Giveaway & Author Interview: Grace Hitchcock

Giveaway & Author Interview: Grace Hitchcock

by | Aug 16, 2022 | Author Interviews

Today I get the pleasure of introducing you to my friend and fellow author, Grace Hitchcock. We met at the American Christian Fiction Writers conference a number of years ago, and it has been a huge blessing to watch her career blossom and grow. She is a fun and witty author with dashes of suspense depending on which book you read. She’s super talented and I’m so excited to have her on the blog this week.

Grace Hitchcock is the award-winning author of multiple historical novels and novellas. She holds a Masters in Creative Writing and a Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in History. Grace lives in the New Orleans area with her husband, Dakota, sons, and daughter. Connect with her online at GraceHitchcock.com.

You can connect with her through:

Website  |  Newsletter  |  BookBub  |  GoodReads

 

 

Now for the fun stuff! I have to admit I am partial to my Fast Five. 🙂 So settle in as I hit Grace with rapid-fire.

 

CC: Milk or Dark Chocolate?

GH: Dark chocolate!

CC: Print or E-book?

GH: Love the feel of a print copy in my hands and seeing it on my shelf! I recently got a paperwhite kindle and I have to admit, I love that I can read at night again!!

CC: Cat or Dog Person?

GH: I’m allergic to both sadly, so I’m more of a Holland Lop bunny person!

CC: Morning Person or Night Owl?

GH: Totally morning, which is great because my kiddos wake up before six most mornings haha!

CC: Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter?

GH: Spring! Not only are the flowers bursting all around, but it’s King Cake season in Louisiana 🙂 And if you haven’t had a King Cake before, you should definitely order one! Heavenly.

Now for a couple of fun personal questions:

What are you reading right now?

GH: Currently, I am listening to Regina Jenning’s A Most Inconvenient Marriage and reading Gabrielle Meyer’s When the Day Comes. I recently finished Erica Vetsch’s The Gentleman Spy and LOVED it!!

CC: Oh girl. I can’t rave enough about The Gentleman Spy and The Debutante’s Code by Erica Vetsch! AMAZING. And Gabrielle Meyer’s is on my TBR. I haven’t read Regina’s but I know it is on my shelf. 🙂

What do you like to do when you aren’t reading or writing?

GH: I love to bake! I will take any excuse to make a pie or cake from scratch, or create new cookie recipes. I have been branching out into the pastry world and enjoy the challenge. In my current work-in-progress for Kregel Publication’s, the heroine is a baker, so I have the perfect excuse to try out her Regency recipes as well 🙂

CC: I am a baker as well, except my family rarely eats the types I like to make. LOL I cannot wait to read your book and maybe find a way to sneak to your house and try some of those Regency recipes.

What has been the biggest challenge on your writing journey?

GH: I’d say the biggest challenge is the ever-changing schedule of my writing days. With a Pre-K son, toddler, and almost-here infant, writing time happens in the little moments throughout the day and at night. Being flexible with writing time is difficult, but I’ve learned to focus during those spurts of time and have studied how to become more efficient with my writing speed while leaning heavily on the knowledge that the Lord will give me time and inspiration. I’m ever thankful to have a supportive husband who entertains the kiddos at the end of his work day and makes sure I have time to write each day if I wasn’t able to get to it.

CC: Having a supportive family is so huge, and I could definitely use some of your tips and tricks for focus during those snippets of time.  

Let’s talk about your first indie release, The Finding of Miss Fairfield.The Finding of Miss Fairfield: A Victorian Harvey Girls Romance (Aprons & Veils, Book 1) by [Grace Hitchcock]

When an engagement of convenience becomes anything but convenient . . .

Forced into a betrothal with a widower twice her age, Charleston socialite, Sophia Fairfield is desperate for an escape. But, while her fiancé is away on business, he assigns his handsome stepson, Carver, the task of looking after his bride-to-be. Much to her dismay, Sophia finds herself falling in love with the wrong gentleman—a man society would never allow her to marry, given Sophia was supposed to be his new stepmother. The only way to save Carver from scandal and financial ruin is to run away, leaving him and all else behind to become a Harvey Girl waitress at the Castañeda Hotel in New Mexico.

Carver Ashton has had his life planned out for him since birth, but when he encounters Sophia Fairfield, he glimpses a new life—apart from his overbearing stepfather’s business. But, when the woman he loves disappears before he can express his devotion, Carver abandons all to find her. However, his stepfather has other intentions for Sophia and will stop at nothing until she is his bride . . . even if it is against her will.

Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  |  Kobo

CC: What was some of your favorite research in preparing for The Finding of Miss Fairfield?

GH: As an avid Harvey Girl fan, I read just about every Christian Historical Fiction work I could find as well as several non-fiction works on the subject. One of the craziest things I discovered while researching was that Fred Harvey originally had waiters serving in his houses, but one of his managers thought that if the houses were run by waitresses, the male guests eating at the Harvey House would be better behaved. Fred Harvey agreed and thus, the Harvey Girls were created!

CC: That is so cool. It is generally true that men behave better around women. Or at least that used to be true and is still true of my boys. But that may be that they just better behave FOR Mom so they don’t get in trouble.

How did this story affect you as you wrote it? Did God teach you anything through the writing?

GH: It is always funny to me that the themes written about in my novels are reflected in some form in my life. For The Finding of Miss Fairfield, the heroine deals with fear and I found as the release date for this novel approached, I was allowing myself to fall prey to fear as well. There is a healthy fear in writing in wanting to do your best and pushing yourself, but if that fear keeps you from taking a step that you know God has called you to take, there’s a problem. I had to laugh when it came time to send out my ARCs to my street team and NetGalley because I literally put it off for a few hours because I was so nervous about sending out my official first Indie published novel. Closing my eyes in prayer, I hit send. I’m praying the readers will find it entertaining!

CC: That fear can be a killer! You have not idea how proud I am of you for following God’s call and taking that step of hitting send.

How do you select the names of your characters?

GH: Usually I pick the names first and when I find the right name, I at once begin to see the person I am writing about. For this novel, I changed the heroine’s name several times to fit the woman she had become throughout my drafts. The hero’s name has stayed the same though 🙂 I use Names Through the Ages to pick accurate names for the region and the era. It’s an AMAZING resource!

CC: Oh girl, I am so excited about that resource! THANK YOU!!! I cannot wait to use it. 

Thank you so much for joining me today and providing all of us with a wonderful distraction. As my final question, I have my usual “Fun Question”.

If you could travel anywhere without worry about cost, where would you travel?

GH: This is a hard one! I have several places on my travel list, but I’d have to say that I want to go back to Paris and from there, I’d take the train and visit all the palaces and castles I could reach, filling a journal of writing research as I went!

CC: Sigh. Paris! One day, and YES to all the castles. How much story fodder there must be in those places! 

Thanks for getting to know Grace Hitchcock with me. Don’t forget to check out her book, Miss Fairfield, and answer the question below to let us know where you would travel. Don’t forget to enter the giveaway for an autographed print copy! (Sorry, open to US mailing addresses only.)

The giveaway runs until August 23rd at 11:59 EST. Open to US mailing addresses only due to the cost of shipping.

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Endorser Spotlight: Grace Hitchcock

Endorser Spotlight: Grace Hitchcock

by | Jan 21, 2022 | Counterfeit Love

One of the most nerve-racking parts of being an author is sending your book out into the world for the first time, knowing you can no longer change a single word of your book. Thankfully, the first people to read my novel outside of my critique partners and the Kregel team are endorsers. I am so honored and encouraged by the ladies who read my book and then wrote up beautiful endorsements. For the next few months, I’m going to feature one endorser every couple of weeks. So settle in, hear what they have to say about Counterfeit Love, and then learn about who they are, the books they’ve written, and how you can connect with them. Maybe you will be blessed to discover a new author.

At the end, I’d be blessed if you would leave an encouraging note for this author who has encouraged me so much!

I am pleased to introduce you to . . .

Grace Hitchcock

Historical Romance Author

 

Grace Hitchcock is the author of multiple historical novels and novellas. She holds a Masters in Creative Writing and a Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in History. Grace lives in Baton Rouge with her husband, Dakota, son and daughter. Connect with her online at GraceHitchcock.com.

Connect with Grace:

What she had to say about Counterfeit Love:

“A thrilling romance, a gallant Secret Service operative, and a courageous heroine—Crystal Caudill’s Counterfeit Love is an exceptional tale of tragic loss, healing, and redeeming love.” 

—Grace Hitchcock, author of My Dear Miss Dupré and Her Darling Mr. Day

I am so in love with all the different descriptions Counterfeit Love gets in these endorsements. I think Grace encapsulated it perfectly with her words too. I am so blessed and honored. Thank you, Grace!  (And I’m shamelessly putting the link to Counterfeit Love here if you would like to learn more or preorder it.)

Grace’s Books

Grace has written several novels and novellas that you NEED to check out. You can purchase them from any major retailer, but here is the link to her Amazon Author Profile where you can grab any of the titles you like.

My Dear Miss Dupré My Dear Miss Dupré

The goal was simple, find a husband so she could be queen of her father’s sugar empire. Thirty suitors, six months of courting…was that enough time for her to fall in love?

Willow Dupré never thought she would have to marry, but with her father’s unexpected retirement from running the prosperous Dupré sugar refinery, plans changed. The shareholders are unwilling to allow a female to take over the company without a man at her side, so her parents devise a plan — find Willow a spokesman king in order for her to become queen of the empire.

Willow is presented with thirty potential suitors from the families of New York society’s elite group called the Four Hundred. She has six months to court the group and is expected to eliminate men each month to narrow her beaus until she chooses one to marry, ending the competition with a wedding. Willow reluctantly agrees, knowing she must do what is best for the business. She doesn’t expect to find anything other than a proxy . . . until she meets Cullen Dempsey, and she must discover for herself if his motives are pure.

 

Her Darling Mr. Day

New Orleans’ most eligible bachelor insists he’s not on the market. . . . He couldn’t be more wrong.

Jilted in front of all New York, Theodore Day decides to lose himself in his family’s luxury riverboat business in New Orleans and compete against his brother to become the next company head. The brother with the most sales by summer’s end will win the position. Thanks to Theodore’s fame as a suitor in Willow Dupré’s outlandish competition to find a husband, he has become very desirable royalty in southern society and thus has an advantage.

It took Flora Wingfield’s best work to convince her family to summer in New Orleans, but with Teddy Day a bachelor once again, she’s leaving nothing to chance. Desperate to stand out from all the clamoring belles, Flora attempts a bold move that goes completely awry, only to find it’s her interior design skills that finally catch his notice.

But when Flora learns her father has matchmaking schemes of his own, Teddy will have to decide where his happiness truly lies and what he is willing to sacrifice for it.

 

The White City (True Colors) Kindle EditionThe White City

 When Winnifred Wylde attends the Chicago World’s Fair, she witnesses a man kidnapping a woman in green. She believes that he might be behind the mysterious disappearances surrounding the White City and attempts to convince her father, Inspector Wylde, to investigate. He dismisses her claims as just another exaggeration conceived by her overactive imagination. After much convincing, he reluctantly gives Winnie permission to attempt to prove him wrong, but only if she takes her pistol and one of his men for protection. With the help of Jude Thorpe, a handsome detective acting as her bodyguard, Winnifred goes undercover as the secretary to the man in question, who uses the alias H. H. Holmes.  

Will she be able to uncover the truth behind the disappearances, or will Winnifred become the next victim?

 

 

The Gray Chamber (True Colors) by [Grace Hitchcock]

The Gray Chamber

On Blackwell’s Island, New York, a hospital was built to keep its patients from ever leaving.

With her late father’s fortune under her uncle’s care until her twenty-fifth birthday in the year 1887, Edyth Foster does not feel pressured to marry or to bow to society’s demands. She freely indulges in eccentric hobbies like fencing and riding her velocipede in her cycling costume about the city for all to see. Finding a loophole in the will, though, her uncle whisks Edyth off to the women’s lunatic asylum just weeks before her birthday. Will Edyth prove her sanity before it is too late?

At the asylum she meets another inmate, who upon discovering Edyth’s plight, confesses that she is Nellie Bly, an undercover journalist for The World. Will either woman find a way to escape the terrifying island and reclaim her true self?

 

Check out her novellas on her website or on your favorite retailer’s site.

 

Leave an encouraging note for Grace Hitchcock in the comments. This writing journey is rough, and I’d love to bless her as much as she has blessed me.

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