Coffee and Characters

If you have spent approximately 2.5 seconds on my website, you will see I that I kind of sorta have a thing for coffee. As in ADDICTION. Now, I can go back and blame this on my Grandma Addie, who had a General Foods International Coffee every day at breakfast,  at 3PM (A TRUE COFFEE BREAK, YES?) and with dinner. Being that Grandma Addie was incredibly hip (the woman had red lipstick, designer clothes, and heels on every day…into her 80′s!), I had to try it, too. And I was hooked.

Coffee is such a part of our culture it only seems fitting that my characters in my books have their own coffee quirks too. Mary-Kate (MK) Grant in Connecitivty is very basic in her coffee–a Starbucks grande with cream. Simple and to the point. She’s a foodie–and appreicates the pure flavor of coffee enhanced with a splash of cream. (Yes, authors spend a lot of time with our characters,  and I know them down to the coffee they drink.)

Kylie Reed in Waiting For Prince Harry has the hideous task of ordering the coffees for her fellow employees at the boutique she works at. And her coworkers try to one up each other with varying degrees of difficult coffee drinks. I did research for this scene, and all of those drinks are actual beverages ordered by customers. And trust me, they are crazy ridiculous.

A cappuccino is the beverage of choice for Avery Andrews in Chronicles of a Lincon Park Fashionista.  Avery believes every outfit has the perfect accessory, and so does her coffee. And that accessory happens to be foamed milk.

I have a couple of favorite coffee drinks myself. For the most part–black coffee with Thin Mint flavored Coffee-mate. (Girl Scout Cookie flavored creamer is the best invention ever, I dare say.) Autumn is my FAVORITE coffee season, and I become a total latte slut at that time of year. Spiced Pumpkin? Gingerbread? YES AND YES please!

So do tell…how do you take your coffee? Who knows, your drink might just show up in my next book.