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The lovely Kat of Reader I Created Him did a great interview with me for her blog today. Not the same old same old questions! Check it out, and comment for a chance to win a signed copy of Too Hot to Touch, plus a set of my Rising Star Chef romance trading cards.
Think there's no suspense in a straight contemporary romance? Well, you're wrong. And I'm over at my BFF Roxanne St. Claire's group blog today to talk about how even if there are no car chases or assassination attempts, there's still plenty of pulse-pounding, nail-biting tension in Too Hot to Touch.
So come over to Murder She Writes and tell me what was the last non-romantic suspense book you read, and you'll be entered in the drawing to win a signed copy of THtT!
Leontine is doing a super fun series on her blog called Cooking with the Characters--and guess which sexy Zen chef hero is up? That's right, Max Lunden is in the house! I'm sharing a snippet from late in the book so you can see Max in action. And if you comment on the post, you'll be entered in a drawing to win a signed copy of Too Hot to Touch! So what are you waiting for? Go!
Queenie Takes Manhattan is the gorgeous, delicious food blog of my best friend and partner-in-crime, Meg! Check the acknowledgments of every one of my books, and you'll see Meg's name. In addition to indescribable moral support and encouragement, she's also the one who most often gets stuck with helping me dream up, develop and test the recipes that appear in my books. An accomplished home cook, Meg is the perfect kitchen companion--adventurous and interested in new techniques, but not taking anything too seriously. We have so much fun!
So when I tried to think of what to write about for my guest post on her blog today, all I could think was that no one wanted to hear me go on and on about how fabulous Meg is for an entire blog post. Especially longtime fans and readers of her food blog, who already know darn well that she's amazing! Instead, I decided to post a never-before-seen excerpt from Too Hot to Touch...a scene from the Lunden's Tavern kitchen!
Check it out, and comment for a chance to win a signed copy of the book. And if you love awesome recipes, and pretty pictures of food, check out the rest of Queenie Takes Manhattan, while you're at it...
I'm sharing another recipe from Too Hot to Touch at Chicklets in the Kitchen today, and giving away a signed copy of the book! Come on by and talk food cravings with us for a chance to win.
 Want a chance to win a signed copy of Too Hot to Touch? Go check out (and comment on) my guest post for Writerspace today. It's all about coming home...
Here it is!
One of my all-time favorite authors, the fabulous New York Times bestselling Susan Mallery, invited me onto her cooking blog for a guest post! How could I refuse? Especially since I love giving sneak peeks at the recipes my characters work so hard on...
I shared something from Too Hot to Touch, and it's one of the recipes that wins a crucial challenge in the Rising Star Chef competition.
Check it out! Easy, delicious, no-cook dish for these hot summer days...
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Happy book birthday to Too Hot to Touch! The first installment in my new Rising Star Chef trilogy has been released into the wild. See if you can catch it at a Barnes & Noble or Target near you! And if not, there's always Amazon or B&N.com...
I'm celebrating the way I always like to--with friends! The fabulous Dakota Cassidy invited me onto her Facebook page to hang out, and she was even nice enough to post a brand new, never-before-seen snippet from Too Hot to Touch in her Notes section! It's from Jules and Max's very first kiss--trust me, you want to check it out. ; )
You should also come comment on Dakota's FB page because it'll give you the chance to win a signed copy of Too Hot to Touch and a $25 B&N gift card! All the rules are here on her website, so read through to make sure you're eligible, then come on over...
For more chances to win a signed copy of the book, and to hang out with moi, you're all invited to my live chat tonight! 9:00 pm, EST at Writerspace, be there or be square. We'll be talking about the new book, I'll answer any question--I mean it, ANY question--and we will definitely have a blast. Here's the link, just head over at 9!
I'm so excited to finally introduce all of you to my new kitchen crew. I love them a lot, and I hope you fall for them as hard as I did! Can't wait to hear what you think of them...
It's a weird feeling to read other people's thoughts on a book you've written. Weird and wonderful, even if not all the thoughts are positive, because it makes the whole experience come alive in the way that only happens if multiple people engage with the idea and the characters and the story.
And sometimes, a reader will see things in your writing that you didn't consciously intend, or will make connections you didn't make as you were writing--and that's even more amazing. Because whether I intended it or not, those connections are there, in black and white.
Take today's Heroes & Heartbreakers article about Too Hot to Touch by the fabulous Marisa O'Neill of RomanceNovelTV. Reading that post gave me chills, because everything in it is absolutely true and her observations are keen and insightful--but the way she thinks about Max and Jules isn't a precise echo of the way I thought about them as I was writing them.
But I'm not writing them anymore. Max and Jules have their own life now, and as more and more people read their story once it comes out next week, I'll relinquish more and more ownership of those characters. Sure, they belong to me in a legal sense. But in the way that matters, they belong to you, to everyone who goes with them on their journey towards their happily ever after. They belong to the reader.
Read Marisa's article if you want a sneak peek at what's going on with Max and Jules and all their kitchen drama. And if you want Max and Jules to come alive for you? Read Too Hot to Touch when it comes out August 2nd, and they're all yours.
All About Romance is known for not being marshmallow pushovers when it comes to their reviews. Every author I know braces herself before opening up the AAR page. I've never gotten less than a B- from them, but I've never gotten higher than a B+, either.
Until today!
I'm so pleased and proud to announce that not only did the lovely, adorable, wonderful, intelligent AAR reviewer give Too Hot to Touch an A-, she also gave it the coveted and elusive DIK rating.
DIK stands for Desert Island Keeper--as in, if she were stranded on a desert island, Too Hot to Touch is one of the books she'd want to have with her, sustaining her through her troubles until she could be rescued. How cool is that??
Read the rave review here, then tell me: if you were stranded on a desert island, what five books would make your keeper pile?
I've got my excerpt booklets for Too Hot to Touch, and OHMYGOSH are they adorable! I'm so pleased with them, and I can't wait to start putting them in the hands of readers.
Of course I'll have them with me at the RWA national conference at the end of June, and probably at the Readers 'N 'Ritas conference in Dallas this November, but first I plan is to do a big giveaway through my newsletter in the next couple of weeks. I'll be giving my newsletter readers lots of chances to win an excerpt booklet AND a set of my Rising Star Chef romance trading cards.
So...are you signed up for my newsletter? If not, click here!
It's super easy, just plug in your name and email address, and you're all set. I don't send one every single month (don't want you to get sick of me!) but when I've got really fun news, like a new free read or chapter excerpt posted, appearances and signings, and other cool stuff, I send one out. And I always include a recipe!
Since it's Saturday, I have a very special Romance Trading Card reveal for you! This is Winslow Jones, one of the most fun to write characters ever to steal every scene I try to write. There's just something about him--he's funny, sweet, with hints of a dark past that he somehow hasn't allowed to dim the brilliance of his smile and the zing of his personality. And did I mention he's a bit of a player? Yeah...
Here he is:
Yesterday we saw Claire Durand...and today, we've got her love interest and co-judge in the Rising Star Chef competition: Kane Slater!
Kane is a rock star, a famous foodie, and one of the hottest and most fun characters I've ever written. Maybe because he's secretly, in the movie in my head, played by Chris Pine? At any rate, he's someone I really can't wait for all of you to meet.
Here's your sneak preview:
Today's Romance Trading Card reveal will be a familiar face to those of you who've read my Market trilogy (Can't Stand the Heat, On the Steamy Side, and Just One Taste)!
Remember Claire Durand? The elegant, distinguished, acerbically French editor in chief of one of the world's premier food and lifestyle magazines is back--this time as the head judge of the Rising Star Chef competition! Of course. Who else could we trust to choose the best, most innovative, refined, and delicious of all the dishes put forth by the different teams of talented chefs?
Claire knows everything there is to know about food...but she's about to discover there are a few things she has yet to learn about love. Specifically, how hard it is to control who she falls for when she meets her co-judge, the extremely unsuitable and much younger Kane Slater...but that's a story for another day. ; )
For now, here are Claire's basic stats!
I've had several readers ask me if I ever planned to write a chef heroine. For all of you who wanted to see a tough, competent woman in the kitchen, Jules Cavanaugh is your girl!
As I said in this month's newsletter, she's a super talented chef in her own right--in fact, Executive Chef of Lunden's Tavern, and the leader of the Lunden's team for the Rising Star Chef competition. Which is a position she's not willing to give up...even for the guy she's had a red-hot crush on since high school.
Take a peek:
I did my first ever set of Romance Trading Cards, the adorable little tradeable, craveable, collectible cards that got written up in USA Today's article about the Romantic Times Convention.
And I adore them! It was so freaking fun to find the perfect image for each of the characters who have, so far, lived only in my brain and on the page, and to print them up for the whole world to see. I'm going to post them here and on my Facebook page, and I'll be giving them away at the Romance Writers of America conference in New York City at the end of next month!
Here's the first. My hero, the wandering chef, Max Lunden--whose Zen poise will be tested like never before when he comes home from his world travels to help his family enter the biggest culinary competition in the U.S., and finds the team being run by tough, gorgeous, surprisingly vulnerable Jules Cavanaugh.
The countdown to the Rising Star Chef series continues! To tide you over until August 2nd, here's a brand new, never before seen excerpt from the first chapter of Too Hot to Touch. If you've been wondering about the smokin' hot hero on the cover, this is your chance to meet Max Lunden! And his heroine (and rival chef) Jules Cavanaugh. Check it out and let me know what you think. Below is a tidbit to get you going! Click on the snippet to read the rest of the chapter...
Chapter 1
The dining room was deserted, the cracked red leather of the banquettes sagging sadly over the snowy white, tablecloths.
From here, she couldn’t tell that those linens were all fraying at the edges, but she could see every chip, every indelible scuff mark, in the gorgeous black and white tiles covering the floor.
Jules Cavanaugh peered out the round glass window cut into the kitchen door and remembered another night when Lunden’s had been empty, just like this. Only tonight, there was no blizzard. No storm. No snow.
And no customers, either.
Mind full of the worries that had become all too common over the last year and a half—is it time to talk Gus into shutting down lunch service? Do we really need four servers on Thursday nights if we don’t get more than ten covers all night long? What am I going to tell Gino when he calls about next week’s beef order? They’re not going to extend our credit forever, even if Gino’s great-grandfather supplied the first steaks ever cooked at Lunden’s—Jules had managed to tune out most of the commotion behind her.
A kitchen full of chefs with nothing to do was a recipe for trouble, and the Lunden’s crew was no exception...
I got my cover flats for Too Hot To Touch today! They are mouthwateringly gorgeous, I have to say. Until I saw them, I didn't know what color the spine and back of the book were going to be, and my only reaction is: Way to GO, St. Martin's! Can you come decorate my house next? Because it's exactly the right color. Sizzling red!
For those without a magnifying glass who want to know what the back cover actually says, here it is:
Welcome to the Rising Star Chef competition, where today’s hottest chefs battle it out on national TV for a chance at fame, fortune and culinary supremacy. Every contestant hungers to win, but only one will take the prize…
HE’S GOT THE SIZZLEWhen it comes to competitive cooking, Max Lunden is no stranger to winning…though he’s never been great at working with a team. A master chef—and major hunk—he’s traveled the world, picking up new cooking techniques as well as beautiful women. But when the prodigal chef returns home to his family’s Greenwich Village restaurant, he discovers one too many cooks in the kitchen—and she’s every bit as passionate as he is…
SHE’S GOT THE FIREJuliet Cavanaugh used to have a crush on Max when she was just a teenager, hanging out at Lunden & Sons Tavern, hoping to catch a glimpse of the owner’s oldest, and hottest, son. Now a chef herself—competing in the biggest culinary contest in the country—Juliet will be cooking side by side with the one man she’s always admired…and desired. But despite their simmering attraction, Juliet is determined to keep her cool—no matter how hot it gets…
So exciting--I can finally share my new cover with you all! TOO HOT TO TOUCH, first in the Hot Trilogy, will be out August 2nd, and let me tell you, it's not just the title that's hot. I'm in lust...What do you think? Does it make you eager to meet my new crop of sexy, talented, passionate chefs as they battle it out in the Rising Star Chef competition?
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