#BookReview – My Dear Miss Dupré by Grace Hitchcock

Description

Thirty suitors, six months of courting . . .
would it be 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, she is forced into a different future. 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 business 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 told to 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 a gentleman who captures her attention, and she must discover for herself if his motives are pure.

Details

• Rating: ☆☆☆1/2
• Title: My Dear Miss Dupré
• Author: Grace Hitchcock
• Genre:  Historical Fiction
• Length: 361 pages
• Publisher: Bethany House Publishers
• Release Date: March 2, 2021
• Excerpt

My Thoughts

Willow Dupre has worked with her dad at his sugar business and is quite competent to take over his position as he steps down. Yet the shareholders have other ideas. Willow needs to be married so that her husband can help her with the new position of being in charge or their families large sugar empire. Otherwise, the board members will sell their shares to a ruthless competitor.

To appease the board members her family plans a party to present 30 hand picked suitors from which Willow will have to make her choice. Each man will vie for marriage to the eligible and wealthy Willow. And the choice is to be made in six months.

With this party comes lots of publicity and even jealousy. And since there is a time limit, the plans are to continually eliminate the suitors until she is left with just the right husband.

Though I haven’t watched The Bachelor or The Bachelorette, the book seemed to take on that flavor. It felt like there were lots of names to remember and history to accompany them. For me it was a bit overwhelming. Yet the story was somewhat interesting.

There is a bit of mystery included in the story, but the main plot is choosing a husband.

My Concerns

I felt this plot was a bit off for 1883. And when I realized that the suitors were to stay for the duration of the six months, or until they were dismissed, that also felt off. These were supposed to be élite business men. Not many can quickly walk away from their normal duties to pursue a wife.

Because this was a lengthy book and it dealt mostly with just narrowing down the suitors, it felt a bit lack-luster and flat. It needed more pizazz and depth.

My Conclusion

While I found the writing very good, it was more the story that didn’t work for me. If you liked The Bachelor and/or The Bachelorette this will no doubt be a book you’ll love.

My thanks to Bethany House Fiction for allowing me to receive and review a copy of this book. My review is just an honest opinion.

Rating

IT’S OKAY, IN FACT MANY WILL LIKE IT

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

About the Author and Interview

Grace Hitchcock (www.gracehitchcock.com) is the author of multiple historical novels and novellas. She holds a master’s degree in creative writing and a bachelor of arts in English with a minor in history. Grace lives in Baton Rouge with her husband, Dakota, and their son and daughter.

• My Dear Miss Dupré takes place during New York City’s Gilded Age. What is so special about this particular setting and time period?
  The Gilded Age speaks to me, as it was a time of great change for women. While still having that epic romance feel with balls and dancing and courtships with sweet wooing, women were breaking ground and making history and pairing that with the fact that it was a time of emerging inventions, so it’s an all-around exciting era to research, read and write about. And when I first read about the Vanderbilt ball in all its lavishness, I had to write about it. So, most of the outlandish costumes you see in those chapters, as well as the mention of quadrilles, are factual. In researching for the
  ball scenes, I was amazed at the grandeur and the amount spent for a single night of entertainment for New York’s elite families, $6 million in today’s money!
• How does your Christian faith play a part in your writing?
  My goal with this novel is to provide readers with clean entertainment while subtly
  pointing them to Christ. And as with all my books, something that I am learning
  inevitably ends up in the story in some form or another. The theme verse for My
  Dear Miss Dupré is from Psalm 40:3, which states, “And He hath put a new song in
  my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in
  the Lord.” During a difficult time in my life, this verse became dear to my heart as I
  turned to God to take a song of loss and turn it into a new song, one of praise that
  while I do not know the why behind what I was going through, I can trust in Him to
  carry me through. Even though it feels a bit vulnerable to put my personal lessons in
  a book, I think that it offers a level of genuineness that can bring life to the story and
  hope to the reader.
• Which scene is your favorite, the one you never tired of editing?
  Chapter 15 has one of my favorite scenes that was one of the very last I added after
  the first round of major edits. In this scene, I have Willow and her gentlemen visit
  Bailey’s Beach for the day where Willow has a series of quite calamitous events
  happen to her that had me laughing while writing and hopefully will have the reader
  laughing as well.
• Do you have any plans for future books?
  Beware of spoiler alerts in this answer! I’m in the editing process of Book Two in the
  American Royalty series, Her Darling Mr. Day, which will follow the story of Flora
  Wingfield and the runner-up of Willow Dupré’s competition, and I am currently
  writing Book Three that will cover Kit Quincy’s journey to find love. After this series,
  I have quite a few more ideas that I hope will turn into novels!