Author Name: Lissa Reed
Release
Date: August 11, 2015
Pages or Words: 296 pages
Publisher: Interlude Press
Cover
photography by LaToya Conward
Cover design by Buckeyegrrl Designs
Cover design by Buckeyegrrl Designs
Categories: Contemporary, Fiction, Gay
Fiction, M/M Romance, Romance
Blurb:
Seattle-based
baker Craig Oliver leads a life that is happily routine: baking cupcakes for an
enormous family reunion, managing Sucre Coeur for its frequently absent owner,
and closing out his day with a pint at the local pub. He has a kind heart, a
knack for pastry, and a weakness for damaged people.
Habitual playboy Alex Scheff is looking
to drown his sorrows, but instead discovers that he may have a weakness for
Englishmen who carry cookies in their pockets. Can a seemingly incompatible
pair find the recipe for love in a relationship they claim is casual?
Q&A with Lissa
1. Do you have any advice for other writers?
It isn’t specifically writing advice, but for a very particular type of writer, the working singleton, yes, I do! Learn to cook, if you don’t know how already. Nothing fancy, just get a few dishes under your belt. Take a few hours on a day off and make a big pot of soup or a casserole and then freeze large chunks of them so that on big writing blitz days you aren't going without dinner or spending too much on takeout. It's saved my bacon so many times, because I have been known to forget to go grocery shopping and then I come out of a writing trance with my blood sugar in the basement, so hooray for the freezer full of goodies saving the day.
2. Other than writing do you have any hobbies?
I'm a big knitter of small objects—mittens, socks, tiny toys. I've picked up gardening on my balcony the last couple of years, because I love having fresh herbs and tomatoes at my disposal. And nail art! I've gotten into nail art lately, which is a lot of fun. Then reading, of course, always, always reading.
3. Favorite foods/Colors/Music?
I'm from Louisiana, so I love gumbo and crawfish étouffée. I also love pasta much too much!
My favorite colors tend to be jewel tones, swirls of peacock teals, emerald greens, and deep purples. My nail polish collection reflects this in a big way.
For music, I like almost everything, Austin country, hip-hop, grunge and alternative, classical guitar, anything with a harpsichord, and just about all of the Lilith Fair lineup. It just depends on my mood. There's music for everything.
4. If you were not a writer what else would you like to have done?
I think I would explore my interest in cooking more. I don't think I would want to be a full-time professional chef in a kitchen, it's too stressful. Ideally I would be like Nigella Lawson, I adore her to death. She's amazing. Her Instagram kills me.
5. If you could go anywhere, all expenses paid, where would you go?
I would take as long a tour of the Scandinavian countries as I could! I can't narrow it down to just one so I'll take all of them—all the sauna and fiber arts and Ylvis and design and Girl With A Dragon Tattoo I can cram in.
6. List three books you have recently read and would recommend.
The Leaving of Things, by Jay Antani. It's the story of a teenage boy raised in America whose family moves back to India right as he's about to go to college. He's in a lot of culture shock and rebellion over the move but his journey to learning – and he learns so much – is compelling.
The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins. I can't begin to explain this one! It's a thriller with three narrators who are unreliable – until they're not. I don't usually read thrillers but my book club did this one a couple of months back and I couldn't put it down.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. It's a YA fantasy novel and honestly, just grab the whole trilogy at once. Karou is a blue-haired art student in Prague whose foster father just happens to be a sorcerer and a beastly chimaera. Then one day she meets a murderous angel and learns exactly how much she never knew about her life. It's beautifully set and written and I love all three books. Sorry. I cheated!
7. What is number one on your bucket list?
Apart from my limitless Scandinavia tour? Maybe a full on tour of Europe. I have a mild yearning.
8. What is the best gift you ever gave?
Hm. I gave one of my best friends a pair of socks she desperately wanted but that I detested knitting—I hated the yarn, it was designed so the socks would be impossible to match. The pattern was ubiquitously popular and I saw it everywhere so I was a little bored with it. But she LOVES the socks! She still has them and they make her happy. So it was worth the aggravation, which in the end wasn't so bad, it was just me being finicky and a twit.
9. What is the best gift you ever received?
Jess, the friend I dedicated Definitely, Maybe, Yours to, was in the hospital for two months last year and there was a time we were afraid we would lose her. So having her get out of the hospital and still be with us was a pretty awesome gift from the universe.
10. Can you share something about your works in progress?
Hm, well, it is early stages yet, but I can tell you it's a sequel to Definitely and it focuses on a female employee of the Sucre Coeur bakery. Craig and Alex are still around, but this is someone else's story and it's a lot of fun to work on, very lively and bright. I'm enjoying it a lot!
Excerpt:
Q&A with Lissa
1. Do you have any advice for other writers?
It isn’t specifically writing advice, but for a very particular type of writer, the working singleton, yes, I do! Learn to cook, if you don’t know how already. Nothing fancy, just get a few dishes under your belt. Take a few hours on a day off and make a big pot of soup or a casserole and then freeze large chunks of them so that on big writing blitz days you aren't going without dinner or spending too much on takeout. It's saved my bacon so many times, because I have been known to forget to go grocery shopping and then I come out of a writing trance with my blood sugar in the basement, so hooray for the freezer full of goodies saving the day.
2. Other than writing do you have any hobbies?
I'm a big knitter of small objects—mittens, socks, tiny toys. I've picked up gardening on my balcony the last couple of years, because I love having fresh herbs and tomatoes at my disposal. And nail art! I've gotten into nail art lately, which is a lot of fun. Then reading, of course, always, always reading.
3. Favorite foods/Colors/Music?
I'm from Louisiana, so I love gumbo and crawfish étouffée. I also love pasta much too much!
My favorite colors tend to be jewel tones, swirls of peacock teals, emerald greens, and deep purples. My nail polish collection reflects this in a big way.
For music, I like almost everything, Austin country, hip-hop, grunge and alternative, classical guitar, anything with a harpsichord, and just about all of the Lilith Fair lineup. It just depends on my mood. There's music for everything.
4. If you were not a writer what else would you like to have done?
I think I would explore my interest in cooking more. I don't think I would want to be a full-time professional chef in a kitchen, it's too stressful. Ideally I would be like Nigella Lawson, I adore her to death. She's amazing. Her Instagram kills me.
5. If you could go anywhere, all expenses paid, where would you go?
I would take as long a tour of the Scandinavian countries as I could! I can't narrow it down to just one so I'll take all of them—all the sauna and fiber arts and Ylvis and design and Girl With A Dragon Tattoo I can cram in.
6. List three books you have recently read and would recommend.
The Leaving of Things, by Jay Antani. It's the story of a teenage boy raised in America whose family moves back to India right as he's about to go to college. He's in a lot of culture shock and rebellion over the move but his journey to learning – and he learns so much – is compelling.
The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins. I can't begin to explain this one! It's a thriller with three narrators who are unreliable – until they're not. I don't usually read thrillers but my book club did this one a couple of months back and I couldn't put it down.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. It's a YA fantasy novel and honestly, just grab the whole trilogy at once. Karou is a blue-haired art student in Prague whose foster father just happens to be a sorcerer and a beastly chimaera. Then one day she meets a murderous angel and learns exactly how much she never knew about her life. It's beautifully set and written and I love all three books. Sorry. I cheated!
7. What is number one on your bucket list?
Apart from my limitless Scandinavia tour? Maybe a full on tour of Europe. I have a mild yearning.
8. What is the best gift you ever gave?
Hm. I gave one of my best friends a pair of socks she desperately wanted but that I detested knitting—I hated the yarn, it was designed so the socks would be impossible to match. The pattern was ubiquitously popular and I saw it everywhere so I was a little bored with it. But she LOVES the socks! She still has them and they make her happy. So it was worth the aggravation, which in the end wasn't so bad, it was just me being finicky and a twit.
9. What is the best gift you ever received?
Jess, the friend I dedicated Definitely, Maybe, Yours to, was in the hospital for two months last year and there was a time we were afraid we would lose her. So having her get out of the hospital and still be with us was a pretty awesome gift from the universe.
10. Can you share something about your works in progress?
Hm, well, it is early stages yet, but I can tell you it's a sequel to Definitely and it focuses on a female employee of the Sucre Coeur bakery. Craig and Alex are still around, but this is someone else's story and it's a lot of fun to work on, very lively and bright. I'm enjoying it a lot!
Excerpt:
With
a wink, Craig pulls a ten-dollar bill out of his left coat pocket and a
carefully bagged almond and raspberry-lemon croissant, Katie's all-time
favorite baked good, out of the right. He passes them across the bar as if he's
James Bond—a very cheeky and cheery sort of 007. “You know I'll always look out
for you. Keep the change.”
Katie squeals and flops across the bar to squeeze him breathless,
and her ponytail slaps him in the nose. She bounces off with her treat in hand
and Craig shakes his head and pulls long black and red hairs from his face, as
he does every time this happens. Katie really is his favorite bartender at The
Order of the Garter, hell, his favorite bartender in Seattle and maybe even the
world. Much too good to be working at a grotty little pub, fending off unsavory
advances and spilled drinks four nights a week; that's why Craig will bring her
any bakery treat she wants, anytime she wants it, until she finally wises up
and gets the hell out of this place.
Time for another sip of this excellent, excellent stout: Craig
reaches forward. It's a good Thursday.
Of course, that's when it takes quite the sharp turn, leaving
every Seattle-pub-Thursday Craig's ever known in the dust.
“Well, aren't you a hit with the ladies,” comes a surly drawl from
his left, startling Craig just as he's got his fingers around his glass. “Was
that a croissant in your pocket, or were you actually happy to see her?”
“Both,” Craig replies, shifting around to lean on his elbow and
survey the formerly silent pile of misery hunched over two stools down, the
limp guy at the end of the bar Craig had spotted on his way in. He is not
unconscious after all, much to Craig's surprise; judging by the row of empty
shot glasses upside down in front of him and the distinct aroma of tequila
emanating a good four-foot radius from his person, he should be. Craig
winces and turns away as the fumes burn his nose.
“Baked goods. That's a new one. Never saw anyone use baking to hit
on the ladies before.” Mr. Misery sways his head upright, pushes a wild flop of
brown hair out of his eyes and swings around until he locates Craig. He blinks.
“Does it work?”
Surprised by the color of the eyes meeting his—an unusual shade,
gray, not blue-gray or blue, but the gray of a sky covered in early storm
clouds—Craig answers without thinking. “I wouldn't know. I don't hit on girls.
Katie's my friend, not my type.”
About the author:
Lissa Reed is a writer of fiction, blogs and bawdy Renaissance song parodies. She traces her first interest in becoming a writer to the fourth grade, when her teacher gave her the gift of her first composition book. A former newspaper editor, Reed shifted her focus to romance and literary fiction early in her writing career. She lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and is currently working on her new novel, Certainly, Possibly, You—the sequel to Definitely, Maybe, Yours.
Where to find the author: Tumblr Twitter Goodreads FB
Giveaway !!!
Tour Schedule
11-Aug
12-Aug
13-Aug
14-Aug
17-Aug
18-Aug
19-Aug
20-Aug
21-Aug
24-Aug
Thank you very much! I had fun with these questions!
ReplyDelete