Book Talk: Grace Hitchcock
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Join host Cara Putman for a high-energy conversation with award-winning author Grace Hitchcock! Grace drops in to talk about her Regency novel, To Win a Wager—the grand finale in her Best Laid Plans series.
Cara and Grace dive into the novel’s Lorna Doone-style high-adventure romance, set against the sweeping Scottish Highlands in 1813. Grace reveals how a personal pony-trekking trip through Scotland fulfilled a lifelong dream and inspired the story’s setting. She shares the creative process behind crafting a rule-breaking heroine who scales buildings to escape bounty hunters, an edgy hero balancing spy life with clan redemption, and how a search for stolen gemstones turns into an enemies-to-lovers forced marriage.
Grace also takes us behind the scenes of her Louisiana farmhouse life, detailing how she manages dictation while walking the driveway before homeschooling her children and breeding British Labradors! Plus, don’t miss our signature Lightning Round, where Grace shares her favorite baking therapy (featuring six dozen fresh scones!), go-to romance tropes, and her dream time-travel destination!
What you’ll find in this episode
⏱️ Welcome & Endorsement: Cara welcomes back Grace Hitchcock and shares her excitement for To Win a Wager.
⏱️ The Scottish Highlands Spark: Fulfilling a childhood dream of traveling to Scotland and pony trekking through the Highlands.
⏱️ Tess’s Rule-Breaking Heroine: How Tess’s childhood survival drills with her father turn into real-world escape skills when bounty hunters arrive.
⏱️ An Edgy Hero with a Dark Past: Crafting Jamie, a former British spy seeking clan honor and navigating redemption.
⏱️ The Stolen Gemstone Treasure Hunt: Why Jamie and Tess start with conflicting goals before enemies-to-lovers attraction takes over.
⏱️ The Lorna Doone Scottish Vibe: Balancing high-adventure, sweeping romance, and believable stakes with editorial guidance.
⏱️ Mastering Authentic Regency Dialogue: Using historical slang guides, Scottish folklore, and re-reading classic Austen to capture period cadence.
⏱️ Farmhouse Life & Writing Routine: Balancing writing dictation on the driveway with raising children, homeschooling, and tending animals.
⏱️ The Lightning Round
📚 About To Win a Wager
A Regency-era enemies-to-lovers romance set in the magnificent Scottish Isles
Tess Hale has always been taught to fend for herself, but she never needed to until the night bounty hunters come knocking. It’s 1813 in Great Britain, and Tess’s best laid plans crumble when her father sends her alone in the dead of night to an island cottage to escape them. She finds herself in a world of warring clans she didn’t know existed.
After a decade as a spy separated from his clan, Jamie Malcom has a duty to fulfill as next in line as chief-but his absence means he must earn his people’s loyalty. He pursues a treasure stolen from his clan long ago, and it leads him straight to Tess. As Tess grapples with her past, Jamie vows to protect her future—but lies revealed shatter the trust they had been building. For purposes beyond themselves, they are thrust into a marriage neither of them wanted . . . at first.
In the finale to the Best Laid Plans series, Grace Hitchcock invites readers to the sweeping Highlands and beautiful Scottish Isles with a romance guaranteed to delight.
🔗 Connect & Resources Mentioned
Guest Website
Newsletter
Amazon Follow Page
BookBub Page
Goodreads
Instagram
Facebook
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