{"id":3392,"date":"2013-12-25T04:00:30","date_gmt":"2013-12-25T12:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/?p=3392"},"modified":"2013-12-24T10:39:45","modified_gmt":"2013-12-24T18:39:45","slug":"delectable-glamorous-mmromance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.emlynley.com\/blog\/delectable-glamorous-mmromance\/","title":{"rendered":"#Delectable December: Skylar Cates Gets Glamorous #mmromance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Skylar Cates stops by the Love Shack today to talk about one my favorite subjects: Food. For Skylar and her characters, cooking is more than making a meal. It’s expressing an emotion that’s bigger than words. It’s no wonder food plays a big role in her upcoming Dreamspinner novel. I sure hope she shares the recipe for that cheese bread. I’m craving some right now. She’s also giving away a copy of her last novel Exposed! Please enter on the Rafflecopter below and an extra entry with comments.<\/em><\/p>\n

Thanks so much for hosting me today!<\/p>\n

\"last-guyfromglamour\"<\/a>In many homes, the kitchen is the most important room. This was true of my house when I was growing up. No matter how comfortable other rooms in the house might be, we all gathered in the kitchen. Special occasions were crowded around the kitchen counters, swapping stories and cracking jokes. Not that everybody in my family cooked. My mother, in fact, only did two types of cooking: microwaved or takeout. My grandmother, on the other hand, thought she was a terrific cook. She insisted that regardless of the type of food we wanted\u2014from Chinese to Greek—she could and would<\/i> make it better. Nobody had the nerve to tell her otherwise.<\/p>\n

Real cooking is not always successful. Although we try to follow a recipe, things can go wrong. We might undercook it or burn it. But there is still something about the attempt to make a good, honest dish for somebody else that is immeasurable. Even when the food falls far below the line of perfection, we offer it up with love (and maybe lots of butter to disguise the burnt cornbread. Or lots of frosting on that lopsided birthday cake). A friend once advised me to deliberately be bad at cooking, and that way my husband wouldn\u2019t expect too much from me. I make so many mistakes naturally, though, I never had to fake a thing.
\nI admit it freely. I\u2019m not a great cook. On my best day, I\u2019m an adequate cook. Yet on the days that my family gathers around me in the kitchen, especially on a holiday, I\u2019m the best type of cook of all. I\u2019m a happy one.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In my upcoming novel, The Guy from Glamour<\/i>, Anthony wants to cook dinner for his love interest, Dean. They are at a tentative stage in their relationship here, still defining who they are to each other. Anthony is from a close-knit Italian family, so he uses some recipes from his mother\u2019s kitchen to create the meal, including her famous cheese bread.\"cheese<\/a><\/p>\n

Cooking is both an intellectual as well as emotional act. Following a recipe, taking out the ingredients, mixing them, adding to them\u2014it can be like a good striptease or it can reveal the truth about what is in one\u2019s heart. For Anthony, making bread from scratch is his way of connecting his new love with the love of his family.
\nBlurb:
\nAnthony Carrino loves his big, gregarious Italian-American family, even if his sisters are interfering, and his dad, the local sheriff, knows everything going on in town. He\u2019s happy as a middle school guidance counselor. Despite helping kids and their parents fix their problems, Anthony can\u2019t manage to get his own love life right. If only everyone would stop calling him the \u201cnice\u201d guy.<\/p>\n

Dean Pierce doesn\u2019t do relationships. A tough-minded military man, he is dedicated to his job as a Night Stalker, flying Chinook helicopters and not speaking much to anybody. He certainly doesn\u2019t want to deal with a mess of emotions. But when tragedy strikes, Dean finds his hands full with his troubled niece, her irresistible guidance counselor, and a meddlesome family, which includes a rather large puppy.<\/p>\n

EXCERPT:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anthony got busy with the dough for the cheese bread while the oven heated. He melted half a cup of butter and mixed up the flour and special Italian cheese his mother always used. After combining things, he began to roll the dough into balls and place them on a cookie sheet, but then he stopped, frowning. After wiping his hands on a dishtowel, he grabbed his cell phone and dialed.
\n\u201cHello?\u201d
\n\u201cDo I have to put the dough balls in the freezer before I make your cheese bread? I can\u2019t remember.\u201d
\n\u201cHello to you too, Anthony.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry. Hiya, Mom.\u201d
\n\u201cHi. And yes, you freeze the dough first, then put it on the baking sheet. It will crisp up to a golden brown.\u201d
\n\u201cThanks. I should get back to it.\u201d
\n\u201cWait a minute. You hardly call and now you\u2019re rushing off the phone? Why are you making my cheese bread? You usually only make that with me on Dad\u2019s birthday.\u201d
\nAnthony hesitated. \u201cI\u2019m having a friend over.\u201d
\n\u201cIs it this Dean fellow? Your father told me about him.\u201d
\nNo surprise there. Mia had caved and told Cody, and Cody had told their dad, thinking he\u2019d already known\u2026. Still, Anthony\u2019s fingers tightened around the phone.
\n\u201cYeah, it\u2019s for Dean.\u201d
\n\u201cYour father told me about his adoption case. Why didn\u2019t you call me? It is my area.\u201d
\n\u201cBecause you were in New Jersey and because you\u2019re retired.\u201d Anthony didn\u2019t add it was also because of his mom\u2019s declining health. That would make her go ballistic. \u201cAnyhow, Pete took care of it pretty quickly.\u201d
\n\u201cI suppose that makes sense\u2026.\u201d She still sounded a little hurt. \u201cWhen am I going to meet Dean, exactly?\u201d
\n\u201cMom, you just got back into town last week.\u201d
\n\u201cSo? I still want to meet him. I usually meet all of your boyfriends.\u201d
\n\u201cHe isn\u2019t like my other boyfriends.\u201d
\n\u201cMeaning what?\u201d<\/p>\n

Oh crap<\/i>. Anthony hadn\u2019t meant to say that to her. He stalled a moment, taking the dough balls and sliding them into his freezer.
\n\u201cWell?\u201d his mom demanded. \u201cYou don\u2019t define him as a real boyfriend like your others? So how do you define him?\u201d
\nThat was the trouble with a lawyer for a mother\u2014he was always being interrogated over semantics.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a casual thing. That\u2019s all. We like each other, but neither of us is ready for a permanent relationship, so we are keeping it casual, having some fun, we\u2019re\u2014\u201d
\n\u201cA \u2018wham, bam, thank you, ma\u2019am\u2019 type of thing? That\u2019s not okay. It\u2019s not you.\u201d
\n\u201cI\u2019m fine.\u201d Anthony tried to sound like a responsible adult.
\n\u201cWhat about Rick?\u201d
\n\u201cRick? What about him?\u201d
\n\u201cAre you really over him? When I was shopping the other day, I spotted Rick across the mall and\u2014\u201d
\n\u201cMom. Remember that I told you Rick left the area? You couldn\u2019t have spotted him.\u201d
\n\u201cIt looked just like him.\u201d
\n\u201cIt wasn\u2019t.\u201d
\n\u201cIf you say so. In any case, I\u2019m still not convinced about Dean. Not at all. It\u2019s unlike you to jump into something with a man you barely know.\u201d
\n\u201cMom, stop it! Maybe this isn\u2019t my usual choice, but Dean\u2019s a good man, really good, and when he looks at me, it\u2019s like\u2026.\u201d Anthony shook his head. \u201cIt\u2019s enough for now.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a long silence. \u201cOkay,\u201d his mom finally said. \u201cI worry, that\u2019s all. A mother\u2019s prerogative. Actually, sweetheart, it\u2019s nice to hear some life in your voice. Some fire. For too many months, you seemed deflated.\u201d She didn\u2019t add that it had been all his months with Rick deflating him, but Anthony understood her. He appreciated that his mom spared him from saying the words out loud.
\n\u201cLet\u2019s change the subject, okay?\u201d Anthony began to mix the ingredients for his pepper sauce.
\n\u201cFine. How\u2019s work? Are they treating you right?\u201d
\n\u201cYes, it\u2019s going well.\u201d
\n\u201cDon\u2019t let them make it all about the teachers.\u201d
\n\u201cIt should be about the teachers. They\u2019re the most important thing.\u201d
\n\u201cNonsense. Guidance counselors are every bit as important.\u201d
\n\u201cThanks, Mom.\u201d
\n\u201cBut they really should give you a raise. It\u2019s a crime what they pay the people serving our children\u2019s future. You know Emily and I went to school together, right? I can always call her.\u201d
\n\u201cShe\u2019s a great principal. And our raises are always two percent across the board. Nice and fair. No calls needed,\u201d Anthony said. \u201cNow, tell me all about my new nephew in New Jersey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks for hosting me! I love holidays and food (maybe too much). It was fun to think about all my connections to the kitchen.<\/p>\n

The Giveaway: Win a copy of Skylar’s other novel, Exposed<\/em><\/p>\n

The Guy from Glamour<\/em> is coming to Dreamspinner Press in January 2014.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.dreamspinnerpress.com\/store\/product_info.php?products_id=4557<\/a><\/p>\n

Skylar M. Cates loves a good romance. She is quite happy to drink some coffee, curl up with a good book, and not move all day. Most days, however, Skylar is chasing after her husband, her kids, and her giant dog, Wasabi. Skylar dreams about spending her days writing her novels, walking along the beach, and making more time for her good friends. On a shoestring budget, Skylar has traveled all over in her early years. Although, lately, the laundry room is the farthest place she has visited, Skylar still loves to chat with people from all around the globe.<\/p>\n

Skylar can be found on Facebook, Goodreads, or her website: http:\/\/skylarmcates.wordpress.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

a Rafflecopter giveaway<\/a>
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