Laura Florand's Blog, page 31

Chocolate Kiss audio & Snow-Kissed book club

Okay, announcement one: THE CHOCOLATE KISS is now available on audio! Yay! Narrated by Terri Clark.

And two: I know we just did a book club, but is anyone up for brainstorming book club questions for SNOW-KISSED? Because another reader here (Amy P.) has a book club coming up first week of November, and this is a complex one to come at, don’t you think? It still makes me feel very fragile inside to talk about it.

But I had some ideas for food, since there’s quite a bit in the book: hot chocolate, waffles w/strawberry hearts, broccoli soup, panini, chocolate chip cookies.

And making Christmas ornaments, if the club likes to do crafts! (Particularly cinnamon dough ornaments for which I should probably post my version of the recipe.)

But questions. I think this story is so delicate and tough and fragile all at once to me that it’s hard for me to approach it. Maybe as readers rather than author you will have some of your brilliant readerly insights? What questions would you ask, in a book club?

Book Club Suggestions for THE CHOCOLATE THIEF

A huge thank you to all the generous, smart readers who helped brainstorm these questions here and on Facebook for the “What Happens in Book Club, Stays in Book Club” book club, and whatever other book club wishes to use them!

We’re setting up a section of the web site to keep the different book club books organized, but in the meantime, enjoy! If you have any other thoughts, don’t hesitate to chime in, in the comments. And of course, if your own book club is reading one of the books, I would love to hear from you!

THE CHOCOLATE THIEF BOOK CLUB SUGGESTIONS

Themes

Leather pants!
“Explore” scents the way Cade does in Sylvain’s shop. Each person could bring a favorite spice or oil (lemon oil, nutmeg, etc.), with the label covered, and people could pass these around and see if they can identify it and discuss their associations with the scent.
S’mores. One reader suggested making s’mores with different types of chocolate (Hershey’s, Ghirardelli, Lindt) and discussing whether one kind of chocolate evokes greater nostalgia. Or reader and “What Happens in Book Club, Stays in Book Club” organizer Shannon found some s’more martinis: http://www.recipehearth.com/smores-martini/ .

Questions

1) Who should play Sylvain in a film? Bring photos of your candidates! (No one ever seems to have nearly as much fun finding candidates for Cade, but they go together, right?)

2) Cade emphasizes the importance of Corey Bars as “every man’s” chocolate, the chocolate to which people attached in childhood. Is there any food that you love most, because of childhood associations/nostalgia, even when you know that it’s not the “good” stuff? (For example, do you ever prefer boxed macaroni and cheese over a made-from-scratch with gruyère version? Or Hershey’s chocolate to a dark Valrhona?)

3) Cade struggles between what she should do and what she wants to do, at a major crossroads in her life choices. Have you ever struggled with this choice (choosing a college major, for example)? Which did you choose, what you wanted or what you should, and how did it work out for you? Do you agree with Cade’s choice?

4) Even though Cade is heiress to a major multinational corporation, Paris makes her feel very unsure of herself. Have you ever had that feeling when you travel of being out of your element, unsure?

5) Have you been to Paris? Where there any aspects to Cade’s experience that resonated with your own?

6) The cultural collision is an important aspect of the Amour et Chocolat series. How do you think The Chocolate Thief would have been different if the story had been set in NYC, or Montreal, or some other city? Would the relationship of the lovers have been different, and if so, how?

7) Which gesture of Sylvain’s toward Cade did you find the most romantic? Why?

8) Who do you think gives the most in this relationship? And who do you think gains the most? Did you feel, in the end, they had both given their all to the relationship?

9) Imagine you have a box of chocolates in front of you and an array of diamond rings. Locked in a room for an hour, which would you have the hardest time not stealing?

Book Club Brainstorming: THE CHOCOLATE THIEF

Over on Facebook, we are brainstorming questions for a book club that is doing THE CHOCOLATE THIEF in a couple of weeks. Anyone here want to join in?

I say: leather pants should be de rigueur.

Also, you could totally do something fun with all the scents Cade explores in Sylvain’s shop. (Like, bottles of spices and lemon oil, etc., covered so people can’t see the labels, and see who can identify them or what memories they associate with different scents.) Then there’s the ever popular debate of who should play Sylvain in a film. (No one ever really cares nearly as much about who should play Cade! I’m thinking the photos on Google aren’t nearly as fun to look through. )

What kinds of questions would you want to discuss in a book club on THE CHOCOLATE THIEF?

Memory Lane: Said Chocolate Factory in Rome

This time last year, I was just returning home from the book tour for THE CHOCOLATE THIEF‘s release in Italy (Ladra di Cioccolato). I was thinking about that and the fact that it’s only been 14 months since THE CHOCOLATE THIEF came out, and what a wild ride it has been. I never even got to share half of the things that happened in Italy, so much was happening so fast all the time before, during, and after. And I didn’t even know how to use Twitter and Instagram to help!

 

This was one of the places I never managed to get to in my posts about the trip last year. Said Chocolate Factory (Said Anitca Fabbrica del Cioccolato), in Rome, where Fanucci Editore hosted the official grand finale of the tour.

SAID is the most charming chocolate store and restaurant you have ever seen.

All the old chocolate-making equipment everywhere, the chocolate molds on the old stone walls, the little rooms like caves with wooden tables.

For the event, there was lots of chocolate served, and it was so much fun. I remember a family that got me to sign my book for their eight-year-old, and me arguing with them in Italian that no, “c’è sesso!”, and they promised not to let the kids read it until they were much older, they just wanted the autograph. (Not these people, but here’s a glimpse of the gathering.)

There was a television crew and I remember doing an interview half in English, half in Italian, but they promised me they would subtitle it for the show. (I can’t even remember what show–which sounds crazy, really, except, as I said, there was so much going on.)

Here am I with my Italian editor, Isabella Spanu, at Said. Isn’t she the tiniest thing you ever saw? Not to mention stylish! She’s moved on from Fanucci now, and I miss her!

The whole tour in Italy was such an amazing experience, and I’ll always be grateful to Fanucci for bringing me over there, and to the publicist Giulia Fea who organized everything and escorted me everywhere with such patience. It’s really been an incredible year, since the tour and since the Chocolate books started coming out!

Thanks to all you readers, too, whose interest in these books has made so much of this worthwhile!

Giveaway! Theresa Romain’s Season for Scandal

Giveaway! I think I’ve mentioned before my discovery of Theresa Romain this year and how much I love the slow build of friendship and powerful attraction, so entwined, in her books, as well as the intelligent and vivid control she has of words as she sets her scenes and creates that oh-so-tantalizing tension as these characters grow closer and closer.

She’s got two new books out this past month (It Takes Two to Tangle, which is a new series and it is just lovely, love, love Frances, and Season for Scandal, which I just read this weekend and which is beautiful and Jane the heroine is amazing. And it got an A+ review from Smart B*tches, Trashy Books, so you know I’m not the only one who thinks so).

And so she kindly agreed to take part in my “what got me hooked” giveaways and give a copy of the first book I ever read by her, the one that got me hooked on her books. It is Season for Surrender (and the main character of Season for Scandal features in it frequently, so it’s a nice pair with it), and it is set at Christmas. It was also a Sizzling Book Club pick at SBTB if I remember correctly, just so you know how well-liked this book has been. Just comment before Thursday midnight to enter and we’ll draw one name from here or Facebook. (You’re welcome to enter on Facebook as well.) Theresa says she can send a signed copy to a US winner or unsigned internationally.

Thanks so much, Theresa, for sharing your books with us!

Here’s the one we’re giving away, but really, you should all check out all of them. The build of the relationship in her books is just so inexorably tantalizing and slow and thorough, it’s quite lovely.

Enter by Thursday midnight!

Chocolate Heart Teaser

Because Nov 26 is coming up fast! A little teaser from chapter 3.

 THE CHOCOLATE HEART

Luc Leroi sniffed his wine thoughtfully. The air smelled darker, within his personal space. Like somewhere she could curl up and be safe. “You really like your men tall, dark, and handsome, don’t you?”

Yes, Summer supposed she had been rather obvious about that, when she’d offered him a yacht. “Now you’re just being modest. I call you ‘Gorgeous’ myself.”

A black eyebrow lifted slightly. His chin indicated the room. “They’re the ones you flirt with the longest.”

Did she really? She nodded solemnly. “They provide such a good foil.” Desperate to unsettle him, she pulled a lock of hair free from its elegant coiffure and leaned into the wrist so near her head, wrapping the strand around it, a golden contrast to the dark hairs there. “See?” She smiled up at him, her cheek pressed against his forearm.

His eyes went pitch black, and one deep breath moved through his body. Sudden awareness of the strength in that forearm shivered all through her, not from fear but from a delicious knowledge of his control of it.

“It must do them good,” he said. “To have worked and climbed all their lives so that some blonde can consider them a good foil.”

She had spent five years in boarding school with a pack of other rich, abandoned, insecure girls, and she had defended herself in needling conversations against the best of them. “Well.” She gave a rippling shrug that shivered her dress over her body and smiled at him again as she straightened, her lock of hair sliding slowly over his wrist and then dropping to graze her shoulder. The touch of her hair fresh from his skin raised more goose bumps on her arms, but she blended her shiver into the shrug. “Some people dream bigger than others.” Implying that being her foil was the biggest dream a man could have.

“They certainly do,” he said evenly. Implying something entirely different.

Coming Nov 26! And no, no–the people on the cover look nothing like the characters. Sigh.

Chocolate Kiss Book Club questions

Readers joined together to brainstorm the questions and theme ideas compiled below. I wanted to share them all together in one place, as we work on setting up a “book club” permanent page on the website. Meanwhile, with a big thanks to readers who came up with these, and also to the LitChicks Reading Between the Wines group for their amazing book club meeting on this book and for inviting me to come and eat all their scrumptious food and join in all the fun.

THE CHOCOLATE KISS: BOOK CLUB THEMES AND SUGGESTED QUESTIONS

Themes: Serve hot chocolate and macarons. (Or people could have fun “brewing” the hot chocolate there.) Have everyone wear really high-heeled boots. Or witch hats. Or both. Or use conical hats in the decorating (think party hats, New Year’s hats, witch hats, medieval princess hats), and note that La Maison des Sorcières actually branches out a bit sometimes from conical hats, too. (If you don’t want to decorate, everyone could bring their own hat contribution to the party.) Aunt Aja is also fond of serving teas and Indian food, and in one scene during the snowstorm, she cooks for the whole street, so that might be a possibility for food.

Questions:

1. Magalie seems to feel alone in Paris, even though it is her home. Have you had that sensation in a place that was supposed to be your home?

2. Magalie finds solace in making her chocolate chaud and, later, in running. Is there an activity that you find comforting? What makes it comforting to you?

3. There is a mystical, karmic, element surrounding Magalie and her aunts. Did you believe in their powers of chocolate? Why or why not?

4. Magalie is a product of a transcontinental upbringing and thus has trust issues. She won’t let anyone into her inner sanctum out of misplaced fear of abandonment. How does this manifest itself in her interactions with Philippe and do you think it is justifiable?

5. Philippe is undeterred in his pursuit of Magalie, especially with his sumptuous dessert gifts. Did you want to strangle the dog or Magalie when Philppe exclaimed, “You gave my Coeur to a dog?!?”

6. There were many references to “making room” for others in your life. Magalie struggles with how to rearrange her life to fit Philippe. Have you struggled with this in your life?

7. Magalie is also trying to prove that she can be the quintessential Parisian with her heels. Why does she do this? When have you needed to gird yourself?

8. Magalie resents Philippe for what she perceives as a perfect princely life, from his gourmet pedigree, impeccable manners, 16th Arrondissement elitist education, and immaculate kitchen. Why does she let her envy be a barrier to a potential relationship?

9. Which dessert would you have wanted the most? Envie, Desir, Coeur, Kiss?

10. Chocolate Kiss has several fairy tale elements in it. How do you see the story setting up expectations and calling on fairy tale ideas and patterns? How does it deviate from those patterns, and how does this change the story that’s being told?

11. How do you see Magalie’s relationship with her aunts influencing her journey over the course of the book?

If doing a book club on one of my books, do contact me! I would love to know and see photos and hear about what you do, and if possible, I’ll try to get some signed book covers or other goodies out to you for the event.

Gratuitous Hughs and the lovely Nalini Singh

Last week, my daughter’s school sent home her school’s mascot, Hugh the Manatee, so I could take photos of it with me at work. (I think we’re supposed to be inspiring students about the different careers they could pursue when they’re older.) What do you think? Does Hugh look happy?

Think those kids will be suitably inspired?

He went to the Awesomest Book Club Ever with me, too, and some of the LitChicks kindly agreed to pose with him between teacups full of, ahem, not tea. That one didn’t end up on my own camera, but I caught one of Hugh sneaking in for those macarons on the sly.

Also, bizarrely, and surely nothing to do with my own search history, Google and Facebook think that every time I type “Hugh” I really, really want to type “Hugh Jackman”. So, I mean–they drove me to it.

I wouldn’t do this otherwise.

And speaking of people that make my world a better place, I want to give a HUGE (Hugh-worthy even) thank you to NALINI SINGH for her wonderful recommend of the Chocolate books today.

She said: “Sweet and sexy and all around delicious. … I’m addicted. I can’t wait for the next book. Thank you to all the RL and Internet friends who kept telling me to read this series. You were right. So, so right.”

That is so huge to me, considering how incredible her books are to me. I’m very flattered to know that I ate your weekend, Nalini.  Your books have eaten many, many of mine.

Wishing you many Hugh moments today! (Whichever kind you prefer.)

Awesomest Book Club Ever!

They’re the reason people had to start making up words like “awesomest.” They read The Chocolate Kiss & invited me to come for their meeting in exchange for chocolate. (Yes, I do work for chocolate. What? Don’t judge! It improves my quality of life enormously, let me tell you.) Anyway, check it out!

Witch hats abounded. And this lady, Lenora, made these macarons herself. With perfect feet and everything. And check out one of the macarons:

“Chocolate macarons with lavender white chocolate ganache and honey caramel filling.” You get the reference, right? Right? (All right, who gets it?) That may be one of the funnest things I’ve ever eaten, one of the pastries in the story brought to life.

Spiced tea cupcakes with orange buttercream frosting and handmade molded witch chocolates with handmade orange peel broomsticks. (So…you got all the references to The Chocolate Kiss in that one, right? Too, too fun.)

Magalie’s hot chocolate.

Tea cups. Ahem, not filled with tea. But I’m sure Aunt Geneviève and maybe even Aunt Aja would approve of this “tea in disguise.”

A cornucopia of other goodies (there are more tables full like this), witch hats, high-heeled boots, laughter, hugs, and good times.

Here we are at the end of the evening, or most of us, witch hats mostly retired. (Don’t worry, the little one did not read the book and was off in another room playing for discussion of certain scenes. Ahem. )

A huge THANK YOU to these wonderful women for their invitation and for all the work they put into this meeting, and for including me in all the laughter and fun.

All neighborhoods should have a book club like this. Really, they should. I predict a 100% increase in quality of life for those that do!

Sweets & Meats & Zeina Abirached

A lovely afternoon with Zeina Abirached, Paris-based Lebanese graphic artist/author of Le Jeu des Hirondelles (A Game for Swallows: To Die, to Leave, to Return (Single Titles), just translated) and Catharsis, among others. Truly amazing work. Have you seen Persepolis? In some ways, her black on white style makes me think of that, but at the same time it’s all her own.

Here she is on the left, with one of my colleagues on the right. When we bring in international speakers, we try to show them around a bit, and so during the exploration the three of us also made two new discoveries of places that have popped up over the summer that neither of us locals realized.

One was a little farmer cart-size shop with herbs growing fresh up all the walls (inside and out) and kale etc growing on the actual roof. (And he would climb up the actual wall, no ladder but just a pipe to hold onto, to pick the produce.) I’m sorry, I didn’t have the presence of mind to take photos of this delight, but I will next time. It made me very happy.

And the other was a “meat and sweet shop”.  No, NOT “meet your sweet” shop, although that sounds like a nice place. No, half of this shop is a butcher’s and half a sweet-maker’s, a husband and wife team.

It’s ridiculously quixotic and charming and the caramels are made with lard, I kid you not, in order to efficiently use the husband’s leftover butcher products. I miss the butter, personally, but they’re pretty darn good still. Fennel caramels, ginger caramels, and coffee caramels.

Hmm…perhaps a future giveaway in the offing.

Then we settled down in what was once an old abandoned mechanic’s garage that has been renovated into a local chocolate-coffee hangout to drink iced chocolate (me, but you guessed that) and coffee (these two ladies) and talk about art and writing and Paris and Durham and Beirut and great-grandparents.

And that all counted as working. Like, really. Officially. I was On the Job. Sometimes life is good.So are you curious about those caramels?