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Let's Dish... Now in Print!

Catherine Wade’s debut novel Let’s Dish is now available in trade paperback.

Maggie Donnely has problems no Food Network star ever had to deal with. Her coffee shop is running in the red, her EPT just turned pink, and keeping her business partners in line is making her blue in the face. A run-in with her old cooking school nemesis is the last thing she needs.

Kevin Best is a blast from the past with more than Maggie’s mouth-watering recipes on his mind. He knows he made one big mistake with her, but she’s got no idea just how far he’ll go to put her heart back on the menu.

When Maggie loses her shop to a fire, and her partners to a stupid mistake, she’s forced to turn to Kevin to help her win a contest that could save her bacon. Friendless, desperate—and with the proverbial bun in the oven—it’s a choice that could change the rest of her life. If she can learn to love again.

What’s the old saying about too many cooks? Maggie’s about to find out…the hard way.

To read more about Let’s Dish and Catherine’s other books, visit her website..

Love My Characters, Love Me?

My brother recently called me on the phone to inform me he’d read my book. Now my brother doesn’t read romance. He reads science fiction and military books, but not “chick books” as he calls them. And yet, he read my books. Which says a lot about my brother, I think.

He gave me his list of likes and dislikes, and while honest, was also very complimentary. And then he said, “But I see a lot of you in your characters.”

My first reaction was, “Well duh!” But then I realized my brother is not a writer. Not a fiction writer, anyway. We have a special brand of crazy, with narratives running through our heads all the time. And yes, all those characters running around in my brain and on the pages of my novels all have a little bit of me in them.

To me, the only way to write honest characters is to bare your own flaws and inner demons. To truly understand their fears and frustrations, the writer has to take on a little bit of it, too. Which explains why a lot of writers drink a good bit.

For me, it’s almost like a kind of therapy. My characters have to work out their issues, so I have to, too. Now that’s not to say I’ve ever burned down a restaurant or am haunted by a dead husband. My characters have to deal with their own fictionalized disasters, but some of their insecurities – yeah, they’re mine, too. Not that I have an exclusive claim on them. I like to think my characters speak to all of us, that some small part of their neurosis matches the person who reads it. I know they match mine.

So if you read my books and get some insight into Maggie or Brin, you’re getting a little insight into me, too. Welcome to my brand of crazy.

New Release-Another Time Around

Have you ever been haunted? Have you ever wanted to be? That’s the problem Brin Maxwell has, and is finding out that having her late husband back in her life isn’t all she thought it would be, especially just when she’s ready to move on and learn to love again.

BLURB:
Brin Maxwell once lived the ultimate rock-n-roll fantasy as the wife of the frontman for Hell’s Fury. It all ended in a flash—literally—with a lightning bolt that took Max’s life and left hers in suspended animation.

Two years later she’s ready to move on, but there’s a stumbling block: her sanity. Max’s ghost has decided to haunt her, and he’s got a bad habit of showing up at the most inconvenient moments. Like when she’s about to plant a long wet one on event planner David Lyle, the man she hopes will resurrect her love life.

David is real, solid, and makes her heart do the tango. He’s also curiously inept at his job—yet he has certain other talents that leave her wondering just what he’s hiding in his shadowy past.

Then there are the death threats. As they escalate from notes slipped under her door to full-scale, Kodak-moment terror, Brin realizes Max’s return is no coincidence. And that the only one she can turn to is David.

The man with the skills to save her life—unless he’s there to take it…

Declare Your Independence

When I saw I was scheduled for July 4th, I knew immediately what I had to address – independence. Yes, it’s Independence Day here in the States, but I think this July 4th should be Independence Day for all readers all over the world. Independence from what, you ask? Silly literary stereotypes.

You know the ones: only geeks read science fiction, only intellectuals read literary fiction, only bored housewives read romance… Yeah, those. And erotic romance? Well, we all know what the women who read those are like.

How many out there have tucked one book inside another or in a magazine to hide a cover? Are there certain books you won’t read in waiting rooms or on the train? Yes, I’m guilty, too.

I was raised in a family where romance was considered mindless trash. Didn’t matter who wrote it or how good the plot may be, romance was garbage. I never picked one up until I was in college and found a novel my roommate left lying around. Color me surprised when it was actually good.

I had to let go of a lot of preconceived notions before I could enjoy the book, and even then it was a guilty pleasure. I couldn’t let anyone else see me reading it. I’d always been seen as this semi-intelligent person, after all. I couldn’t let people know that I read stupid romance.

And then I started writing it. Yeah, that went over like a lead balloon with the folks. But I had matured in the years since I hid under the covers to read romance. I had grown and decided I wasn’t going to feel silly or guilty for reading what I wanted to read. After all, my mom reads tons upon tons of nonfiction and I don’t find her the least bit boring.

I finally decided that like most stereotypes, those revolving around what we read are complete rubbish. Still, there are those carryovers from childhood – the ones that tell me I should be ashamed of what I read and write.

So today I am declaring my independence. I will no longer select my reading material based on what someone else thinks it says about me. I’m going to read what I want to, and not care what others think of it.

And how about you? Take those books out of their fake covers. And if the cover’s truly a little too hot for public consumption, that’s what ebooks are for, baby! Read away! And no matter what, remember what matters most is how the words make you feel. And all that says about you is that you are smart enough to choose books that please you.

Happy Independence Day.

Closing the Bedroom Door

Okay, first off, let’s give it up for Leah Braemel. As she told you this morning, she and I became friends shortly after we both signed with Samhain, and I gotta tell you – she’s terrific, as a person and as a writer. I was really excited to see our names on the blog schedule together, and jumped at the idea of coordinating our blogs.

So today Leah and I are talking about writing S-E-X. Well, she talked about writing it. I’m going to talk about avoiding writing it. It’s not that I’m a prude or have anything against a good sex scene. Heck, I can get freaky with the best of them. I just tend not to do it on the page. And yes, I read her book locked safely in my bedroom, but that’s just because I have three little boys who love to read over my shoulder. They kibitz on games, too. Little snots.

Let's Dish

Today I become an author.

Let’s Dish, my debut novel, releases today. This was the third professional novel I wrote, but the first one that made me sit up and say, “I will be published.” And now I am.

For this reason, Maggie and Kevin will always be sentimental favorites. And, at last, I get to share them with you.

Let’s Dish.

She’s got the heat. He’s got the kitchen. Together, they’ve got trouble cookin’.

Excerpt: