Welcome
to this week’s MFRW Book Hooks blog hop!
Today
I’m featuring my humorous erotic romance Her Secret Ingredient.
Emily Wong is one of my favorite heroines. In fact, I liked her so
much I made her the heroine of an entire follow-up novel, The Ingredients of Bliss!
When
you’re done reading my snippet, I hope you’ll visit some of the
other authors joining Book Hooks this week. Just use the links at the
end of this post.
Blurb
Stir
in a pinch to stir up his passion.
When
the Tastes of France food channel offers Mei Lee ‘Emily’ Wong a
series of guest spots, she jumps at the opportunity to take her
culinary career to a whole new level. Ultimately, she wants a show of
her own, but first she has to prove herself to Michelin-starred
network founder and effective dictator, Etienne Duvalier. A legend in
the world of classic French cuisine as well as a domineering
perfectionist, Etienne is sceptical about the culinary abilities of a
woman from Hong Kong. To make things more difficult, the master chef
is also so gorgeous that Emily can’t help being attracted to him.
Emily
tries to solve both problems by spiking her luscious profiteroles
with an ancient Oriental aphrodisiac. Unfortunately, Harry Sanborne,
the low-key, bespectacled producer for Emily’s show, samples the
delicacies she intends for Etienne’s consumption. His powerful
reaction to her secret ingredient comes as a pleasant surprise to
them both. Harry turns out to be far more impressive in bed than on
the set. However, he can’t do nearly as much to advance her
ambitions as Etienne. Emily tries once more to tempt the exacting M
Duvalier with her special cooking as well as her feminine charms. The
outrageous results threaten to end her TV career forever—until
Harry steps in to save her reputation and claim her heart.
The Hook
The Hook
I selected a six-inch
blade from the rack on the counter and began peeling carrots.
“Anyway, you were saying the viewers are bored?”
Harry swivelled his seat
so he could watch me work. I didn’t mind—I’d cooked in open
kitchens, and if I was going to be on television, I had to get used
to having an audience. And somehow, though I’d known him for only a
few minutes, the dishevelled young producer made me feel comfortable.
“Yeah. The ratings for
the channel as a whole are falling, because he won’t work with any
chef who refuses to toe his line. That’s one reason the execs
pressured him to contact you. Fresh blood and all that.”
“Hmm.” My knife rose
and fell with satisfying precision, creating uniform half-inch cubes
of crisp orange. I swept the diced carrots into a pile at one end of
the cutting block then started on the onions.
“Amazing. I could never
do that. When I try to cook, the results look like something from a
slasher movie.” He flipped his hair out of his eyes. “Anyway, the
first two guest chefs the network hired—Etienne drove them away.”
I set the blade down. I’d
chilled the onions ahead of time, but my eyes watered nevertheless.
Harry handed me a handkerchief. What a sweet guy. If only Etienne
were more like him.
“He’s not going to
drive me away, Harry. I swear it.” I’d been the only woman in my
class at the Cordon Bleu school in Paris, and the only Asian. They’d
made it clear I didn’t belong. I’d stuck it out, three gruelling
years to get my Grand Diplôme. Then there was all the time
working my way up the ranks—commis entremets, chef
saucier, sous chef.
It would take more than
one sexy, stubborn Frenchman to stop me.
Buy Links
Amazon
BN
Totally
Bound (Now 99 cents, at TB only!)
Don’t
forget to visit this week's other Book Hooks posts!
1 comment:
Loved the slasher comment. Reflectsmy cooking techniques.
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