Author & Sewing Designer June McCrary Jacobs: ~ FRIDAY FICTION FEATURE THREE LITTLE THINGS ~

Thursday, February 6, 2020

~ FRIDAY FICTION FEATURE THREE LITTLE THINGS ~

~ FRIDAY FICTION FEATURE ~

BLOG TOUR STOP

-- 'THREE LITTLE THINGS' --

AUTHOR PATTI STOCKDALE

~Post Includes: Book Spotlight,
Author Bio, Excerpt, Unique Author

Guest Post & Giveaway~

Welcome to the Blog + Review Tour & Giveaway for Three Little Things by Patti Stockdale, hosted by JustRead Publicity Tours!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Title: Three Little Things
Author: Patti Stockdale
Publisher: Smitten Historical Romance
Release Date: February 4, 2020
Genre: Historical Romance

One forbidden love. Two broken hearts. Three Little Things.

Hattie Waltz should forget the troubled neighbor leaving for boot camp in 1917. He forgot about her ages ago. It had always been the Waltzes verses the Kregers, his family pitted against hers. When she hands him a farewell gift, a chemistry lesson unfolds. The good kind.

Arno Kreger can't leave Iowa or his old man fast enough. He's eager to prove his worth on the battlefield and stop blaming himself for his brother's death. Before entering the train, he bumps into Hattie. He's loved her forever, always from the sidelines, because nobody crosses Hattie's pa.

One innocent letter soon morphs into many. Arno and Hattie share three little secrets in each letter and grow closer together. But he's on his way to war across the ocean, and she's still in her father's house. Their newfound love will need to survive dangers on both fronts.

EXCERPT:

I miss 2,084 things about you. Maybe 2,085. Unfortunately, there’s not enough stationery at my fingertips to record all your positive qualities. Plus, you might turn proud after reading them, how awful for your fellow soldiers. That said, I’ll mention three little things.

I miss how your smile seeps into your voice when you speak words I’ve only dreamed about hearing, especially from you.

I miss dancing together. Every night I close my eyes and remember the box social. To be clear, I fixate on the part when your arms held me tight, not the fight that followed. In my opinion, we moved in concert to our own music, not the notes performed by the band.

I miss your hand holding mine, especially when you rub your thumb across the inside of my wrist.

Write back soon. I’ll wait by the mailbox, not literally, of course. It’s cold outside.

As always,
Hattie

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

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Patti Stockdale loves hope, history, and a good happily ever after. She can’t remember numbers, so she married a statistician. Thanks to him, she’s lived all sorts of places and worked all sorts of jobs. While employed by an NFL team, she once answered the phone by the wrong team name. She doesn’t work there anymore. For 11 years, she directed the programming at a nonprofit senior center and hosted an annual talent show, rocking a Dolly Parton wig, Annie Oakley boots, and a sweet—although snug—Batman costume. She no longer works there either. These days, Patti writes books and occasionally educational assessments and magazine articles.

GUEST POST FROM THE AUTHOR:

Ten Little-Known Facts About This Book:

I named three of the characters after my grandparents: Arno, Hattie, and Lena.

The book, inspired by letters my grandparents exchanged, started as a young adult novel.

I sold the book through FaithPitch and didn’t have an agent at the time.

From start to finish, it took 20 years to write the book and sell it. But the manuscript hid in a box much of that time while I worked at a busy nonprofit.

My paternal grandma, Lena Elliott, lived to the age of 99 and remained sharp until the last couple of years. She mailed me letters full of stories about her youth, terms of the times, and descriptions of clothing, chores, and settings. Her memories and advice helped shape the book.

My ancestry is German-American, which plays a part in the book. Some of my earliest memories include going to my grandparents’ house every afternoon at three o’clock for teatime. The adults spoke German. I wondered what secrets I missed.

The historical museum in my Grandpa’s hometown houses his army uniform and other items from his military days. To write the story, I visited there, his farm, one of his boot camps, and the WW I Museum in Kansas City. I also read approximately twenty-five books, fiction and nonfiction, on the war, epistolary writing, the Spanish flu, anti-German American abuse, and life on the home front.

My favorite chapter of the book is the first one. The week before I submitted it for publication, I rewrote the first paragraph.

I tend to overedit. It’s nearly impossible to stop making changes, take a breath, and push the send key on the computer to whoosh the manuscript onto the next step of the publication journey.

Maybe I’ll write a sequel.

CONNECT WITH PATTI: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

TOUR GIVEAWAY

(1) winner will receive a prize package including a signed book with a bookmark, a pair of socks with a proverb tucked inside, a $10 Amazon gift card, and a vintage bookmark!

Be sure to check out each stop on the tour for more chances to win. Full tour schedule shown below. Giveaway will begin at midnight February 3, 2020 and last through 11:59 PM EST on February 10, 2020. Winner will be notified within 2 weeks of close of the giveaway and given 48 hours to respond or risk forfeiture of prize. US/CAN mailing addresses only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.

Giveaway is subject to the policies found here.

ENTER GIVEAWAY HERE

Follow along at JustRead Tours for a full list of stops!