Grace is visiting Ascroft, eh? to tell us about Countdown to Christmas, the first novel in the Holiday Countdown series.

Welcome, Grace. Let’s get started, shall we?

Tell us about the novel that you live inside. Is it part of a series? If so, please tell us about the series too.

My name is Grace, and I am the main character in a series of six books, all of which revolve around a holiday. The first book is a Christmas story. To make my last Christmas with my Granny special, I opened our home as a temporary bed and breakfast and set about re-creating all of Granny’s special childhood Christmas memories. The entire town comes together to help me, and we create a magical Christmas wonderland! The rest of the series follows me as I try to keep the bed and breakfast going with new guests, new obstacles, and new friends!

Does the writer control what happens in the story or do you get a say too?

She wishes she was in control! I’ve been making my own decisions since the beginning, as have the rest of my friends and relatives!

How did you evolve as the main character?

I start off as a lonely woman with low self-esteem, who is desperate to make my last Christmas with my Granny as special as possible. As the story progresses, I slowly begin to come out of my shell. I make a lot of new friends, help some lovely people make new Christmas memories with their loved ones, and I even get to experience my first taste of love!

Do you have any other characters you like sharing the story with? If so, why are you partial to them?

I am particularly fond of my granny! But other than her, I love Carl, Molly, and Hunter. Molly quickly becomes the sister I never had, Carl is the kind and loving father/grandfather, I also never had, and Hunter is my friend/love interest.

What’s the place like where you find yourself in this story?

I live in a very small, rural mid-western town of around two thousand people. Everyone here knows everyone, gossips often, and is quick to lend a hand when needed. I personally, live in a large, two-story home built in the late eighteen hundreds, which is the setting for most of the scenes.

Is there anything else you’d like to tell readers about you and the book?

The book is cute and fun to read, but it’s so much more than that. It’s a heartwarming tale of love and forgiveness. Of the importance of friendship, community, and communication. As well as the joy of making memories that will last a lifetime.

Thank you for answering my questions, Grace, and good luck to you and your author, Dianna Houx, with Countdown to Christmas, the first book in the Holiday Countdown series.

Readers can learn more about Grace and her author, Dianna Houx by visiting the author’s website and her Facebook and Goodreads pages.

The novel is available online at  Amazon 

About Dianna Houx: Dianna Houx is a wife, mother, reader, writer, and small-town girl at heart. She resides in a rural Missouri town of less than twenty-five hundred people with her husband and three boys in a late 1800s home they’ve been lovingly restoring when she isn’t busy working on her next book.

A romantic at heart, she believes in happily-ever-afters rooted in realism and, most importantly, humor! She is the author of Forsaking the Dark, a paranormal romance, The Queen’s Revenge, a historical romance, and the Holiday Countdown Series, a sweet, small-town romance series.