One of my favorite foods in the world is chocolate. I thought it would be fun to have Ms. Jaeger write a little something about it since the delicacy is featured in her book.
By the way she'll be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
By the way she'll be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Ever since Christopher Columbus first brought a powdered
form of chocolate back to Queen
Isabella as a New World discovery and a token of his devotion, the little
confection has become a much loved and craved treat by most people of the
world. From the Spanish monks who
devised a hot concoction to drink during particularly cold weather, to the
aristocracy who used it as an aphrodisiac, chocolate has gained a modern day,
world wide reputation as one of the most perfect gifts to give…and receive.
Books, such as Charlie
and the Chocolate factory, have been written about it; films, like 2000’s Chocolat, have been made with it woven
into its plot-line. Industries have
been built and devoted to its manufacture and distribution, like Nestles and
Cadbury and Whitman’s. Even holidays like Easter and Christmas incorporate
chocolate into their celebrations. And let’s face it: Valentine’s Day wouldn’t
be the same without a heart shaped box filled with chocolate morsels and
confections. How many mothers in the world have kept that little red,
heart-shaped box which housed the delicious 4-piece chocolate choices given to
them for mother’s day as a memento?
Chocolate isn’t just one special, sweet little taste or
color. It can be white, mocha colored, or dark; it can be sweet, semi-sweet,
bitter-sweet, or raw (unsweetened.), milk flavored or not. You can cook with it, bake with it, and
decorate with it. Many master chocolatiers devise and build elaborate
structures using it as a base or a decorative addition. You can melt chocolate,
grind it into a powder, freeze it, mold it, and use it as a covering for a
hidden piece of candy heaven housed within it.
Chocolate, in my extremely humble opinion, may just be the
perfect food. It isn’t any wonder when the Wild Rose Press put out a call for
their new Valentine’s series, the Candy Hearts Romances, I came up with a
heroine who is a master chocolatier and owns her own chocolate shoppe, Caramelle de Chloe.
In another life, I believe I
was such a chocolatier.
GENRE: Contemporary Romance
BLURB:
Valentine’s
Day is chocolatier Chloe San Valentino’s favorite day of the year. Not only is
it the busiest day in her candy shop, Caramelle de Chloe, but it’s also her
birthday. Chloe’s got a birthday wish list for the perfect man she pulls out
every year: he’d fall in love with her in a heartbeat, he’d be someone who
cares about people, and he’d have one blue eye and one green eye, just like
her. So far, Chloe’s fantasy man hasn’t materialized, despite the matchmaking
efforts of her big, close-knit Italian family. But this year for her big 3-0
birthday, she just might get her three wishes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Excerpt:
At about five minutes of ten I was almost ready to turn the
Closed sign on the door when it opened. I heard Janie’s breath hitch and turned
from where I was sweeping up. Staying open late is always a risk, with the
thought thieves will invade at the end of the day.
If the guy standing at the door glancing around the shop was
a thief, then Dio mio, I wanted to be robbed.
About six foot, his hair was the color of a deer’s pelt,
with autumnal golds and browns shot together in a glorious patchwork that
grazed the collar of his jacket and curled a little at the ends. He wore a
faded brown bomber jacket over a shirt I couldn’t see, but he had shoulders
almost as wide as my doorway. A pair of well-worn jeans covered his mile long
legs, and the fabric on the stress points at his knees was practically white.
“We’re about to close,” I heard myself say. “Can I help
you?”
It was at that moment he looked over at me.
His face could have been sculpted by Da Vinci or
Michelangelo. A broad, smooth, forehead housed naturally arched eyebrows I knew
some of my gay guy friends would have paid a fortune to have on their own
faces. His cheeks were carved from marble, high, smooth and deep. And his
mouth, mother-of-God, his mouth. Full, thick beautiful lips sat perfectly over
a chin with a dent you could shove a button into and have it stay put.
“Sorry,” he said, those fabulous lips pulling up a little
shyly at the corners. “I got stuck at work and couldn’t get here until now.
I’ll be quick. Promise.”
So here’s the thing: the guy was gorgeous. But even if he’d
looked like a frog with raw antipasto smothering his face, I would have dropped
to my knees when he opened his mouth. Warm honey, a shot of raw whiskey, and a
little hot puff of smoke wafted from his mouth like a fine and rare brandy
being decanted.
Peggy Jaeger is a contemporary romance author who writes about
strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can't live without
them.
Her current titles, available now, include SKATER'S WALTZ and
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME, and FIRST IMPRESSIONS books 1 through 3 in her
6-book The MacQuire Women Series, published by The Wild Rose Press.
Peggy holds a master's degree in Nursing Administration and
first found publication with several articles she authored on Alzheimer's
Disease during her time running an Alzheimer's in-patient care unit during the
1990s.
A lifelong and avid romance reader and writer, she is a member
of RWA and her local New Hampshire RWA Chapter.
Website/Blog: http://peggyjaeger.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/peggy_jaeger
Amazon Author page:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00T8E5LN0
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/peggyjaeger/
Instagram:
https://instagram.com/mmj122687/
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