Today we say Hi and welcome to author Meg Harding joining us here at Love Bytes to talk about her new release “Dinner for One”.
Welcome Meg 🙂
Thanks for having me today Love Bytes! Dinner for One is the first novel in a four part series about the Carlisle family, specifically four brothers. This one is about James Carlisle and the French chef, Bastien, whom he falls head over heels for. The entire family is introduced and features prominently in this book, as James is a very family orientated person. Also featured prominently is food. Dinner for One is all about saying things with food: I like you. I’m sorry. I’m glad you’re here.
Dinner for One was a lot of fun for me to write, and I spent quite a lot of time perusing Pinterest for interesting ideas. I’m not big on cooking, but I do like to bake and every now and then I’ll go on a kick where I’ll pin a bunch of recipes and work my way through them. Some of them have turned out awful. Others have been beyond tasty. I’m a sucker for anything cinnamon and muffins are hands down probably my favorite form of desert (I will eat an entire tray in no time) and consequently one of the first things I made from Pinterest that I was like, all right, I need to make these all the time. So, when James first makes dinner for Bastien, of course the dessert was cinnamon muffins. The excerpt below is an exclusive glimpse at James and Bastien getting to enjoy these delicious treats together.
He cleans the dishes and reads the latest Stephen King novel while he waits for the washer to ding, trying to distract himself from the guilt that prods at his insides. He’s not lying, and he’s going to tell Bastien. He’s merely waiting. He switches the clothes to the dryer when it goes off, and afterward he goes back to his room and looks inside. He smiles fondly when he sees that Bastien has sprawled himself out, the pillow tucked tightly beneath him, the bedding pooled around his hips. His mouth is parted slightly, quiet snores coming from him.
If he plans better next time, Bastien might stay the night. The thought gives him butterflies. He’d really like that. It’s an effort to drag himself from the doorway, but it’s weird to just stand there and watch him sleep.
Back in the kitchen, he pulls out the cinnamon muffins, eating one of them over the sink. He’ll put a couple on a plate and wake Bastien up with them. He grabs a container and sticks a few in there for good measure as well. He doesn’t need an entire tray of muffins in his place. His self-control isn’t that good.
When the clothes are done drying, he takes them out and drops them on the end of his bed, going back to grab the muffins. He arranges himself against the black padded headboard and sits one of the muffins right in front of Bastien’s snoozing face. He laughs quietly when Bastien’s nose twitches, and a second later his dark lashes flutter as he blearily peaks out from beneath them.
Bastien makes a noise that’s a cross between a moan and a sigh, and then he sticks his tongue out to lick off some of the cinnamon crumbs. That makes James laugh loudly. “You’re going to get crumbs all over my bed.”
Bastien doesn’t look like he cares as he gives a sleepy smile and repeats the action. James tugs the muffin away, cheeks hurting from how wide he’s smiling when Bastien makes a noise of discontent. “Mean,” he mutters, flopping to his back. He pats his chest, his shirt wrinkled and the first few buttons undone. “Set it here.”
James does as he’s told and watches as Bastien tries to eat the muffin upside down. It’s a pretty sad sight. He scoots closer and takes the muffin back, breaking off a piece and holding it to Bastien’s lips. “You’re ridiculous.”
Bastien smiles sunnily up at him. “Got you trained already.”
He makes sure to pop the next bite into his own mouth while Bastien looks on in dismay. He chews exaggeratedly and moans around the mouthful. He pats his stomach. “Mmmmm.”
“I was kidding,” says Bastien, widening his blue eyes dramatically.
“Sure you were,” says James, but he drops the next piece in Bastien’s open mouth anyway.
Release Date: July 13, 2016
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover artist: Reese Dante
Blurb:
Bastien isn’t used to bad reviews. His French restaurant is the toast of the town, and when a well-known critic insults it, he’s left off-kilter. Luckily for him he’s found a distraction. He’s just met an attractive writer at his niece’s school bake sale. He’s into food, into Bastien and the touch of kink they share, and there’s a chemistry between them that might make the perfect recipe. James isn’t expecting to meet a good-looking French chef at a bake sale, but he’s not going to let the chance slide. It comes as a surprise when the chef turns out to be the owner of a place he knows—and has reviewed—and it puts James in a sticky situation. So he might have to omit some pertinent information to make it work… at least for now.
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Meg Harding is a graduate of UCF and Anglia Ruskin University. For as long as she can remember, writing has always been her passion, but she had an inability to ever actually finish anything. She’s immensely happy that her inability has fled and looks forward to where her mind will take her next. She’s a sucker for happy endings, the beach, and superheroes. In her dream life she owns a wildlife conservation and is surrounded by puppies. She’s a film buff, voracious reader, and a massive geek.
[A1]Confirmed http://stephenking.com
That is a luscious cover!