Book Details:

Book Title: The Chef’s Secret by Crystal King

Category: Adult fiction, 352 pages

Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: Atria/Simon & Schuster

Release date: Feb 12, 2019

Tour dates: Feb 11 to 28, 2019

Content Rating: R (for a couple of explicit, but loving, sex scenes (no abuse or rape) and minor curse words)

Book Description:

A captivating novel of Renaissance Italy detailing the mysterious life of Bartolomeo Scappi, the legendary chef to several popes and author of one of the bestselling cookbooks of all time, and the nephew who sets out to discover his late uncle’s secrets—including the identity of the noblewoman Bartolomeo loved until he died.

When Bartolomeo Scappi dies in 1577, he leaves his vast estate—properties, money, and his position—to his nephew and apprentice Giovanni. He also gives Giovanni the keys to two strongboxes and strict instructions to burn their contents. Despite Scappi’s dire warning that the information concealed in those boxes could put Giovanni’s life and others at risk, Giovanni is compelled to learn his uncle’s secrets. He undertakes the arduous task of decoding Scappi’s journals and uncovers a history of deception, betrayal, and murder—all to protect an illicit love affair.

As Giovanni pieces together the details of Scappi’s past, he must contend with two rivals who have joined forces—his brother Cesare and Scappi’s former protégé, Domenico Romoli, who will do anything to get his hands on the late chef’s recipes.

With luscious prose that captures the full scale of the sumptuous feasts for which Scappi was known, The Chef’s Secret serves up power, intrigue, and passion, bringing Renaissance Italy to life in a delectable fashion.

To follow the tour, please visit Crystal King’s page on Italy Book Tours.

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Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Indiebound

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Meet the Author:

 

 

 

 

Crystal King is an author, culinary enthusiast, and marketing expert. Her writing is fueled by a love of history and a passion for the food, language, and culture of Italy. She has taught classes in writing, creativity, and social media at several universities including Harvard Extension School and Boston University, as well as at GrubStreet, one of the leading creative writing centers in the US.

A Pushcart Prize–nominated poet and former co-editor of the online literary arts journal Plum Ruby Review, Crystal received her MA in critical and creative thinking from UMass Boston, where she developed a series of exercises and writing prompts to help fiction writers in medias res. She resides in Boston but considers Italy her next great love after her husband, Joe, and their two cats, Nero and Merlin. She is the author of Feast of Sorrow.

Connect with the author: Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Pinterest ~ Instagram

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The Blindsided Groom by Heather Horrocks

A football player who refuses to let his guard down. The woman who just might slip past his defenses.
Knox Reid, nicknamed Fort Knox by the media, knew this masquerade ball was going to be emotional. No one wants to lose a brother, but that’s what’s happening. What he didn’t expect was to find himself dancing with the woman who is filling his brother’s head with false hope.
The feisty and beautiful Amy Kingsley needs two weeks to prove her cutting-edge therapy can help post-concussion victims. Her newest patient is a famous, retired football player. What she didn’t expect was his conceited, arrogant brother, Knox, to accuse her of being a fraud.
Things get really interesting when he demands she be his fake girlfriend in order to save his brother’s marriage. It doesn’t take long for Amy to see through Knox’s façade where she finds an overly concerned brother who’s just trying to help. It doesn’t hurt that when he kisses her, her knees go weak and the world fades away.
When Knox’s past blindsides him and threatens their relationship, they have to make a choice: defend their hearts or let love slip through.

I’m not a sports fan, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I liked the spunky heroine and her sense of humor, as well as the loyal, sweet, sometimes clueless brother. It’s a nice, light read without sex scenes, bad language or violence, which I always appreciate.

This book is fun, witty, romantic and full of joy. It is a quick read, bound to out any reader in a good mood. The characters are real, relatable and mischievous. I highly recommend this book.

A fun, clean, quick read full of heart. Enjoyable characters, enough real life to be believable but enough happily ever after to keep me happy. Great read!

Author Heather Horrocks

USA Today bestselling author Heather Horrocks writes inspirational romances and cozy mysteries that are funny, flirty, and feel good in multiple series (Moonchuckle Bay, Chick Flick Clique, Christmas Street, and Who-Dun-Him Inn). She loves making readers laugh, fall in love, and feel lighter at heart.

Giveaway Details

$20 Amazon Gift Code or $20 in PayPal Cash

Ends 3/6/19

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by Rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner may be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, BookBub, Instagram, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. This giveaway was organized by Kathy from Clean Wholesome Romance and is sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

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About the Book

Series: Sequal to The Last Summer
Genre: Adult, Christian, Contemporary, Fiction, Inspirational, Romance
Publisher: Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas
Publication date: February 4, 2019

Debra Hart is moving on. Maybe. Hopefully. One day.

As a radio show host, Debra spends her mornings as Miss Lonely Heart on air, empathizing with all the broken hearts in the Denver metro area. She spends her evenings watching old musicals and trying not to think about the guy who broke up with her and subsequently fell in love with one of her best friends. Alone in a new city, Debra questions where she belongs and who she is now.

When she stumbles into the indie music scene, Debra meets singer Ben Price. Rock star appeal, with a day job as a worship pastor, Ben is everything Debra wants to avoid. But he’s determined to be her friend, and it so happens she could really use one. Because try as she might, nothing seems to erase the anger and betrayal she feels.

It’s time for a new dream. But how does she start over when she doesn’t even know what she wants anymore?

GOODREADS | AMAZON

About the Author

Brandy Bruce is a mom to three kids, a wife, a writer, a book editor, and someone who really loves dessert. She and her family make their home in the beautiful state of Virginia.

FACEBOOK | TWITTER | PINTEREST | INSTAGRAM | WEBSITE

10 Behind the Scenes Facts About the Book

1. I love all the connections to rain throughout this book. As a girl from Texas who lived in Colorado for years, I know well the sense of missing the rain, needing the rain. I missed the thunderstorms in Texas while I lived in Colorado. I wanted to share that with Debra, especially for the season of life she’s in—this sense of missing what we don’t have.
2. One of the best sources of inspiration when I was working on this book was the song Never Gonna Love Again by Lykke Li. Find it on Spotify or Pandora or Amazon music and turn it up loud. If After the Rain had a soundtrack, this song would be number one.
3. I tend to set my books in places that I’m familiar with. Several of the places mentioned in After the Rain are places I have connections to/memories of. The Sixteenth Street Mall in Denver, the rock at Castle Rock, the Denver Zoo, Breckenridge—these are all great Colorado locations where I’ve spent time.
4. Debra’s love for theater stems from my own experience of watching musicals with my grandmother. She introduced me to movies with Fred Astaire. A few years ago, I went to the theater district in Denver to see Wicked with my sister, and it was so fun that I knew I wanted to include that setting into a book somehow. Including the quotes for every chapter was one of the most fun aspects of writing this book!
5. There’s a crossover character in this book from another series! He’s not actually in the book, but he’s mentioned. Readers of the Romano Family Collection will recognize the name Leonardo Romano. (If you haven’t read that series, I hope you’ll check it out too!)
6. I love music so much, but honestly, I’m not very musical. (I think I might be tone deaf. Sad!) I definitely needed help with the musical terms/pieces in this story. A friend of mine, Kollette Decker of Renegade Road, is an amazing singer and the lead singer of a band that’s making a name for itself in the Denver area, and her help with reviewing and offering advice for After the Rain was invaluable.
7. One cool thing about writing is drawing from our own life experiences and then creating scenes and even dialog from moments you’ve lived. My own experiences are weaved throughout all my books. Even something as small as a dish I tried at a café. There are too many cases of this to share them all, but one example from After the Rain is the name of the bar/café called Percival’s Island. There was a Percival’s Island bar/café in the town where I went to college, and in my mind, I was recreating that same kind of fun, hipster-but-still-gritty, raucous kind of place, perfect for live music.
8. I knew I wanted Debra to see a counselor, and I also knew I wanted that to be as authentic as possible to what that might have looked like. Lucky for me, I’ve got several friends who are amazing counselors! One of them reviewed the book for me early on, specifically looking at the counseling sessions. I didn’t want to move forward until I had her ‘okay’ on the material. I think counseling can make such a difference in people’s lives.
9. When I first saw the cover of After the Rain, I had this huge sigh of relief. Because it was perfect. Maybe more perfect than the designer realized! I love the fact that the girl on the cover is dressed all in black. I love that she’s running, because I think of Debra as someone who’s running from life disappointment and also someone who’s started literally running in her life as a good outlet for stress. And I love that the umbrella is off to the side. It’s this sense that she’s already soaked, the umbrella can’t help her now. And it also captures the idea of a woman wanting to feel the rain, needing to feel something.
10. The name “Logan Fox” is mentioned in the book. That’s the name of the grandson of some special friends of ours. I remember when I saw that name posted in the baby announcement on Facebook, I loved it and knew I’d use it at some point!

Snippet

Deb, I miss you. I think about you. Just wanted to say it again.

I read the text from Lillian—Lily—Spencer as the elevator doors opened. Then I tucked the phone into my small purse. I walked toward the exit of the condominium building I called home now, catching a glimpse of myself in one of the mirrors on the wall.

This woman—with short hair, ringlets barely brushing my shoulders. Dark colors, chocolate-colored eyeliner—nervous about a simple thing like going to a coffee bar. I didn’t recognize her.

I stopped mid-hallway and leaned against the wall, my heart hurting.

I’m starting all over.

No.

I closed my eyes. I’d cried all the tears already. None were left. But the pain didn’t stop. A reminder of how much I’d loved Luke Andersen. How ready I’d been to link my story to his for forever.

But he’d chosen my friend Sara.

Quiet, lady-like, sophisticated, predictable Sara.

“Debra?”

My eyes opened. Cassidy and Jake, my neighbors, stood in the hallway, looking worried. I must have seemed ill. With one hand, Jake carried a baby car seat, inside it their five-month-old daughter, Gilly, slept soundly.

I pushed myself off the wall. “I’m okay,” I said without eye contact. I walked straight out of the building, to my car, and drove downtown.

Giveaway

Giveaway includes the following:

• Print copy (or e-copy if they want)
• Umbrella
• After the Rain guitar-pick necklace
• DVD of Grease
• Beatles quote mug
• Coffee warmer
• Earbuds
• After the Rain bookmark
• Notepad
• Candy

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Enter the giveaway HERE.
Giveaway is subject to policies HERE.

Tour Schedule

February 11
Mindy Houng
Remembrancy
Among the Reads
Cover Lover Book Review

February 12
Library Lady’s Kid Lit
Reading Is My SuperPower
The Power of Words

February 13
Book by Book
Paulette’s Papers
The Green Mockingbird

February 14
Jorie Loves A Story
Pause for Tales
Maiden of the Pages
Red Headed Book Lady

February 15
Wishful Endings
Life is What It’s Called