tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61447980758483145162024-03-05T15:16:59.273-05:00Cooking Up RomanceRomance novel reviews for food loversAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18187344643700994108noreply@blogger.comBlogger110125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6144798075848314516.post-38960020320493088592015-06-29T19:50:00.000-04:002015-06-29T19:50:06.214-04:00Cooking Up Romance Has MovedCooking Up Romance has moved to Wordpress! I just had to change my site url to get there. I'll keep the Blogger site up and running for a bit, but it won't be updated and all the old content is over at the new site anyway so please update your bookmarks and head over to:<br />
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<a href="http://www.cookupromance.com/">http://www.cookupromance.com</a><br />
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If you subscribed via email, you will also need to resubscribe at the new site.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18187344643700994108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6144798075848314516.post-75684620436305136892015-06-21T22:29:00.002-04:002015-06-21T22:29:32.039-04:00Blog meltdownSo...I'm just fine, but the blog is having a little bit of a meltdown. It's not entirely a bad thing because now I can fix some stuff that I didn't like, but it means that I'll probably be offline for a few days. Or a week. Ish. If you want to catch me, drop me an email or send me a DM on Twitter. And happy official summer!<br />
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See you next week!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18187344643700994108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6144798075848314516.post-40071413377635853272015-06-17T07:46:00.002-04:002015-06-17T07:47:40.323-04:00Love Only Once by Johanna Lindsey 2015 TBR Challenge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUAKMaEzICldb46YcJT9d4bm9tlIcm_KmDh_lC_QimcybYmMc31sLDxKJKbDDhSz96gWKgsdsocjajdwF_IXIqUuHXb-Pw6XTDEtayFaOV4PKCU4UmgBomTFT0_EADCaxduMzy7Xf8x7Q/s1600/DSC_0001sm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUAKMaEzICldb46YcJT9d4bm9tlIcm_KmDh_lC_QimcybYmMc31sLDxKJKbDDhSz96gWKgsdsocjajdwF_IXIqUuHXb-Pw6XTDEtayFaOV4PKCU4UmgBomTFT0_EADCaxduMzy7Xf8x7Q/s1600/DSC_0001sm.jpg" /></a></div>
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The theme for this month's TBR Challenge was More Than One: a book by an author you have more than one of in your TBR pile. So I chose <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00512LSAS/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00512LSAS&linkCode=as2&tag=coouprom-20&linkId=STTHT4R6BFVKX2DD">Love Only Once</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=coouprom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00512LSAS" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, the first book of Johanna Lindsey's acclaimed Malory Family series. I also have <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00512MAXC/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00512MAXC&linkCode=as2&tag=coouprom-20&linkId=NFYSGDT7ZAZX6BYE">Tender Rebel</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=coouprom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00512MAXC" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> (which I'm trying to read, but good grief is stupid Scottish dialect making it difficult) and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0058DTHO4/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0058DTHO4&linkCode=as2&tag=coouprom-20&linkId=4T5GZEXHEQOVOAPK">Gentle Rogue</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=coouprom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0058DTHO4" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, which is the one I actually wanted to read because PIRATES. But I was told I should read the Malory books in order because we meet the hero of Gentle Rogue for the first time in Love Only Once. James Malory is heroine Regina Ashton's uncle and he comes into the story the SECOND time the heroine gets kidnapped in this book. Yes, that's right. She gets kidnapped twice in the same book by two different men. It's delicious. But I'm getting ahead of myself.<br />
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The basic story here is that virgin orphan Regina Ashton is kidnapped by mistake by the former lover of a woman whose carriage she borrows to do a quick errand. Nicholas Eden is a dissolute rake: a despoiler of young aristocratic maidens and drunken racer of horses. Though Regina is returned unsoiled to her family, of course the two are found out and society's rules dictate that Regina and Nicholas must marry. This is to Regina's delight (she thinks he's hot) and Nicholas's horror (he has a DARK SEKRIT that he thinks he needs to protect Regina from). Of course, all works out in the end. <br />
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For any lover of historical romance, this plot is a familiar one. That said, there are a couple differences here between Love Only Once and some, in my view, worse examples of this plot. First, I think it's poking subtle fun at the kidnapped virgin trope. Regina is kidnapped by the rake, who thinks she is his former mistress, and returned unmolested to her family. Plus she is actually attracted to the hero and not at all scared (really, really not scared, not just trying to be brave). This is reinforced by a SECOND kidnapping--this time at the hand of her own uncle. That's gotta be a joke, right? Look at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0380005255/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0380005255&linkCode=as2&tag=coouprom-20&linkId=6CURCZQTB5ZWDKJV">The Flame and the Flower</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=coouprom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0380005255" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> for a different example: frightened, kidnapped virgin orphan is mistaken for a prostitute and raped by her captor. Definitely not what happens here (page 64, Nicholas starts).<br />
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"I want to kiss you again before you go."<br />
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"No."<br />
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"Just a good-night kiss."<br />
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"No."<br />
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His free hand cupped her cheek. He hadn't bothered to collect his gloves or hat before they left his house, and his bare fingers were hot against her skin. She couldn't move, and she waited breathlessly for him to steal the kiss she had refused him.<br />
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He did, his lips moving in to fasten on hers for a kiss that was nothing like any kiss she'd had before. Warm and masterful, his lips tasted hers until she thought she would explode.</blockquote>
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She waits breathlessly, his lips are warm and masterful, she thinks she's going to explode. Though she says no, she's standing on her uncle's front step at this point. She could summon help if she desired it, duck his kiss, slap him--these are options we've all exercised at some point, right? But she really wants Nicholas. Not that this isn't problematic (she still said no--he still disregarded it), but it's a pretty mild example for this point in the history of historical romance. And when they do finally get to the point of sex, the heroine is not exactly the sexual aggressor, but she is most definitely a willing participant (page 130): <br />
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Deep down Reggie knew that Nicholas was not going to be satisfied with just kissing her, not this time. But a voice inside her demanded to know why she wanted to stop him.<br />
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He was going to be her husband, wasn't he? Why should she deny him anything--especially when she didn't <i>want </i>to deny him anything? </blockquote>
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They go on to have mutually satisfying sex in the garden. Then later in the book, Nicholas "forces himself on her" which I put in quotes because it's one of the milder forced seduction scenes I've seen. Plus Reggie gets playfully chased around the bedroom and throws a book at Nicholas' head before succumbing. Then this in the aftermath (page 313):<br />
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What a marvelous way to be awakened, Reggie thought, snuggling closer to the solid length of her husband. And she wasn't tired, even though she had been loved ardently into the small hours of the night. Not tired. Feeling wonderful. She would have to insist he force himself on her more often.</blockquote>
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It may seem like I'm going out of my way to excuse Nicholas' actions, but this book was published in 1985. During my recent <a href="http://www.cooking-up-romance.com/search/label/2U5S" target="_blank">Utterly Unscientific Summer Saturday Series Sex Survey</a>, I've been exposed to many, many examples of women feeling guilty about their desires, being forced by their heroes into kisses and more, and there was very little premarital sex. By contrast, the historical romance of the period, including Love Only Once, looks almost progressive. When I expressed this opinion on Twitter this week, romance historian Kelly Faircloth confirmed that in Janice Radway's 1984 book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0030MIDLI/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0030MIDLI&linkCode=as2&tag=coouprom-20&linkId=TE3KARXX2KXN5URW">Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=coouprom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0030MIDLI" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, some of the women interviewed about romance expressed a similar sentiment.<br />
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<a href="https://twitter.com/elisabethjlane">@elisabethjlane</a> what's interesting is the women interviewed for Reading the Romance said something similar at the time</div>
— Kelly Faircloth (@kellyfaircloth) <a href="https://twitter.com/kellyfaircloth/status/608979467420205056">June 11, 2015</a></blockquote>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/elisabethjlane">@elisabethjlane</a> most of them were historical fans and there are several comments expressing frustration with HQNs of the time</div>
— Kelly Faircloth (@kellyfaircloth) <a href="https://twitter.com/kellyfaircloth/status/608979713680379904">June 11, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Between Regina's own self-confidence, her station in life, her financial resources, and the protection of her family, she is a formidable woman despite being a type (virgin orphan) that historical romances often portray as exceedingly vulnerable. In a society that gives very little autonomy or agency to women, Regina is constrained in a lot of ways, but she twists those constraints to get exactly what she wants (marriage to the dreamy-gorgeous Nicholas). I liked that she had everyone wrapped around her little finger, the sly little fox. Nicholas is another matter. If you're a reader who reads for heroes, you'll likely not be terribly happy with this book. Nicholas is obtuse, whiney and petulant. He eventually gets over it thankfully, but I doubt he'll ever be anyone's favorite hero.<br />
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So that's Love Only Once. My understanding is that the knowledge gained about James Malory is worth the read before getting to Gentle Rogue. And this truly wasn't a bad book. I'll admit to some trepidation going into these older romances, but this one is pretty harmless, if not necessarily brilliant or astonishingly well-written. It certainly can't hold a candle to my favorites from this period of romance and I admit to not fully getting the Johanna Lindsey hype. But I will press on with at least the next two books of the series. Because PIRATES.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18187344643700994108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6144798075848314516.post-10708213839633867912015-06-15T08:14:00.001-04:002015-06-15T08:18:31.982-04:00Darling Beast Joint Review with Ana from Immersed in Books<br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><i>Today I'm reviewing Elizabeth Hoyt's Darling Beast with Ana Coqui from <a href="http://www.anacoqui.com/" target="_blank">Immersed in Books</a>. This has become a regular series for us, though we're not on any specific schedule. Thus far we have reviewed <a href="http://www.cooking-up-romance.com/2015/03/living-in-sin-joint-review-with-ana.html" target="_blank">Living in Sin by Anastasia Vitsky</a> and <a href="http://www.anacoqui.com/2015/05/joint-review-entreat-me-radiance-by-grace-draven.html" target="_blank">Entreat Me and Radiance by Grace Draven</a>. We hope you enjoy reading our chatter at each other as much as we've been enjoying writing it! And in case you missed it, my monthly column with Alexis Hall is up at <a href="http://www.likesbooks.com/blog/?p=16434" target="_blank">All About Romance</a>. We reviewed Ginn Hale's The Lord of White Hell and we were thrilled to be joined this month by Willaful.</i> </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Elizabeth Hoyt’s 7th Maiden Lane book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I829SVE/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00I829SVE&linkCode=as2&tag=coouprom-20&linkId=REFVQVB27E7BW2AO">Darling Beast</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=coouprom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00I829SVE" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, features the previous heroine’s brother, Apollo Greaves, who was sprung from Bedlam by the hero of the previous book, Maximus Batten, Duke of Wakefield, and is now on the run from the law while assisting his friend in rebuilding Harte’s Folly, the pleasure garden that burned at the end of the 6th book. Lily Stump was once a sought after comedic actress employed by Harte who finds herself squatting in the ruined theater on the grounds, when she is blackballed at other theaters. When Lily’s son stumbles upon Apollo working in the garden, Apollo is unable to speak, the legacy of an attack by a guard during his incarceration. Before these two can find their happy ending, they must clear Apollo’s name and ensure Lily’s son’s safety. </span></div>
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<b>Trigger warning for rape and spousal abuse. </b><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Elisabeth</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: Hoyt’s Maiden Lane series contains some really remarkable books in the early part of the series, but with Darling Beast, we seem to be starting a new story arc, so doesn’t seem like a bad place for newcomers to jump in. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ana</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: I have read most of Hoyt’s Prince books but I had not kept up with the Maiden Lane series. I agree that this a great jump on point. While I missed some of the connections between the secondary characters, it was very easy to follow without having read the first 6 books.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Elisabeth</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: Well, you should remedy that! <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0073J65P0/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0073J65P0&linkCode=as2&tag=coouprom-20&linkId=37TWGCZELYGRJZJI">Thief of Shadows</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=coouprom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0073J65P0" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, the 4th book of the series is definitely one of my favorite historical romances of all time. Assuming you enjoyed this one, that is!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ana</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: I did enjoy it. It wasn’t perfect, I had some issues with a couple things, but I’m definitely planning on going back and filling in the gaps. And since I had the ARC to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NERQR8U/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00NERQR8U&linkCode=as2&tag=coouprom-20&linkId=MTZHM6VCYPHYUXI7">Dearest Rogue</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=coouprom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00NERQR8U" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, book 8, I read that as soon as I finished Darling Beast. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Elisabeth</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: Well, let’s start with issues then and move on to what we liked. What stood out for you as less than ideal?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ana</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: My biggest struggle with the book is that one of the major conflicts Apollo and Lily have is over his identity. First she doesn’t know who he is and that keeps them apart for a bit, but then the biggest issue is once she realizes who he is, she just can’t see them building a lasting relationship. She has a lot of reasons and evidence for that, and I felt that it was essentially set aside and glossed over in the end. Having read Dearest Rogue and having looked over some of the synopsis for the other stories, I now know cross-class romance is a recurring theme in the Maiden Lane books, but I wanted a better answer to her objections.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Elisabeth</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: Yes, I can see that. I guess I excused it because they both had life-altering experiences that came full circle at the end of the book. The resolution of Apollo’s inheritance issues and Lily’s concerns about the continued safety of her child were things that had been hanging over both of them for so long. I think it made sense for them to find solace in each other after going through that together. That sounds pretty thin, but I honestly didn’t think about it at the time.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ana</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: I know that I loved the Epilogue but I had been highlighting all passages where Lily worries that it surprised me when it was resolved by just saying...look my family accepts you. I had so many questions about Lily’s future and career. (Thankfully some of those were answered in Dearest Rogue).</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Elisabeth</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: I didn’t highlight any of that stuff. I think I saw her objections as a rational reaction to trauma inflicted by a member of the aristocracy, but figured that once that trauma was resolved, her issues would be resolved. And Apollo is clearly nothing like that other aristocrat in any way. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ana</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: You are totally right about that. That is a huge part of why it works. He is able to show her that he isn’t that man, and won’t behave that way. I did love how both of them were so good at their jobs, and struggled with how limiting aristocratic views on work are. I thought that was a fantastic connection for them to have.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Elisabeth</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: I’m actually kind of struggling with this discussion because Elizabeth Hoyt is one of those writers that I just don’t think about very much. I mean, I’ve read all her books and she does seem to gravitate toward certain themes (finding meaningful work is definitely one, non-traditional routes to parenting is another), but I just enjoy the world she creates and so...get kind of lost in that? I feel a little guilty about it honestly because I’m consuming this series in such a mindless way. But that I suppose is a gift in itself. It’s so rare that I take off my critical hat long enough to just enjoy a romance any more so I have to give Hoyt credit for being the first writer to do that for me in a LONG time.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ana</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: I think when I was reading tons and tons of historicals I had a tendency to do that too. I read so few of them now, that I can’t help but look out for some those issues. I know that when I was consuming the Prince books, I didn’t think about the class imbalances in some of those.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So did you have any issues or did it just all work for you?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Elisabeth</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: I think it all worked for me. I wasn’t cognizant of any points that I objected to, though I was a bit taken aback by a fairly graphic description of spousal abuse near the end of the book. It’s definitely something that people with sensitivities in that area should be aware of because it’s hinted at throughout, but it does get fairly explicitly violent at one point in flashback.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ana</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: Yes, you are right. Other potentially triggering moments were when Apollo talks about how he was assaulted and how others in Bedlam were treated.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Elisabeth</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: Oh, here’s a question. It seemed like perhaps at one point Hoyt was implying that Apollo had been raped? Or did you not pick up that? It’s not explicitly stated, I don’t think? </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ana</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: Oh, I picked up on that. I think I highlighted it because it is so rare to see that come up in a book. He really struggles thinking about or describing how he was treated. But he does describe one of the guards dropping the falls of his pants while he was being held down.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Elisabeth</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: Yes, I wasn’t sure, but you’re right. I think we are led to understand that that he has experienced sexual abuse in addition to being beaten. I do see rape backstories more often in m/m romance and with heroines, but yeah, more rare when it’s a hero in m/f romance, especially an adult hero.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So what worked for you about Darling Beast?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ana</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: The parallel story in the epigraphs. Hoyt starts off each chapter with piece from “The Minotaur”. I usually tend to ignore those pieces of poetry and such at the start of chapters because I just want to rush back into the main story, but as the book went on I found myself slowing down and taking the time to read the snippets.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Elisabeth</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: Um. I skipped them. All of them. I’m a terrible reader! Why were these more interesting than usual?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ana</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: I think I was annoyed at them at the beginning, I even posted on twitter asking if anyone bothered to read them. But I think I read one by mistake and it started alerting me that while there is a Beauty and the Beast element to the story, it was really going to focus a lot more on the question of identity, inheritance and violence. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Elisabeth</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: It sounds like I should go back and read them. Maybe I will be less annoyed by them if I read them all at once. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ana</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: Some of them were really long! So what else worked for you?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Elisabeth</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: I don’t have a lot of historical romance series that I follow. I never got sucked into the Cynsters or Spindle Cove, for example. So my pleasure in this was seeing some familiar faces like the Duke of Wakefield, who is a fascinating character, and then being introduced to a few new faces that I’m DEEPLY curious about and will, I’m assuming, get their own book at some point. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ana</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: Are you talking about Montgomery?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Elisabeth</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: *bounces up and down* YES YES YES! Gosh he’s odd. Just the kind of hero I like. His actions in this book are almost inexplicable. I can’t wait to find out what drives him. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ana</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: I had the same reaction to him in this book. I was really attracted to his near malevolence and manipulative dandyness. He reminded me a lot of the Duke of Darling in Anna Cowan’s Untamed. Dangerous and easy to underestimate. You will see a lot more of him in the next book. But I was surprised to discover that the book after that is not his book, but it is someone connected to him. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Elisabeth</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: I’ve found this series to be like that a bit. I guess until I discussed this with you, I wasn’t as attuned to how up and down it has been. The 5th book was a little more of a throwaway for me too: kind of a bridge between Thief of Shadows and Duke of Midnight. None of them have been bad, I don’t think. It’s just that some of the characters are total stand-outs and other have been less so. I think this one may be one of those “less so” ones for me.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ana</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: The romance in the next book worked a lot more for me.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Elisabeth</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: And I have been eagerly awaiting Trevillion’s book so I’m very much looking forward to starting that one. He’s a huge character in the previous three books and he has changed a lot.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ana</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: Has Harte been in a lot of the previous books? Because he is the hero of book after Trevillion’s.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Elisabeth</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: Oh, yeah. He was a big character in the 6th book especially when the Folly burns down so that makes sense really. Still, I’m impatient for Montgomery now!</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ana</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: You will have to buzz me when you read the next book. Because I have thoughts.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Elisabeth</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: Definitely! So any final thoughts about Darling Beast?</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ana</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: I think it was charming and a very enjoyable read despite the hard topics it dealt with. I am glad to have read it and reconnected with Hoyt through it. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed her books.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Elisabeth</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: Yes, dealing with hard topics in a way that still allows the story to work is something that I think Hoyt excels at. And I love that it happens within a story that still works as a romance. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Lily and Apollo, but I enjoyed their love story.</span></div>
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<i>A lifelong genre reader, Ana grew up reading fantasy, sci-fi &
mystery novels in Puerto Rico. Ana discovered comics in college before
finally wandering into the Romance section a few years ago after bawling
through yet another YA dystopian series. A recovering English and
History double major, Ana is now a school librarian, mother of two geeky
girls and a pastor's wife in Rochester, NY. When she is not reading or
writing reviews, she is knitting or planning her next trip. She writes
about books at her blog: <a href="http://anacoqui.com/" target="_blank">Immersed in Books</a> and on Twitter as <a href="https://twitter.com/anacoqui">@anacoqui.</a></i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18187344643700994108noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6144798075848314516.post-60002521388170649472015-06-13T10:39:00.002-04:002015-06-13T10:40:07.619-04:00Flame of Diablo, 1980 Harlequin Presents #2U5S<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsPILcTx-Jy3jSFTsqtRaepivtUQLQuiOoy3P-8UJV1kZoxkq92A-2HKa4ZcwP08LzmmGnXHJh6x6D2IbXyD_uduLeoAANBdYH0V58LYJPI6JWDhjauKpqG0HSENMBtv5YHZ6lqh_ajZE/s1600/flame-of-diablo-sara-craven.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsPILcTx-Jy3jSFTsqtRaepivtUQLQuiOoy3P-8UJV1kZoxkq92A-2HKa4ZcwP08LzmmGnXHJh6x6D2IbXyD_uduLeoAANBdYH0V58LYJPI6JWDhjauKpqG0HSENMBtv5YHZ6lqh_ajZE/s1600/flame-of-diablo-sara-craven.jpg" /></a></div>
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When I started this project a month or so ago, Jenny Haddon said this 1980 Sara Craven book was the first Harlequin to include "full docking procedures" (Haddon's term, which I adore). However, Possession, the 1979 Violet Winspear Harlequin Presents I reviewed two weeks ago, included married sex. Possession may have been published after this book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HQPPZW/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000HQPPZW&linkCode=as2&tag=coouprom-20&linkId=OC27QK2RVOZ6FNUP">Flame of Diablo</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=coouprom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000HQPPZW" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, by Mills & Boon (I can't figure that out) but as a Harlequin it was published a bit later--Possession is #321 and Flame of Diablo is #331. I'm not sure I care precisely which was first though. I'm more interested in the evolution of sexual contact in categories than I am in the "first" everything. Though it's possible that Flame of Diablo <i>is</i> actually the first Harlequin to include premarital sex because it, well, does. Because the hero and heroine aren't married at the time of sexual contact, nor do they have any plans to be. It's also fully consensual on the heroine's part. Revolutionary! But we'll get to that.<br />
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The premise of Flame of Diablo is that Rachel Crichton, a blonde, beautiful London actress, has been sent to Colombia by her sick grandfather to retrieve her brother Mark, who has gone to seek his fortune in defiance of the grandfather's wishes. When Rachel shows up in Bogota, a friend of Mark's tells her that he might be heading to Diablo to seek out a precious, but cursed emerald. Rachel attempts to hire Vitas de Mendoza to guide her into the wilderness, but of course she is afraid of her "powerful reaction to him" and sets off with a different local guide, who turns out to be not a nice guy.<br />
<b> </b><br />
<b>Trigger warning for rape after the jump (brief, but violent).</b><br />
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I had a few rough moments with this book early on. Not only does Rachel find herself in the clutches of a man who threatens to rape her, getting as far as tearing her shirt and her bra before being rescued by Vitas, who then implies that he will require sexual favors as payment for seeing her safely to her destination. I might have, um, thrown the book. Just a little. But it gets better! Like, actually better, not sarcastically better.<br />
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Vitas turns out to be quite an honorable character. He's notable for not being English as well. Most of the heroes in these books seem to be English or American, but Vitas is Colombian. I have yet to run across any of the Italian bosses, Greek millionaires or Spanish princes that are now so common in HPs. And there's a bit of the "Latin lover" stereotype to Vitas, though it didn't strike me as problematic as it could have been. He inflames Rachel where no Englishman yet has.<br />
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Vitas is also missing an eye and wears an eye patch, which is a facet of his appearance and a plot element, but isn't overly dwelt upon. He never forces Rachel, his threats are mostly teasing, he has a sense of humor, he's truly charming (as in, we aren't just <i>told</i> he's charming), and he's actually genuinely kind of dreamy in classic romance hero tradition, unlike most of the Harlequin heroes I've come across thus far in my reading. He's still a little impenetrable, uncommunicative and old-fashioned, but his facial expressions and dialogue leave less to the imagination than usual for heroes of this era. And he has real, practical reasons for not sharing certain bits of information with Rachel because it could affect their safety. It shouldn't come as much of a surprise to note that Mark did go in search of the emerald and ran afoul of some bad characters, including Rachel's original guide.<br />
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When they find Mark in the clutches of the bad guys, it's at this point that Rachel decides to give into her feelings for Vitas (page 146):<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
She had offered herself, and she had expected to be taken, even used. She was prepared and willing for that--anything that would keep the darkness from him, and her generosity reaped its own overwhelming rewards. His initiation of her was almost wickedly controlled yet passionate, consummately skillful, but tender. Her first inevitable shyness dissolved away in his arms, as he taught her to respond, to return the pleasure she received, a pleasure that superseded and transcended the first sharp pain of possession. When it was over, she lay trembling in the aftermath of a delight she had never dreamed of knowing, and there were tears on her face, tears of joy, gratitude and disbelief.</blockquote>
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That's...dare I say...actually romantic? Kinda sexy? They're still not <i>together</i> together at this point either. Vitas does eventually propose and it takes them even a bit longer than that to declare their love for each other. They also have a brief altercation that given my recent reading I found rather amusing. (I'm sorry. I've gone native.) Unlike the previous Harlequin heroes of my reading to this point, Vitas doesn't threaten to spank Rachel; he actually does it. Forgive the long quote here, but it's both important for context and worth it (page 158).<br />
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'Sacrifice!' He uttered a mirthless laugh. '<i>Dios</i>, the virgin martyr! Besides,' he added sardonically, 'I'm sure a sacrificial victim wouldn't enter quite so fully into the spirit of the occasion. I have scratches on my back from your nails, little wildcat.'<br />
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'You dare,' she hissed, 'to insult me by reminding me of any of the humiliating details and I'll...' She paused, lost for a suitable revenge.<br />
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'Bite?' he supplied, his brows lifting mockingly. 'You did that too, <i>querida</i>. Shall I strip and show you exactly where?'<br />
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She cried out and her hand came up, striking him across the face. For a moment he looked incredulous, then incredulity hardened to fury, and she did not need to look round to know that her action had been witnessed by some of Captain Lopez' men. But even so she was not prepared for what happened next.<br />
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As she turned to walk away, going in search of Mark, his hand caught her, jerking her backwards, lifting her off her feet and downwards over his bent knee. His hand descended with stinging effect four times before he released her, kicking and struggling, her cheeks flying scarlet banners of temper.<br />
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'You swine,' she choked. 'You--you...'<br />
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'Strike me again, Raquel, and you know now what to expect, he said coolly.</blockquote>
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Rachel admits later that he hadn't hurt anything but her pride. Some readers will, I'm sure find this appalling. I thought it was kind of funny. Obviously not appropriate in a real-life relationship, but it worked here as part of this fictional one. Also, I had three books in a row where the hero threatened to spank the heroine and this is the first one to actually follow through, which is probably contributing to my sense of mirth. <br />
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Other sexual contact includes three kisses and a bit of "sensuous, intimate caressing" that causes a "shock of response to run through her entire body" (page 125) but even though she's clad in a towel at the time, it's unclear what exactly is being caressed. <br />
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Not only was Flame of Diablo the first Harlequin Presents I've read thus far to include fully consensual and premarital sex, but it's also the first where I had a visceral appreciation for the hero. Even though all his actions aren't above scrutiny, I believed for the majority of the book that he's actually a good guy. His attractiveness to the heroine was also believable. The descriptions of sexual contact in the book are still extremely tame by today's standards, but they're also unapologetically romantic and sexy.<br />
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I can only hope I am entering a new era in the history of Harlequin Presents. It will have to wait a couple of weeks though because I managed to acquire some non-Harlequin category romances from the 1980s at a thrift store in Central Virginia last weekend: two Dell Candlelight Romances, Rendezvous in Athens (1979) and Shadows of the Heart (1980). So I'll look at one or both of those for next week for a glimpse at what was happening in the world of category romance out from Mary Bonnycastle's conservative thumb at Harlequin.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18187344643700994108noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6144798075848314516.post-15825242790868897522015-06-06T09:07:00.002-04:002015-06-07T10:48:14.093-04:00Sirocco, 1983 Harlequin Presents #2U5S<i>This morning I'm thrilled to bring you a guest post by <a href="https://willaful.wordpress.com/">Willaful</a>, one of my very favorite romance bloggers and a long-time category romance reader. Her post is on 1983 Harlequin Presents SIROCCO by Anne Mather. We're skipping ahead a bit in time because this post builds on some of what we discussed last week: the prevalence in older Harlequins of heroines getting physical with men not the hero. And with that I leave you in Willa's capable hands. ~ Elisabeth</i><br />
<br />
I've been fascinated by the sexual, political, and historical mores of Harlequin Presents since I started reading them again, after a 30 year hiatus, so Elisabeth's summer project is right up my alley. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MEDR4BO/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00MEDR4BO&linkCode=as2&tag=coouprom-20&linkId=A2LZK62ZWX7NVAPH">Sirocco</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=coouprom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00MEDR4BO" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> is noteworthy for a very early mention of oral sex, although it's not the earliest. (That is generally thought to be the rather memorably named <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0373970013/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0373970013&linkCode=as2&tag=coouprom-20&linkId=LPNSXXC5POVJYIL3">Antigua Kiss</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=coouprom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0373970013" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> by Anne Weale.) But it's interesting in other ways as well.<br />
<br />
Our heroine is Rachel, a young woman who works for her living, despite having a trust fund and a wealthy father. (Or is he?!) She's happily engaged to Roger, a name that only a man who will <i>not </i>be the hero would ever have in a Harlequin Presents. (To give you an idea of Roger, he tries to convince Rachel that her housemate and close friend is too fat to be a bridesmaid.)<br />
<br />
Rachel discovers that no good deed goes unpunished when she tries to help a man she sees lying unconscious in a car. That man, Alex Roche, appears to become obsessed with Rachel, and begins to insinuate himself -- sometimes by force -- into every area of her life.<br />
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In <a href="http://www.cooking-up-romance.com/2015/05/possession-1979-harlequin-romance-2u5s.html">her commentary on Charlotte Lamb's Possession</a>, Elisabeth wrote:<br />
<br />
"First, one place where I'm starting to notice a divergence in the way physical intimacy is portrayed in these older categories is in the characters' experiences with people not their potential partners. These days, it seems like neither hero nor heroine is permitted any kind of sexual contact with a different character, while in the older books, I'm not sure I've read one yet that didn't have some element of a love triangle involving at least kissing."<br />
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I've noticed this before in older Harlequins: Janet Dailey's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J5X5JUO/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00J5X5JUO&linkCode=as2&tag=coouprom-20&linkId=S6G4VLSA7T5ZON7F">Sweet Promise</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=coouprom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00J5X5JUO" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, from 1975, opens with the heroine genuinely in love with another man, and quite interested in being physical with him. In Sirocco, Rachel is a virgin, which is pretty much <i>de rigueur</i> for an unmarried heroine. (Although in a very early Anne Mather Presents, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/026371215X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=026371215X&linkCode=as2&tag=coouprom-20&linkId=XTXFJ6CFN77EKXL7">The Pleasure And The Pain</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=coouprom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=026371215X" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, the hero and heroine had been lovers in the past.) However, her fiance has "taught her ways to please him without their going to bed together." This is made slightly more explicit later in the story:<br />
<br />
"'Oh sweetheart, I've missed you,' he murmured, drawing her reluctant hands to his body. 'Hmm, that feels good. Go on, go on: make love to me...'"<br />
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Although this example of sex with a man not the hero (in the middle of the story, even) is historically fascinating in itself, it leads to something even more noteworthy: Rachel gets fed up with not having her own needs met.<br />
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"She couldn't dispel a linger sense of dissatisfaction that had no real foundation in their association, something that had not changed over the months they had been together. It concerned the -- from her point of view -- totally unsatisfactory sexual relationship they shared, and Roger's apparent indifference to her needs."<br />
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"When Roger joined her at the breakfast table, he was looking decidedly pleased with himself, and Rachel couldn't help the uncharitable supposition that he wouldn't be feeling that way if he had had to be satisfied with her kisses."<br />
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Of course, this is at least partially attributed to Alex awakening her. Still, it's a far cry from the more modern Harlequin Presents heroine, who frequently has had no real sexual desires to speak of before meeting her hero. (And who will almost never have sex again -- especially not enjoyable sex -- if they've parted. This is just starting to change in the line, and many long-time readers absolutely hate that.)<br />
<br />
Some of what goes on between Alex and Rachel is non-consensual, including some actual physical restraint. But by the time they have sex, she's mostly into it; consent is not crystal clear, but it's a very mild forced seduction. And even while she's being swept away by passion, Rachel is aware of her needs being considered for the first time:<br />
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"This was not at all like being with Roger, she thought hazily, as Alex's mouth beat a searing path across her breasts, then followed downward, over the quivering flatness of her diaphragm to the softness of her stomach. Roger had never given any thought to her pleasure, only his own, and while she told herself that Roger had had more respect for her, it rang a little hollowly in her ears.<br />
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Even so, she flinched in sudden panic when Alex's mouth sought a more intimate invasion, and he gave a soft laugh as he slid over her to find her mouth again. 'You have a lot to learn,' he breathed against her lips. 'But we will come to that later.'"<br />
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And the focus on Rachel's satisfaction continues:<br />
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"It was all over too soon. Rachel had scarcely begun to enjoy the pleasurable sensations Alex's thrusting body was evoking before she sensed his shuddering climax, and he slumped heavily on top of her. Not so different after all, she reflected bitterly, remembering Roger's groaning convulsions, and the artificial mood of bonhomie that always followed them."<br />
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This is unexpectedly realistic in a genre chock full of first time orgasms. But don't worry -- he makes it up to her.<br />
<br />
The emphasis on domineering men who don't take no for an answer in older category romance is generally taken to be an expression of the shame women felt around their sexuality. It's interesting to see that in at least some respects, older category heroines may actually have been allowed a <i>less</i> restricted sexuality, one that isn't dependent on one specific man to awaken and fulfill it.<br />
<br />
I should warn readers that Sirocco is a slightly disguised "Sheikh" story and sometimes gets uncomfortably racist. I'd say it was a product of its times, in which anti-Arab sentiment was prevalent -- but then lots of things haven't changed all that much in 40 years, have they? Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18187344643700994108noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6144798075848314516.post-47841812724555458882015-06-01T08:10:00.000-04:002015-06-01T08:10:17.614-04:00For Real Lemon Meringue Pie<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN7M8u-NJ_Zw1-zI1pBnJ3g7xeLJfQ50zUVnmEPz2k2CiqpHQDUskMxQteu_HhDT3hye6wpNsWyXCAxGtEx7adEpg0XH3iLcd9kmo0ZapJ2YqekBNSoyF2PGmd9DPK8LdsolN5iLcCJ5I/s1600/for-real-title-slide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN7M8u-NJ_Zw1-zI1pBnJ3g7xeLJfQ50zUVnmEPz2k2CiqpHQDUskMxQteu_HhDT3hye6wpNsWyXCAxGtEx7adEpg0XH3iLcd9kmo0ZapJ2YqekBNSoyF2PGmd9DPK8LdsolN5iLcCJ5I/s1600/for-real-title-slide.jpg" /></a></div>
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About six months ago, I got an email from romance writer Alexis Hall. He wanted to know if I'd consider developing a lemon meringue pie recipe for this kinky book he was writing about a chef and a doctor. Of course I agreed and therefore ended up helping with this book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1626492808/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1626492808&linkCode=as2&tag=coouprom-20&linkId=IGCSU3EJL4C6ZG6G">For Real</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=coouprom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1626492808" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> (out everywhere today), in a super small and amusing way. But since I kinda qualify as a beta reader, I'm not going to do a full review. I just want to share some personal and HELLO BIASED reflections on why I thought this was a terrific book. And also pictures of pie. You've been warned.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx5X-Mdmdb3Yp8_P6_SOwqxcxfHcGz7asoUxNgwztoJMdQW4PBirWsUMRteqE0QfpOM6uC4iz5xdkgLG0qSb7aL7mXzpexp9nDxncfZ03se8SLeQGqDtc8GhqpFhOzCDiHrTIODIJW9Zo/s1600/DSC_0004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx5X-Mdmdb3Yp8_P6_SOwqxcxfHcGz7asoUxNgwztoJMdQW4PBirWsUMRteqE0QfpOM6uC4iz5xdkgLG0qSb7aL7mXzpexp9nDxncfZ03se8SLeQGqDtc8GhqpFhOzCDiHrTIODIJW9Zo/s1600/DSC_0004.jpg" /></a></div>
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There are lots of things I loved about For Real, mainly the large age gap between the heroes, the realistic, engaging portrayals of BDSM within the context of a really romantic story and the dueling first person, present/past point of view which could have gone really far wrong, but didn't. Toby is a short-order cook and he's believably, adorably, relatably nineteen to Laurie's jaded, cynical, tired thirty-seven. In a quirky way, their relationship kind of works because they have such a large gap in their experience--with life, with work and yes, with kink. When I discovered that Toby is the dominant in the book, I liked it even
better because it's so not the typical romance pattern. Toby is a new dominant and has lots of questions, but also lots of enthusiasm which works for Laurie as nothing else has in recent memory. If I were writing a real review, which I'm not, I'd also go into how the book makes some really insightful points about sex and kink in romance. <br />
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
Laurence
Dalziel is worn down and washed up, and for him, the BDSM scene is all
played out. Six years on from his last relationship, he’s pushing forty
and tired of going through the motions of submission.
<br />
Then he meets Toby Finch. Nineteen years old. Fearless, fierce, and vulnerable. Everything Laurie can’t remember being.
<br />
Toby doesn’t know who he wants to be or what he wants to do. But he
knows, with all the certainty of youth, that he wants Laurie. He wants
him on his knees. He wants to make him hurt, he wants to make him beg,
he wants to make him fall in love.
<br />
The problem is, while Laurie will surrender his body, he won’t
surrender his heart. Because Toby is too young, too intense, too easy to
hurt. And what they have—no matter how right it feels—can’t last. It
can’t mean anything.
<br />
It can’t be real.
<br />
- See more at: http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/for-real#sthash.jIPDQKcK.dpuf</div>
<div id="stcpDiv" style="left: -1988px; position: absolute; top: -1999px;">
Laurence
Dalziel is worn down and washed up, and for him, the BDSM scene is all
played out. Six years on from his last relationship, he’s pushing forty
and tired of going through the motions of submission.
<br />
Then he meets Toby Finch. Nineteen years old. Fearless, fierce, and vulnerable. Everything Laurie can’t remember being.
<br />
Toby doesn’t know who he wants to be or what he wants to do. But he
knows, with all the certainty of youth, that he wants Laurie. He wants
him on his knees. He wants to make him hurt, he wants to make him beg,
he wants to make him fall in love.
<br />
The problem is, while Laurie will surrender his body, he won’t
surrender his heart. Because Toby is too young, too intense, too easy to
hurt. And what they have—no matter how right it feels—can’t last. It
can’t mean anything.
<br />
It can’t be real.
<br />
- See more at: http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/for-real#sthash.jIPDQKcK.dpuf</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ-esNevEkTn-jFWr6ZLzz87OHoMKi-5ggIOx3Xgymmzlc4TBqs3m6BjfiarW7msLfzKDRNeb8t7Ec4tbRnPqw7heYa_mBuPBFb8lJqeow0tUH33M9JFDgUjNKUJ8U8vXv7mMOjt0wllY/s1600/animated-pie-crust.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ-esNevEkTn-jFWr6ZLzz87OHoMKi-5ggIOx3Xgymmzlc4TBqs3m6BjfiarW7msLfzKDRNeb8t7Ec4tbRnPqw7heYa_mBuPBFb8lJqeow0tUH33M9JFDgUjNKUJ8U8vXv7mMOjt0wllY/s1600/animated-pie-crust.gif" /></a></div>
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And scene with the lemon meringue pie recipe in it is a very kinky, very sexy scene. It's also creative, funny and tender. But it's not actually my favorite. For all that For Real is a smoking hot BDSM romance, it's also incredibly romantic. The scene that melted me was when Laurie takes Toby to a dinner at his old college and at the tail end of this slightly awkward excursion...I can't even...Toby teaches Laurie to quickstep in a courtyard. I don't think it's just because I'm a dancer that this scene put a completely silly smile on my face, but it might be. It's as sensual as any of the BDSM scenes in the book and even requires Laurie surrendering to being led--in a venue he's much less familiar with than being tied up. But mostly I thought it was a brief moment of utter loveliness--romance perfection even--that has stuck with me for months and that I now think about every time I quickstep. It's about love and trust and becoming a "we" instead of a "you" and a "me" in a way that has the potential for a healthy amount of humiliation. And that's something I love about all of Hall's books: how he fills recesses of hurt and vulnerability with things that are better. Maybe not all the way, and maybe not perfectly, but better. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjupEUadvJvUMNUc6zXX1sFQ43rIjdH3LRC8gXplk3Folqae6iuR22tLPOBrPqjB4RGKdR1vgDW8r5uW10prN9NOyaLaJJbDtnG91UOr7w-aL5EivXghi4autQLRk6qFUXl9uqyFLO5Mvo/s1600/DSC_0014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjupEUadvJvUMNUc6zXX1sFQ43rIjdH3LRC8gXplk3Folqae6iuR22tLPOBrPqjB4RGKdR1vgDW8r5uW10prN9NOyaLaJJbDtnG91UOr7w-aL5EivXghi4autQLRk6qFUXl9uqyFLO5Mvo/s1600/DSC_0014.jpg" /></a></div>
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For Real isn't Hall's cleverest, most daring book, with the lushest language, the starkest metaphor or the largest concept. It's just real and glorious in equal measures. I think it's his best one yet.<br />
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But hey, I'm biased.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGQKAH0q-Oahj_T8Rm7d5-oa3nClN1VBNRJjyQCNgyZz6cv3Gg-W-jE_xnVOGMY0NihT_dj53FuY7S1XXtwv1J80YdEahuPLkGZMrzxf5GUeq9DDY4liGdd33twiVMWiN44dR7no9sDTA/s1600/DSC_0058.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGQKAH0q-Oahj_T8Rm7d5-oa3nClN1VBNRJjyQCNgyZz6cv3Gg-W-jE_xnVOGMY0NihT_dj53FuY7S1XXtwv1J80YdEahuPLkGZMrzxf5GUeq9DDY4liGdd33twiVMWiN44dR7no9sDTA/s1600/DSC_0058.jpg" /></a></div>
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Oh, and the recipe for the pie is in the book. So you should, ya know, get it. In fact, until June 7th, there's a giveaway going on over on <a href="http://www.readaromancemonth.com/2015/05/food-romance-elisabeth-lane/" target="_blank">my post at Read a Romance Month</a> where you could win a copy of For Real, Rose Lerner's Sweet Disorder or any number of other fabulous foodie romance prizes. <br />
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<i>Disclosure: In case you somehow missed it, I beta read a section of For Real, wrote the lemon meringue pie recipe in the book, have a review column once a month at <a href="http://www.likesbooks.com/blog/" target="_blank">All About Romance</a> with Hall and pester him via email frequently. I also received an ARC of For Real from the publisher. So you should obviously ignore everything I have to say about this book because BIASED in all the ways.</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18187344643700994108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6144798075848314516.post-46268205924278454082015-05-31T09:38:00.002-04:002015-05-31T09:38:44.452-04:00Possession, 1979 Harlequin Romance #2U5S<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBvmBm63PxEkjhloGomEFoWWszZGFFNeGmS3acrBXtrMhQyLiJ0BH8qf-clkbpZtjHGx3jTgib4ECf0ZeKtmm4csPtT5gwIuXzePjDLt2CnVioJQ5-prqcfx71TeYRY9oo6w-Dliz4ZvY/s1600/possession-charlotte-lamb+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBvmBm63PxEkjhloGomEFoWWszZGFFNeGmS3acrBXtrMhQyLiJ0BH8qf-clkbpZtjHGx3jTgib4ECf0ZeKtmm4csPtT5gwIuXzePjDLt2CnVioJQ5-prqcfx71TeYRY9oo6w-Dliz4ZvY/s1600/possession-charlotte-lamb+copy.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0014Z0JDI/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0014Z0JDI&linkCode=as2&tag=coouprom-20&linkId=F4DVMX75VSRA3JBV">Possession, a 1979 Harlequin Presents by Charlotte Lamb</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=coouprom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0014Z0JDI" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, is similar in some ways and different in others from last's week's 1979 Harlequin Romance, Sea Lightning. We still have an overbearing hero with a little too much confidence in his personal allure. He is in a position of authority over the heroine (actually her boss...again). He's ridiculously sexist and assumes the heroine is available to him sexually because of her behavior with other men and her attractiveness. If you read last week's post, this probably all sounds familiar.<br />
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But we've changed lines now from Harlequin Romance to Harlequin Presents. And Possession, trope-wise, winds up in the arranged marriage/marriage of convenience lane rather than the enemies-to-lovers of Sea Lightning. This seems to be an important distinction in early Harlequins. It raises the possibility of married-people sex, which given the time frame and publisher conservatism at Harlequin in this era, seems infinitely more acceptable than pre-marital sex. <br />
<br />
And married people sex is what we get in Possession. While hero Dan Harland and heroine Laura Belsize are not yet quite in love, they do get married and have explicit sexual relations. Now, when I say "explicit" I don't mean the pumping and gasping of today's erotic romance. But it's also a far cry from punishing kisses, a breast grope and a fade-to-black. We'll get to all that in a minute though as it happens about two-thirds of the way through the book.<br />
<br />
First, one place where I'm starting to notice a divergence in the way physical intimacy is portrayed in these older categories is in the characters' experiences with people not their potential partners. These days, it seems like neither hero nor heroine is permitted any kind of sexual contact with a different character, while in the older books, I'm not sure I've read one yet that didn't have some element of a love triangle involving at least kissing. In Possession, we get several such relationships. On page 9:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
When they returned that night it was almost three in the morning. Max opened the flat door for her and then kissed her hard for a long time, his mouth warm and expert on her own.<br />
<br />
'Renata will wake up ... no, goodnight ...'<br />
<br />
Reluctantly he kissed her again and walked away, and she closed the door, leaning against it, laughing softly under her breath, because it really had been the most wonderful evening. </blockquote>
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So not only does Max, a relatively minor suitor, get to kiss the heroine, the implication is that she likes it. It's "warm and expert". And so in addition to the ratcheting up of sexual content from the Harlequin Romance from last week, in this Presents from the same year, we also get a total absence of guilt. Finally, when the heroine says stop, this guy Max actually stops. He's "reluctant" but he abides by her wishes. We might assume from this that the Presents heroine has a bit more agency with regard to sexual matters?<br />
<br />
Well, not quite. As the story progresses, it comes out that hero Dan has virtually taken over Laura's family business. Laura's ne'er-do-well father Jimmy has been in an accident and her grandfather is old and becoming frail. Despite Laura's modern, career-girl notions, her grandfather appears to think that she is too young to take over the business and appoints Dan as trustee. If he could appoint Dan as her husband, he'd do that too and eventually the desire to please her grandfather drives her to agree to wed him. Her father is also pushing her into marriage because it allows her to keep an eye on "the enemy" since he is certain his father wants to cut him out of the business entirely. The daughter is basically sold into marriage to secure the family's business, if not entirely against her will, then certainly against her inclination.<br />
<br />
And that brings us to another interesting element of Possession: Laura's disinclination to marry. We are told that she has "a positive phobia about possessive relationships" and "liked to be fancy free, not tied down" (page 51). There are several other instances of Laura thinking or saying similar things and it emerges as the main stumbling block to a relationship in the novel. <br />
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We still don't have the hero's perspective here, but a reader familiar with the trajectory of these category romances will pick up on the fact that the hero is emotionally committed long before the heroine. This exchange from page 87 hints at what I mean:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'Arrogant, ambitious men usually get their comeuppance,' she said, turning away.<br />
<br />
He followed her over the stony ground. 'And usually at the hands of an even more ruthless woman,' he suggested.</blockquote>
<br />
Doesn't that just read like poetry? In the confined space of the best category romances, every word has to mean something and this passage has her turning away and him following her over rough terrain while admitting the power she has over him. The book it put me most in mind of is actually Gone With the Wind: where the hero, reluctant to show his soft underbelly to a fearsomely confident, flirtatious heroine, resorts to sardonic wit and their magnetic attraction to eventually win her. Of course, he's more successful at it than Rhett Butler was.<br />
<br />
When Laura's grandfather takes a turn for the worse and her father falls in love a woman who has been nursing him after his accident, Laura finally agrees to marry Dan and they go on their honeymoon. It's here where they eventually fall into bed on page 139.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'I'm not going back to England until you're my wife in every sense of the word,' he said thickly.<br />
<br />
Her eyes widened. 'Marcus needs you ... the firm ...'<br />
<br />
'Damn the firm,' he snapped, his features harsh. The grey eyes flickered over her hungrily. 'I've played a waiting game for months, but I'm not waiting another day, Laura. I want you, and you're going to let me make love to you before you leave this room again.'<br />
<br />
The fierce determination in his voice left her helpless. She weakly closed her eyes. He lay watching her without moving for a few moments, then his hands moved down, slowly touching her, running down over her body smoothly, stroking and caressing. She abandoned thought of everything but the sweetness of the sensations his hands were arousing in her. [...] He drew away and bent to kiss her breast and she buried her face in his throat, kissing it hotly, moaning incoherently, a piercing tension in her body, aching along her taut bones, a frenzy singing in her blood.</blockquote>
<br />
The passage goes on for another five pages, alternating between description and Laura's revelations about what this might mean for her and Dan. And while she does say no at three points, the scene plays more like dubious consent than non-consent. Though the point where Dan calls Laura a frigid bitch is a particularly low one. That said, her nos seem more emotional than physical in context.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
That would not have mattered so much since she admitted grimly that she wanted him, too, that he was not going to take a thing she did not want to give him, but in that very fact lay the seed of her fear and panic. [...] She was afraid of her own desperate need for love.</blockquote>
<br />
Laura begins to worry that she could care for Dan and, musing on her lonely childhood, recalls the lesson that it's dangerous to care for anyone--that caring results in "rejection, humiliation, pain" (page 143). Now, in a real life encounter, Dan would have clearly stepped over the line. Frankly, anyone who called me a frigid bitch would not be getting into my pants. But within the context of their relationship, the scene, and the childhood backstory IN THE MIDDLE OF THEIR SEXUAL ENCOUNTER, I'm not so sure. The resulting climaxes and denouement are actually tender (page 144).<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
She fell into a silence, a warm, lazy, languid ease which was like the peace of a summer's day. Dan's head dropped on her body, his breathing slowing, his heart settling to a quieter pace. His hands stroked her body gently. She lay, eyes closed, her arms around his neck, feeling the tension, the panic, drain out of her toes.</blockquote>
<br />
Of course, their bliss is short-lived. Dan thanks her for their encounter and she reacts poorly, setting the stage for a third act where both feel betrayed before coming back together again. <br />
<br />
Possession was an interesting read for me, mainly because it's the first category sex I've read for this survey (and, not so incidentally, signals a need to back up and read some earlier works), but also because it's the heroine holding up the loving-and-caring show, not the hero. If it's possible to show a hero in hot pursuit without being inside his head, that's what we've got here. It also exposed some of my assumptions about what sexual content in a book this early would look like: that it would involve more love and less direct language. Wrong. Though the couple being already married didn't surprise me at all. <br />
<br />
Next week, I tackle Sara Craven's Harlequin Presents <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HQPPZW/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000HQPPZW&linkCode=as2&tag=coouprom-20&linkId=JHIRACXO4AFQGMUP">Flame of Diablo</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=coouprom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000HQPPZW" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, which Jenny Haddon suggested might be the first Mills & Boon sex scene. Like Possession, it was published by M&B<br />
in 1979, but it's actually later by Harlequin reckoning: 1980. So it will be interesting to see whether 1979 was just a turning point or whether I really do need to go back further to see the advent of sex scenes that aren't almost impenetrably vague.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18187344643700994108noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6144798075848314516.post-80409141083640737632015-05-30T09:06:00.001-04:002015-05-30T09:17:57.496-04:00Guest Post: Food & Romance at Read a Romance Month<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Fr-_3HtafalpuKVs2-OPjwc61MEU_7nbNr-vRL0jplCqy-iS-akUgWPD67PM4DTFt1Qt55iF_s8YLqDjL1LFKTNSvDKiqKNzadaa4VWd6DcvO3lEyHlEc2lfU4KGuDD6VhxjrSwRKbE/s1600/DSC_0060.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Fr-_3HtafalpuKVs2-OPjwc61MEU_7nbNr-vRL0jplCqy-iS-akUgWPD67PM4DTFt1Qt55iF_s8YLqDjL1LFKTNSvDKiqKNzadaa4VWd6DcvO3lEyHlEc2lfU4KGuDD6VhxjrSwRKbE/s1600/DSC_0060.jpg" /></a></div>
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I'm guest posting over at <a href="http://www.readaromancemonth.com/2015/05/food-romance-elisabeth-lane/" target="_blank">Read a Romance Month's blog</a> today, sharing some thoughts on food and romance, plus trying out a recipe from <a href="http://brendanovakforthecure.org/" target="_blank">Brenda Novak's new cookbook</a> to raise funds for the American Diabetes Association. I made the crepes from the book and they turned out great. I also got a sneak peek at the rest of the cookbook and all the recipes look really good. Plus, it's for a good cause and there's a giveaway of a couple of my favorite foodie romances, including Sweet Disorder by Rose Lerner and Alexis Hall's latest, For Real. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIMs8bAIOYa_l6S1SmnwZ2bXF53xos9cZ5A87_iadiLIAZqd9Dxl8EIH9s2xYA6Kgieg3i3OJrnf-Igz6Zqg6AgBI39rJcRIRSOSiC7lVDJ_yT8YgG64m7agETbJ-J0sMpsEmL6_S7L7Q/s1600/DSC_0068.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIMs8bAIOYa_l6S1SmnwZ2bXF53xos9cZ5A87_iadiLIAZqd9Dxl8EIH9s2xYA6Kgieg3i3OJrnf-Igz6Zqg6AgBI39rJcRIRSOSiC7lVDJ_yT8YgG64m7agETbJ-J0sMpsEmL6_S7L7Q/s1600/DSC_0068.jpg" /></a></div>
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And just to entice you to go read the post, I'm including a bonus recipe here. Brenda suggested filling the crepes with fruit or goat cheese and blackberry jam. But I happened to have some whipping cream left over from another recipe so I decided to see if I could make goat cheese whipped cream. Doesn't that sound good? Turns out...it is good. Really good. Good enough that I pretty much think that breakfast should always include honeyed goat cheese whipped cream. And fresh farmer's market strawberries.<br />
<br />
Pretty please?<br />
<br />
<b>Honeyed Goat Cheese Whipped Cream</b><br />
Makes: 6 servings<br />
Difficulty: Intermediate<br />
<br />
4 ounces soft goat cheese, room temperature (very important--goat cheese cannot be too cold or the whipped cream will separate)<br />
1 cup heavy whipping cream<br />
3 tablespoons powdered sugar<br />
2 teaspoons honey<br />
<br />
1. In a medium bowl, combine goat cheese, powdered sugar, honey and 1/4 cup of the whipping cream. Using a hand mixer, mix on low speed until smooth. Add the remaining whipping cream and beat on medium speed until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. <br />
<br />
2. Serve with crepes or french toast for breakfast or with crepes and fresh berries for a light spring dessert.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18187344643700994108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6144798075848314516.post-47458692200248398752015-05-29T09:46:00.001-04:002015-05-29T09:46:28.076-04:00Into the Shadows Bourbon Chocolate Milkshakes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrEem9A2aFXEuCFxQW31U3urf7NcGRvm15yx4ro8TyWEACvoOAwhlAldNPNuox4ocDmuiijZf3UGSmIXrTZto3HTzGxYelBQs0zbCRI8C6vkUsT-uq7zD3X445gf2Z2h6SQnmD2HsovCA/s1600/into-the-shadows-milkshshakes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrEem9A2aFXEuCFxQW31U3urf7NcGRvm15yx4ro8TyWEACvoOAwhlAldNPNuox4ocDmuiijZf3UGSmIXrTZto3HTzGxYelBQs0zbCRI8C6vkUsT-uq7zD3X445gf2Z2h6SQnmD2HsovCA/s1600/into-the-shadows-milkshshakes.jpg" /></a></div>
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So this is a secret baby book. I hate secret baby books. HATE. I hate them so much that my review policies caution people against sending them to me.<br />
<br />
Except...I loved this secret baby book.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LU6N5UU/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00LU6N5UU&linkCode=as2&tag=coouprom-20&linkId=VLQVTL2I5GX7J5OR">Into the Shadows</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=coouprom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00LU6N5UU" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, the third book in Carolyn Crane's Undercover Associates series, features undercover Associate Thorne, who isn't really an official part of the group. He's a self-contained unit, tasked with taking down a large criminal syndicate and the highly placed government officials shielding it, from the inside. Vengeance for his sister's murder years before is what drives him and he's spent years getting to a place where he can kill the last guy involved in her death. Heroine Nadia is the daughter of Thorne's former boss, who died two years before. While Thorne was working for Nadia's dad the two of them were an item and unbeknownst to Thorne, Nadia got pregnant shortly before they broke up. Fast forward to the present and their son, Benny, is almost two years old. <br />
<br />
The major reason I loved this book is Thorne. Thus far, the Associates books have worked well for me largely because of the heroines. And Nadia is terrific. She's fierce, protective and smart. She has her own goals that have nothing to do with the hero. In fact, she never expected to see him again. She was heartbroken when he left, but she has gone on with her life and I loved her for it. But it's tortured, messed up Thorne who made this book for me. He thinks he's a bad guy, a thug and unworthy of love. He doesn't trust anyone. He can't take a compliment. Both he and Nadia think he'd be a terrible father. The only reason he and Nadia ever got together in the first place is that she told him to fuck off. And while Nadia has some of her own demons to slay, it's Thorne's emotional journey toward being able to accept the love and intimacy Nadia offers that made this story so gripping for me.<br />
<br />
Previous stories in this series have been quite epic. In general, the protagonists have been saving the world, or at least a bunch of innocents, from certain destruction. Into the Shadows is a much more personal, intimate, family-oriented plot. Thorne's issues stem largely from his dysfunctional childhood. Nadia's wasn't much better. And the two of them have to band together to save both Nadia's mother and their son. The result is a poignant, closely-written, emotional book. Honestly, I had no idea romantic suspense could be this good.<br />
<br />
So if you aren't reading the Associates series, you should start, even if you're not that into romantic suspense. Maybe not with this one since you'll have more background on the secondary characters if you read them in order (and the fourth book just came out this week), but yeah. Start today.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJIlzg9KptQ47OKpLUj8s-yOpU-zTZsNGNg7E59q3ncVbZIj_q1CmT3I_XkgcS40uSYip7N4mC5cnzGUMR92NuNAmYa9TteDCLzmw5vDOcjichEwK9nDU3ZZBRwqfEFqtXxlF_ksjhDHM/s1600/DSC_0002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJIlzg9KptQ47OKpLUj8s-yOpU-zTZsNGNg7E59q3ncVbZIj_q1CmT3I_XkgcS40uSYip7N4mC5cnzGUMR92NuNAmYa9TteDCLzmw5vDOcjichEwK9nDU3ZZBRwqfEFqtXxlF_ksjhDHM/s1600/DSC_0002.jpg" /></a></div>
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The connection between bourbon chocolate milkshakes and Into the Shadows will probably not be apparent to anyone but me. But there are several key scenes involving whiskey and one right at the very end of the book involving some ice cream.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2K1eQrmrmDPGGXpXLW89xfYP6vUo7cFd9Yn-3KWEY1cNMsp5RoGH3d7G9FNkBSnUtKa_Znh_68XMpwqBqh154o-sa5r7ADFVpAxWvgzxGy40EI6En-7DEXF6pAoZ-HrTpoMUiRhbqYS0/s1600/DSC_0010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2K1eQrmrmDPGGXpXLW89xfYP6vUo7cFd9Yn-3KWEY1cNMsp5RoGH3d7G9FNkBSnUtKa_Znh_68XMpwqBqh154o-sa5r7ADFVpAxWvgzxGy40EI6En-7DEXF6pAoZ-HrTpoMUiRhbqYS0/s1600/DSC_0010.jpg" /></a></div>
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So I'll just say this: what are milkshakes but ice cream that has been melted strategically?<br />
<br />
This recipe couldn't be easier. Just put everything in a blender and blend until smooth. The only bit of advice I have is that actually, the quality of the ice cream seems to be more important than the quality of the bourbon. Though I used pretty good bourbon here because I just don't really buy bad bourbon. This isn't the time to go generic on the ice cream though. You want the creamy richness of premium chocolate ice cream. I've found that if I use the cheap stuff it just takes more of it to get the consistency right because it has more air whipped in. So yeah. Häagen-Dazs or your favorite local artisan brand is the way to go.<br />
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Oh, and try not to fall over when you drink this much alcohol and sugar through a straw.<br />
<br />
<b>Bourbon Chocolate Milkshakes</b><br />
Makes: 2 16-oz shakes<br />
Difficulty: Easy<br />
<br />
4 ounces bourbon<br />
4 ounces chocolate syrup<br />
3 1/2 cups good quality chocolate ice cream<br />
<br />
1. Put all the ingredients in a blender. Blend on low speed for 15-30 seconds. Pour into glasses.<br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Disclosure: I am friendly with Carolyn Crane on Twitter and often receive ARCs from her, but I purchased Into the Shadows myself. </i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18187344643700994108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6144798075848314516.post-37781685672433550512015-05-23T09:30:00.000-04:002015-05-23T09:30:18.491-04:00Sea Lightning, 1979 Harlequin Romance #2U5S<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
So if you read <a href="http://www.cooking-up-romance.com/2015/05/utterly-unscientific-summer-saturday.html" target="_blank">yesterday's post on my Utterly Unscientific Summer Saturday Series Sex Survey</a>, you know that today I'm going to be writing about Sea Lightning by Linda Harrel, a Harlequin Romance published in 1980, but originally put out by Mills & Boon in 1979. One note: when I say Harlequin Romance, I'm referring to the specific line at Harlequin, not a general term for romances or even a general term for Harlequins. Throughout this survey, if it's capitalized, it's the name of the line.<br />
<br />
First, a little bit about Harlequin. I'm no kind of expert, but here's what I've been able to garner from Wikipedia and various romance bloggers. While Harlequin as a company started in 1949, their partnership with Mills & Boon, a British publisher of romance novels, didn't start until 1957. My understanding is that Mary Bonnycastle, the chief editor at Harlequin, had a real resistance to printing the more sexually explicit material found in some Mills & Boon titles and would reject reprinting books that didn't meet her decency standards. Here's what I don't know: how long did that control last? And what lines did it cover? I've got a hold on Pamela Regis' book A Natural History of the Romance Novel at the library, but it hasn't come in yet. I have to get the Joseph McAleer Mills & Boon history from interlibrary loan so that will likely take longer.<br />
<br />
My personal experience with the Harlequin Romance line has been mostly kissing with the occasional breast grope all the way up through the late 1970s. The Harlequin Presents line, which started in 1973, I understand is slightly sexier, with Anne Mather, Charlotte Lamb and Violet Winspear particularly having the reputation for books that run toward more sexual tension. But the actual sex acts depicted in the ones I've read have been limited to vague allusions to sex after marriage--basically the romance novel equivalent of television's "one foot on the floor" Hays Code. We get wives in nighties and perhaps some vague post-coital cuddling, but no actual sex, certainly not in the way we've come to expect as modern Presents readers. I've only read about a dozen of each of these lines though from the time period I'm covering now (my reading in the past has run to older titles) and never made a careful or chronological study of them so that's what I'm interested in exploring this summer.<br />
<br />
Sea Lightning by Linda Harrel is a good place to start because it's pretty typical of the earlier Harlequin Romances I've read. Heroine Jensa Welles is a professional illustrator sent to Argentina by her former teacher and mentor to work with marine biologist Adam Ryder on a scientific book of whale behavior and migration patterns. Right off the bat, we get straight to the reason I so love these older category romances. On page 28 & 29:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'I shouldn't think you'd be bothered by much human company no matter where you lived--you're not exactly welcoming yourself, you know,' she muttered, holding on to her seat for dear life.<br />
<br /></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'I could be...if I take into account the purely decorative advantages of your presence.'</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<br />
The suggestiveness in his voice stiffened Jensa's back and sent a slight prickle running down her spine. She turned her head to one side and stared out at the broadening desert. He was still trying to unnerve her. And she had to admit that he was very close to succeeding.<br />
<br />
...<br />
<br />
Jensa caught her breath and felt her eyes widen.
'You're an overgrown child, Adam!' she snapped. 'You think all this
bluffing is going to panic me, providing you with some petty,
small-minded amusement.'</blockquote>
<br />
Not only has Adam called into question her professional competence by this point (purely on the basis of her sex--and says so outright), he has ordered her to return home, threatened her with the primitive conditions at the research station, made suggestive comments about her appearance and now these more overtly sexual threats. It's textbook sexual harassment, almost a caricature it's so bad. And it continues through much of the book. As a modern reader, it's unpleasant, jarring and offensive. If it occurred in a contemporary romance novel today, it would likely get an automatic trip to DNF-land from me except for one thing: Jensa stands up to him, verbally protesting his language and behavior. He doesn't change it, but she said something, which is pretty brave considering he already doesn't want her there and she basically has no recourse, legal or otherwise. <br />
<br />
Now for the sex. There isn't any. I wouldn't even call the novel particularly thick with sexual tension. It's more thick with Adam wanting, Jensa denying and feeling quite guilty and embarrassed when she does find herself experiencing desire. Adam makes several references to the fact that since Jensa is a beautiful woman, she must have quite a lot of sexual experience, for whatever beauty has to do with desire or promiscuity. For example: <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
With that cynical announcement, he leaned his body over her and pressed her back on the sofa, covering her mouth with his, brutally forcing it open. When at last he finally released her, he said, 'I did that to shut you up--you push me too hard, you know.'<br />
<br />
He withdrew his body from hers, leaving her shaken and unable to reply. But when she looked up into those cold, mocking eyes, her response came in full. She brought her hand across his face with a sharpness that drew colour to his cheek and pain to her hand.<br />
<br />
His hand flashed out and caught her wrist, pinioning it to the seat. 'An appropriate reaction, Miss Welles, and well done. But I know women who look like you love such attention...even though they all feel obliged to go through with these little charades of mock outrage.'</blockquote>
<br />
There isn't a single word in those paragraphs that isn't horrifying to this modern reader. He physically restrains her. He kisses her against her consent and does so to shut her up. Nor is it a gentle kiss. He's condescending about all of it. Finally, he makes the ridiculous assumption that beautiful women desire that kind of sexual attention, but want to make him work for it. If anyone needs a primer on how rape culture works, this is pretty much it. Oddly though, Adam has a fairly veiled sexual relationship with an Evil Other Woman in the novel, but she remains largely unjudged for her behavior. One assumes that beautiful women who conform to his sexual expectations are excepted from his wrath. <br />
<br />
Of course, Adam hasn't really had a female role model in his life. His high-flying society mother left his dull, dreary, scientist father when he was very young. This seems to be held up as an explanation for his behavior, but also a the main sticking point in his personal development as human being. It's quite Oedipal really. Jensa suggests at one point that he should consider reconciling with his mother, which he eventually does, off-stage. And after that, his behavior changes. There's an ethos that even now permeates some romance novels: that the savage, uncontrollable male is tamed by the love of his heroine. That's not quite what happens here, not directly. At least, the change to his behavior seems to come from reconciling with his mother, though of course it's at Jensa's suggestion.<br />
<br />
Toward the end of the novel, Adam's gives Jensa full credit for her
contribution to both his conference presentation and an enormous win in
his efforts at whale habitat conservation. Though they part on bad terms
shortly before the end of the novel (yes, of course they get together
in the end), Adam includes Jensa's business contact information on his
conference materials even though he isn't obligated to. He and other men
are depicted as having quite a lot of respect for her professional
abilities. It was just as satisfying for me as a reader that Jensa earns
professional respect in the end as it was that she earns the sexy
scientist's love.<br />
<br />
<br />
There's some more fairly uncomfortable kissing that ranges from violent and expressly unwanted by Jensa to merely forward and only reluctantly abandoned by Adam (a total of four at my count). And yet, the last kiss in the novel tells a different story.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
He looked at her expectantly. Slowly, tentatively, he reached out to her again, and this time she did not resist. 'I love you, Adam. I love you so very much,' she whispered as he pressed her to him. He kissed her then in that way that brought her breath in short, exquisite gasps.<br />
<br />
...<br />
<br />
He brought her to him once again. There was silence in the room for long moments after that. Finally, as Adam withdrew his lips from a hungry caress of her neck, he whispered, 'You and I must go and do that sightseeing. A hotel room is decidedly not the place where we should be right now! Our time will come--and soon, my darling.'<br />
<br />
Yes, she thought, looking up at hi in wonder and in joy. She knew that neither he heart nor her body had betrayed her, after all, in urging her to love this man. With him, she would be safe and cherished, always.</blockquote>
<br />
So here's the thing: despite Adam's horrific attitudes early in the novel and the brutal kisses he inflicts on her (which of course she sort of likes even if she's loath to admit it even to herself), Sea Lightning was quite a good novel. Even though Adam's redemption happens very quickly, it's sufficiently complete (and has the additional factor of reconciling with his mother) that I actually sort of believe that they might really be alright together. There's also an amusing discussion of potential future children and how Jensa will continue to work while the kids are educated in a very the-world-will-be-your-classroom manner.<br />
<br />
In other words, Sea Lightning answers both sexual and professional questions for women in ways a modern reader, thanks to a broader acceptance of feminist principles, would never even think to ask them. While the perspectives on sex aren't modern ones by a long shot since the "loose woman" doesn't get the guy and the virtuous heroine does, and Jensa feels guilty about any desire she experiences throughout the novel, at least by the end the hero is respecting her sexual boundaries and acknowledging her professional competence.<br />
<br />
I'll be reading in chronological order throughout the summer so the next book on the list is Charlotte Lamb's Possession, a Harlequin Presents from 1979. Let's see if changing lines makes any difference to social mores or sexual content.<br />
<br />
And don't forget that readers can contribute to both my <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vBg824Z2iUXfjB_shzdPRN6HXMWyw6aWbiE_TaD58d0/edit" target="_blank">2U5S spreadsheet in a public Google doc</a> and the <a href="http://www.cooking-up-romance.com/2015/05/utterly-unscientific-summer-saturday.html" target="_blank">link party on the 2U5S main page</a>. Come, share the old category love. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18187344643700994108noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6144798075848314516.post-87198623038944626312015-05-22T12:08:00.001-04:002015-05-22T12:08:28.555-04:00Utterly Unscientific Summer Saturday Series Sex Survey #2U5S<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<br />
It's Memorial Day weekend here in the States which means the traditional start to the summer season is upon us at least culturally if not meteorologically. I haven't done so many essay-type posts lately, mostly because I've been trying to concentrate on improving my photos and recipes, but I sort of miss doing those more free-form pieces. And so when a question I asked on Twitter earlier this week seemed to spark some interest, I decided to go ahead and make a summer project of it.<br />
<br />
The question went more or less like this: When did sex start becoming a major feature of category (aka series) romance? I'd just read and reviewed <a href="http://www.cooking-up-romance.com/2015/05/roses-have-thorns-lasagna.html" target="_blank">Roses Have Thorns by Karen Leabo</a>, a Silhouette Romance from 1989, and there was hardly any sexual contact it in at all--just a few kisses and one over-the-blouse nipple pinching. It just got me wondering how we got from there (if there is really where it started, which we all had our doubts about, as you'll see below) to where we are now, which has some kind of sex from fade-to-black to explicit in most major category lines.<br />
<br />
According to a number of folks who have been around the romance business a lot longer than I have, it seems that the sex-on-page turning point happened long before 1989 and that the Silhouette Romance line or even that particular author chose to add none. Editor Jenny Haddon suggested that perhaps Sara Craven's 1979 Mills & Boon title Flame of Diablo had the first on-page sex while Sarah Frantz Lyons recalled that a significant first might have been a Violet Winspear book. I have the Craven on order and it should be here next week. I'll have to look into the Winspear thing though as the one I have of hers is from 1981. <br />
<br />
But it got me thinking on a larger scale about the sexual content of category romance novels and how we got from a few chaste kisses in the Harlequin Romances of the early 1970s to the current situation that can allow for <a href="http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/private-sessions-by-tori-carrington/" target="_blank">anal sex in some racier category lines</a>. And not just penis-in-vagina (PIV) sex--what about oral sex, masturbation and other forms of sexual touching? Since I love old category romances and have a bunch of them already laying around my house unread, I thought, well, wouldn't it be fun to do an utterly unscientific summer Saturday series sex survey (2U5S)?<br />
<br />
I'd love to find some more books outside the Harlequin Presents line, but currently I have a selection of 16 books with publication dates from 1979 to 1990. The reason I chose those dates is that it encompasses both Craven's 1979 book and a 1990 Anne Stuart book that lots of people seem to have found memorable for a particular oral sex scene. Though if I hear of a category/series romance with "full docking procedures" (Haddon's term, which cracked me up and that I will use ad nauseum so fair warning) that has an earlier publication date, I'll be happy to revise my criteria. Speaking of full docking procedures, I decided to define "sex" as orgasm achieved via manual, oral or genital stimulation. This may not be a good definition for sex in general, but it seemed a good enough definition for romance novel sex. If this were a real survey, I'd have to go into more detail about that and come up with a more clinical definition. But whatevs. Utterly unscientific.<br />
<br />
Thus far I have books published by Harlequin Presents, Harlequin Romance, Dell Candlelight, Loveswept and Silhouette Romance. I think many of the Harlequins I have are actually reprints of Mills & Boon titles so those would also qualify. I just don't often see them here in the US. I have two books each by Charlotte Lamb, Anne Mather and Iris Johansen, but the other authors are all unique. <br />
<br />
I have set up <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vBg824Z2iUXfjB_shzdPRN6HXMWyw6aWbiE_TaD58d0/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">a spreadsheet</a> to track my reading and the sexual content therein. In addition to basic identification data, I developed a few categories of sexual content as well as some additional data that seemed tangentially related like whether the characters are explicitly named virgins and the type of language used to describe sexual acts and body parts (vague: he entered her, euphemistic: his sword entered her sheath, and precise: his penis entered her vagina). The spreadsheet is public, meaning anyone can edit, so if you want to read along and have books that would qualify, feel free to add them. I just ask the following: no historicals, no single title romances, no books outside the prescribed time period and if you add a title from a line not named above or have a category romance with sex and an earlier publication date, please email me so I can add it to my own to-buy list. All the books I intend to read are on the spreadsheet though I may revise if I can balance out the publisher & author distribution via new purchases. Our weekend forays into the Virginia hinterlands tend to yield some pretty good category hauls.<br />
<br />
So...it's not completely unscientific, I guess. I'm a Virgo after all. I really can't help it.<br />
<br />
Anyway, tomorrow I'll post my first 2U5S book, Sea Lightning by Linda Harrel. No food, just romance. And my weird musings about the sexual content of 1980s-ish category romance.<br />
<br />
Finally, if you want to read along or pick up some other early-ish category romances (again, not single title, not historical, not books outside the date range of 1979 to 1990), I've included a blog link-up thing below. I'll link here from each of the review posts so if you want to read just one or a bunch over the course of the summer other folks interested in this stuff can find your post too. Feel free to link up GoodReads reviews, blog posts or articles. Just be sure only to link content written by you. Sorry, but I'll delete posts that don't conform to the guidelines above.<br />
<br />
<!-- start InLinkz script -->
<br />
<div class="InLinkzContainer" id="528067">
<a href="http://new.inlinkz.com/view.php?id=528067" rel="nofollow" title="click to view in an external page.">An InLinkz Link-up</a><br />
<br />
Happy summer! </div>
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<!-- end InLinkz script -->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18187344643700994108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6144798075848314516.post-77754069641504363942015-05-21T11:03:00.001-04:002015-05-21T11:18:08.820-04:00Beyond Innocence Bourbon-Sage Chicken Pot Pies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
OMG A BEYOND BOOK WITH FOOD IN IT.<br />
<br />
Sorry, just had to get that out of my system right up front. I'll explain in a bit.<br />
<br />
The Beyond series is a long-running Kit Rocha series and these aren't standalone books so forgive me if you haven't read any of them. You'll just have to go back to the beginning and read at least all the main novels, but that shouldn't be a hardship as I think these books are terrific and the first one is usually free at most ebook retailers. The series premise is a dystopian near future where a central capital city called Eden rules over the outlying Sectors, leaving scraps and desperation to the remainder of the area's population. We join the O'Kane gang, which distills and runs whiskey to Eden and the other Sectors, and their leader, Dallas O'Kane, in exploits both political and, frankly, sexual. These books are smoking hot, kinky, extra dirty and full of angst so, well, you've been warned.<br />
<br />
I've had some criticisms of this series in the past. Not major ones, but all the myriad characters having similar kinks had started to feel a little repetitive and unlikely five full-length books and almost as many novellas in. But with the most recent one, Beyond Innocence, two O'Kane outsiders get caught up in the larger political landscape Dallas has been forced by circumstance to take an interest in, bringing Jared, a high class male prostitute, and Lili, the widow of the brutal, late leader of another Sector into each other's orbits. Both are needing a change and healing and trying to figure out their place in the O'Kane hierarchy. It's a romance with a lighter touch than previous books and the kink is strictly limited to a surprisingly romantic fivesome, making Beyond Innocence one of the series stand-outs for me thus far.<br />
<br />
While Jared has about as much sexual experience as any human being ever, he has been playing the part of the debonair faux-suitor to Eden's female elite for so long that he doesn't know who he is any more. When his best fried Ace is injured during a fight, he decides the time for sitting on the sidelines has past and starts using his connections to help Dallas. Lili has been a trophy wife her entire life, spending her time drugged on her late husband's product. While she has physically escaped Sector Five, the freedom and pleasure to be found in Sector Four is completely outside her experience, to the point where she can't believe it's not just all an elaborate charade. The way these two find themselves and find each other via food and music and other very normal human pursuits is a departure, but a welcome one.<br />
<br />
It's totally possible to read these books as dirty, kinky, violent dystopian romance, focusing in on the O'Kane orgies and brutality. But that's not all they are. Beyond Innocence does a great job of thematically leading us into Book 7, <strike>which will be the last one of the series</strike> [EDITED TO NOTE: okay, so not the last one, just the last one that's currently up as "coming soon"]. The thing I have appreciated most about this series is the thorough exploration of femininity and masculinity, gently poking at the assumptions we make about the nature and scope of what we consider powerful. For example, Jared is perfectly capable of violence, but that's not where his true power lies--he specializes in information. And Lili has no capacity for violence at all, yet winds up solving a problem that the others can't, using her "trophy wife" knowledge and contacts to save the day. And throughout the book, her value to the O'Kane gang is that of someone who can actually cook, a traditionally under-appreciated "feminine" trait and task.<br />
<br />
The role of women in these books has significantly evolved since the first one. And Rocha seems to be leading us full-circle since one of the heroes in the seventh book is a doctor--a healer rather than a killer. I'm sure I'll have more thoughts about this at the series conclusion, but for now, for fans of the series, Beyond Innocence is a fabulous addition.<br />
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<br />
So Bree Bridges, one half of the "Kit Rocha" duo and I have joked a bit back and forth about the fact that their characters never eat. There are like two instances of actual food being consumed prior to Beyond Innocence and one of them is a burnt grilled cheese sandwich. So when I found out that Lili likes to cook, I was like this:<br />
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<br />
In the book, Jared gives Lili a piano, prompting her to make him cookies, then invite him to dinner. So one of the first meals she makes in the book is chicken pot pies, which sounded terrific to me. And for some reason, I woke up at four in the morning shortly after reading the book and the first thing that popped into my head on waking was these bourbon-sage chicken pot pies. Probably because of the while whiskey-running thing the O'Kanes have going on.<br />
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These basically worked out great the first time. I kept tasting the filling though and thinking, "Well, maybe just a little more bourbon." Because what couldn't use just a little more bourbon? I mean, right?<br />
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I've written the recipe below as if you'll be starting with raw chicken. But if you have leftover cooked chicken on hand or want to grab a rotisserie bird to speed up the process, you can totally do that. You could also use refrigerated or frozen pie crusts, but I also have a recipe here (with more bourbon in it, natch) to make them from scratch. So it's your choice really. But if you go the pre-prepared route, you'll need two crusts and you're still going to have to roll the out and cut them to fit your pot pie pans.<br />
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Though in case there is any doubt in your mind, these are totally freaking fantastic as written and well worth the (sorry, somewhat considerable) effort. So, so worth it.<br />
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<b>Bourbon-Sage Chicken Pot Pies </b><br />
Makes: Four 5" pot pies<br />
Time: 3 hours<br />
Difficulty: Intermediate<br />
<br />
<i>Crust</i><br />
<span class="quantity">2 1/2</span>
<span class="ingredient-name">cups all-purpose
flour</span><br />
<span class="quantity">1</span>
<span class="ingredient-name">teaspoon <span itemprop="name">salt</span></span>
<br />
<span class="quantity">1</span> <span class="ingredient-name">tablespoon <span itemprop="name">sugar</span></span>
<br />
<span class="quantity">12</span>
<span class="ingredient-name">tablespoons cold unsalted
butter (1 1/2 sticks),
cut into 1/4-inch cubes</span><br />
<span class="quantity">1/2</span> <span class="ingredient-name">cup <span itemprop="name">chilled solid vegetable</span>
shortening, cut into 4 pieces</span>
<br />
<span class="quantity">1/4</span> <span class="ingredient-name">cup bourbon, cold</span>
<br />
<span class="quantity">1/4</span> <span class="ingredient-name">cup ice <span itemprop="name">cold water</span></span>
<br />
<br />
<i>Filling</i><br />
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts<br />
2 cups chicken stock<br />
1 cup whole milk, room temperature<br />
3 tablespoons unsalted butter<br />
1/3 cup flour<br />
2 tablespoons bourbon<br />
salt & pepper to taste (I used 2 teaspoons salt & 1/2 teaspoon pepper, but I use unsalted homemade chicken stock so you may need more salt)<br />
<br />
2 tablespoons unsalted butter <br />
2 carrots, peeled and chopped<br />
1 parsnip, peeled and chopped<br />
1 small onion, chopped<br />
1 small russet potato, peeled and chopped<br />
3 sprigs sage, minced fine<br />
<br />
1. For the crust, process 1 1/2 cups flour, salt,
and sugar in food processor until
combined, about 2 one-second
pulses. Add butter and shortening
and process until crumbs start to collect into clumps, about 15
seconds (there should be no uncoated
flour). Scrape bowl with rubber
spatula and redistribute
dough evenly around processor
blade. Add remaining cup
flour and pulse until mixture is
evenly distributed around bowl
and mass of dough has been
broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses.
Empty mixture into medium bowl.<br />
<br />
2. Sprinkle bourbon and water
over mixture. With rubber spatula,
use folding motion to mix,
pressing down on dough until
dough is slightly tacky and sticks
together.<br />
<br />
3. Divide dough into
two balls, one slightly bigger than the other and flatten each
into 4-inch disk. Wrap each
in plastic wrap and refrigerate at
least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.<br />
<br />
<br />
4. For filling, poach the chicken breasts. Put the chicken breasts in a medium saucepan and cover almost to the top with water. Heat to a boil, then partially cover and turn down the heat until simmering. Cook for 12 minutes or until chicken juices run clear when pricked with a fork. Darin and and set chicken aside until cool enough to handle.<br />
<br />
<br />
5. In the same pan (no need to clean), melt 3 tablespoons unsalted butter over medium heat. Add 1/3 cup flour a bit at a time, whisking constantly. Allow to cook, still whisking, for about 30 seconds. Remove from heat. Whisk in chicken stock, making sure no lumps form. Whisk in milk. Return to heat and allow to cook until bubbles start to form and slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and whisk in bourbon. Chop up chicken and return to pan with sauce.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
5. In a medium frying pan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Add carrots, parsnip, potato and onion. Cook over medium heat for approximately 5 minutes, until onion is softened. Add sage and cook an additional 30 seconds. Add vegetables to chicken mixture.<br />
<br />
6. Preheat the over to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. <br />
<br />
<br />
7. Remove the crust from the refrigerator and, starting with the slightly larger ball, roll out on a floured surface, about 20" by 20". Turn one of your pot pie pans face down on the dough. Cutting about 3/4" of an inch away from the edge of your pot pie pans (I just eyeballed this). Repeat three more times and set aside with wax paper in between each circle. <br />
<br />
<br />
8. On a refloured surface, roll out the remaining dough and cut exactly around the edge of a pot pie pan, about 16" by 16". Repeat three more times.<br />
<br />
9. Press larger dough circles into pans, letting excess overhang the edge. Fill each pan with 10-12 ounces of the filling (this will somewhat depend on how large your chicken breasts and vegetables were and how much your sauce reduced while cooking--just try to make it pretty even). Top with smaller dough circles and crimp the edges together, rolling the excess in toward the center of the pan to create a good seal. Prick the top of each pie with a fork to let steam escape and place on a cookie sheet.<br />
<br />
10. Bake pot pies for 40-45 minutes until crusts are golden brown. (FYI, I took these out of their pans for photos, but I don't recommend that. They kinda...collapsed. Just leave them in the pan for serving.)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18187344643700994108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6144798075848314516.post-37748552498580339682015-05-20T09:17:00.002-04:002015-05-20T10:45:56.889-04:00Roses Have Thorns Lasagna 2015 TBR Challenge<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
It's TBR Challenge time again! This month's theme was "Kickin' it Old School", which is most definitely not a problem for me as the vast majority of my TBR pile is acquired via used bookstores and thrift stores and it would be a rare book that isn't more than ten years old. So I literally picked a random category off the stack and got to it.<br />
<br />
What I ended up with was Roses Have Thorns by Karen Leabo, a Silhouette Romance from 1989. I couldn't even find it on Amazon. I bought it in a thrift shop in the Shenandoah Valley. I've mentioned during TBR Challenge posts before that I really like old category romances. They're little 50,000 word snapshot of the progress of women's rights, romance novel history and changing social mores. I find them fascinating. But I've veered wildly between relatively recent Harlequin Blaze books and 1970s Harlequin Presents in the past. This may even have been my first Silhouette and I seem to have found another waypoint in the development of the modern romance novel with the 1989 publication date.<br />
<br />
When I read 1970s category romances, I know what to expect. It will be third-person limited perspective in the mind of the heroine. The hero will usually be mysterious, rich and opaque. There will be an interfering old relative who will eventually die and leave the heroine all their (sometimes questionable, sometimes considerable) wealth. There will be limited kissing, but no other sexual contact. This is all good. This is what I expect. But clearly sometime between 1979 and now, the contemporary category romance acquired, well, LOVIN'.<br />
<br />
In Roses Have Thorns, Rosalie DiMarco is a pastry chef in a fancy French restaurant when food critic Max Callaghan comes to do a review. When she appears at his table to make crepes suzette, she remembers, but he does not, that she once dropped a plate of lasagna in his lap while working as a server in her uncle's restaurant. She was forced to quit her job and her close-knit Italian family still bears a grudge against the man who "almost ruined" her uncle's business. Her and her family's resentment make up pretty much the entire conflict of the book. And it's a perfectly well-constructed, plausible plot. You might not think so if you're not Italian, but trust me, there isn't a thing that happens in this book that I couldn't see happening on the Italian side of my own family. All in all, though, it's not terribly angsty or remarkable. It's just a plot.<br />
<br />
The interesting elements of Roses Have Thorns come from its moment in romance history. First, the book is hopelessly dated through no fault of its own. With references to answering machines, yellow pages, rented beepers and something called a VDT that Max uses in his job (a computer thing? a printer thing? I really don't know.), the out-dated technology actually makes this book seem more dated than some of the 1970s categories I've read, just because those are largely technology-avoidant. Second, the perspective is updated here. We get inside the heads of both hero and heroine, sometimes within a couple paragraphs of each other (hello, head-hopping), but it does end up reading in a more modern way than earlier books, which are always confined to just heroine-perspective.<br />
<br />
But the biggest difference, and what surprised me most, was that there wasn't any sex in the book at all. There was some kissing, for sure. And more than in earlier category romances. But one touch of the hero's hand to the heroine's nipple sends them both scurrying for the hills. Even post-engagement, where I might have expected a brief, but sweet fade-to-black scene? Nothing. There are no allusions to sex being had at all except in the hero's attitude, which is that he must be emotionally involved with a woman before engaging in that level of physical intimacy. I don't get the impression that either of them are necessarily virgins, but neither does the book explicitly state one way or the other. The thing is, the whole question of sex feels like a Sword of Damocles hanging over the entire novel for this modern reader. I found myself thinking, "Now? Wait, no. Oh, now then? No. After the engagement party? No. Hm."<br />
<br />
This is entirely down to my own expectations and no fault of the author's, I'm sure. I'm almost certainly bumping up against some sharp transition in the way romances were conceived and written, possibly just within Silhouette's line, but also possibly an actual transition time? I don't know. I'm glad I read this for TBR Challenge though, where some real category romance experts may be able to help me out with an answer. <br />
<br />
Roses Have Thorns was a perfectly accept sweet romance with a well-plotted story and two characters with interestingly-complex family relationships. I don't know that I'd necessarily say run right out and get it, but if you're interested in a survey marker in the map of modern romance, it's a fine book with nothing problematic or objectionable in it. <br />
<br />
But please put my out of my misery! Just what was going on with the sex at Silhouette in 1989?<br />
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Practically from the first page of Roses Have Thorns, I knew I'd be making lasagna for this review. I mean, the flashback to Rose accidentally dumping an entire plate of lasagna in Max's lap the first time they met? That's just priceless.<br />
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Plus, a couple months ago, I shared my family recipe for homemade tomato sauce and this is agreat way to use a bunch of it. You don't have to use homemade here of course though. A large jar of store-bought will work just fine and that's honestly what I do normally.<br />
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And speaking of my family, this recipe is pretty funny because even though I'm a quarter Italian, this isn't a family recipe. Somehow I acquired this recipe from my college roommate, who is Canadian and a second-generation immigrant from Southern China. Her mother is the best cook ever, but she only cooks Chinese food. So I texted my roommate to find out where she got this recipe and it turns out that it came from her Baltimore Jew college ex-boyfriend who grew up in Baltimore's Little Italy. How the world turns.<br />
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I've put my own spin on it over the years though. The homemade sauce isn't anything we ever did in school, nor is the fresh mozzarella. And at the time, neither one of us cared for ricotta cheese so we usually used cottage cheese. That seems strange now as we both developed a taste for really good cheese of all types while living in DC during college via a little French bistro we liked to visit. And we frequently made a veggie version that substituted drained frozen spinach and sliced zucchini for the ground beef. I still do that sometimes at the height of summer. And if you want to do the cottage cheese substitution for more protein and less fat, you can use the same amount, just drain it well first.<br />
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And try really, really hard not to dump it in anyone's lap.<br />
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<br />
<b>Lasagna</b><br />
Makes: 12 servings<br />
Difficulty: Easy<br />
Time: 1 hour<br />
<br />
12 lasagna noodles<br />
cooking spray<br />
generous pinch salt<br />
1 pound ground beef <br />
32 ounces tomato sauce (either homemade or store-bought from a jar)<br />
1 pound fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced<br />
15 ounces ricotta cheese<br />
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese<br />
additional tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese (optional) <br />
<br />
1. Bring a large pot of water and the salt to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the lasagna noodles and cook according to package directions. If there is a range of times (i.e. 9-11 minutes), use the shorter time. When cooked, drain noodles in a colander and leave until cool enough to handle.<br />
<br />
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and spray a 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray.<br />
<br />
3. Over medium-heat heat, brown the ground beef (until no pink remains), about 6 minutes, draining off any fat that accumulates. Turn off heat. Add the tomato sauce and stir to combine.<br />
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4. In the prepared pan, put down a super thin layer of tomato sauce, just a 1/4 cup or so. Add the first layer of 4 noodles, overlapping the edges slightly. Cover with half the ricotta, then a third of the sauce, then a third of the mozzarella. Add the next layer of noodles, remaining ricotta, another third of the sauce and third of the mozzarella. Add the final layer of noodles, the remaining sauce, the remaining mozzarella and the grated Parmesan. <br />
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5. Bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes or until cheese is all melted and the sides are bubbling. Allow to rest of 10 minutes before slicing and serving, topping with additional tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese, if desired. <br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18187344643700994108noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6144798075848314516.post-28117087633826531982015-05-19T08:45:00.001-04:002015-05-19T08:45:14.765-04:00Joint Review of Grace Draven's Radiance & Entreat Me at The Immersed Reader + Giveaway Winner!<img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=coouprom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00HEKTLPO" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />
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A quickie post to say that I'm visiting with Ana Coqui at <a href="http://www.anacoqui.com/" target="_blank">Immersed in Books</a> today. We read Entreat Me and Radiance, both by Grace Draven and chatted about both books. I liked one better than the other. For what we thought about these fantasy romances, <a href="http://www.anacoqui.com/2015/05/joint-review-entreat-me-radiance-by-grace-draven.html" target="_blank">check out Ana's blog</a>.<br />
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Also, Blogiversary Week is over for the year and this morning I drew the winner of the $50 Amazon giftcard. Congratulations, Lorn L. You win! I'll be emailing soon to find out your ebook store preference.<br />
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And thank you again to everyone for reading and commenting and loving romance and food right along with me this past year. You're the best!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18187344643700994108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6144798075848314516.post-44031951750734751472015-05-15T11:10:00.001-04:002015-05-15T11:10:12.227-04:00Blogiversary Week Review: FIT Homemade Granola<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>If you still haven't <a href="http://www.cooking-up-romance.com/2015/05/first-blogiversary-thanks-giveaway.html" target="_blank">entered to win the Cooking Up Romance Blogiversary Week $50 Amazon gift car</a>d, you have just a couple more days! </b><br />
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From a narrative perspective, I've always thought that a personal trainer would make an excellent romance dominant. I mean, you have this person whose job it is to push physical and mental limits while still knowing when to back off so no one gets hurt. The best ones have a certain style: part encouragement, part toughness and applying both appropriately. And if there's the potential for physical attraction, often just a little bit of innocuous flirting. Unfortunately, a lot of BDSM romance seems to regard the role of the dominant as being an asshole who is maybe even vaguely threatening. Not that there isn't a place for that kind of story, but it's a little frustrating to see the same basic character repeated in every book. Rebekah Weatherspoon's FIT trilogy takes a different approach, making for a fresh sort of read.<br />
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In FIT, the first of a linked trilogy that saw its last book released this week, personal trainer Grant Gibson takes on Violet Ryan as a client after Violet has a horrible experience in a group fitness class that reduces her to tears. Violet is a producer on a foodie reality show and between her job and her friend Faye encouraging her to make bad lifestyle decisions, she's put on a bit more weight than she's comfortable with. But the fitness instructor recommends Grant as a personal trainer, wisely thinking that he might have an approach that will suit her.<br />
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There are a lot of things to love about this book. First, Grant isn't your typical romance dominant. Sure, he's in charge in the bedroom, but he's got the kind of self-assurance that is actually sexy versus the overbearing bossiness that seems more common in these types of books. He's less about barking orders than he is about rewarding good behavior and punishing bad behavior in a way that's both welcome to Violet and believable to the reader. And the way he uses sexual rewards to motivate Violet is super fun to read.<br />
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Another thing I loved about this book is that it displays some self-awareness that this is actually an ethically questionable scenario. It's not one that I personally have a lot of resistance to, but it was nice to see the issue addressed of whether the games they're playing together are appropriate in light of their professional relationship. And that tension resolves in an interesting way too.<br />
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Finally, FIT doesn't shy away from the difficulties inherent in portraying a woman who wants to lose weight. I thought there was a really good balance between her reality and her desires--it's a story that can come off as fat-shaming, but the way it was handled really worked for me.<br />
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FIT is a good, short read. Save it for the treadmill at the gym! Just...don't get too distracted and hurt yourself. Cuz parts of it are pretty...um...distracting. Hot stuff! I recommend it.<br />
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A few weeks ago, I did something I'd never really done before. I had this recipe I wanted to share and so I started asking around in Twitter for hippie romances, having grown up as a Bay Area kid who pretty much subsisted on fruit leather and granola. Not fruit roll-ups, those corn syrup filled parodies of food or chocolate-dipped chewy granola bars. Nope. The no-sugar-added stuff we could only buy at our health food co-op. But hippie romances are kinda few and far between. So I was super pleased when I tripped over a granola mention in FIT not too long after.<br />
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Homemade granola is a little bit time consuming because it has to cook for an hour and 15 minutes and you have to stir it every quarter hour, but it makes a pretty big batch and keeps for up to a month in a sealed container on the counter. And other than the time factor, it's super easy.<br />
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This may be only a "me" problem, but all the baking I do frequently leaves me with random ends of bags of nuts and dried fruit. Not enough to do anything substantial with, but it's not like they're roasted and salted so they're not super delicious on their own. I basically throw whatever tree nuts and dried fruit I have on hand into this granola. So it's super flexible. Basically whatever you like will probably work, though I'd chop up stuff like dried apricots, dates or figs. <br />
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And in a couple months, I'll show you something else you can do with this granola. But I'm gonna be super sneaky and cagey and not tell you what this is yet. Cuz it's a sekrit. Shhhhh.<br />
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<b>Homemade Granola</b><br />
Adapted from <a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/granola-recipe/index.html">Alton Brown's Granola Recipe</a><br />
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3 cups rolled oats<br />
2 cups whatever tree nuts happen to be on hand or on sale (slivered almonds, chopped walnuts, chopped pecans, hazelnuts or a combination)<br />
1/4 cup brown sugar<br />
1/4 cup maple syrup<br />
1/4 cup vegetable oil<br />
1/2 teaspoon salt<br />
1 cup dried fruit (raisins, blueberries, cranberries or a combination) OPTIONAL<br />
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1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.<br />
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2. In a large bowl, combine the oats, nuts and brown sugar. Stir well, making sure brown sugar is well incorporated.<br />
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3. Next add oil, maple syrup and salt. Pour onto 2 sheet pans. Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to achieve an even color. At the 15 minute ark, add the dried fruit (if using).<br />
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4. Remove from oven and transfer into a large bowl. Let cool and then cover tightly. Keeps up to one month tightly sealed.<br />
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<i>Disclosure: Rebekah Weatherspoon and I follow each other on Twitter, but I bought FIT for myself.</i><br />
<a href="http://www.piesandpuggles.com/2012/09/homemade-granola.html#ixzz3a1E05tS6"></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18187344643700994108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6144798075848314516.post-30284655484438491832015-05-13T07:29:00.000-04:002015-05-13T07:29:29.769-04:00Blogiversary Week: The Gag ReelIf you missed it the first two days of this week, it's Cooking Up Romance's first blogiversary! I'm celebrating by giving away a $50 Amazon Giftcard, <a href="http://www.cooking-up-romance.com/2015/05/first-blogiversary-thanks-giveaway.html" target="_blank">which you can enter to win here</a>. <br />
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If you've ever looked at one of my photos and thought, "Aw, how come my food doesn't look that good?!?" this post is for you. Because not everything works for me either. I just tend not to publish my failures. Although if you follow me on Twitter, you probably have a sense of how often I burn myself doing something stupid. It's...a lot.<br />
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Not every oops involves injury though and there has been a bloggy learning curve. For instance, whenever I open up the folder where I store all my Cooking Up Romance photos, right in the upper right hand corner--the first thing I see--is a folder entitled "all the f*cking tarts". You can probably guess how I was feeling by the time I finally published <a href="http://www.cooking-up-romance.com/2014/07/the-chocolate-thief-raspberry-tarts.html" target="_blank">my review of Laura Florand's book The Chocolate Thief</a>. Those sexy French pastry chefs sure set a high standard! But the main problem was that I hadn't figured out the settings on my camera yet and got, well, this.<br />
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In case you can't tell, that's out of focus, the color balance is wrong, the composition is terrible and the wrinkled placemat was a particularly nice touch, I thought. But I didn't look at the photos until we'd eaten all the tarts. I had to make them all over again in order to get better photos. I've gotten better, thank goodness! And lesson learned. Look at the photos BEFORE eating the food. <br />
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Then there are the recipes I love and everyone else hates.<br />
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Aren't those adorable little petit fours? When <a href="http://www.cooking-up-romance.com/2015/01/liberty-other-stories-smoked-tea-bbq.html" target="_blank">Alexis Hall's Liberty and Other Stories came out at the beginning of the year</a>, I made three batches of what I thought were going to be the perfect quirky petit fours. Unfortunately, I sent them to work with my husband and they were...well...just a little too quirky. Turns out nobody else liked the combination of Lapsang Souchong (a smoky flavored tea) and vanilla buttercream as much as I did.<br />
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Still pretty though. <br />
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Here's a fun one. I was super inspired by <a href="http://www.cooking-up-romance.com/2014/08/living-in-shadow-plantain-fritters.html" target="_blank">Jackie Ashenden's hero in Living in Shadow</a>. He's from West Africa originally and I thought it might be interesting to try making some traditional West African cuisine. I was drawn to a recipe on an ex-pat site that suggested making pepper sauce for plantain fritters out of 20 Scotch bonnet peppers. Not 2, but 20. Two. Zero. That's a shit ton of EXTREMELY HOT PEPPERS. <br />
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Um. I thought I was going to die. Or permanently kill off all my taste buds or something. I've got a pretty good tolerance for spice, but that one? Well, let's just say it exceeded it. The final recipe ended up with ONE Scotch bonnet pepper. And it was still pretty hot. OUCH.<br />
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Then there are the recipes that are delicious and perfect...and resemble a scene from Sweeney Todd. There have actually been several of these, the most egregious of which was the duck with citrus cherry port sauce I made for <a href="http://www.cooking-up-romance.com/2014/08/nurse-janice-calling-roast-duck-with.html" target="_blank">my review of 1960s romance Nurse Janice Calling</a>. Once you see the bloody pulp and blood spatters, you can't unsee it. Go ahead, thank me.<br />
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*insert horror movie sound effects here*<br />
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Finally, there was the time I dropped my phone onto a tray of just-piped meringue dessert cups. I didn't take a photo of that one though. You'll just have to take my word for it. My vast and creative vocabulary of four-letter and other not-for-polite-company words.<br />
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What about your impressive kitchen disasters? Come on--tell me about the time you set the stove on fire. (I've totally done it, just not in the past year.)<br />
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Confession time!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18187344643700994108noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6144798075848314516.post-42257574525049085892015-05-12T08:48:00.000-04:002015-05-12T08:48:03.389-04:00Blogiversary Week Review: Taken Honey-Pepper Salmon<br />
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<b>Don't forget to enter the <a href="http://www.cooking-up-romance.com/2015/05/first-blogiversary-thanks-giveaway.html" target="_blank">Cooking Up Romance Blogiversary Week Giveaway for a $50 Amazon Giftcard</a>! </b><br />
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Pretty much any romance involving a kinky bookseller is always going to get my vote. And if it's by Charlotte Stein? Double vote! Can we vote twice? Whatever, I just did.<br />
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Taken, a recent offering by Stein, features Rosie Callahan, a young woman still in college, and Johann William Weir, a rare book dealer. In a prank-gone-wrong, Rosie is captured by the bookstore owner and chained up in his basement, a setup that sounds completely sinister and is actually totally comedic.<br />
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There's a lovely counterpoint in this book between the devilish elements of dark romance and the vulnerability, insecurity and humor both hero and heroine display over the course of the book. Both of these characters are more capable and better wrapped than they think they are, especially when it comes to each other. It takes this absurd situation to allow them both to unlock desires they either didn't know they had or weren't comfortable indulging. Plus there's an age gap here, which is my favorite thing in romance.<br />
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But the best part of Taken is just how slyly it references those 80s and 90s historicals that feature the kidnapping of the heroine by the hero. In those books, the heroine is often an innocent, but feisty young virgin and the hero an experienced, powerful Highlander or pirate or whatever. I loved the heck out of those books in high school and often find myself, to some degree, chasing that high when I dip into older historicals. But what worked for me at 17 isn't the same as what works for me at 36. Now the consent issues in those books bother me, keeping me from being as fully immersed in the story and the romance as I'd wish.<br />
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Taken captures all of that dark, powerful older man magic, but gives him to a heroine who is equally experienced and comfortable with her sexuality, if not everything about her looks. And while she is in theory chained up against her will, it's crystal clear from very early on in the story that she is way on board with every element of their quirky, unspoken and un-analyzed role-playing. It's the hero who is ambivalent about the things he wants, needing the heroine's push to indulge his darkest fantasies. It's the first time I've experienced a modern writer evoking the same feel of those barbarian encounters, never mind in a contemporary, without turning the heroine into a push-over or the hero into an ass. And doing it in a way that didn't conflict at all with my desire for the heroine's enthusiastic consent. <br />
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So the bottom line is that I adored Taken. It's a story with a new plot and an old feel, told in the inimitable style of one of contemporary romance's most interesting writers. It's even way more romantic than it had any right to be, what with the bubble baths and wine the and hacksaws and handcuffs. A thoroughly engaging, surprising and, of course, sexy read.<br />
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This recipe has absolutely nothing to do with the book. The couple do actually eat, um, something, I think? But when I discovered that hero was loosely based on the character Monroe from the television show Grimm (an homage more than a literal representation since Monroe is, like, a vegan werewolf and Johann...isn't), I absolutely had to share my very favorite ever salmon recipe, one I've been making for years.<br />
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One of the very memorable early scenes involving the Grimm character has him insisting on getting the recipe for "honey-pepper cedar plank vegan salmon" from the main character's girlfriend as a terribly ineffective diversionary tactic. It's a very awkward scene and reminded me a lot of how Johann acts in Taken. And seriously, if you haven't seen the show, he makes the whole thing.<br />
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Monroe, like Johann is such a delicious combination of competence, knowledge, experience and utter fumbling awkwardness that's it's impossible for me to completely separate the two. Knowing the inspiration for the character and Grimm being my one of my favorite television shows made this book all the more fun for me.<br />
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As for the recipe, it's crazy easy. Just a simple pan-fried salmon and a honey-cayenne pepper sauce that goes well with pretty much any kind of fish, veggies and (my favorite) as a dipping sauce for sweet potato fries. So if you have any left over or just want to make salmon for two, you might consider making the full sauce amount. I keep in it in the fridge in a squeeze bottle and put it on everything. <br />
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Oh, and this is a pretty intensely spicy sauce so if you're a person who likes things a little less hot, cut the cayenne pepper in half. You've been warned!<br />
<br />
<b>Honey-Pepper Salmon</b><br />
<i>adapted from</i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0965327523/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0965327523&linkCode=as2&tag=coouprom-20&linkId=KN27PCG354GZU2GQ">InterCourses: An Aphrodisiac Cookbook</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=coouprom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0965327523" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
Makes: 4 servings<br />
Difficulty: Easy<br />
<br />
4 6-ounce salmon filets <br />
2 tablespoons olive oil<br />
1/4 teaspoon salt<br />
1/8 teaspoon pepper<br />
<br />
2 tablespoons olive oil<br />
2 tsp minced garlic (about 4 cloves) <br />
1/4 cup honey<br />
1/4 cup Dijon mustard<br />
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (for a less spicy sauce, use 1 teaspoon)<br />
1 teaspoon ground coriander<br />
1/4 cup lemon juice<br />
<br />
1. Salt and pepper the salmon filets. In a medium-sized skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat until shimmering and fragrant. Starting naked side up if your salmon filets have skin, cook salmon for about 5-6 minutes each side for 1-inch thick filets. If yours are thicker or thinner, they may require more or less time.<br />
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2. In a small saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for about 30 seconds or until fragrant. Add honey, mustard, cayenne pepper and coriander, whisking to combine. Remove from heat and whisk in and lemon juice. When salmon is done, drizzle a tablespoon or two over each filet and serve. <br />
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<i>Disclosure: Charlotte Stein and I follow each other on Twitter, though I bought Taken for myself.</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18187344643700994108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6144798075848314516.post-75054536125590773102015-05-11T10:58:00.001-04:002015-05-11T10:58:12.631-04:00First Blogiversary Thanks & Giveaway<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
There's something about milestones that get people thinking. And thanking. There's nothing inherently different this week than any other week, except that now I've been writing Cooking Up Romance for a full year as of May 10th. Oh, and I'm doing a giveaway this week to say thanks for reading! Scroll down for that.<br />
<br />
I never imagined how readily and warmly I'd be accepted into this weird little community we call Romland. But right from the beginning, writers <a href="http://www.sharislade.com/" target="_blank">Shari Slade</a>, <a href="http://alexandrahaughton.com/" target="_blank">Alexandra Haughton</a> and <a href="http://amyjocousins.com/" target="_blank">Amy Jo Cousins</a> befriended my little egg self on Twitter with zero followers and zero clue. Since then I've started beta reading for Shari (which is literally the best thing about this whole blogger-reviewer business), bonded over musical theater with Lexi and spent many happy Thursday evenings rewatching West Wing with Amy Jo and my #westwingclub buddies.<br />
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I've become fast friends with reviewers <a href="https://twitter.com/cmhepp" target="_blank">Maria Rose</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/anacoqui" target="_blank">Ana Coqui</a>, sharing the ups and downs of life, of good books and bad ones. You gals keep me (reasonably) sane.<br />
<br />
Writers <a href="http://authoremmabarry.com/" target="_blank">Emma Barry</a> and <a href="http://amberbelldene.com/" target="_blank">Amber Belldene</a> have been invaluable in beta reading the essays and guest posts I've written over the past year, pointing out flaws in my logic and writing and alerting me to on-coming cliffs to avoid. And <a href="http://meganmulry.com/" target="_blank">Megan Mulry</a> for always making me feel like I have something to say that matters.<br />
<br />
Seeing a photo of <a href="https://twitter.com/SarahFrantz" target="_blank">Sarah Frantz Lyons'</a> beautiful tattoos on Twitter brought me her profound wisdom and intelligence. This year would have been a much sadder one without her friendship, not the least because that acquaintance brought me a newfound love of queer romance. And shortly thereafter <a href="http://www.quicunquevult.com/" target="_blank">Alexis Hall</a>, whose books and whose insights on the romances we read together for AAR have enriched my soul. And sometimes left me laughing in a heap on the floor.<br />
<br />
And finally, <a href="https://twitter.com/mostlybree" target="_blank">Bree Bridges</a>, who brought me Dragon Age. Nuff said.<br />
<br />
I've also discovered buckets full of new-to-me writers over the past year--most notably <a href="http://www.delphinedryden.com/" target="_blank">Delphine Dryden</a>, <a href="http://authorcarolyncrane.com/" target="_blank">Carolyn Crane</a>, <a href="http://www.roselerner.com/" target="_blank">Rose Lerner</a>, <a href="http://kjcharleswriter.com/" target="_blank">KJ Charles</a> and <a href="http://www.jeffekennedy.com/" target="_blank">Jeffe Kennedy</a>--whose very different, but brilliant romances remind me of the enormous potential of this genre every time I pick one up.<br />
<br />
Also fun has been the guest posts I've both been invited to write and foisted upon people. I did <a href="http://wonkomance.com/2015/01/20/how-i-stopped-worrying-and-learned-to-love-alpha-males-a-guest-post-by-elisabeth-lane/" target="_blank">a post for Wonkomance</a>, one of my very favorite romance blogs. I've guest posted several times with Alexis on <a href="http://www.likesbooks.com/blog/" target="_blank">All About Romance</a>, an amazingly long-lived and positive community of romance lovers, bloggers and commenters that continues to be my go-to place for reviews and best-of lists of every kind of romance. I wrote about February's Popular Romance conference at the Library of Congress for <a href="http://romancenovelsforfeminists.blogspot.com/2015/02/marrying-for-money-financial.html" target="_blank">Romance Novels for Feminists</a>, the blog that got me into blogging in the first place, which then got picked up on <a href="http://teachmetonight.blogspot.com/2015/02/thoughts-inspired-by-conference-race.html" target="_blank">Teach Me Tonight</a>, the blog for popular romance academics, which still feels like a crazy huge honor because those people are just so darn smart. And I got to do <a href="http://www.rtbookreviews.com/blog/81876/cooking-romance-valentines-day" target="_blank">a Valentine's Day menu for the Romantic Times website</a>, which still kinda makes my eyes bug out of my head. <br />
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None of this would be possible of course without my husband, who puts up with my annoying extroverted-thinker tendencies when I have to tease out a particular post, Chipotle runs when I've got a book I absolutely must finish or when it gets too dark to take photos of whatever I had intended to serve for dinner and the occasional repeat of a meal three days in a row while I refine my recipes. Oh, and his coworkers, who eat all the baked goods so I don't have to. I love you, darling. And sorry, yes, we're having salmon again tonight.<br />
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Last, but not least, it brings me such joy to see people pick up the books I've recommended and try the recipes I've invented. Your tweets and comments are what keeps this fun for me. So all my thanks to readers new and old.And to show just how much I like all of you, I'm giving away a $50 Amazon gift card. This giveaway is available worldwide and can be transmuted to a giftcard to the ebook retailer of your choice, which I'll work out with the winner, to be chosen at random at 11:59 pm EDT on May 18th, which gives you a whole week to enter!<br />
<br />
<a class="rcptr" data-raflid="ce1d0daf3" data-template="" data-theme="classic" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/ce1d0daf3/" id="rcwidget_q2cgegyy" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a><br />
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<i>Cake photo above from this post about <a href="http://www.cooking-up-romance.com/2014/10/queer-romance-month-rainbow-cake.html" target="_blank">Queer Romance Month</a>. </i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18187344643700994108noreply@blogger.com50tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6144798075848314516.post-60101761829689574102015-05-08T07:46:00.000-04:002015-05-08T08:30:56.631-04:00AAR Guest Post + Next #DCRom Gathering + Sweet Disorder Pound Cake<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
Just popping in today to say that <a href="http://www.likesbooks.com/blog/?p=16151" target="_blank">my monthly joint review with Alexis Hall is up at All About Romance today</a>. We rave over Rose Lerner's Sweet Disorder and, as I mentioned in our review, I just couldn't get over how much amazing food is in it. I've already used it as inspiration for three different recipes, but since <a href="http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2010/11/brown-bread-ice-cream-recipe/" target="_blank">one wasn't mine</a> and one was only very loosely inspired by the book, today I'm sharing pound cake.<br />
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But first, a group of Washington, DC adjacent romance-loving folks have decided to get together once a month in person to eat, drink and chat about the books we love. I've hashtagged it #DCRom on Twitter, which is super uninspired, but works, I guess. The plan is to get together on the third Tuesday of every month at Northside Social, the coffeehouse and wine bar in Arlington, Virginia. The next one will be Tuesday, May 19th from 6-8 pm. If you want reminders closer to the date, email or tweet me and I'll add you to my totally ad hoc list that will not be used for any other purpose but reminding folks of gatherings.<br />
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And now, pound cake.<br />
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One of the more amusing aspects of Sweet Disorder is when confectioner Mr. Moon, the heroine's prospective Whig groom, tries to tempt the sweet-averse Phoebe into trying his various treats. One of those is a pound cake that he describes as tasting of tea and lavender with a lemon glaze. Lucky for me, I happen to have had <a href="http://www.cooking-up-romance.com/2014/12/a-matter-of-disagreement-lavender-earl.html" target="_blank">some leftover lavender sugar from making these cookies</a>, a bag of Black Dragon Pearl tea that's been hanging out in my cupboard since December and a notion for a light lemon syrup that would work kind of like basting a fruitcake in alcohol. <br />
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I have no illusions that this is in any way historically accurate. But that's never been my goal. But what came out of the oven on the very first try was something like a cup lavender black tea flavored with lemon, albeit in cake form. I had no notion it would work on the first try and I didn't take pictures.<br />
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So I had to make (and eat) it again. I swear. Such hardships I endure for you people.<br />
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<b>Lavender and Black Tea Pound Cake with Lemon Glaze</b><br />
Makes: 12 servings<br />
Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes<br />
Difficulty: Easy<br />
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1 1/4 cups granulated sugar<br />
2 heaping tablespoons black tea<br />
1/2 teaspoon culinary lavender <br />
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour<br />
1 teaspoon baking powder<br />
1/2 teaspoon salt<br />
<br />
4 eggs<br />
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract<br />
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) melted unsalted butter<br />
cooking spray<br />
parchment paper<br />
<br />
1/2 cup powdered sugar<br />
2 tablespoons lemon juice<br />
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1. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray, line with parchment sized to fit the pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. <br />
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In a food processor, combine sugar, tea and lavender and run until tea is pulverized--not dust, but no big pieces either. Add flour, baking powder and salt and pulse to combine. Add eggs ones at time, pulsing to combine. Add vanilla extract. Remove to large bowl.<br />
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2. Add melted butter and mix until just combined. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth the top. Cook for 50-55 minutes until a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean.<br />
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3. Mix powdered sugar and lemon juice until combined. Set aside.<br />
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4. Allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Unmold the cake and poke holes in it all over with the skewer. Baste the cake on all sides with a pastry brush until the syrup is used.<br />
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5. Allow to cool completely, then slice and serve.<br />
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<i>Disclosure: Rose Lerner and I have a friendly relationship on Twitter, but I bought Sweet Disorder myself.</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18187344643700994108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6144798075848314516.post-20916358065104978912015-05-04T07:53:00.001-04:002015-05-04T07:53:38.862-04:00The Big Heat Coca-Cola Slow Cooker Pork BBQ Sandwiches<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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I was looking for a comfort read the other day and for some inexplicable reason, this old category romance came to mind. I read it over and over for a few months, but I got over it and eventually got rid of it with the rest of my books from what I now refer to as The Great Blaze Binge of 2008. I didn't even remember the title or the author, just that it featured a bounty hunter in a black t-shirt and a hot kiss where the hero backs the heroine into a closet door. Luckily that was sufficiently specific that I was able to turn up The Big Heat by Jennifer LaBreque.<br />
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Heroine Sunny Templeton is running for Memphis city council when the guy she's running against pulls a photo of her in a bikini off an internet dating site and uses it to brand her a party girl. She loses the election and her reputation is damaged, but it's not until he waves to her sarcastically from his brand new Cadillac that he really gets under his skin. And she rams him with her car. Sunny is smart, sexy and the owner of her own web design business. If she has any flaws, they're endearing. Normally this would drive me up a wall, but she's just so darn likeable. <br />
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Hero Cade Stone works in the family business, which just happens to be bail bonds. When his younger brother backs a skeezy poltician in the Memphis city council race to get them some publicity, and said skeezy politician undertakes some dirty tactics to win the race, Cade feels guilty. So when Sunny's sister stops in to post bail to get Sunny out of jail, but can't stay to finish the deed, Cade agrees to go across the street and pick her up. But his protective instincts are riled and circumstances conspire to send Sunny home with him to his house.<br />
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There are some hilariously goofy things about this book that could never happen anywhere but Harlequinland. It's all coincidence, temper tantrums, unlikely family dynamics and alphamale shenanigans. But it's hard to care. Because what these characters lack in depth, they make up for in charm. And if the conflict is a little too readily resolved and the courtship a little speedy (first kiss to marriage proposal in 2.5 weeks), it has enough redeeming moments that none of that bothered me.<br />
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Cade is exactly the kind of alpha hero I can get behind. He's loyal, caring and protective of both his family and his heroine. He restores muscle cars, drives a yellow Corvette, dresses all in black, catches baddies and buys crotchless lingerie (for her). He's strong and a little bossy, but not overbearing. Just enough to make for some hot alphasex scenes, complete with caveman carry, but not so much that he runs roughshod over Sunny. Sunny is smart, funny and resourceful. She may go home with Cade when her lawn is overrun with reporters, but she has her own car towed, calls her lawyer, changes her phone number and gets her work done all on her own. There's also a spiritual overtone to the entire book--with animal totems and hints at clairvoyance--not precisely paranormal, but a little mystical. I rather enjoyed it.<br />
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I enjoyed it enough that I'm inspired to go back to some more of the Blaze books I remember loving--Lori Wilde was a particular favorite as I recall and I bought the first of these Big, Bad Bounty Hunters by Rhonda Nelson as well. I'll see if any of the rest of them hold up. Maybe not every book has to be so deep and serious all the time, yeah?<br />
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Speaking of everything not having to be so deep and serious, I was tempted to scrap this recipe when it didn't completely knock my socks off. The thing is though, my friends liked it just fine and everyone ha<u>d</u> at least seconds, if not thirds. Five people (mostly guys, but still) ate three and a half pounds of pork. Sometimes the great is the enemy of the good. That said, I made it again, doubling the spices until it met my standards. <br />
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With <a href="http://www.cooking-up-romance.com/2015/01/liberty-other-stories-smoked-tea-bbq.html" target="_blank">the BBQ sauce I made for my review of Alexis Hall's Liberty and Other Stories</a> (stashed in the freezer for a couple months) and a simple sandwich-style coleslaw, the full effect is appealing. This isn't contest-winning pork barbeque, but made in a crockpot, served with a five-minute vinegar-based coleslaw and letting the sauce be the star? It worked.<br />
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If you're wondering what the connection is, The Big Heat is set in Memphis, home of serious tomato-based BBQ sauce, and the hero and heroine stop for BBQ takeout when he rescues her from jail. By the way, how much do I love that the heroine gets thrown in jail? So much. Why can't more romance heroines be temporarily incarcerated? It's certainly a new angle on the damsel in distress.<br />
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Finally, this isn't really a coleslaw designed to be eaten on its own. It's a condiment, not a side dish. Which is good because I don't even like coleslaw. At least not creamy, American-style coleslaw. I'd be open to suggestions though. Who has a favorite coleslaw recipe?<br />
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<b>Coca-Cola Slow Cooker Pork BBQ and Five-Minute Sandwich Slaw</b><br />
Makes: About 12 sandwiches<br />
Difficulty: Easy<br />
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2.5-3.5 pound bone-in pork half shoulder<br />
3 tablespoons brown sugar<br />
4 teaspoons smoked paprika<br />
2 teaspoons dry mustard<br />
1 teaspoon cumin<br />
2 teaspoons crushed red pepper<br />
1/2 teaspoon turmeric<br />
2 teaspoons garlic salt<br />
1 teaspoon black pepper<br />
3 tablespoons vegetable oil<br />
2 12-ounce cans Coca-Cola<br />
12 soft white or wheat hamburger buns<br />
1/2 cup tomato-based <a href="http://www.cooking-up-romance.com/2015/01/liberty-other-stories-smoked-tea-bbq.html" target="_blank">BBQ sauce </a><br />
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8 ounces pre-shredded, bagged coleslaw mix<br />
1/2 teaspoon celery seed<br />
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar<br />
1/2 teaspoon salt<br />
1 tablespoon sugar <br />
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1. In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, smoked paprika, dry mustard, cumin crushed red pepper, turmeric, garlic salt and black pepper. Coat pork shoulder with spice mixture, patting to adhere.<br />
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2. Heat oil over medium heat until hot, but not smoking. Sear pork on each side, 1-2 minutes. Reove pork to crock pot and drain off the fat, leaving any browned bits. Deglaze the pan with the Coca-Cola and pour the mixture into the crock pot with the pork. Set slow cooker to low and cook for 8-10 hours.<br />
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3. At some point before the pork is done, combine coleslaw mix, celery see, red wine vinegar, salt and sugar in a medium bowl and mix to combine, refrigerating until ready to use.<br />
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4. When the pork is done, shred it using tongs or two forks and remove to a bowl. Serve each sandwich with a heaping helping of pork, a spoonful of coleslaw and a tablespoon of <a href="http://www.cooking-up-romance.com/2015/01/liberty-other-stories-smoked-tea-bbq.html" target="_blank">your favorite BBQ sauce</a>. <br />
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<i>Disclosure: Unusually, for recent reviews, I don't know Jennifer LaBreque from Adam and I bought this book myself.</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18187344643700994108noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6144798075848314516.post-60385122240616374372015-04-07T09:01:00.000-04:002015-04-07T09:01:00.144-04:00Living in Secret Lamb Tagine<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmSViST3V7QCw9DqkwUfzpfaOPRwNwt3LwGCbBXG5ycGvkrEV4gq6Gb20x70mGTuOnKAKAJh5b5pMbrbYPkuRFl97q2PvTBM0m4GvvLj2PhrUSMMZTf2DWKPw8V38gpfCFDLWT4znSVTo/s1600/living-in-secret-lamb-tagine-header.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmSViST3V7QCw9DqkwUfzpfaOPRwNwt3LwGCbBXG5ycGvkrEV4gq6Gb20x70mGTuOnKAKAJh5b5pMbrbYPkuRFl97q2PvTBM0m4GvvLj2PhrUSMMZTf2DWKPw8V38gpfCFDLWT4znSVTo/s1600/living-in-secret-lamb-tagine-header.jpg" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Q19NNCG/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00Q19NNCG&linkCode=as2&tag=coouprom-20&linkId=ULDOS6X7CNE5NVAZ">Living in Secret</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=coouprom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00Q19NNCG" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> is the third book of Jackie Ashenden's Living In series. Typical of Ashenden, the emotional intensity is off-the-charts. But what I love about her books is that it isn't ever just angst for angst's sake. She's not afraid to give her characters serious problems and genuine personality flaws. Her heroines aren't just a little clumsy. Her heroes aren't still mourning the girl who broke up with them in college (or, maybe they are but that's generally the least of their problems). Her characters navigate difficulties like addiction and abuse.<br />
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In Living in Secret, Connor and Victoria are still married, barely. They've been separated for over a year, the result of distance created by not ever being completely honest with one another. They're each keeping a big secret that has allowed them the emotional distance they need to cope with life, but unfortunately also took a toll on their marriage.<br />
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This distance has also manifested in their sex life, which has been active, but hardly passionate. They need a dramatic break-through and one is provided via a friend of the previous book's hero: a threesome resets Connor and Victoria's expectations and opens the door to a week's worth of uninhibited sexual exploration. The physical intimacy the characters experience also breaks down their emotional barriers and eventually brings them back together.<br />
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I wrote a few weeks ago about <a href="http://www.cooking-up-romance.com/2015/03/love-in-broken-places.html" target="_blank">the cleansing power of confession in romance and in life</a> as it relates to this book so I don't need to go into all that again in detail here, but this is a powerfully redemptive story and will be a satisfying read for any fan of the marriage-in-trouble trope. And I'm not giving anything away when I say that any lover of erotic romance will also find lots of things to love about Living in Secret. It's crazy hot. I've been a fan of Ashenden for while, but she has really come into her own with this series. Every book has been everything I love about how romance can be. I can only hope Connor and Victoria's threesome partner in this book eventually gets one of his own. Though he seems curiously well-adjusted for an Ashenden hero. Maybe we'll get to see something new from her? Or maybe he has secrets of his own... I hope we get to find out.<br />
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I've had a long-running less-than-serious gripe about Jackie Ashenden's books. She doesn't feed her characters. Like, ever. Oh, she'll let them order food. Or go in search of food. Or pull food out of the fridge. But before they have a chance to eat it, they always fight. Or have sex. Or have sex and then fight. It's a thing.<br />
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So when Connor and Victoria actually sit down at a table and eat lamb tagine, I knew it would be an important moment. And whoo boy. It was a doozie. I'm not giving spoilers because it's a relatively new book, but, yeah. It's crucial. And it happens over food. I was pretty excited.<br />
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I love making up recipes, tweaking food until it's just perfect. But sometimes it's nice to just cook.<br />
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I'd never made anything like this lamb tagine before so I pulled up a recipe online and just made that using a leg of lamb I had my butcher carve off the bone and cut into chunks for me. Having a real butcher nearby is great. Not only was he willing to do a little bit of the prep work, he also used a bone saw to cut the bone in half. I then boiled it and made lamb stock for my freezer.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie20v4CCP6Q6IruIqCnq4WZZsZxPgiKsvBq9aXqVWjzVduyqSSqWvt1VfwTHCZWsOWcDcQIxvWjuYlUe-rjui9RnaQaGWLllC2navVN1uUY00S8C0cTYWay752f2Ofu-9C9TV6zvPRCKI/s1600/DSC_0077.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie20v4CCP6Q6IruIqCnq4WZZsZxPgiKsvBq9aXqVWjzVduyqSSqWvt1VfwTHCZWsOWcDcQIxvWjuYlUe-rjui9RnaQaGWLllC2navVN1uUY00S8C0cTYWay752f2Ofu-9C9TV6zvPRCKI/s1600/DSC_0077.jpg" /></a>I think if I made this recipe again, I'd tweak it a little, mainly because the long cooking time mellows out the flavors more than seemed appropriate. I'd jack up the cayenne for sure. And maybe try it out in the crockpot instead of marinating it overnight. If I do, I'll add a note here in the future.<br />
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But, like I said, sometimes it's nice to just cook.<br />
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<a href="http://allrecipes.com/recipe/lamb-tagine/" target="_blank">Lamb tagine from All Recipes</a>. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18187344643700994108noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6144798075848314516.post-18459687408656193062015-04-06T09:24:00.000-04:002015-04-06T12:29:52.887-04:00Guest Post, Disclosure and Carmelized Onion & Brie Pizza<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Alexis Hall, Dabney Grinnan and I are at <a href="http://www.likesbooks.com/blog/" target="_blank">All About Romance</a> today with <a href="http://www.likesbooks.com/blog/?p=15867" target="_blank">a glowing review of Against the Dark by Carolyn Crane</a>. I can't believe it took me so long to read one of her books, particularly after last year's RITA win. I already started the second one, but got sidetracked by other commitments. I can't wait to get back to it! There was also carmelized onion and brie pizza in this book that I just HAD to try out so I'm giving readers a bonus recipe today too so just scroll down for that. And head over to <a href="http://www.likesbooks.com/blog/?p=15867" target="_blank">All About Romance</a> for the review.<br />
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As long as I'm here though, I wanted to say a few things about trust and relationships and make sure that I'm being as transparent as I can be. It shouldn't be any kind of secret by now that Alexis and I are friends who chat pretty often since we review together once a month, but I have plenty of relationships like that with other authors too. All those relationships are disclosed in the body of review posts as I don't avoid my friends' books. <a href="http://www.cooking-up-romance.com/2015/02/fandom-versus-criticism.html" target="_blank">I've talked about this before</a> so I hope that's not news. In many cases, I became friendly with authors after reviewing a book of theirs for the first time so the first post about an author might not have that sort of disclosure.<br />
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It's a peculiarity of reviewing the way I do (a creative interpretation of another creative's work) that these relationships typically develop unbidden and I've not seen a reason to resist them. But it means that my blog has never been and will never be a "reader's haven" in the same way other review blogs are. If you're looking for that, <a href="http://wendythesuperlibrarian.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Wendy the Super Librarian</a>, <a href="http://missbatesreadsromance.com/" target="_blank">Miss Bates Reads Romance</a>, <a href="http://winterfell.blogs.com/immersedreader/" target="_blank">Immersed in Books </a>and <a href="http://feministfairytalereviews.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Feminist Fairytale Reviews</a> are a few of my personal favorites. <br />
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In addition to maintaining friendly relationships with a pretty wide range of authors, editors and other reviewers via Twitter and email, I also do a fair bit of beta reading, which I also disclose when I review those authors. Sometimes my involvement is slight (proofing a food-related scene), sometimes it's more extensive (reviewing a manuscript at several points pre-publication). I will always say I beta-read the book in these cases, or if I have beta-read for the author in the past. I really genuinely love helping my friends with their books--it's one of the unexpected joys of having come to romance reviewing--so I don't ever want to give that up.<br />
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Finally, as far as my own ambitions are concerned, I have no plans to write romance fiction. That said, and I'm guessing this won't be a surprise to many given how many times I've been asked if I'd ever write a romance-related cookbook one day, I would like to write a cookbook. Someday. And I have no idea yet what shape that might take. If I ever do, it will be under the name Elisabeth Lane, which is a pen name and the only name under which I have ever written and ever will write anything remotely related to the romance genre. I've never been careful about privacy under my given name and when I started reviewing, I thought it best not to be quite so obviously easy to find, hence the pen name. If I ever change my mind and start publishing anything romance-related under my given name or any other pen name, I will disclose it.<br />
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Sorry for the serious turn, but I thought it was important to make sure all that was out in the open in the wake of the events of the last few weeks. So let's get to cooking without further delay!<br />
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This recipe definitely falls under the heading of "not pretty, but sooo delicious". I mean, just look at those lumps of brie! My husband assures me that artisan pizzas pretty much all look like this now and I know he's right--globs of real mozzarella, ricotta, etc.--but I can't help but wish it were just a little less beige. It's alright though. The flavor more than makes up for the humble visual.<br />
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Have we talked about pizza dough? I'm not sure we have. But when carmelized onion & brie pizza popped up in Carolyn Crane's Against the Dark, I just knew I had to try it out. I make homemade pizza about once a week. I mix up a <a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/jamie-oliver/pizza-dough-recipe.html" target="_blank">huge batch of dough</a> once every month or two and freeze each lump individually wrapped in plastic wrap and put all together in a freezer bag. It works pretty well and I always have pizza dough for a quick weeknight meal.<br />
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This recipe is a bit more time-intensive than my normal weeknight pizzas just because I'm aware of no way to speed up the process of carmelizing onions. It takes 30-40 minutes no matter what you do. That lovely caramel-sweet flavor just takes a while to develop. I use Julia Child's method of carmelizing onions, which I'll describe below. If you don't have a copy of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375413405/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0375413405&linkCode=as2&tag=coouprom-20&linkId=H4VVRJSG3YJSIVTH">Mastering the Art of French Cooking</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=coouprom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0375413405" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />, I'm not really sure what to say you besides, "Get one."<br />
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I served this pizza with a pile of argula in a super simple dressing of oil & champagne vinegar with honey and a tiny bit of salt of salt and pepper. Oh, <a href="http://www.cooking-up-romance.com/2014/07/honey-tasting-for-honey-champagne.html" target="_blank">basically this recipe</a> from my review of the Ruthie Knox book Truly. The brie makes this pizza quite filling so the light salad was plenty adequate as a side.<br />
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I don't suppose I need to make a case for the pizza, but I will. The slow-cooked onions and creamy brie with an underlying hint of Herbes de Provence was completely delectable, as I suspected it would be. Piling the arugula on top of a pizza slice was a pretty darn good move too. You should probably only make this for someone you really like a lot.<br />
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<b>Carmelized Onion & Brie Pizza</b><br />
Makes: 2-3 servings<br />
Time: 1 hour<br />
Difficult: Intermediate<br />
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12-14 ounces fresh-made, frozen or store-bought pizza dough<br />
1 teaspoon olive oil<br />
1/2 teaspoon Herbes de Provence<br />
4 medium onions, sliced<br />
1 tablespoon olive oil<br />
3 tablespoons unsalted butter<br />
1/4 teaspoon salt<br />
1/2 teaspoon white sugar<br />
a few grinds of black pepper <br />
1/2 pound medium-intense brie, rind removed and cut into chunks<br />
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1. Make <a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/jamie-oliver/pizza-dough-recipe.html" target="_blank">pizza dough</a> or use store-bought. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Stretch out pizza dough and put it on pizza pan sprayed with cooking spray to prevent sticking. Baste crust with 1 teaspoon olive oil and scatter Herbs de Provence over the crust. Pre-bake for 9 minutes, then remove and allow to cool while you make the onions.<br />
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2. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and 3 tablespoons unsalted butter to a large skillet with a lid. Heat over medium heat until butter is melted, then add sliced onions and cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Remove the cover and set aside. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon sugar (to promote browning) and black pepper. Turn down the heat to medium-low and cook for 20-30 minutes, stirring frequently, until onions are thoroughly carmelized.<br />
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3. When the onions are done, spread them evenly over the pre-baked crust. Add chunks of brie on top and return to the oven for 7-8 minutes. When the crust is nearly brown, put the pizza under the broiler for a minute or 2 until the brie is lightly browned on top. Allow to rest until cheese stops bubbling, then slice and serve.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18187344643700994108noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6144798075848314516.post-67235437854410836452015-04-01T12:37:00.002-04:002015-04-06T20:10:01.027-04:00The Bride and The Beast Candied Bacon Salted Oatmeal Cookies<br />
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Gwendolyn Wilder loved Bernard MacCullough from afar as a girl. But
when the English raid his father's Castle for harboring the Scottish
pretender, the young would-be laird is killed. Or so she thought. And
when a dragon comes to claim the ruined castle, the villagers send the
only virgin left in Ballybliss to slake The Dragon's hunger.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001M5JVLG/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001M5JVLG&linkCode=as2&tag=coouprom-20&linkId=7BU6ZLVA5V345EVX">The Bride and the Beast</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=coouprom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B001M5JVLG" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> by Teresa Medeiros is one of those books that despite some issues, I really loved. It doesn't hurt that beauty and the beast is pretty much my favorite trope, or that the dialogue is witty and hilarious or that it has all the charm of old skool kidnapping romance without any of the problematic consent issues. Less good are a difficult relationship with female sexuality and a healthy helping of fat-shaming. But even those downsides are mild and ameliorated by the book's charm, fairy tale framing and 14-year-old publication date.<br />
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It's a fascinating book for sure. It was published in 2001 and seems to fall somewhere between the slightly uncomfortable for a contemporary reader 1990s Highland romances and today's carefully feminist historicals. There's a ton of subtext here for lovers of romance and fairy tales, some of which I agree with and some of which I don't. The heroine is pretty judgmental of her pretty, selfish, sexualized sisters. She slut-shames the youngest one for having sex outside of marriage. And the oldest, who has had several marriages, still isn't good enough because it appears that she married for material considerations rather than for love. If we forgive Gwen for her judgment, it's because her sisters are generally pretty terrible to her, which fits within the fairy tale aspect of the story.<br />
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Then there's the fact that Gwen muses fairly consistently on how sad and terrible it is that she's fat. She does get a bit of a makeover via some lovely dresses, but she never loses the weight and is even shown doing some emotional eating. It's a realistic portrayal of many women's complex relationships with their bodies. Gwen has clearly internalized a negative perception of her eating habits and fuller figure. But a lot of this bad messaging and internal script comes from her not-quite-evil, but not nice either sisters. And both her sexual desires and her shape ARE validated by the hero, which is a good thing. But the (likely unintended) message seems to be that if a man says it's okay, then it's really okay. But ONLY if a man thinks so.<br />
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In a current romance, I might have been less forgiving than I was with this one. The problem is that it's just so darn charming. The heroine is abused by herself and her sisters, but not by the hero. He wars with his desire the same as she does. And his thirst for revenge makes for a creative take on the beast archetype. The reason I mention the publication date is that in the mid-1990s I read an awful lot of romance featuring semi-barbaric Highlanders. Those heroines were generally kidnapped English mewling misses (with the requisite flashing eyes) who tame their savage beasts. And I had resigned myself to that being the narrative in this book. After all, that arc's still somewhat nostalgic fun, even if I've kinda grown out of it. But that's not what happens. Or well, it is, but it's not as heavy-handed, sexual or physical as what I remembered from this sort of story. The hero might be a beast, but he's a beast primarily concerned with the heroine's comfort, confidence and pleasure. Where he's most beastly is in his dealings with the admittedly not very likeable villagers who were complicit in his father's death. It makes for a much more subtle transformation.<br />
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The thing is, despite the issues, this book really worked for me. While some of the details weren't all I would have hoped for, my overall impression was positive. All the banter between hero and heroine and the hero and his friend is witty and clever and fast-paced. The action keeps the plot moving, but doesn't overshadow the characters' emotional journeys. It's just an interesting moment in historical romance--after pirates and barbarians and before The Dukes. If you can overlook some of its old-fashioned ideas, it's really quite a perfect historical. <br />
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I don't know how much I really need to say about these cookies. They're dense and oaty and not too sweet and full of bacon. When I posted them to Twitter, I got several requests for the recipe, which obviously didn't exist yet. And then I had to find a book for them. The book is admittedly sort of a stretch, but who cares. When the Dragon gets pissed at the villagers for sending him a virgin instead of the thousand pounds he asked for, he punishes them by sending Gwen's ridiculous list of all the food she can think of, including oatmeal.<br />
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I made these cookies one night when I was, well, craving cookies. And though I salted them, there was still something missing. Turns out that something was candied bacon. <br />
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I pretty much always bake my bacon in the oven. Weird, right? But there's no hissing, spitting bacon grease or splattered cooktop. And if I'm making it for breakfast, I can use my large skillet for pancakes or eggs instead. It just works for me. So that's what I did here, adding a little bit of maple syrup, brown sugar and cinnamon in the final few minutes.<br />
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I like cookies the size of my head (or well, my palm I suppose) so this recipe makes about a dozen and a half BIG cookies, which is good because these don't keep. I'd make them for a crowd or a potluck or some time when they'll all get eaten within a day or two. After that they'll get chewy and stale.<br />
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I suspect it won't be a problem though. They're pretty delicious.<br />
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<b>Candied Bacon Salted Oatmeal Cookies</b><br />
Makes: 18 large cookies<br />
Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes (30 minutes hands-on time)<br />
Difficulty: Easy<br />
<br />
6 slices thick-cut or country bacon<br />
1 tablespoon maple syrup<br />
2 tablespoons brown sugar<br />
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided<br />
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour<br />
1/2 teaspoon baking powder<br />
1 teaspoon course sea salt<br />
16 tablespoons butter (2 sticks), softened <br />
1 cup light brown sugar<br />
1 cup granulated sugar<br />
1 tablespoon reserved bacon grease <br />
2 large eggs<br />
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not the quick cooking kind and DEFINITELY not instant)<br />
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1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lay out 6 slices of bacon on a cookie tray covered in aluminum foil. Bake for 10 minutes and flip. Bake and additional 5 minutes and check for crispness.<br />
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2. In the meantime, mix 1 tablespoon of maple syrup, 2 tablespoons brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in a small mixing bowl until combined. When the bacon is almost done, drain off bacon grease and reserve. Brush the mixture over one side, flip and brush over the other side. Continue to bake for 3 minutes, making sure not to scorch the sugar. <br />
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3. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sea salt and remaining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.<br />
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4. In the a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter, sugar, brown sugar and 1 tablespoon of the reserved bacon grease. Add eggs one at a time, mixing to combine after each addition. Add flour mixture and and mix until almost combined. Add oats [and crumbled bacon] and mix.<br />
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5. On three cookie trays covered with parchment paper, scoop out dough into balls approximately 1 1/2 inches to 2 inches across. Refrigerate trays for 15 minutes.<br />
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6. Bake for 22-25 minutes until golden on the edges and set in the middle, rotating and switching halfway through baking. Allow to cook on trays for 10 minutes, then move to wire racks to cool completely.<br />
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7. Consume immediately. Recommend refrigeration for any leftovers to be extra cautious. These do have meat in them, after all. <br />
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[edited to add: when to add the bacon in step 4--thanks to commenter Kelly for catching that missing instruction!]Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18187344643700994108noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6144798075848314516.post-92189978275610298432015-03-26T09:00:00.000-04:002015-03-26T09:00:04.528-04:00Living in Sin joint review with Ana from The Immersed ReaderI love chatting on Twitter with Ana from Immersed in Books, but there's only so much in-depth book discussion that can happen in 140 characters. When we both wanted to read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TZAYI2C/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00TZAYI2C&linkCode=as2&tag=coouprom-20&linkId=NCMYICLRH5EVTKFP">Living in Sin</a><img alt="" border="0" src="http://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=coouprom-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B00TZAYI2C" height="1" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /> by Anastasia Vitsky, part of a new collection of lesbian romances about <a href="http://www.lessthanthreepress.com/books/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=106_131" target="_blank">Damsels in Distress from Less Than Three Press</a>, I suggested we team up and do a joint review. This was the result. One warning: here there be spoilers. Hope you enjoy!<br />
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<i>In Living in Sin, Ciara and Audra have been living together for about nine months, but Ciara still had not come out to her family. Ciara is torn between telling her family they’re not just roommates or losing Audra. A visit from her ailing grandmother in a dream gives her insights into what she should do, but it’s still not easy to choose between the family you love and the family you chose.</i><br />
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<b>Elisabeth</b>: So, Ana, what did you think about Living in Sin? <br />
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<b>Ana</b>: I had really mixed feelings. I usually enjoy relationship/marriage in trouble books, but there wasn’t enough focus on the relationship for me. I felt the focus of the story was off, enough for me to think of it less as romance and more as Women’s fiction. It is almost wholly centered on Ciara, her feelings and fears about coming out to her family, rather than on her love for Audra.<br />
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<b>Elisabeth</b>: It definitely felt like we were dropped into the middle of a story instead of a romance with a beginning, middle and end. They’ve already been through the courtship phase and the ending doesn’t offer total resolution either. <br />
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<b>Ana</b>: I thought that Vitsky did a great job portraying the awful relationship despair you can end up in when you have a ongoing conflict without resolution. Their tension, the initial fight, were really well done.<br />
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What did you think of the Dream Grandma interlude?<br />
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<b>Elisabeth</b>: That was an unexpected element. I had the idea that Ciara’s family was probably Christian, though it never stated that directly in the text, I don’t think? But it seemed like probably not the sort of white, Mainline Protestantism that I’m most familiar with. There are lots of different permutations of Christianity around the world though. So I found the dream grandma bit fascinating. There was almost this ancestor-worship element, which if the case, would make Ciara’s dilemma about how much to tell her family about Audra especially difficult. So the idea that Dream Grandma didn’t seem opposed to their relationship felt powerful.<br />
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<b>Ana</b>: We have a very brief reference to churchgoing during the first visit with the family. Aunt Marge chastises Ciara for missing church and mentions the pastor Janice speaking about homosexual marriage in her latest sermon. I thought there was an interesting disconnect between dream grandma and Ciara’s ideas about her grandmother. Dream grandma does seem to be open to Ciara pursuing her heart, but she has been Ciara’s excuses. Maybe not that grandma would oppose but that it would be the straw to break her mother’s already over loaded back. <br />
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Your mention of white Christianity is interesting. I didn't pick up or notice if Ciara or Audra were POC, but I do know that in PR I grew up with a greater acceptance that God or your family might speak to you through dreams. Dream Grandma was more problematic to me in that I wasn’t sure at point what her message really was.<br />
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<b>Elisabeth</b>: I see the ambiguity too. Though upon reflection, it seemed that maybe Dream Grandma was just saying that Ciara isn’t alone. That Dream Grandma had to make difficult choices for love too. Which also seems to jive with how the book ends--that she and Audra talk about going to see her family together.<br />
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<b>Ana</b>: I agree with that. I do think Ciara thought she was a special snowflake. She has this family she loves, that she doesn’t want to risk, and Audra should just deal with it. Dream Grandma saying, you aren’t the only one who has ever had to make hard choices, and that those choices are going to be different for every person was the kick in the pants she needed.<br />
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<b>Elisabeth</b>: Ciara’s special snowflake status was where the first person narration was most effective for me. I think however sympathetic we are to Ciara, it’s because we’re getting the whole of what she’s thinking. I think that with Audra’s perspective thrown into the mix, I would have had trouble siding with Ciara at all. But as it was, I felt bad for her. As much as I thought she should woman-up and tell her family, I also understood why she felt like she couldn’t.<br />
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<b>Ana</b>: I really missed Audra’s point of view. I responded quite negatively to Ciara initially, so I really wanted to see why Audra was sticking around for this. I think it was powerful to be Ciara’s head, and know her fears, but I would have a hard time staying with someone who would exclude me to the point Audra has been excluded.<br />
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What did you think about her relationship with her family? I felt that she wasn’t giving them enough credit. But at the same time, I understood her desire to avoid conflict.<br />
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<b>Elisabeth</b>: Gosh. I wasn’t sure what to think at first. That scene where the family relates the pastor’s sermon made it tough for me to be sure Ciara was making the wrong decision. But at the same time, they’re so close and seem to depend on one another so much that I hard a time believing they wouldn’t eventually come around. I guess though, in conflicts with my own family, I know that when you’re in the heat of the moment, you can’t always see that.<br />
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<b>Ana</b>: For me it was actually one of the later conversations which made me understand Ciara’s concerns. She mentions that her father would want to go after the man who turned her off boys, and since she is such a Daddy’s girl, I can see how she would want to avoid that at all costs. She doesn’t want to have to explain this to her dad. She sort of wants him to clue in on his own.<br />
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<b>Elisabeth</b>: And I didn’t even notice that dialogue at all. This is why reading with someone is fun. So, Ana, did anything else strike you about Living in Sin?<br />
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<b>Ana</b>: I think it had an interesting perspective. In the end I really appreciated that it wasn’t an “all or nothing” kind of message, and the ending was hopeful, but it really didn’t satisfy my romance expectations. It was bittersweet.<br />
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<b>Elisabeth</b>: It reminded me of some of the stories from last year’s RAINN anthologies that way. I would have really liked a more definitive ending too. It did seem to end on a positive note, but I wanted a bigger payoff in the form of true acknowledgment of their relationship from her family or a public kiss or something.<br />
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<b>Ana</b>: I agree with you, it did remind me particularly of Ruthie Knox’s story in the Summer Rain anthology, similar bittersweet tone. It really made me curious to read something else from Less than Three Press and see if this is typical of their Lesbian romantic fiction, or if the ambiguity was just in this story, because I do look for more. <br />
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<b>Elisabeth</b>: I grabbed a couple of lesbian romances from this publisher and have only read one other thus far, but that one has a much more traditional romantic arc. It’s a fairy tale and there’s a meet-cute, some action and a definitive happy ending.<br />
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<b>Ana</b>: I am curious to try one of their historicals. I think they are offering some set during WWII. I will be more willing to try it knowing that it might have the story trajectory I’m looking for. Elizabeth, thanks for inviting me to read this with you. I probably wouldn't have picked it up otherwise and I enjoyed talking about it.<br />
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<b>Elisabeth</b>: Thanks for agreeing to join me! We talk about books on Twitter all the time, but it was nice to have an extended conversation instead of being confined to 140 characters. We should do this again some time. Next time you get to pick the book though. <br />
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<b>Ana</b>: Challenge accepted!<br />
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<i>A lifelong genre reader, Ana grew up reading fantasy, sci-fi &
mystery novels in Puerto Rico. Ana discovered comics in college before
finally wandering into the Romance section a few years ago after bawling
through yet another YA dystopian series. A recovering English and
History double major, Ana is now a school librarian, mother of two geeky
girls and a pastor's wife in Rochester, NY. When she is not reading or
writing reviews, she is knitting or planning her next trip. She writes
about books at her blog: Immersed in Books <a href="http://winterfell.blogs.com/immersedreader/">http://winterfell.blogs.com/immersedreader/</a> and on Twitter as <a href="https://twitter.com/anacoqui">@anacoqui.</a> </i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18187344643700994108noreply@blogger.com0