark channel.
Robin’s passion for speaking and teaching has taken her around the world where she’s keynoted in Africa, Brazil, Europe, England and Australia as well as Canada and throughout the US. Robin served on the Board of Media Associates International and currently co-hosts the popular Women Worth Knowing podcast and radio program with Cheryl Brodersen.
Many of Robin’s books have appeared multiple times on the ECPA bestseller list and have been both finalists and a winner of the Christy and Gold Medallion awards. She was honored to receive the Readers’ Choice Award twice from FHL of Romance Writers of America.
After living on Maui for a decade, Robin and her husband moved to southern California to be closer to family.n fiction.
Connect with Robin on her website, Instagram, Facebook, X, BookBub, and don’t forget to subscribe to her newsletter on her website.
More about Gelato at the VillaGrace and Claire have formed a close friendship over their love of reading. After many years and many books that provided armchair adventures, the time has come for them to go somewhere instead of only dreaming of someday.
Traveling to Venice, Florence, and Bellagio, the Suitcase Sisters find themselves immersed in the magnificent works of art, scrumptious gelato flavors, and endless pasta variations of Italy. And they discover a vulnerability to disclose their struggles in ways they never did at home. As Grace experiences a newfound freedom and confidence in who she is, Claire wrestles with painful memories of her teen years.
A special dinner party brings unexpected revelations about faith and God’s nearness. Then a life-changing moment on the shores of Lake Lugano causes Grace and Claire to discover they are not just tourists but pilgrims on a path to becoming all God created them to be.
Purchase a copy of Gelato at the Villa.
Enter to Win a Copy of Gelato at the VillaQ&A with Robin Jones GunnARCF: If you could describe Gelato at the Villa in one word, what would it be—and why?
RJG: Release.
Without realizing it, Claire and Grace have both been held back by issues in their lives that have kept them captive and stuck. Once they open their hearts to each other and are honest about the pain and problems they’ve kept hidden, they experience life-changing release.
ARCF: Was there a real-life trip, taste, or moment that inspired this story?
RJG: I’ve been to Italy twice and had lots of memories and notes to draw from. I’ve never taken a cooking class in Tuscany, though, so that part required lots of research. My husband got into doing the video research with me and we learned lots about pasta, Italian cooking techniques and lemons and tomatoes. Oh, and olive oil.
ARCF: Which came first for you: the villa, the gelato, or the characters?
RJG: The characters seem to always come first in my imagination. I cut pictures from magazines and create pages in a binder with details about the location and the details of my imaginary characters. About the same time as the location of Italy came to mind for this second Suitcase Sisters novel, I realized they had to stay in a renovated villa and again, movies and videos provided the details and inspiration. Gelato was one of my favorite memories from both treks to Northern Italy. The flavors, the rating system we set up for each one and the delight in finding a tiny place that had a flavor we hadn’t tried yet. Of course, the characters had to experience that!
ARCF: What flavor of gelato would your main character definitely choose—and what flavor would they avoid?
RJG: Both Grace and Claire became fond of the strawberry gelato that was created from strawberries in the garden at the villa.
The flavor that didn’t score highly for Grace was the hazelnut.
ARCF: Is the villa in the story based on a real place, or did it come straight from your imagination (or dream journal)?
RJG: The villa is a combination of two real places with some adjustments to fit the needs of the story. They had to have an important dinner under a portico dripping with wisteria so that was dreamed up. And the garden and pool at the villa came from pictures.
ARCF: If you could invite one of your characters to tour Italy with you, who would you choose—and why?
RJG: I would want to go with both Grace and Claire because they were such a great team and a balance of two different personalities that were fun to be around.
ARCF: You’re known for heartwarming and soul-nourishing stories—what’s the heart message behind this one?
RJG: God wants you back. You may have stepped away from the table, so to speak, but you are still His first love and He will never leave you or forsake you. I wanted to gently tell how two women can nurture a close friendship even when they are no longer coming from the same place because one of them has pulled back from what she once believed. I wanted to show how the Holy Spirit pursues each of us. For any women who are concerned about a friend who is walking away from her faith, Grace is an example of what unfailing love looks like and Claire shows readers how to wrestle with past hurts and emerge victorious over the most awful injustices.
ARCF: What’s one scene in the book that made you want to pack your bags and fly to Italy immediately?
RJG: Great question! I felt it when the women stepped into San Marcos Square and took in the basilica and campanile. They stopped walking and drew it all in. I remember the moment I did that for the first time as a 21-year-old while traveling with my girlfriends. My husband and I took our kids when they were in high school and we all had the same heart stopping moment. As I wrote about the gondola ride and the sunlight on the canal, I closed my eyes and felt I was right there. It was as if both trips had happened just yesterday. Ahhh. Venice.
ARCF: If the book had a travel playlist, what are one or two songs that would be on it?
RJG: Anything by Boccelli. Also, “monk music”, meaning the chants sung at vespers and recorded in an ancient cathedral. I have an assortment of those two that I played as I wrote.
ARCF: Was there a moment in the writing process when the story took a turn you didn’t expect?
RJG: Yes. I sent them to a small chapel at the top of the hill in the tiny village of San Mamete. I’ve stayed in San Mamete, on the lake, but we didn’t make it to the chapel and I always wondered what was inside. Some deep diving into YouTube produced videos of the chapel inside and out. When Grace and Claire entered and sat on a pew gazing at the art painted on the walls, a clear, new idea came to me and I changed the dialogue to go with the image they were seeing and discussing. It brought me to tears and I paused to settle a few things in my heart before concluding the chapter in an unexpected way. It was one of those times when it felt as if the Lord was doing what I asked Him to do before I started that book. He was leading me and showing me what He wanted readers to hear from Him through the story. His Spirit felt so close.
ARCF: How did your faith shape the emotional or spiritual journey in this story?
RJG: I relate strongly with both characters. The older I get, the more I am seeing how God healed me and is healing me from deep wounds in my teen years. I long for other women to be set free. I know God can restore and renew crushed spirits. My love for the Lord and my desire to see women healed was in my thoughts every day as I wrote.
ARCF: Which character do you think readers will fall in love with first—and why?
RJG: Maybe it will be the woman Grace and Claire meet in Venice – Paulina. She’s mysterious and generous and her quiet influence stays with them long after they return home. I also think some readers might relate immediately to Grace and her struggle at work and wish they, too, could step away from the stress and go take a gondola ride at sunset and jump on a Vespa and zip into a small village to get some gelato.
ARCF: What’s one quirky or unexpected detail you included in the story that most people might miss?
RJG: I love the legend a store clerk tells Grace and Claire on the island of Burano. I mention it on the final page of the book and hope readers will remember by the end of the book how Grace and Claire were mesmerized when they heard the tale in the lace shop.
ARCF: If this story had a scent, what would it be—a whiff of espresso, orange blossom, or old books in a sunlit room?
RJG: All of those fragrances and also the scent of garlic and fresh garden herbs from the kitchen at the villa. I think the abundance of spring flowers along the walkway and in the garden at Bellagio creates a familiar, ancient fragrance that hints at new life and fresh starts.
ARCF: If Gelato at the Villa were adapted into a movie, who would you cast as the leads?
RJG: Oooo. How fun that would be! I can’t come up with the two leads off the top of my head but after our amazing community of Avid Readers dive into the story, I think I’ll ask them to make suggestions.
ARCF: Have you ever had a gelato moment in your own life that felt like something out of a novel?
RJG: Yes! And I gave a proper nod to it when Grace and Claire are in Florence and find Gelateria Vivoli on Via Isola delle Stinche. My college girlfriends and I went there on our backpacking trip through Europe and quickly rated it the best of the best. (And we’d tried lots of gelato flavors on our journey.) That evening the sky, the fresh flavors, the sounds in the narrow street were all so, so memorable. It was a moment locked in time for all of us. A moment when we were in love with life and in awe of God and ready for whatever the future held. We still bring it up on our social media comments to each other. Whenever we wish that we didn’t live on different continents and could easily get together again, we say, “At least we’ll always have Vivoli’s!”
ARCF: If readers could take away just one feeling or truth after finishing the book, what do you hope it is?
RJG: One day, all will be made right. The Lord will vindicate you. You can trust Him. So, be at peace and live your life to the fullest.
ARCF: Which character would be most likely to get lost in a Tuscan market—and enjoy every second of it?
RJG: Claire. 100%. She almost did get lost. As a cook, she was enraptured with the variety of spices she discovered when they strolled through the mercato centrale. She wanted to take home a little of everything.
ARCF: Is there a quote or passage in the book that feels especially meaningful to you?
RJG: This quote from Grace at a critical moment:
What I did next was more important than I realized at the time.
I spoke kindly to my soul and told her, “Don’t be afraid.”
ARCF: Lastly, if you could teleport your readers to one scene in the book for a day, which one would it be—and what should they wear?
RJG: Come to the shore along Lake Lugano with Grace and Claire on their last morning. They’ll bring some extra pastry for you. You should bring a towel and a change of clothes. You’ll see why when you read the book.
ARCF: And finally, what is coming up next for you?
RJG: Suitcase Sisters Book 3 is in it’s final stages of edits and will release in 2026. Location and title will be revealed before long.
Save, Pin, Share
The post Writer’s Desk: Robin Jones Gunn appeared first on Tricia Goyer.
