Author Interview (and a Giveaway!): Hannah Currie & Heart of a Royal

HAPPY RELEASE DAY to debut novelist Hannah Currie & her novel Heart of a Royal! I am delighted to welcome her to the blog today for a chat 🙂

Aussie author, Hannah Currie, loves God, family, people (in small numbers, let’s not go crazy here!) and writing. A book nerd from birth, she knows firsthand the difference a good book can make in a person’s life. Even, and especially, fiction. Her dream as a writer is to make people laugh, cry and maybe even swoon a little but mostly to remind them that no matter how dark life may get at times, because of God, there is always hope.

She and her husband live with their three adorable kids in sunny Queensland, where it really is beautiful one day and perfect the next. Except, maybe, during heatwaves. They’re not so fun.

You can connect with Hannah on her website, Facebook, and Instagram.

HEART OF A ROYAL
SERIES: Daughters of Peverell #1
GENRE: Young Adult Royal Romance
PUBLISHER: WhiteSpark
RELEASE DATE: October 15, 2019
PAGES: 386

Brought to the palace as a newborn, the royal life bestowed upon Mackenna Sparrow was never meant to last forever. With Princess Alina engaged to be married, Mackenna’s presence as companion is no longer required and, like it or not, she must return to the birthright which should have been hers – that of a commoner.

But not everyone at the palace wants her gone. When the truths she’s based her life on start crumbling as fast as her future, will she find the courage to trust – both herself and the prince she’s fallen in love with?

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Hi Hannah! Welcome to the blog!

Hannah: Winter! I live in Queensland, Australia and summers get really hot. Whereas winters are perfect for jeans, jackets and relaxing out in the sun. Or snuggling under the covers in bed with a good book.

Carrie: Snuggling under the covers with a good book sounds absolutely perfect!

Hannah: Music. I listen to it all the time, especially while playing with my young son. Audiobooks take too much concentration and time.

Carrie: Same here – I am forever not paying attention to audiobooks on the rare occasion I do play them.

Hannah: This one makes me laugh. Pepsi Max. But only because I’ll get thrown out of my family if I say anything else :p Claiming allegiance to Pepsi wasn’t in my marriage vows but it might as well have been. That said, I don’t drink either of them very often. 

Carrie: hahaha!

Hannah: Both? Print will always be my first choice but you can’t beat an e-reader for practicality while travelling, trying to rock babies, sitting in the dark with sick kids or killing time waiting for appointments.

Carrie: Agreed!

Q: Around here I like to say that reading is my superpower. If YOU had a superpower, what would it be?

Hannah: Ooh! I’d love to be able to stop time (without it affecting anyone or anything else, of course). That way I could have a sleep or read a book (might even get through my towering TBR pile!) without missing out on time with my kids and family. Wouldn’t have to be continually trying to choose one over the other if I have time to do them all. 

Carrie: that would be wondermous!

Q: Who is your favorite book character from childhood?

Hannah: Katie Weldon, from Robin Jones Gunn’s ‘Christy Miller’ series (and later, her own). Most people probably loved Christy best but I always related to Katie better. Christy seemed a bit perfect whereas Katie struggled and made whopper mistakes and just seemed more real. I may or may not have named one of my daughters after her…  🙂

Carrie: oh i love that!

Q: If I sneaked a peek in your purse right now (which I would never do, I promise!), what would it tell me about you?

Hannah: That I’m a mom 🙂 Alongside the usual wallet, keys and phone, I have a mini first aid kit, wet wipes, tissues, a couple of plastic dinosaurs, coloring pencils, a granola bar, a few drinking straws and plastic spoons, mini tape measure, scripts for medications, spare hairbands, a lollypop for bribery reward…

Carrie: LOL!

Q: Did you have the whole plot outlined before you started writing Heart of a Royal, or did you let the characters dictate what came next?

Hannah: The inspiration for this book came from a dream I had once about the two main characters, so I did actually know the whole storyline before I started writing. The depth of it, though – the characters’ backstories, friends, motivations and faith journeys – definitely grew from the characters themselves as I wrote it.

Carrie: some of the best books I’ve ever read have been inspired by the authors’ dreams – can’t wait to read this one too!

Q: Some authors like to hide little things in their stories. Is there anything you have hidden in your Heart of the Royal? 

Hannah: Names of a whole bunch of Aussie cricketers 🙂 Had to put something Australian in there!

Carrie: haha! too fun!

Q: What do you most want readers to take away from Heart of a Royal?

Hannah: I’d love for them to realize both that they have a purpose and that there is always hope. I doubt too many people are growing up in a palace like Kenna (although, hey, if you’re a princess, let me know! I’d love to meet you!) but so many of us – myself included – are dealing everyday with overwhelming expectations, the pain of watching people we know live away from God and life circumstances spiraling way beyond our control. And yet, through it all, God is still good. He hasn’t walked away. So there’s still hope. Still a reason and a purpose.

And I’ll stop now because I could go on about this for ages…

Carrie: Amen! (And i totally wasn’t stopping you – preach on ♥ )

Thank you so much for taking time to talk with me! 🙂 Before we say goodbye for today, tell us what‘s coming up next for you.

Hannah: Book Two! Which is Princess Alina’s story. You meet her in Heart of a Royal but she really comes to life in her own (speaking of characters who dictated their own story…!).

Carrie: yay!!

Hannah Currie is offering an ebook copy of Heart of a Royal to one of my readers via her publisher, WhiteSpark! (Open internationally, except where prohibited by law or logistics. This giveaway is subject to Reading Is My SuperPower’s giveaway policies which can be found here. Enter via the Rafflecopter form below.

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What about you? What interests you most about Hannah Currie and/or Heart of a Royal?