About the Book
Book: The Courting of Miss Cady (Aprons & Veils Book Five)
Author: Grace Hitchcock
Genre: Historical Romance
Release Date: October 24, 2025
He’s the man of her dreams—she just doesn’t know it yet.
New York socialite Jane Cady is the envy of the season, and the supposed love of Graham Bank’s life, until news arrives that her father’s last merchant ship has sunk, costing them everything. To avoid scandal, the family disappears to manage a hotel in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Determined to support her family, Jane sets aside her dream of marriage and joins her father in working for the Harvey House, as a waitress. But when her former fiancé strolls into the Castañeda Hotel, the weight of her sacrifice becomes all too real.
Rancher Wade Sterling is well acquainted with hard work and that Miss Jane is one of the hardest working Harvey Girls he’s ever met, besides his sister-in-law. When Jane faints on duty, Wade catches her and upon her awakening in his arms, her passionate kiss nearly knocks him off his feet. She begs him to play along and before he knows it, she tells some dandy that they are happily courting. Jane later begs Wade’s forgiveness, explaining it was an emergency as the man was her former fiancé and their relationship ended poorly. But, when the dandy stays in town, Wade finds himself in a fake courtship and in love with the woman of his dreams. He only needs to convince Jane that he is the man of hers.
The Courting of Miss Cady is a fake dating/forced proximity romance with all the sigh-worthy swoon, but no spice!
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About the Author
Grace Hitchcock is the award-winning author of multiple historical novels and novellas, including the American Royalty, Best Laid Plans, and Aprons & Veils series. She holds a Master’s in Creative Writing and a Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in History. Grace lives in South Louisiana with her husband, Dakota, sons, and daughter in a farmhouse that is always filled with the sounds of sweet little footsteps running at full speed. When not writing, chasing her toddlers, or tending to her chickens and golden and labrador retrievers, she’s baking something delightful and can usually be found with a book clutched in her fist.
More from Grace
Q&A with GRACE HITCHCOCK
Tell us about your new book, The Courting of Miss Cady, in the Aprons & Veils series.
Grace: Thank you so much for having me here today! Book five of my Aprons & Veils series, The Courting of Miss Cady, is a fake-dating insta love romance featuring a jilted knickerbocker turned Harvey Girl! The last thing my heroine, Jane Cady, expects is to fake court a rugged rancher to save face. But as sparks fly and secrets resurface, her love might not be pretend after all!
This book is dear to my heart. I first wrote The Courting of Miss Cady in 2016 after I signed with my agent, Tamela Hancock Murray, when I was trying to break into the traditional publishing world and wrote it with only one POV. It wasn’t the novel that got me my first contract, and I eventually shelved it as I turned my attention to the series that did sell, but it has always been in the back of my mind as I wrote this Harvey Girls series and I knew that this book would be perfect for Jane Cady. I did a massive re-write on this story, given my style has changed over the past 9 years since I wrote it (deleting about 65% of the original work) and added the hero’s POV as well. When I got to know the hero, Wade, I knew his was a true love at first sight for Jane. I’ve always wanted to write an Insta Love and it fit perfectly with the characters.
Q: You mention tropes, what is your favorite trope to read? Which of your books have that trope?
Grace: To name a few, I love stories about marriage of convenience, fake dating, mail-order brides, runaway brides, alpha heroes, and enemies to lovers. In my books, I do have some of those tropes, but I adjust them to fit my story.
My Harvey Girl books by tropes:
Runaway Bride: The Finding of Miss Fairfield
Mail-Order Bride: The Pursuit of Miss Parish
Friends to Lovers/ Fake Dating: The Enchanting of Miss Elliot
Enemies-to-lovers/ Forced Proximity: The Vanishing of Miss Victoria
Insta Love/ Fake Dating: The Courting of Miss Cady
Q: Talk about your writing process, about how long does it take you, do you do all the research before you start writing?
Grace: I usually write the first draft for 8-10 weeks and edit (drafts 2-6) for 12 weeks! The first draft is my favorite!! All the creativity is flowing, and it is so, so fun to see that word count go up! I try not to write on the weekends, but occasionally when the deadline is getting too close, I will have to pull some long hours on the final weekends to get it completed.
With that said, I am writing away on a new super-secret series and have the first drafts of the first three books completed, which nevvver happens in my writing process. I like to finish each book before moving onto the next, but this new series is going to take more weaving of storylines so I needed to make sure I got to know the main characters across the series before editing book 1. A very different approach for me this time around, but it is working!
For the research part, I always start with research, highlight some wonderful “newly discovered” facts that sing to me, and use that as a pivotal part of my plot. Then, while I edit, I research as well to make sure that I don’t miss any historical details.
Q: In case the readers have not read your series yet, tell us who were the Harvey Girls.
Grace: Whenever I tell people I am writing about a Western Harvey Girl Romance, they usually assume the Harvey Girls are associated with an old-time saloon, but nothing could be further from the truth. In the 1890s, there were not many respectable jobs for women, so when Englishman Fred Harvey created his chain of fine dining restaurants along the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe railroads, single women without an education, or in need of earning their own way, were given a chance to earn an honest wage without the speculation that they offered anything else but food as a service. With Mr. Harvey’s strict rules about the waitress’s code of conduct, the women were given their independence while still maintaining their good name and place in society under the protective, fatherly arm of Fred Harvey. These extraordinary, brave women became known as the Harvey Girls, the ladies who tamed the Wild West with fine china, good pie, and exceptional service with complete propriety.
While Harvey Houses were built to serve the needs of the passengers on the rail to encourage tourism in the west, the railroad workers and local townsmen also dined at the restaurant, but usually at the lunch counter. At a time when men filled towns and women were scarce, inevitably, a railroad worker or townsman would express interest in marrying a Harvey Girl. In order to marry, she would need to fulfill her work contract or risk paying a fine of a month of salary. The fine was set in place to ensure that Fred Harvey would have enough workers and that he wouldn’t simply train a girl to have her shipped to a town of bachelors and leave him without a waitress.
As you can probably tell, such a set up sends an author’s head to spinning with all the romance that could come from a woman venturing out on her own in a land filled with cowboys, bandits, ranchers, and bounty hunters. The possibilities for romance are endless! There is so much more I could write about these fascinating ladies and their contributions to society, but I hope you enjoyed this taste of history on the Harvey Girls!
Q: Can you give us a sneak peek at the next book in the series, The Making of Miss Matthews, which is book 6 in the Aprons & Veils series?
Grace: The story follows a Harvey Girl that readers met in Book One! Dolly Matthews was originally a stinker, but I gave her a good character arc through the series and readers have been asking for her story. This will certainly explain the extraordinary why behind Dolly’s choices in earlier novels in the series and I am soooo excited to share her story that has a shocking twist that readers won’t see coming!
My Impressions
“Love is such a funny word—it can mean so many different things. For instance, I love chocolate and horse riding.”
So says Graham Bank, as he jilts Jane Cady in Grace Hitchcock’s The Courting of Miss Cady. Bk #4 of the Aprons and Veils series, Jane’s story stands on its own. After Jane’s father loses everything, her groom leaves her at the altar. Mr. Cady, once part of the Fortune 400, is forced to moved West and take a job as house manager at the Harvey House in Las Vegas, New Mexico. Because her family is in such dire straights, Jane goes from wealthy socialite to working girl at the Hotel Casteñeda. Ostracized by most of the Harvey Girls there, Jane struggles against their prejudices. To make matters worse, as she is serving a handsome cowboy one day, in walk her ex-fiancé and his best friend. What can Jane do, but grab said horse rancher/breeder and start kissing him? Thus begins her fake relationship with caring, loyal, and kind Wade Sterling, whose heart is made of gold.
Wade knows he wants the relationship to be real very quickly, but there are so many obstacles in his way, most of them human. Some see him as competition, some as a prize, others as a business pawn. Can he rise above other people’s expectations to enjoy the freedom God has given him, and find a way to share that freedom with Jane?
Speaking of business pawns, Jane is just that in her father’s eyes. My heart hurt for hers as her father repeatedly puts her in untenable positions in order to better himself or the family. (How thankful I was for a good earthly father at this point!) Jane has to move beyond her fears of being rejected by her father for her “disobedience“ to his directives.She begins to see her father does not accurately reflect God the Father, whose love is unearned. “Lord, thank You for reminding me that I am treasured, You love me and that, because of You, I have worth. Forgive me for placing my identity in my family’s wealth.”
Just as it seems God is working circumstances out for Jane and her cowboy, Jane’s father’s actions threaten to ruin everything yet again. I loved how Jane shows love to her parents, without feeling the need to obey questionable orders. She never washes her hands of her family, which would have been tempting! Through their egregious faults, Jane still is concerned about their welfare.
If you enjoy historical fiction, stories of the Harvey Girls, the Gilded Age and the West, or horse-related novels, this book may be a treasure for you!
I received a copy of the book from CelebrateLit. I also bought my own copy. No positive review was required and all opinions are my own.
Notable Quotables:
“Too long you have been relying on others for your future. My future begins now. The Lord is my father. With Him on my side, surely this will be a grand adventure worthy of Meg’s hopes for me.” -Jane
“Is this what business is like? Kissing the rings of kings and hoping that they bestow upon you, a mere mortal trying to earn an honest wage, their favor?” ( Wade)
“Losing the family fortune is the best thing that has ever happened to me.” – Jane
My Rating
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Magnificent! This series has been so fun. I enjoyed Jane’s story and can’t wait to see Dolly get her own!
Blog Stops
Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, June 3
Life on Chickadee Lane, June 3
Connie’s History Classroom , June 4
Devoted To Hope, June 5
Texas Book-aholic, June 6
Labor Not in Vain, June 7
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, June 8
For Him and My Family, June 9
Book Looks by Lisa, June 10
She Lives to Read, June 10
Melissa’s Bookshelf, June 11
Holly’s Book Corner, June 12
Vicky Sluiter, June 13
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, June 13
EmpowerMoms, June 14
Books You Can Feel Good About, June 15
Mary Hake, June 15
Sydney Schmied Books, June 16
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Grace is giving away the grand prize of a $75 (+ Free Shipping) shopping spree on Grace’s Indie Bookstore!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
https://gleam.io/T9RHS/the-courting-of-miss-cady-celebration-tour-giveaway
For those who love to smile as they read, bestselling author Karen Witemeyer offers warmhearted historical romance with a flair for humor, feisty heroines, and swoon-worthy Texas heroes. A transplant from California, Karen came to Texas for college, met a cowboy disguised as a computer nerd, married him, and never left the state that had become home.
father in prison, private investigator Dory Winslow’s determined to look into it. But now someone’s dead set on silencing her. And working with Chad Jaggert—the father of her secret child—may be the only way to survive the treacherous truth about the tragedy that once tore them apart.
Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice Award and a Holt Medallion winner. She is a national bestselling author of over forty titles in the suspense and lighthearted romance genres. She is pleased to write for Harlequin’s Love Inspired Suspense, Harlequin Heartwarming and Sourcebooks. Besides writing, she busies herself teaching third grade. Mostly, she loves to be home with Papa Bear, teen bear cubs affectionately nicknamed Yogi and Boo Boo, Junie, the nutty terrier, and a chubby box turtle. You can connect with Dana via her website at 
Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions 