logo
Wrong email address or username
Wrong email address or username
Incorrect verification code
back to top
Search tags: How-to-Bake-a-Perfect-Life
Load new posts () and activity
Like Reblog Comment
show activity (+)
text 2015-11-23 16:00
Cookbooks and Recipes in Romance Novels
The Chocolate Rose (Amour et Chocolat 3, La Vie en Roses 1) - Laura Florand
A Recipe for Romance: A Collection of 22 Inspirational Stories and Recipes - Lyn Cote,Terri Reed,Renee Ryan,Camy Tang,Danica Favorite,Jill Kemerer,Cheryl Wyatt,Debra Ullrick,Marta Perry,Arlene James,Gail Gaymer Martin,Sherri Shackelford,Carolyne Aarsen,Debby Giusti,Lenora Worth,Missy Tippens,Janet Tronstad,Winnie Griggs,Dana Corbi
Heartburn - Nora Ephron
Bride Raffle - Lisa Plumley
Hell Yeah! Volume 1: Box Set With Bonus Cookbook - Sable Hunter
Rosewater and Soda Bread - Marsha Mehran
Scrumptious Skye Confections: The Skye Trilogy Cookbook - Shannon Barczak
The First Love Cookie Club - Lori Wilde
Huddle with Me Tonight - Farrah Rochon
How to Bake a Perfect Life - Barbara O'Neal

As Thanksgiving Week begins in America, it is a time of great eating.

 

Before we all get tired of cooking, here are some wonderful Romances featuring recpies or the writing of cookbooks.

 

My lists are never in any particular order. Enjoy!

 

1. The Chocolate Rose by Laura Florand

 

Her father's worst enemy...
Top chef Gabriel Delange never forgave his old nemesis Pierre Manon for all the other chef had cost him.


One stolen rose...
And he most certainly couldn't stand the sight of his own most famous dessert, the legendary Rose, claimed as Pierre's own on the cover of his new cookbook.


A beast's substitute victim...
But even Gabriel could hardly go through with a lawsuit when he learned the older chef had just had a stroke.  Especially not when Pierre had one very cute daughter willing to be Gabriel's victim instead.


A fascinated beauty...
As a child, Jolie Manon had seen her family torn apart by her top chef father's obsession with his work.As a food writer, she might be fascinated with a chef's work, but she knew how to guard her heart.  She would never allow another chef into her life.  
Unless he blackmailed her into it...


2. A Recipe for Romance  by Lenora Worth

 

  • Contributing authors Lenora Worth, Debra Ullrick, Janet Tronstad, Carolyne Aarsen, Dana Corbit, Lyn Cote, Debby Giusti, Winnie Griggs, Arlene James, Deb Kastner, Renee Ryan, Danica Favorite,Gail Gaymer Martin, Jill Kemerer, Jolene Navarro, Marta Perry, Terri Reed, Sherri Shackelford, Cami Tang, Missy Tippens, Pamela Tracy, and Cheryl Wyatt present an anthology of sweet and inspirational short stories and tasty recipes. 

    A sampling of the stories you’ll find inside: 
  • A young woman who uses Potato Salad to prove she’s still in love with her long-lost miner beau, 
  • A new stepdad who builds Chopped Tree Casserole to bond with his stepson, 
  • An Amish mother who finds a way to reconnect with her husband over her Chicken Potpie, 
  • A bank teller who brings Tomato Basil Soup and new hope for a relationship to her coworker. 
  • And many more

3.  Heartburn by Nora Ephron Well, not a romance but an amazing read

 

Seven months into her pregnancy, Rachel Samstat discovers that her husband, Mark, is in love with another woman. The fact that the other woman has "a neck as long as an arm and a nose as long as a thumb and you should see her legs" is no consolation. Food sometimes is, though, since Rachel writes cookbooks for a living. And in between trying to win Mark back and loudly wishing him dead, Ephron's irrepressible heroine offers some of her favorite recipes. Heartburn is a sinfully delicious novel, as soul-satisfying as mashed potatoes and as airy as a perfect soufflé.

 

4. The Bride Raffle by Lisa Plumley

 

Famous home-keeping expert Daisy Walsh is overwhelmed by the warm welcome she receives in Morrow Creek, and then she realizes she's the star prize in the town raffle! She can bet the lucky winner's not expecting a pregnant woman who needs a place to stay.

Single father Owen Cooper suspects he's been set up because his daughter is thrilled to have a woman around the house. He could get used to the smell of home baking tempting his taste buds, but the sight of Daisy's stockings is one temptation too far!

 

5. Hell Yeah! Box Set With Bonus Cookbook by Sable Hunter

 

Cowboy Heat (Hell Yeah!: Book 1)

Aron McCoy has sworn off women -
except for sex. When Libby Fontaine
arrives at Aron's Tebow Ranch, she is determined to cram a lifetime of living into a few short months. The doctor has told her that she can't count on her remission from leukemia being a permanent
one. Their attraction to one another is instantaneous and overwhelming. But when Aron finds out thatLibby is innocent - he backs off. He has nothing to offer a girl who deserves white lace and promises. Then Aron catches Libby pleasuring herself in his stock tank and hears her cry out his name - and the heat is on. Cowboy heat.

Hot on Her Trail (Hell Yeah!: Book 2)

Jacob McCoy wishes for a wife and a family. Tis the Season for miracles when a young woman shows up on his doorstep: homeless, in danger and expecting a child - Jacob's child. Their
relationship is complicated by the fact that, A - they've never met before and B - she's a virgin. Jessieis determined not to be a burden to the McCoy family. As far as she's concerned, she is just passing through. Jacob has a different opinion - he wants Jessie in his life, in his bed and in his heart.

BONUS: Sable Does It in the Kitchen Cookbook

All the great recipes mentioned throughout the Hell Yeah! Series are not gathered in one place. This cookbook contains Sable's Favorite Recipes along with a few of her friends as well. Excerpts from her books are spread throughout the book to give you an added glimpse.

 

6. Rosewater and Soda Bread by Marsha Mehran

 

ore than a year has passed since Marjan, Bahar, and Layla, the beautiful Iranian Aminpour sisters, sought refuge in the quaint Irish town of Ballinacroagh. Opening the beguiling Babylon Café, they charmed the locals with their warm hearts and delectable Persian cuisine, bringing a saffron-scented spice to the once-sleepy village. 

But when a young woman with a dark secret literally washes up on Clew Bay Beach, the sisters’ world is once again turned upside down. With pale skin and webbed hands, the girl is otherworldly, but her wounds tell a more earthly (and graver) story–one that sends the strict Catholic town into an uproar. The Aminpours rally around the newcomer, but each sister must also contend with her own transformation–Marjan tests her feelings for love with a dashing writer, Bahar takes on a new spiritual commitment with the help of Father Mahoney, and Layla matures into a young woman when she and her boyfriend, Malachy, step up their hot and heavy relationship. 

Filled with mouthwatering recipes and enchanting details of life in Ireland, Rosewater and Soda Bread is infused with a lyrical warmth that radiates from the Aminpour family and their big-hearted Italian landlady, Estelle, to the whole of Ballinacroagh–and the world beyond.

 

7. The Skye Trilogy by Shannon Barczak

 

Willa McCormack is a feisty bakery owner from Yuma, Arizona. She has wonderful parents, great friends, and a career she loves. Her life changes one night when her parents come home terrified and they have to reveal their secrets to her. 
Secrets that will change Willa's life forever. 


Willa must now leave everything she has ever known and embark on a dangerous journey to the Isle of Skye. A place where she will learn that fairytales and nightmares are real. A place where she will discover not only what she really is but who she is destined to be. 

Come explore the world of Gypsies, Faeries, and Vampires with an unlikely heroine, who above all else, is determined to stay true to herself. 

Isle of Night


Several months have passed since Willa McCormack, a bakery owner from Yuma, AZ, was told she was a powerful Gypsy-Fae princess and journeyed to the Isle of Skye. As she tries to open her new business and get ready for the Fae’s arrival to the Isle, new dangers lurk at every turn. 


While she tries to uncover clues about a dangerous enemy and find the weapons that can kill him, she also has to deal with her intense feelings for her Guardian, Mathias, a vampire of light. 


Join Willa, an unlikely smart ass heroine, as she navigates this magical world and tries to save her new home from being plunged into eternal darkness. 


Isle of Dawn


Willa has left the Isle of Skye and is now in Fairlia with Patcoena to absorb the King’s power. Two unexpected guides join them as they make their way across all the realms so that she can finally fulfill her destiny to become the Fae Sanctity. 


Her journey takes her to places she never thought was imaginable and the deeper she delves into the depths, the further she moves away from the person she used to be. 
Can she ever make her way back to Mathias and everyone that she loves or will the final battle be her last? 


Bonus book, Scrumptious Skye Confections Cookbook! 
The Skye Trilogy Cookbook! 
Scrumptious Skye Confection contains over 60 recipes all from Willa's point of view! 

 

8. The First Love Cookie Club by Lori Wilde

 

"On Christmas Eve, if you sleep with kismet cookies under your pillow and dream of your one true love, he will be your destiny."

The townsfolk of Twilight, Texas, believe the legend, but not Sarah Collier—not since she was a pudgy teenager, running down the church aisle on Christmas Day in a jingle bell sweater and reindeer antlers, trying to stop Travis Walker from marrying someone else. She may be grown-up, slimmed-down, bestselling children's book author "Sadie Cool"now, but Sarah will never forget that day. And she'll never fall foolishly in love again!

But when a letter from a sick fan brings Sarah back to Twilight, she's shocked to discover that Travis is the little girl's father—unattached and hotter than ever. His smile still makes her melt, but Sarah knows that ship has sailed. Travis, however, might have different ideas.

 

9.  Huddle with Me Tonight by Farrah Rochon

 

All Paige Turner wants is to be taken seriously as a journalist. The entertainment columnist and blogger extraordinaire gets more notoriety than she planned when her scathing review of NFL superstar Torrian Smallwood's memoir sparks an online confrontation. But that's nothing compared to the sensual heat that tackles her when she meets the heart-stoppingly sexy athlete face-to-face…. 

Torrian can't let Paige derail his dream of a new career as a restaurateur. Even if the sassy, sultry writer is making America's favorite wide receiver yearn to be on the receiving end of her desire. And with a reality TV cook-off propelling them into the spotlight, Torrian can no longer hide his passionate secret goal—to build a future with the woman who's making an end run around his heart…. 

 

10. How to Bake a Perfect Life by Barbara O'Neal

 

Professional baker Ramona Gallagher is a master of an art that has sustained her through the most turbulent times, including a baby at fifteen and an endless family feud. But now Ramona’s bakery threatens to crumble around her. Literally. She’s one water-heater disaster away from losing her grandmother’s rambling Victorian and everything she’s worked so hard to build.

When Ramona’s soldier son-in-law is wounded in Afghanistan, her daughter, Sophia, races overseas to be at his side, leaving Ramona as the only suitable guardian for Sophia’s thirteen-year-old stepdaughter, Katie. Heartbroken, Katie feels that she’s being dumped again—this time on the doorstep of a woman out of practice with mothering.

Ramona relies upon a special set of tools—patience, persistence, and the reliability of a good recipe—when rebellious Katie arrives. And as she relives her own history of difficult choices, Ramona shares her love of baking with the troubled girl. Slowly, Katie begins to find self-acceptance and a place to call home. And when a man from her past returns to offer a second chance at love, Ramona discovers that even the best recipe tastes better when you add time, care, and a few secret ingredients of your own.

 

Do you have a rec? Let me know!

 

Vote for the best of the best on my Goodreads list: Cookbook Romance

 

Like Reblog Comment
review 2013-08-28 00:00
How to Bake a Perfect Life
How to Bake a Perfect Life - Barbara O'Neal How to Bake a Perfect Life by Barbara O'Neil
Love how this story is about a family but the chapters are told with the recipe of the family dough from hundreds of years ago intertwined.
She is a master in the bakery but she's on hard time and about to lose the house. Ramona.
A good recipe will help get her through the bad times. Everything dealing with life is put into baking terms.
Starter dough-I remember making this and passing out a cup to others to make. It's easy to start.
Her daughter Sophia is 8months pregnant and she's just learned Oscar her husband has been injured in the war.
His ex wife has custody of their child but Oscar wants his wife now to take care of the child. The ex wife is in jail now.
13 year old Katie. The government calls Sophia and she's on her way to Germany to find out how bad Oscar's injuries are..
After she leaves Sophia in the hands of the support group that will lead her to her task she returns home to a pool of water in the yard. They live above the bakery in the apartment.
Alternating chapters between Ramona and Sophia and Katie and we learn hidden things they have each kept from one another.
Love how the channels Sophia follows gets her to where she wants to go and takes care of her while in Germany.
Recipes are throughout the book. Each of their stories goes back to their past and up to the present day..
Things don't go so well for all of them and Ramona comes to the rescue with her solution to all the problems...

Like Reblog Comment
show activity (+)
text 2012-07-30 12:50
RITA Awards Announced!
Enclave - Ann Aguirre
Dragon Bound - Thea Harrison
Doukakis's Apprentice - Sarah Morgan
Soldier's Last Stand - Cindy Dees
The Black Hawk - Joanna Bourne
New York to Dallas (In Death, #33) - J.D. Robb
How to Bake a Perfect Life - Barbara O'Neal

A big day for all those who love great romantic reads. RWA (Romance Writers of America) announced RITA Awards which promote and recognize outstanding reads with romantic touch.

 

Among winners are: First Grave on the Right (Charley Davidson, Book 1) - Darynda Jones in the Best First Book category, Measure of Katie Calloway - Serena B. Miller  choses as best Inspirational Romance, Soldier's Last Stand (Harlequin Romantic Suspense) - Cindy Dees  in Suspense Romance Series, A Night to Surrender - Tessa Dare for being the best Regency Historical Romance, Enclave - Ann Aguirre for best YA Romance.

 

All book winners are shelved on 2012 RITA Awards Shelf.

 

Like Reblog Comment
review 2011-11-21 00:00
How to Bake a Perfect Life
How to Bake a Perfect Life - Barbara O'Neal Ramona was born into a line of restaurant owners and bread bakers. After she was skipped over for a promotion, she broke away from the family and started her own bakery. Everything was fine until one phone call changed her life. Ramona's pregnant daughter, Sofia, received news that her soldier husband was badly burned overseas. Sofia rushed to her injured husband's side, leaving behind a 13-year-old stepdaughter, Katie, in Ramona's care.

The story slowly moves along with Ramona trying to keep her bakery business afloat and out of debt. Katie is trying to adjust to the new surroundings and Sofia is hoping her husband has a full speedy recovery.

Every now and then, I come across a highly recommended, 5-star rated book. But when I read it, I wonder what the praise was for. How to Bake a Perfect Life is that type of book. It wasn't a page turner for me. It was too easy to put down and reluctant to pick back up. The writing was well done but the story itself just fell flat in a predictable way. I thought the theme (relationship between a mother and daughter; the philosophy that it takes a village to raise a child) would draw me in. Unfortunately, it did not. I disagree with the village's recommendation. Meh!

Literary Marie
Like Reblog Comment
review 2011-04-17 00:00
How to Bake a Perfect Life - Barbara O'Neal Generally a cute story...sort of your typical chick-lit book. I bumped it up to 3 stars for the recipes alone..My gosh, the recipes look so fantastic. I am loving the fact that authors are starting to do recipes with their books..as someone who loves to cook, it is just something that makes them stand out and go POW! And let me add, I have gotten some pretty terrific recipes from these types of books and authors web sites.
More posts
Your Dashboard view:
Need help?