BITE ME
KITCHEN GODS BOOK 1
BETH BOLDEN
M/M ROMANCE
RELEASE DATE: 02.12.17
COVER DESIGN: AngstyG
BLURB
Talented pastry chef Miles Costa is bored. Working at the celebrated Napa Valley restaurant Terroir is supposed to be the cherry on top to a promising career, but instead it’s a creative desert. So when he gets an offer to turn his online video series into a career, he leaves his three best friends in Napa and swaps Terroir for Los Angeles.
With the resources now at his fingertips, turning his pastry series into a hit should be easy. Then Miles meets his producer, Evan Patterson, and realizes he’s screwed. And not even in the good way.
It’s not a meet-cute . . .
Evan lives to work and loves every minute detail Miles loathes. Not only that, he seems hell bent on micromanaging every aspect of Miles’ show despite the fact he knows nothing about the culinary arts. Evan doesn’t even like sweets—until Miles seduces him with a rainbow of delectable confections he can’t resist.
. . . it’s a collision.
With every confrontation, the intensity between them flares even hotter until they’re not sure if it’s hatred they feel . . .or something else. Is it possible for two people with nothing in common to discover common ground and romance?
When we’re reading a good book, obviously certain things are done really well. The setting is well-drawn, the plot is interesting and unique, and the two main characters have to fascinate us. But I’d argue that the secondary characters are almost as important as the main characters. Well-rounded secondary characters can bring a sparkle to a book that wouldn’t exist otherwise.
Adding in friends and family for your characters to interact with helps your book echo “real life.” Obviously, not every person is close to their family, or has a lot of friends. But your characters don’t need a lot of people surrounding them—but they do need someone.
One of the reviews for my first m/m romance, The Rainbow Clause, pointed out that while Colin and Nick have friends, their families are never mentioned. I didn’t even realize that myself until I read that review, and after, even if family aren’t active secondary characters on-screen, I always try to make sure I cover that base.
Family isn’t just important, I personally find characters’ relationship with their friends to be imperative.
You act differently with friends than you do with family sometimes, and especially at the beginning of a relationship or when you’re just getting to know someone you’re interested in, you’re definitely going to act differently. More relaxed, more yourself. And I find those friend-conversations always illuminating whether I’m writing them or I’m reading them in another author’s book.
When I was starting to plan my new series, Kitchen Gods, I knew I wanted to write about four friends (and roommates, because that adds a whole extra dimension) who also work at the same high-profile, high-stress restaurant.
My intention was always for them to get their own romance in their own book, but it was also unexpectedly fun to write their scenes, and see how the different personalities interacted with each other. They showed me so many things that I didn’t have any clue about when I started writing. I had only anticipated the four of them together at the beginning of the first book, as Miles moves out and goes to LA, essentially leaving the three of them behind. But their scenes were so great, I realized that we needed more of Xander, Wyatt and Kian, and I also desperately wanted Evan, Miles’ love interest, to meet them. Not just because they would have to “approve” of Evan, but because I wanted to show how Evan is changing by his interactions with Miles’ friends.
Evan doesn’t really have family or friends, and the lack of that was something I used to help define who he was, and also where he wanted to be. If a character is alone , you want that lack of personal connection to tell you something about them. And by the end of the book, show their growth by seeing them reach out to others. Secondary characters are awesome like that.
The best thing about secondary characters—and I’m not going to lie about this, it’s one of an author’s best tools in their toolbox—is they get readers excited to check out the rest of the books in the series. It’s a careful balance, making sure that you introduce the secondary characters you’re later planning on writing about, while still holding the focus firmly on the two MCs from this particular book. So many first books in series can sell the MCs short, because there’s world-building, and series setup, and all these other characters to establish. That was one of the reasons I deliberately removed Miles to LA. I wanted him to be alone and scared and not have the support system he was used to—and that made him act out in ways he normally wouldn’t—and it made sure that Wyatt, Xander and Kian would not overwhelm Miles and Evan’s story.
What’s a great secondary character from a book? What’s your favorite secondary character?
“You’re late,”Evan said, head bent towards his screen, fingers not missing a beat as he typed furiously.
“I know, I’m sorry, I thought I’d grab a coffee.”Miles slid into the chair next to Evan, but Evan still didn’t look up.
“Oh thanks for bringing me one too,”Evan said levelly, even though he had to know that Miles only had one cup in his hands.
“I . . .uh. . .didn’t know you wanted one?”Miles said sheepishly. He’d made it back into the building two minutes late, and then had raced to Evan’s cubicle, only to not find him there. He’d made the rounds, until one of the writers stopped him and said Evan was in the conference room, still working after the meeting had ended.
Why hadn’t it occurred to Miles to bring him coffee? He liked the good coffee place as much as anyone else. It was probably because instead of actively trying to charm anyone in particular, Miles just fallen into bed with willing people and had never wanted someone who didn’t want him back—or wanted him but fought it. Miles knew he was going to have learn to be more aware and less selfish if he was ever going to convince Evan to consider dating him. A great almost-blowjob wasn’t going to cut it. Not with Evan.
Sex was probably off the table now, even though Miles knew Evan wanted it. Miles wasn’t familiar with the sort of self-denial Evan practiced; if he wanted someone and the feeling was mutual, sex happened. It was an easy way to live, and an easy way to get off. Everything about Evan was complicated, but Miles wanted him anyway. Inexplicably.
“I’m sorry I didn’t bring you coffee,”Miles said when Evan remained silent, typing away, the staccato of the keys all the response he probably deserved.
“It’s okay.” Evan paused. “I wouldn’t expect you to be looking out for other people. Me, especially.”
And yeah, that was galling. Especially galling when Miles had spent the last half an hour discovering that nobody had probably ever really looked out for Evan before. It probably wouldn’t take an extraordinary amount of effort to make him feel special and considered. And Miles still couldn’t figure out how to meet even the lowest of expectations.
“I’m sorry, I’m . . .I know it isn’t an excuse, but I was with Lucy, and Chloe and Steph and . . .”Miles hesitated, trying to find the best way to say, sorry, we were gossiping about you and they told me you were a foster kid and I wish you had told me yourself.
All Miles knew was that was definitely not the way to break the news.
Beth Bolden lives in Portland, Oregon with her supportive husband. She wholly believes in Keeping Portland Weird, but wishes she didn’t have to make the yearly pilgrimage up to Seattle to watch her Boston Red Sox play baseball. She’s a fan of fandoms, and spends too much of her free time on tumblr.
Beth has been writing practically since she learned the alphabet. Unfortunately, her first foray into novel writing, titled Big Bear with Sparkly Earrings, wasn’t a bestseller, but hope springs eternal. She’s published eight novels and two novellas, with Catch Me, the next novel in the Kitchen Gods series, releasing in May 2018.
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I know I tried Susie Bright’s cherry pie recipe, but I can’t remember if that was in one of her books or on her blog…
The book sounds good. I have never tried a recipe that was in a book but there have been a couple I said I would like to, but then forgot all about it.
No I’ve never tried a recipe that was in a book I often read them but then again I don’t really cook.