Tasty Thursday: food & books

Source: Uploaded by user via mommypalooza.com on Pinterest

With the big game coming up (GO NINERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) my mind is on food! Well, my mind is always on food. But today I’m thinking about it especially.

Why, you say? Well, I’m reading Safe Haven by Nicholas Sparks. It’s my first Nicholas Sparks novel *facepalm* did I just admit that to the world? Hmmm. Well, anyway, I’m reading Safe Haven as part of the 52 book in 52 week challenge and I’m a bit…er….behind. But I’m loving the reading list. Click here to check it out. There’s a scene in Safe Haven where Katie, a girl who just moved to a small town in North Carolina is getting dinner ready for Alex, a recent widower. I’m really enjoying the story. Nicholas Sparks has a very cinematic way of bringing me into a story which I totally love. His description of Katie making dinner is wonderful and it actually made me hungry. I made a note of each of the dishes and want to make a Safe Haven dinner one night soon. I actually stopped reading to make a note of the menu.

Safe Haven Dinner

Bacon-wrapped brie topped with raspberry sauce (RIGHT? um….YUM!)

Steak marinade : red wine, orange juice, grapefruit juice, salt & pepper (I’ll add some garlic)

Potatoes cut up and seasoned with parsley, salt, pepper & garlic

Corn bread

shrimp stuffed with crabmeat cooked in a scampi sauce (although how you stuff shrimp with crabmeat, I’ll never know, but it sounds good)

stuffed peppers

Doesn’t this sound fabulous? I love scenes where food is front & center. The scene is amazing. Having said that, I realized in my own writing that I don’t write about food a whole lot. I’ve written a scene in Transfer Student that features Icees (laced with vodka) and popcorn. But you knew I’d write about popcorn, didn’t you? It is my favorite food on the planet. Although, I just found out that I’m a VATA, and VATAs have to stay away from light, dry foods. What, you don’t know what a VATA is? That’s a whole other post…

What’s your favorite food scene? Read any good ones lately? Who do you want to win the Super Bowl?

Here’s a little foodie scene from Winnemucca, a small-town fairy tale:

I was in the middle of filling ketchup jars when some seven-foot guy walked up to the bar and leaned over in Dolly’s direction. He said, “Dolly! Why didn’t you marry me?”

Dolly leaned into him all playful and half-whispered, “Musta been outta my right mind.” It was the first time I’d seen her smile. 

“Who have we here?” Sasquatch asked.

“Now, you go on and have a seat. Ginger here will take your order. You having dinner?” Dolly handed me a pen and an ordering pad.

“Now, you know what I want,” Sasquatch smiled big in Dolly’s direction. “A slice of that apricot heaven you bake. I’ll have the usual for dinner.” He winked at Dolly, and turned toward me and said, “You know it’s like they say. If life finds you a little short of where you want to be at the end of the day, have an apricot pie to keep the crazy away. Isn’t that right, Ginger?”

I smiled. Dolly was what he really wanted. He probably had for years. Decades.

“We go by the book here, Missy. No minor ain’t serving no liquor in my Pit,” Dolly said holding the beer that was his dinner.

I swallowed hard wondering what job in what book an underage murderer got to do.

“You’ll stick to serving the sodas, pies and the fresh fried foods we have so much of,” Dolly said.

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“Polite little thing, isn’t she?” Sasquatch smiled my way. The clear whiter-than whites of his eyes struck me, sitting in the middle of such a life-worn, suntanned face. He sat in a seat at the window like he was in his living room. So at ease I assumed he sat there every time he came in.

I’d finished filling the ketchup jars so I moved on to coffee duty. But the grounds I scooped into the coffee filter smelled so vile I was certain it had gone bad. I didn’t think coffee could, but rancid’s what it smelled like. It turns out Dolly wasn’t as well known for her Cup o’ Joe as she was for her sugary confections. The money was in the booze, not the Joe.

When I scooped the last of the grounds into the machine, a gal strutted through the saloon doors. Her short, black spiky hair topped a ghostly, thinner-than-thin body. Her noble walk’s what grabbed my attention. If fortune had smiled more favorably upon her, she’d be dressed in ball gowns with her pick of princes. Comfortable with the big lives those smart girls lead. She was the most comfortable person in her own skin I’d ever met. Stood right next to me and leaned over the bar and didn’t say hi to me. I didn’t say hi to her either.

To celebrate the Big Game & Valentine’s Day, I put Winnemucca, a small-town fairy tale on sale for a limited time for 99 cents Winnemucca is a literary romance with a dash of magical realism. I hope you enjoy Ginny’s story. Buy it here or here or here.

Shadow Slayer (Shadow Series #2) Available! Squeee!

Shadow Slayer (Shadow Series #2)

This is my first series so I’m super excited to let you know that Shadow Slayer, book 2 in The Shadow Series, is available I love The Shadow Series because Roxie’s birthday is on Halloween and she’s one year older in each of the books. In 13 ON HALLOWEEN, Roxie’s quest for popularity leads her to receive a birthday gift that’s literally out of this world and astral projects her to Planet Popular where all isn’t what it seems. In SHADOW SLAYER, Roxie is one year older and discovers Planet Popular was just the beginning––part of a bigger world, the shadow world. She’ll find the agony of fitting in at high school nothing compared to saving the world from the shadow onslaught.

Here’s a little bit about Shadow Slayer:

Shadows will do anything to become human. You see their influence everyday. You say things you don’t mean or do things that aren’t like you. You look, different. Friends you’ve known forever suddenly never call.

As a freshman, Roxie just wants to fit in which is impossible because she barely runs into her friends at her huge high school. Adrianne’s disappearance and Hayden’s attention rock Roxie’s world. But nothing rocks it like the most gorgeous guy at school, Drew. And nothing is more important to Roxie than astral projecting back to Planet Popular to solve the mystery of the map. But that changes when Drew invites Roxie to homecoming. Hayden warns her that something’s wrong. Why would a guy like Drew like Roxie anyway? Drew must want something. Hayden’s right. Drew is…different. Planet Popular was just the beginning. Part of a bigger world, the Shadow World. There’s a war brewing between the world of humans and the world of shadows. When the shadow invasion begins at Roxie’s high school, she’ll not only fight for her life but the lives of her family and friends, when she discovers she’s the Shadow Slayer, the one human who can save Earth from the shadow onslaught. But, Roxie can’t even kill a spider. Oh yeah, there’s an evil English teacher, an enchanted play, a sword of Sandonian steel, a homecoming of horrors, and seven magic words too.

Shadow Slayer’s Drew 

For a Shadow Slayer excerpt click here!

For Shadow Series trailers, playlists & and extras click here!

Oh yeah, 13 on Halloween is now available as and audiobook too at Audible, iTunes & Amazon too!

Shadow Slayer is available for the Kindle on Amazon here. Book 1, 13 on Halloween is free here and here!

The Shadows are coming! SHADOW SLAYER (Shadow Series #2) Teaser–Release Day tomorrow

Shadow Slayer, book 2 in The Shadow Series, Release Day is tomorrow! I thought I’d celebrate by posting a teaser here. If you haven’t read 13 on Halloween, book 1, you can get it for free on Amazon, just click here! [also available for free on iBooks] To check out trailers, playlists and other fun stuff about The Shadow Series click here. I’m adding new stuff all the time Stay tuned for a fun Shadow Slayer swag giveaway tomorrow!

Here’s a scene from the homecoming dance at Oakdale High School:

The band’s taken a break and we’re dancing slow to a song I’ve never heard before. It’s perfect for right now. My first dance at my first homecoming on Earth. I place my head on Drew’s chest and breathe easy for what seems like the very first time all night. He sighs, stroking my thumb with his. I could stay here forever. 

“Sorry about that,” Drew says.

“Old girlfriend?” I ask, straightening up just a little, leaning my head back. I catch Drew staring down at me with his golden eyes and forget all about the way he tricked me at the labyrinth. One look at him and I melt.

“Very old.”

“Am I your girlfriend?” I can’t help it. The words just leave my lips, and in the silence after, I wish I had some sort of filter. A boyfriend filter that would stop me from asking lame questions like am I your girlfriend? I can’t help but think that Adrianne would never ask a question like that. And girls that do can’t help but sound kind of psycho. I can’t believe no one has heard from Adrianne. It’s been months.

“What do you think?”

I think I might be too young to feel the way I do about Drew, but it’s been hard coming back as a younger girl after I lived a day as a seventeen-year-old high school homecoming queen in the shadow world. Some things I can’t forget. Some things I can’t change. I’m older now. Even though I don’t look like it.

Drew slides his hands over my hips then they travel up, inch-by-inch, along my ribs. He grabs a hold of my hands and unwraps them from around his neck. We stand toe-to-toe facing each other. Drew spins me in a circle. The reflections from the disco ball shower us and make it seem like we’re dancing in a dream world. He spins me again then pulls me close. I bury my head in his chest and stare at our shadows on the floor. But I only see one. Mine. 

YA Indie Carnival : Giveaway Winner & Chemistry Contest! Vote to win books!

And the winner is…..Emma Michaels! Woot! Congrats Emma,  you won 15 ebooks/paperbacks in the YA Indie Carnival Anniversary Giveaway! Thanks to everyone who entered This week you have a chance to win more books!

Today at the carnival it’s all about chemistry––the magic that jumps off the page. Each of us are posting excerpts and all you need to do to enter to win books is leave a comment here and let us know which excerpt(s) you want to vote for in our Chemistry Contest. Easy peasy. All commenters are entered to win an ebook from the author they vote for. Winner announced next week. GOOD LUCK!

This excerpt is from book 1 in The Starjump Series, TRANSFER STUDENT:

Here’s a bit about the story: Rhoe and Ashley would never be friends. Even if they lived on the same planet. But, they’ll become so much more. They’ll transfer. In a teleporting experiment gone wrong, Ashley, a Beverly Hills surfer, and Rhoe, a brilliant geek from planet Retha, swap lives when they make the same wish at the same time. They’ll have to survive each other’s lives to discover their dreams. If only it were that simple. Some wishes can’t come true. Some have to.

EXCERPT:

Yuke catches up to me. We walk side-by-side in silence through the Golden Meadow. The airboard launch, a sort of gigantic upside-down slide, peeks over a row of Truffula Trees.

“Listen, there are three things you have to remember about soaring. You’ll never soar if your mind is on the ground. Put it up on The Ridge,” Yuke says, pointing to a purple-blue mountain ahead of us. “Rhoe taught me that.”

The way he says Rhoe I know it’s happened. He knows. He really knows I’m not Rhoe, I’m…Ashley. It’s sunk in. Finally. I stop walking and can hardly breathe. It’s the first time he’s ever seen the real me, and his gaze warms me down to my frog-feet. Yuke spots the question in my eyes.

“The Ridge of No Return,” he says with a small smile, “It’s the prime place to catch air. But beware The Devil’s Grip. Soar too high and you’ll be caught in The Grip and lost to The Other Side. Forever.”

He misreads the question in my eyes. Again. I shiver thinking about The Grip and dying in the mythic ice and snow of The Other Side. I stare at my hideous frog-feet, my peds. I don’t care about The Ridge. There’s only one person I care about. One boy I’ll never have. Yuke.

“What else?” I ask, peering deeper into Yuke’s alien eyes.

“You’ve got to feel the beat of the wind in your peds. Surrender to the air. And know, deep in your hearts, no one is its master.”

I hear and don’t hear every word Yuke says. For the first time in my life I can’t speak. I can’t take my eyes off Yuke, now that he knows I’m not Rhoe. He wouldn’t be telling his best friend, an Astral, how to airboard unless he knows I’m Ashley, someone who doesn’t know much about soaring.

“Your catchers will always stop you if you fall,” Yuke says, filling the silence between us. He raises his arms above his head. Delicate wings expand out from under his arms. Thin pinkish-purple skin stretches over delicate, long bones. No feathers at all. Just smooth, glimmering skin. And it’s crazy. A week ago I wouldn’t even look twice at a guy with a big nose, but now, I’m hot for an alien. With wings.

I have to touch him. It’s beyond wanting to. The way Yuke spreads his wings makes his pecs flare and his biceps seize. He’s beyond gorgeous. The way his sheer wings take to the breeze makes Yuke more unreal than he already is to me. He’s everything I never wanted and everything I can’t live without. It feels like we’re the only souls in the universe. The look in his golden exotic eyes melts my ability to stay away from him.

“You can’t be real,” I say taking a few steps closer to him, holding my hand out to touch his wing. Waiting for him to let me. To know it’s OK. He flexes and lets his head fall back a little inviting my touch. I lay my alien fingers on his smooth taught skin, and run them over his wing’s thin hollow bones. My eyes fill with tears. His wings flutter in a breeze. He’s beautiful.

Yuke sticks his chest out and when he drops his arms his catchers vanish back into his biceps. “I can’t let you soar. Not now,” he says, the crowd cheers just beyond the trees.

Only then do I remember where we are. What we’re here to do. A band begins to play a set of songs. The crowd beyond the row of trees cheers again and again.

“I have to. I’m doing this for Rhoe,” I say.

Yuke puts his hand on my shoulder. I shudder.

“And for me,” I say.

Yuke’s golden eyes focus only on mine, on the Earthling inside of this alien body.

“And for you,” I say, feeling the beat of my hearts in my throat. “We’re going to win this damn thing.”

Read more excerpts from my fellow carnis here! Be sure to vote for your favorite(s)!

What’s new at the carnival this week? Click here to find out about the latest releases/cover reveals/giveaways.

Next week at the carnival? Do you Pinterest? Inspiration for Characters & Settings.