Absolutely lovely covers, for the entire series!

Gracie’s Time (The Bean Books Book 4) by Christine Potter released in August in the Young Adult Paranormal Romance (Time Travel).

October, 1962 It’s almost Halloween, but something a lot scarier than ghosts is on everyone’s mind: nuclear war. After President Kennedy’s speech to the nation about the Cuban Missile Crisis, Grace Ingraham overhears her parents’ plans to keep her safe. She’ll be sent off to live with a wealthy uncle—in the nineteenth century.

Gracie’s from a family of Travelers, people who can escape into time. Too bad her mom and dad haven’t Traveled since their honeymoon trip to the Lincoln Inauguration. So Grace will have to go alone—even though taking a wrong turn can have serious consequences: like heading for 1890, and ending up …in 2018.

Evernight Teen: https://www.evernightteen.com/gracies-time-by-christine-potter/

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/955027

“Dylan, this is Gracie Ingraham,” said Claire. “She’s going to be staying with us.”

“Hi,” I said. Dylan smiled a huge smile, a really fine-looking smile. Maybe it was strange to be noticing that just then, but some people have great smiles, and he’s one of them. Dylan has a smile that makes you smile, too. He put down his cocoa and stuck out his hand. I shook it.

“Hey!” he said. “Dylan Musser. You going to school here and all?”

Most guys I knew were kind of weird around girls. They got embarrassed. Or worse, put on some kind of embarrassing he-man act. This was a nice change. Then I wondered what high school might be in 2018. I couldn’t even imagine it. Probably really hard. Something else to worry about!

Claire jumped in. “Eventually. She just arrived. We’re giving her a few days to settle in.”

Maggie cruised his ankles, too. “Maggie-cat!” he said, “Good kitty!” He stroked her back and she turned her turquoise-blue eyes on him.

I tried not to stare at Dylan. Guys look much better with a little hair, I decided. His was in a crazy red halo around his head. He wore jeans like Claire’s and Father Higbee’s, and a black hooded sweatshirt with funny little holes in both cuffs he could poke his thumbs through. He kept playing with them—thumbs in, thumbs out.

No one said anything for a second.

AUTHOR Bio and Links: Christine Potter lives in a very old, haunted house, not far from Sleepy Hollow.  She’s the author of the time-traveling Bean Books series, on Evernight Teen: Time Runs Away With Her, In Her Own Time, What Time Is It There? and Gracie’s Time.  She’s also a poet, with several books in print (the most recent is called Unforgetting). Christine loves all kinds of music, DJ’s, and plays dulcimer and guitar

How is this story a “contemporary” story?

            Usually, I write historical fiction because it allows me to concentrate on character and plot rather than technology. But my new book is different.  Before I wrote Gracie’s Time, I’d always set my time-traveling young adult novels, The Bean Books, in the 1970’s—and, of course, in whatever era my characters were visiting.

           I changed it up this time round, and I’m glad. 

OK—I did start out in 1962.  That’s where my main character, Gracie Ingraham, comes from.  It’s the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and her parents are afraid there will be nuclear war. Because they are Travelers—people who can zip backwards in time—they decide to send their daughter to the 1890’s and a rich uncle in New York City to keep her safe. Gracie has never time traveled before, and she goes the wrong way.  She ends up in February, 2018.

            It’s a wild ride of a plot, with incursions from the nineteenth century, a ruined mansion, and Gracie’s mother’s grief over losing her daughter in time—not to mention Gracie’s grief at losing her family.  No spoilers, but it does work out in the end, just not the way you’d think.  And Gracie’s Time does include characters from the mostly-70’s-era Bean Books.

            But the opening of this novel is marked by the tragic Valentine’s Day shootings at Parkland, Florida and so the book quietly deals with the threat of gun violence in schools, a uniquely contemporary problem.  Funny how writing a time-traveling character from the Cold War era allows you to jump from duck- and-cover air raid drills to the traumatizing active shooter drills kids deal with these days.   I listened to teens talking about the drills a bunch while I was writing Gracie’s Time.   That all-the-time background fear is very much part of my new book.

            I knew when I started Gracie’s Time that it would have to be in first person instead of my usual third-person-through-the-eyes-of-Bean.  That’s because the action in this book is happening in the almost-now.  First person seemed right for that. 

I also spent time sitting with kids and their phones to make sure I got that stuff right.  Phones make the plot go FAST!!  But they also bend things around in cool ways that wouldn’t happen in an un-wired world.  So, there’s plenty of Instagram and some plain old texting.  TikTok will have to wait for my next book!

I tend to write about misfits, and the new teen characters in this book are a bunch of contemporary nerds.  They have big interests and passions, upcycle clothing, collect vinyl records, worry about college, and have incredibly hovering parents.  They’re not afraid of time travel, but they’re terrified of getting caught cutting school.  I like my new kids.  They so want to be badasses, and they so aren’t! 

Helicopter parenting, by the way, is something that I wanted to write about and I think I pulled it off here.  I grew up in a time when kids rolled around un-seat-belted in the backs of station wagons and disappeared for hours without raising a parental eyebrow.  Having a time traveler from 1962 trying to fit into 2018 felt like a good way to salute a more hands-off school of raising kids.

So Gracie’s Time really is contemporary, with all the current world’s worries and woes.  But it’s a funny, happy story, too, and I’m proud of it.  Hope you give it a try!

My blog: chrispygal.weebly.com

Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/Christine-Potter/e/B001K7URHS/

Facebook personal page: https://www.facebook.com/christine.potter.543

Bean Books Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/beanstravels/

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This post is part of a Tour. The tour dates can be found here: http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2019/09/vbt-gracies-time-by-christine-potter.html 

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