Sunday, February 23, 2025

Celebrate Lit Blog Tour: Miss Blaire in Blackwell's Island by Grace Hitchcock

Book: Miss Blaire in Blackwell’s Island (Heiresses of Adventure Book One)

Author: Grace Hitchcock

Genre: Historical Romance True Crime

Release date: July 31, 2024

Will Edyth prove her sanity before it is too late?

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

With her late parents’ fortune under her uncle’s care until her twenty-fifth birthday in the year 1887, Edyth Blaire 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. And Edyth fears she will never be found.

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 leave the terrifying island and reclaim her true self?

Click here to get your copy!

I really enjoy Historical Fiction genre. I also enjoy Romance and Crime books. Miss Blaire in Blackwell's Island by Grace Hitchcock has all those genres in this book. It is Book 1 of the Heiresses of Adventure Series.

WOW, this storyline drew me in from the very first few pages of Chapter 1. The setting is in New York in 1887. The main characters in this book are Edyth Blaire and Bane Banebridge. Edyth is looking forward to her 25th Birthday, as then will be able to claim her inheritance. Her parents died many years before and her uncle is to hand over the inheritance at her 25th Birthday. Her Uncle is a MEAN and GREEDY man and has Edyth sent to an Asylum claiming she is not in the right mind. Edyth fears she will never return to the outside world and she really needs to prove that she is indeed a sane woman. Edyth meets Bane and he gives her hope and prayers. Edyth has always been a believer and I LOVE the way she leans on God and her faith throughout the trials of being "locked up". Edyth also meets Nellie Bly within the Asylum. Nellie confesses to Edyth that she is an undercover journalist. I was so intrigued by the many twists and turns in this story. I also truly LOVED how Edyth and Bane's relationship grew and they both leaned on God. I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Historical Romance with Mystery. I am very much looking forward to reading all the books in this series! WONDERFUL BOOK!

Grace Hitchcock is the award-winning author of multiple historical novels and novellas, including the American Royalty, Best Laid Plans, and Aprons & Veils series. She holds a Master’s in Creative Writing and a Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in History. Grace lives on the Northshore of New Orleans, with her husband, Dakota, sons, and daughter in a cottage that is always filled with the sounds of sweet little footsteps running at full speed. When not writing, or chasing babies, she’s baking something delightful and can usually be found with a book clutched in her fist.

More from Grace

I am thrilled to share with you my FIRST novel in the HEIRESSES OF ADVENTURE series, MISS BLAIRE IN BLACKWELL’S ISLAND, which is set in New York City in 1887. I loved writing about Edyth Blaire, our cat-rescuing, spunky heroine who spends her days painting, fencing with her dreamy instructor, and avoiding society at all costs, which as you can imagine, comes back to haunt her before the end. I’ve never written about a character who despised reading, so that was a new one for me. Edyth just doesn’t like to sit still long enough to finish a book, but you’ll find out why later.

While writing this book, I am pretty certain the librarians at my local branch were wondering what in the world my hobbies are, judging from the stacks of fencing books for beginners, histories of New York crime in the 19^th century, and Nellie Bly’s Ten Days in a Mad-House, and more.

The inspiration for this book came from Nellie Bly’s scandalous exposé for Joseph Pulitzer’s newspaper, The World. In reading Nellie’s articles, I was shocked at the grounds by which the asylum would commit women and that’s when I discovered a tiny mention about an heiress with family members who had her tucked away so they could have her fortune. . . and Edyth Blaire was born.

I hope you will enjoy reading about our eccentric leading lady and her fencing master hero, Raoul “Bane” Banebridge in this friends-to-lovers romance. If you are interested in seeing pictures of the asylum and to see what I pictured the characters looking like, check out my Pinterest board here.

Are you part of a book club? I have discussion questions here!