Posts Tagged: blog tour

Goodbye for Now by Laurie Frankel- Blog Tour and Giveaway

27 Jun, 2013 by in giveaway Leave a comment

Fire and Ice is today’s stop on the Goodbye for Now Blog Tour! 
The paperback cover was just released on Monday and to celebrate we have a giveaway hosted by Mod Podge Marketing. Enter at the end of this post!

About the author: Laurie Frankel lives on a very steep hill in Seattle with her husband, her four-year-old son, her border collie, and many, many books. She’s an East Coaster originally, a fact people often guess before she’s even opened her mouth. She has written two novels, The Atlas of Love and Goodbye For Now, and is at work on her third. Laurie is a core member of the Seattle7Writers. She used to teach writing, literature, and gender studies at the college level. Now she is thrilled, honored, grateful, and occasionally terrified to be writing full-time. It’s quite something.

Learn more on goodreads/ twitter/ author’s website

The Giveaway: a Rafflecopter giveaway

Owlet by Emma Michaels- Blog Tour and Breview

18 Jun, 2013 by in owlet, reading away the days Leave a comment


Fire and Ice is thrilled to be today’s blog tour stop for 



Owlet
by Emma Michaels
Young Adult (Paranormal) 
138 pages
Published by Tribute Books
2012
Book Source: blog tour
First in a series
Things I loved about Owlet– the cover. Wow! Beautiful and intriguing. 5 stars on the cover for sure. Here’s another author that has done her homework and provided swirling fonts, an easy to use press kit, a book trailer and blogger friendly website that interfaces with readers and reviewers alike.

The concept of a Society of Birds and Never Never being tied into an Alice in Wonderland type ethereal story.

Falcon, the main man. He is complex, loyal and has a certain swoon worthy quality about him.

The idea of the heroine having a disability. Her asthma is very debilitating and is a major premise of the storyline. She finds a way to overcome her trials and triumph.

It’s short…like a novella and can be read in one day.

I struggled with: fully understanding what exactly was going on in the first five chapters. The pacing is so fast and the writing almost like stream of consciousness. It’s hard to pick up the plot and characters unless you re read after you catch the gist.

The disconnectedness of events. It is written almost like a literal dream. There are bits and pieces scattered in Iris memory both wakeful and asleep that you must put together. If you like to figure things out on your own this is your kind of book!

Overall: It is CLEAN! Yay. 

I will admit Owlet pulled me back several times and has very interesting mythology mixed with fairy tale. Thanks so much to Reading Away the Days blog tours and author Emma Michaels for asking us to join the blog tour!


 
Somewhere between falling and flying… there is a girl.
Iris has a secret. She lost her memory eight years ago and never told a living soul. After an asthma attack one night she finds out that her dreams of a strange house on a snowy island may be a memory resurfacing but the more she learns about the past the more she realizes the life she has been living is a lie. As the façade her father has built starts to crumble around her she will have to decide which means more to her; the truth or her life.

 
 Emma Michaels is a cover artist and the author of Owlet. As the founder of The Writers Voice blog (http://OurBooksOurVoice.Blogspot.com) she loves to connect authors and readers. Her love of blogging started when she created a review blog in 2009 (www.EmmaMichaels.com) which gave her the courage to finally submit her own novels to publishers.

Abandon by Elana Johnson Blog Tour, Scavenger Hunt and Giveaway

10 Jun, 2013 by in Possession series, simon schuster Leave a comment

photo Elanas-Button1_zpscc8012ab.gif

Today we’re here to celebrate the completion of the Possession series by Elana Johnson! ABANDON came out on June 4, and I hope you’ve been participating in the series scavenger hunt! Today I’m bringing you one of the stops!

Once you know what city in the Association we’re visiting today, GO HERE to fill out the form to enter to win today’s prize (a series swag package), as well as an overall scavenger hunt prize: signed paperbacks of the entire series, as well as digital copies of the two short stories (REGRET and RESIST) that round out the Possession series + a $50 Amazon gift card.

“Emotion pumps through every scene of this thriller. Given all the urgency and action, the novel’s ending may surprise readers as the heroic adventure turns into a tragic love story.” –School Library Journal

“The end is satisfying in a full-circle way and is set up for a third novel in this world. Some recent dystopian novels with a similar them are the Matched series by Ally Condie and the Delirium series by Lauren Oliver.” –VOYA “A thrilling, fan-pleasing sequel.” –The Deseret News

Available now!

 The fight for independent thought becomes a matter of life or death in this sizzling and intense conclusion to the Possession trilogy.

 Your clue for the scavenger hunt today: Gunn stops in this city in Surrender, only to wake up alone.

And go to Books Complete Me where Cindy has an exclusive interview with Elana — and another clue to discover which city in the Association we’re visiting!

Then be sure to ENTER TO WIN the grand prize signed paperback giveaway + Amazon gift card.

To enter the daily swag package giveaway, fill out the Rafflecopter below a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you get lost, you can always go to Elana’s blog to find your place.

Happy hunting!

21 Principles: Divine Truths to Help you Live by the Spirit by Richard G Scott Blog Tour and Review

22 May, 2013 by in review, Richard G Scott Leave a comment

21 Principles: Divine Truths to Help you Live by the Spirit 
by Richard G Scott
Hardcover, 105 pages
Published 2013
by Deseret Book
ISBN 1609075269
Book Source: publisher
5 stars

Product Description from Deseret Book.com: 

“As you seek spiritual knowledge, search for principles,” counsels Elder Richard G. Scott. “Principles are concentrated truth, packaged for application to a wide variety of circumstances.”


In this exciting book, Elder Scott offers 21 principles distilled from his life experiences. These “concentrated truths” will help you understand more fully how to be guided by the Spirit. Elder Scott’s brief explanations open the way for your own discovery and exploration.
“I bear witness that Jesus Christ knows you personally,” Elder Scott writes. “He will provide answers to every difficult problem in your life as you trust Him and do all you can to understand and apply His doctrine and strive to live by the Spirit.” 21 Principles will be a valuable tool in that quest.

Review: Richard G. Scott shares the most important truths he was learned in life in his newest title 21 Truths. each chapter outlines a principle to ponder and adopt. As an artist who often feels the pull of being creative juxtaposed with doing the same things over and over again, I truly appreciated Principle 3 

“Repeatedly I have been impressed to learn that to reach a goal never before attained, one must do things never before done.”  

Elder Scott talks about how on a visit to a close friend he was fascinated with his ability to create beauty using brushes, watercolor and paint, and had the impression “Try it.”  He did just that, and the cover of his book is a print of one of his watercolor paintings. When I noticed the signature on the dust jacket I felt uplifted and encouraged to go out on a limb.

This book is power packed with sound advice and the way to apply it in our lives. If applied with prayer and perseverance these principles will set your life on the right course. I would recommend it for a Father’s Day gift! Thanks so much to Deseret Book for inviting us to be on the blog tour today.



About the Author: Elder Richard G. Scott, was called as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in October 1988. He had served in the First Quorum of the Seventy since 1977 and was a member of the presidency of that quorum for five years. He holds a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering and completed post-graduate work in nuclear engineering. Prior to his call as a General Authority, he worked on the staff of Admiral Hyman Rickover developing military and private nuclear power reactors. Elder Scott and his wife, Jeanene Watkins Scott (deceased), are the parents of seven children.


  Find out more on Deseret Book/ Goodreads

Sirens In The Time of Gatsby Janet Fox Blog Tour- Post #8

15 May, 2013 by in penguin teen, Sirens, speak 1 comment

Thanks to ModPodge Blog Tours and Janet Fox for inviting us to be today’s stop on the official Sirens Blog Tour.

Janet is here with  Post #8. Calling All Ghosts: Ouija Boards, Spiritualism, and Harry Houdini


“One of the central images of SIRENS is that of ghosts and spirits and magic. I found this facet of the 1920s by accident, but it fit so perfectly into the novel I couldn’t ignore it. Cue the spooky music…

Maybe it was the war, maybe it was the influenza outbreak, but people in the 1920s became obsessed with life after death.




There were (well, yeah, there still are) two camps: those who believed in life after, and those who didn’t. Harry Houdini didn’t. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Howard Thurston did.


Houdini and Thurston were both magicians, so they knew how to pull the wool over someone’s eyes. Doyle – Mr. Sherlock Holmes – knew how to uncover secrets. These three were all good friends, and they argued this point excessively. Were there spirits? Ghosts? Was there life after death? Who could prove the point?


Two of the popular parlor games of the 1920s were séances and Ouija boards. Both of these purported to channel the dead through a medium, in the case of a séance, or through the group emotions, in the case of a Ouija board (if you’ve never played with the latter, it’s kind of fun. But you have to suspend your disbelief. That makes it spooky.) The dead would send, through these media, obscure messages back to the living.



Magic shows were a public phenomenon of the 1920s, and two of the greatest magicians were Harry Houdini and Howard Thurston. Houdini was a skeptic: he knew how to make people think one thing, but “it was all a trick. Fakery.” Thurston, too, was an excellent magician, but he actually believed that there was something guiding him, a kind of spirit life. The two engaged in a friendly competition, culminating with a wager that the one who died first would haunt the other.


Thurston’s shows were all about spiritualism. He would make a girl float magically in the air; he would make a girl vanish altogether; he would call forth floating apparitions to “speak.” His illusions were some of the best and his popularity high. But Houdini’s renown was greater, due to his amazing performances in escaping dire circumstances. And Houdini’s premature death of peritonitis gave a legendary aspect to his name, since the secrets of his magic act – ironically – went with him to the grave.


Thurston lived on but his magic shows were supplanted by a new public fixation: the moving picture.


As the decade progressed and Americans forgot their heartbreak over the war and their losses during the flu pandemic, and became more and more obsessed with the “new” things – cosmetics, automobiles, wealth, and glamour – preoccupation with spirits slipped away. They didn’t know it, but at the end of the 1920s Americans would bump up against a whole different kind of haunting experience: the Depression.”



Sirens book summary: When Jo Winter’s parents send her off to live with her rich cousin on the glittering island of Manhattan, it’s to find a husband and forget about her brother Teddy’s death. But all that glitters is not gold.. 


Caught up in the swirl of her cousin’s bobbed-hair set—and the men that court them— Jo soon realizes that the talk of marriage never stops, and behind the seemingly boundless gains are illicit business endeavors, gangsters, and their molls. Jo would much rather spend time the handsome but quiet Charles, a waiter at the Algonquin Hotel, than drape herself over a bootlegger. But when she befriends a moll to one of the most powerful men in town, Jo begins to uncover secrets—secrets that threaten an empire and could secure Jo’s freedom from her family. 


Can her newfound power buy her love? Or will it to ruin Jo, and everyone around her?






About the author:
Janet Fox is the author of award-winning books for children and young adults. FAITHFUL (Speak/Penguin Young Readers 2010), set in Yellowstone National Park in 1904, is a YALSA Best Fiction for YA nominee and an Amelia Bloomer List pick, 2011. FORGIVEN (Speak 2011), set in 1906 San Francisco during the great earthquake, is a Junior Library Guild selection 2011, and a 2012 WILLA Literary Awards Finalist. Her most recent novel, SIRENS (Speak 2012) is set in 1925 New York. Janet has numerous MG and YA projects underway. She is a former high school English teacher and received her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults in 2010 (Vermont College of Fine Arts). Janet lives in Bozeman, Montana.

Learn more about Janet Fox on her website/ facebook/ blog


The Giveaway: 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Descendant by Nichole Giles Blog Tour, Author Q & A plus Giveaway

09 May, 2013 by in giveaway, Heather Gardner Photography, Nichole Giles, rhemalda 1 comment

Fire and Ice is pleased to welcome author Nichole Giles on the Descendant Blog Tour.  I am particularly excited about this one because I just attended the release party at The King’s English this week and had a chance to see my author photo of Nichole in print! See photos of the event here.

Plus, keep reading to hear why she became and author. We also have an awesome giveaway to offer to those who enter.



Seventeen-year-old Abigail Johnson is Gifted.


Blessed-or cursed-with Sight and Healing, Abby lives an unsettled life, moving from place to place and staying one step ahead of the darkness that hunts her. When she arrives in Jackson, Wyoming, she is desperate to maintain the illusion of normalcy, but she is plagued with visions of past lives mixed with frightening glimpses of her future. Then she meets Kye, a mysterious boy who seems so achingly familiar that Abby is drawn to him like he’s a missing piece of her own soul.

Before Abby can discover the reason for her feelings toward Kye, the darkness catches up to her and she is forced to flee again. But this time she’s not just running. She is fighting back with Kye at her side, and it’s not only Abby’s life at stake.




Fire and Ice: Can you tell us what myths or folklore tied into Descendant?

Nichole: Several years ago, I was in a bookstore, and came across a huge mythology book in the clearance section. It has all these beautiful pictures, and tells detailed, intricate stories to go with them. I bought it, and have used it as a reference book for my fantasy writing ever since. There’s a story in it about a mythological trio of goddesses who had their hands in all kinds of mischief, including love, war, and fertility issues. This trio is known as The Morrigana, and these ladies play a key role in Abby’s story.   

Fire and Ice: Do you have a playlist or music you listen to while writing?

Nichole: It depends on the day. Most often, I am more productive in the silence. But there are times when I need music. Usually, it’s to drown out other noise or distractions, and when I do turn on music, I have to be careful to listen to something that will not change the course of the story. For this particular story, I did have a playlist. Most of it was instrumental.  


Photo by Heather Zahn Gardner


Fire and Ice: We understand you’ve published more than one book, how did you decide you wanted to be a writer?

Nichole: Believe it or not, being an author wasn’t a life-long dream for me. I have always loved the arts, and been a creative-type person, but writing a book seemed so out of reach. More difficult than becoming a famous actress—which really was my ambition when I was a teen. And then I got married and had kids, and life took over. After my kids were born, I rediscovered my love of reading. I read a book in which one of the main characters was an author, and he seemed so…normal. And I thought, “Hey, maybe I could do that.” Fast forward a few months, I took an online class, and then I attended a writer’s conference, after which I knew I was hooked for life. I found my direction, started writing, and have never looked back.


Fire and Ice: Who is your literary hero?

Nichole: Katniss Everdeen, Alina Starkov, and . Raine Hightower.

Fire and Ice: If you could travel anywhere to research your book where would you go?

Nichole: If I had a choice, I’d fly to Cancun to research the (still untitled, and not-quite-finished) sequel, because there are scenes set near there. When researching Descendant, obviously, I’d have loved to fly to New York. But, I have another book (unrelated) set in California, and would love to research that one too.

However, if I’m going to get to travel wherever I want to research my books, I will immediately begin planning a story set in Tahiti. And Europe. And Ireland. Yes, all of those. And, uh, on a cruise ship that goes around the world. YES!


Fire and Ice: What advice would you give to someone who wants to publish a book?

Nichole: If you’re going to dive into the publishing industry, there is no talent more important than patience, closely followed by persistence. But aside from those two things, the best advice I can give anyone wanting to be a writer is to read. Read widely and thoroughly. Read everything you can, and learn from those books and those authors. Just read.

Fire and Ice: Most inspiring movie you’ve seen lately?

Nichole: Not long ago, we rented the DVD of Red Dawn. I was surprised at how inspired I was by that movie. I know it’s fiction, but it’s the idea that inspires me. Those kids were just teenagers, but they managed to be such sharp thorns in the sides of some important military operatives that they sparked a complete rebellion. I came away thinking about how the right people doing the right thing at the right time really can make a difference, really can change things. I love that a fiction movie can make me feel that way.


Fire and Ice: What upcoming events and signings do you have?

Nichole: Unfortunately, not a lot right now. On top of my book being released, we are also moving into a new house this month, so I had to keep my signing schedule light. The official launch happened in Salt Lake City, UT on May 4th and was a huge success. I am also presenting at the LDStorymakers conference in UT this weekend (May 9-11), and will be signing books at the Provo Marriott the evening of the 10th. Then I have another signing at Barnes and Noble in Corpus Christi, TX on May 18th at 1:30 PM.  For now, these are the only signings I have scheduled, but I hope to add more throughout the summer as I am able to travel.


Fire and Ice: Which character do you feel you most resemble in your book and why?

Nichole: I think I have to go with Abby. Because if I resembled the male love interest—that would be weird, I think. Abby has this empathetic tendency, where she kind of feels like it’s her responsibility to take care of everyone around her, and I have been known *ahem* to be a little like that as well. Also, she moved around a lot as a kid, so I can totally identify with that.


Thanks for the interview! I hope you enjoy Descendant. 

Praise for DESCENDANT: “A hot new spin on paranormal, Descendant is refreshingly imaginative and powerful. I can’t decide which was best — piecing together Abby’s sinister past or keeping up with her heartbreaking future. If you like your YA laced with melt-my-heart romance and a good helping of heart-pounding suspense, you’ll love this book!” — Michelle Davidson Argyle, author of The Breakaway

“Nichole Giles has crafted a story that breathes from the pages. Her characters are authentic, the action intense, with powerful emotions that will keep Descendant on your mind long after the book ends. Open your eyes to another facet of our world in Descendant and you’ll be sucked into an adventure with Abby and Kye, that will explore the power of gifts, courage, and love. With top-notch writing, Giles has crafted a story that breathes from the pages.” –Rachelle J. Christensen, award-winning author of Wrong Number and Caller ID

“Nichole Giles brings a fresh new voice and flawless writing technique to the world of Young Adult fiction. I was swept away to another place and never wanted to come back.” –Tristi Pinkston, author of Turning Pages and the Secret Sisters mystery series

“This debut novel delivers in all the right ways, with heart-pounding action and a delicious romance that sweeps centuries. I loved it!” –Elana Johnson, author of Possession and Surrender


About Nichole Giles: Nichole Giles was born in Nevada, and moved with her parents to a number of cities in and around the West. Writing is her passion, but she also loves to spend time with her husband and four children, travel to tropical and exotic destinations, drive in the rain with the convertible top down, and play music at full volume so she can sing along.


Nichole is sponsoring a massive giveaway during the blog tour of DESCENDANT! To enter, fill out the form below. 

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One Drop At A Time Blog Tour and Review

07 May, 2013 by in M Russell Ballard, One Drop At A Time, review 1 comment

One Drop At a Time
by M. Russell Ballard
Published March 2013
by Deseret Book
Book Source: Publisher
5 stars

Book Summary: Do you sometimes wonder if your little efforts could possibly make any difference at all? Consider a simple example from nature.

Honey is “one of the foods that includes all the substances— enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and water—necessary to sustain life,” writes Elder M. Russell Ballard. And yet, “Over its short lifetime of just a few weeks to four months, a single honeybee’s contribution of honey to its hive is a mere one-twelfth of one teaspoon. Though seemingly insignificant when compared to the total, each bee’s one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey is vital to the life of the hive.”

Your simple, daily acts of service matter, and this charmingly illustrated little book will lift your heart as it demonstrates the power of many righteous people working together to fill the world, one drop at a time, with the sweet truths of the gospel.

Review: Elder M. Russell Ballard grew up on an orchard and as a boy remembers the hives of honeybees his father kept–over 60,000 bees to pollinate the trees.  Each bee  only lives a few short weeks to four months and its contribution is a mere one twelfth of a teaspoon. But think of the collective effort each bee makes to the good of the hive. Their life’s work is  vital and significant when taken as a collective effort. So many of us take for granted the beautiful harmony and system it takes to create each drop of honey.

This book is a visual and verse reminder that each of us has contribution to make, however small it may be. We better the world with daily acts of small service and as mothers. We nurture, we build, we work together. I was inspired by the pages and think One Drop At A Time is just the message we each need to remember.




About the Author: Elder M. Russell Ballard was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in October 1985. Prior to that, he served in the first Quorum of the Seventy and in the presidency of that quorum. A successful businessman, he has engaged in various enterprises, including automotive, real estate, and investments. He has also served as a bishop twice and as president of the Canada Toronto Mission. Elder Ballard and his wife, Barbara Bowen Ballard, are the parents of seven children and grandparents of forty-three.

The Beginning of Better Days Deseret Book Blog Tour

06 May, 2013 by in The Beginning of Better Days 1 comment

Fire and Ice is today’s stop on the Deseret Book blog tour for The Beginning of Better Days. It’s a perfect book for Mother’s Day! Listen as members of a Women’s book club share their personal thoughts on how this book touched their lives.

Product Description from Deseret Book: How important are women in the restored church of Jesus Christ? We learn something about the answer to the question from a simple historic fact: In 1842, the Prophet Joseph Smith took time to attend several meetings of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo and give personal instruction to the women there. He did this at a time of great personal turmoil, when persecutions were raging and his responsibilities were heavy. He did it at a time when society barely acknowledged women as having any kind of status at all. On six separate occasions, he taught the women personally about their privileges, their opportunities, their obligations, and the blessings the Lord had in store for them in His kingdom.
The Beginning of Better Days includes Joseph Smith’s six timeless sermons to the women of Nauvoo, along with personal essays from Sheri Dew and Virginia H. Pearce that help us better understand the sermons and their relevance for Latter-day Saint women today. “We have attempted to share a little about our own processes of discovery regarding the sermons,” writes the authors. “This is what worked for us. What works for you may be similar — or it may be completely different. The important thing is to dig in.”

About the Authors: Sheri Dew is a native of Ulysses, Kansas, and a graduate of Brigham Young University. She has authored several books, including the biographies of two presidents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Presidents Gordon B. Hinckley and Ezra Taft Benson. Her most recent books are God Wants a Powerful People and Saying It Like It Is. Sheri was named the president and CEO of Deseret Book Company in March 2002. She also serves as a member of both the BYU Marriott School of Management’s National Advisory Council and the President’s Leadership Council for BYU-Hawaii. In March 2003 the White House appointed her as a member of the U.S. Delegation to the Commission on the Status of Women and Girls at the United Nations.


Virginia Hinckley Pearce is the author of the bestselling book A Heart Like His: Making Space for God’s Love in Your Life, and has edited and coauthored several additional books, including Glimpses into the Life and Heart of Marjorie Pay Hinckley. She has served as a counselor in the Young Women general presidency and on the general Primary board of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She and her husband, the late James R. Pearce, have six children and twenty-six grandchildren.

Learn more about The Beginning of Better Days at Deseret Book

Blog Tour and Giveaway- Demons by Heather Frost

29 Apr, 2013 by in giveaway 3 comments

Fire and Ice is happy to be today’s stop on the official Demons Blog Tour hosted by Cedar Fort Books and author Heather Frost. In honor of the release of Seers, we are giving away an ebook of Book one, Demons to our readers. Keep reading for details…

About Seers Trilogy: For Kate Bennett, surviving the car wreck that killed her parents means big changes — and even bigger problems. As she begins to see auras and invisible people, Kate must learn to trust Patrick O’Donnell, a handsome Guardian, or risk her life being overrun with Demons. She soon realizes that both she and her heart are in big-time trouble. 

Read the prologue of “Seers”

Read the prologue of “Demons”

and Visit all the  Blog Tour Stops for more chances to win! 



Author Bio: Heather Frost was born in Sandy, Utah, and raised in a small Northern Utah town. She is the second oldest of ten children, and she loves her family very much. She is currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree in English at Utah State University. Heather has always been an avid reader, and reading and writing are among her favorite things to do. She also enjoys playing the flute, listening to all types of music, and watching a wide variety of movies. Guardians, the final book in the Seers Trilogy, will be released July 2013.

Learn more: Author Website/ Official Facebook Fanpage/ Twitter/ Goodreads


Purchase:


The Giveaway: Fire and Ice is giving away one Ecopy of Demons to our readers. Simply comment below to enter! 

Winners will be announced May 5, 2013. Open internationally.

Blog Tour and Author Guest Post By Lisa Rumsey Harris- The Unlikely Gift of Treasure Blume

22 Apr, 2013 by in Author Guest Post, The Unlikely Gift of Treasure Blume Leave a comment


Fire and Ice is pleased to be today’s official blog tour stop for Lisa Rumsey Harris’ book The Unlikely Gift of Treasure Bloom. We have Lisa with us today to share an exclusive post and recipe with our readers!




Confessions from an Unfoodie:
By Lisa Rumsey Harris, author of The Unlikely Gift of Treasure Blume
I have a confession. I am not a foodie. I eat to live. I don’t live to eat. I don’t spend hours browsing cookbooks, nor do I show up at clandestine parking lots in the wee hours of the morning to nab quality produce.  And although I wish it was different, cooking, for me, is a job, not a joy.
So when I was writing The Unlikely Gift of Treasure Blume, and discovered that the love interest, Dennis Cameron, was an ex-chef who was now working in a school cafeteria, I was in totally new territory. Short of watching Top Chef, I didn’t have any experience with gourmet grub.  I had to learn a new vocabulary for all his dialogue.  Dennis thought and spoke in food metaphors. I did not. And so, like any good author, I started doing research. I lurked on foodie blogs, googling terms I’d only heard in passing: ragout, sous chef, risotto, and yes, even Turducken.
For Dennis, food is love. It’s his way of creating art, and expressing his emotions. So while I wasn’t a foodie, I suddenly found myself fascinated with food. Foodlore and recipes expose so much about how people live and love. That’s what I wanted to come through in Dennis.
Dennis’s dishes revealed his character. The simplicity and quality of ingredients make him happy. That’s why he had such issues with the cafeteria food ( Side-bar: I wrote this before Michelle Obama launched her lunch-room reform campaign. Dennis would have been a fan. My children, used to chicken nuggets and cinnamon rolls in the lunchroom, are not. ) Dennis describes Treasure as spinach (a flattering comparison, in his estimation) and pictures beautiful bouquets of broccoli when he gets stressed out.  And when he falls in love with Treasure Blume, he makes butternut squash boats that he calls “a love sonnet in a pot.”
“Tasty? said Dennis. “That’s all you can come up with?” He took a bite off the same spoon. “The cinnamon is home and holidays and warmth, and the chili powder is heat and passion and adventure. I’ve given you a love sonnet in a pot and all you can come up with is tasty?”
“Really tasty?” she said” (217).
This may be my favorite food bit in the book. I dug deep into my childhood to base these squash boats on a real family recipe. Unfoodie that I am, I do have foodie roots. Like Grammy Blume, I come from pioneer stock. My family recipes, handed down from generations of farmers and ranchers, feature simple ingredients and yield enough to feed the threshers.  One recipe starts out “Kill and clean six stewing hens . . .” no joke!   And so for Dennis’s love sonnet, I decided to use the recipe that meant love to me as a child.

This recipe has Dennis’s epicurean chef spin, but the heart of it is my grandmother’s hubbard squash pie recipe. We eat it at Thanksgiving while the rest of the world is eating pumpkin pie. In it, I replaced hubbard with butternut, because it’s so much more friendly and easier to use than hubbard. The skin is so thick and tough on a hubbard that the recipe begins with my grandmother’s admonition to split the squash with an axe.  With butternut, you can skip the ax. Then you need to peel the rind, and clean the squash (if you’re my grandma, you save the seeds for the next year’s planting). Cut and cube, then boil until soft. Next, mill the squash (which is pushing the squash through a tough strainer with a big paddle).  

Once you have your stewed and strained squash, the recipe for Dennis’s Love Sonnet Squash pie is easy:
2 cups stewed and strained squash
2 cups cream
2 eggs
1 teaspoon ginger
½ teaspoon allspice
1 cup brown or granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
Mix squash with milk, sugar, beaten eggs, salt and spices. Beat for 2 minutes. Pour into pie tin lined with pastry, (or in the book, Dennis uses hollowed out squash shells). Bake at 450 for 15 minutes, then at 350 for 30 minutes.  And in the end, you’ll have a creamy, custardy, earthy delicious piece of my family history, and Dennis’s love for Treasure Blume.

Book Summary: With her love of sweaters, goofy hair, and awkward manners—not to mention her family curse—Treasure Blume knows love is not in her future. That is, until she matches wits with Dennis Cameron, a divorced chef with a six-year-old daughter. Full of mischief, mayhem, and laugh-out-loud humor, this is an unlikely love story you’ll want to read over and over again!



About the author: Lisa Rumsey Harris is from Downey, Idaho, where she grew up writing stories and riding horses. She graduated magna cum laude from BYU with a degree in English and a minor in Humanities.She honed her writing skills while working at BYU Development Communications, where she wrote brochures, letters, and conducting notes for President Merrill J. Bateman. She received her Master’s Degree in English in August 2003.

Sparked by the experiences of her own grandmother, Lisa’s thesis explored the dissonance between real ranch women and the representations of ranch women in literature. She presented her findings at the Hawaiian International Conference on the Arts and Humanities.

Lisa’s passion for the American West is rivaled only by her passions for teaching and writing. She began teaching Honors Writing courses in Fall 2003. Her teaching inspiration is her own mother, who as Lisa’s high school Spanish teacher, taught her the importance of finding innovative approaches to encourage active learning.
As a writer, Lisa has won numerous awards for her short stories, essays, and cowboy poetry, including a Sunstone award in the Brookie and D.K Brown Memorial Fiction Contest. Lisa lives in Orem, Utah, with her multi-talented husband, her adorable sunshine daughters, and her ancient Siamese cat.

Learn more on Goodreads/ author website