The Indebted Earl Blog Tour: Author Interview + Giveaway

 

Welcome to the Blog + Review Tour for The Indebted Earl by Erica Vetsch, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

Title: The Indebted Earl 

Series: Serendipity & Secrets #3 

Author: Erica Vetsch 

Publisher: Kregel Publications 

Release Date: March 23, 2021 

Genre: Christian Regency Romance 

Can Captain Wyvern keep his new marriage of convenience all business--or will it turn into something more? 

Captain Charles Wyvern owes a great debt to the man who saved his life--especially since Major Richardson lost his own life in the process. The best way to honor that hero's dying wish is for Wyvern to escort the man's grieving fiance and mother safely to a new cottage home by the sea. But along the way, he learns of another obligation that has fallen on his shoulders: his uncle has died and the captain is now the Earl of Rothwell. 

When he and the ladies arrive at his new manor house in Devon, they discover an estate in need of a leader and a gaggle of girls, all wards of the former earl. War the new earl knows; young ladies and properties he does not. Still wishing to provide for the bereaved Lady Sophia Haverly, Charles proposes a marriage of convenience. 

Sophie is surprised to find she isn't opposed to the idea. It will help her care for her betrothed's elderly mother, and she's already fallen in love with the wayward girls on the Rothwell estate. This alliance is a chance to repay the captain who has done so much for her care, as well as divert her attention from her grief. When Wyvern returns to his sea commission, she'll stay behind to oversee his property and wards. 

It sounds so simple. Until the stalwart captain is arrested on suspicion of smuggling, and Sophie realizes how much he's come to mean to her. Now she'll have to learn to fight, not only for his freedom but also for his love. 

PURCHASE LINKS*: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | IndieBound | Christianbook | BookBub

MORE BOOKS IN THIS SERIES

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Best-selling, award-winning author Erica Vetsch loves Jesus, history, romance, and sports. When she’s not writing fiction, she’s planning her next trip to a history museum and cheering on her Kansas Jayhawks and New Zealand All Blacks. You can connect with her at her website, www.ericavetsch.com where you can read about her books and sign up for her newsletter, and you can find her online at https://www.facebook.com/EricaVetschAuthor/ where she spends way too much time!

CONNECT WITH ERICA: Website | Facebook | Instagram

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Hi Erica! Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions and giving my readers the chance to get to know you and your new book- The Indebted Earl a little bit better!  I like to start these interviews the same way with something fun to break the ice: can you share 5 random facts about yourself that we will NOT find in your bio?

Five Random Facts not included in my bio:

1.    I am a big-time fan of the tv show NCIS.
2.    I cannot make Jell-O to save my life. It never sets up right, or I don’t add the fruit at the right time, or it sets up like a retread tire.
3.    I love the smell of coffee, but I don’t drink it. I have to add so much stuff to it (chocolate) that it doesn’t taste like coffee anymore.
4.    I have a love-hate relationship with my phone. Half the time it’s in my hand, half the time I can’t find it.
5.    In a group setting, lecture, presentation, etc. I need to sit in the back row, and preferably close to a door.

 

When did you first fall in love with writing? Did you always know that it was something you wanted to pursue professionally?

I loved to read as a child, and I always daydreamed, continuing the stories in my head after I closed the book. I loved words, the look and sound and shape of them. I loved creating stories in my head, but beyond one attempt at writing a story down when I was about 15, I never committed my thoughts to paper. Then life…college, marriage, kids, teaching high school history. But when we decided to homeschool our kids, I began writing for my own pleasure. It was as if a part of my brain that had been asleep woke up. The world was a shinier, happier, more colorful, interesting place.


What drew you to historical romance?

I have always been a history junkie. Give me a history book or a museum over a movie or theme park any day. I studied history in college, and I taught history to middle and high schoolers. I love learning about the past, about the people, their decisions and customs that brought us to where we are today.

What type of research goes into creating these stories?

So. Much. Research. But I love it. Regency readers are passionate about the historical accuracy in books, and as an author, I want to ‘get it right.’ Within reason. I also realize I’m writing fiction, and occasionally I take liberties with the historical record for the sake of the story. I try to cover that in an author’s note if I stray too far. I’m blessed to have some really great Regency authors as friends, and they have extensive research libraries. If I cannot find an answer, or if I wonder if something is plausible, they come to my rescue.

On your website, you call yourself an ‘avid history museum patron’. What are some of your favorite museum finds? Do these museum experiences often inspire new stories?

A visit to a history museum gave me the idea for my very first published book. The Lake Superior Marine Museum in Duluth, MN has an exhibit about a ship that grounded in an epic storm in 1905, and that sparked an idea for a story. That’s just one example. I tend to find at least one thing in every museum I visit that teaches me something new. I love how history is about objects and events, but it is, at its heart, about people and stories. Even if I don’t know the story behind a particular artifact, I can imagine who used it, who created it, how it found its way to a museum collection.

Can you tell us a little bit more about The Indebted Earl?

This one was awhile in coming, as it is the third book in a series, so I feel I’ve ‘lived with’ Charles and Sophie’s story for a long time before writing it. I wanted to explore a polar-opposite, age-gap, unlikely alliance between a man who has spent his whole life bound by duty and regulations and shipboard company and a woman who was vivacious and gentle and generous. Mutual grief brings them together, and mutual responsibility. They both had carefully-laid-out plans that did not come to fruition, and they struggle with what God wants from them. Can God be both sovereign and good when bad things happen?

What do you hope readers will take away from the book?

First and foremost, a rollicking good story that has a satisfying conclusion. I want readers to fall in love with Charles and Sophie and Penny, Thea, and Betsy. Beyond that, to consider for themselves the questions the characters have about God’s sovereignty and goodness. We live in challenging times, when bad things seem to happen often around our world, and at the bedrock of our faith needs to be the certainty in God’s sovereign will and His goodness toward His children. I hope the story reaffirms this truth. After that, maybe a bit of history or vocabulary the reader hadn’t encountered before would be fun.

Thank you again for taking the time to answer these questions. Before you go, are there any other projects you are currently working on that you can share?

I’m currently at work on the second book in a new trilogy that will cross-over with the Serendipity & Secrets series. The first book in the Thorndike and Swann Regency Mystery series, The Debutante’s Code, releases this fall! I just got a peek at the cover art, and I’m really excited about it!



Thank you so much for having me on your blog, and for helping me spread the word about The Indebted Earl! I really appreciate it!

(1) winner will receive a print copy of The Lost Lieutenant, The Gentleman Spy, & The Indebted Earl and a $10 Amazon gift card!

Be sure to check out each stop on the tour for more chances to win. Full tour schedule linked below. Giveaway began at midnight April 19, 2021 and lasts through 11:59 PM EST on April 26, 2021. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.

ENTER GIVEAWAY HERE

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