HARLEQUIN SERIES PROGRAM BRINGS YOU FEBRUARY’S PRIVATE PROTECTORS!
Terri Reed
• Bon Appétit and a Book: A delicious recipe to enjoy alongside the book.
Chocolate Soufflés:
3 tbs unsalted butter, divided
2 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
3 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 Large eggs
2 tbs granulated sugar
Pinch salt
Pinch cream of tartar
Raspberry Sauce:
5 oz fresh or thawed frozen raspberries
2 tbs granulated sugar
Powdered sugar, for garnish
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Use 1 tbs of the butter to grease two 8-ounce ramekins. Coat the ramekins with cocoa powder, tapping out the excess.
In a large microwave-safe bowl, microwave the chocolate and remaining 2 tbs of butter in 30-second bursts, stirring between each burst, until melted and smooth. Stir in vanilla and egg yolks, one at a time.
In a clean bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the egg whites, sugar, salt, and cream of tartar just until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the egg white mixture into the chocolate. Spoon into the prepared ramekins. Soufflés can be covered in plastic wrap and refrigerated at this point for up to 1 day.
Bake until puffed and set, about 20 minutes (25 minutes if baking directly from the refrigerator).
Raspberry Sauce:
While the soufflés are baking, purée the raspberries and sugar in the bowl of a food processor, blender, or with an immersion blender, until smooth. Press the mixture through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds.
Garnish the chocolate soufflés with powdered sugar and serve immediately with raspberry sauce.
• Writing Space Tour: A photo tour of your writing space.
So I did clean up my office for this. Usually its much more messy, especially when I’m in the middle of a book. Photo 1-my desk area where all the work happens, photo 2 my bookshelf
• How-To-Tips for Aspiring Writers: Advice on how to break into the series-writing business.
1. Read and study books in the series line you are targeting. Notice that each series has a different tone and different guidelines. Make sure you understand them so that your story can meet reader expectations.
2. Find and hone your voice. This is the unique way that you tell a story. Honor your voice and stay true to it.
3. Be creative with the genre tropes but not so creative that your work is unmarketable.
4. Be persistence but professional. Keep submitting. Don’t give up on the first try.
5. Be teachable. If you’re given feedback from an editor, agent, or a respected critique partner, heed it. Keep honing your craft.
• Song Playlist: A prepared playlist of songs that embodies the book’s characters and their love story.
I can’t write without music playing, the more upbeat the better. Here are some songs that make me think of my characters from Ransom and their love story.
1. Niagara sung by Sara Evans –this country love song is so pretty, full of conflict and angst. And the book is set in Niagara Falls, after all.
2. All for Love sung by Rod Stewart, Bryan Adams and Sting—the awesome talent of the three guys notwithstanding, this is such a powerful song and I think of Blake, the hero of Ransom, when I hear it.
3. Some Kind of Wonderful sung by Michael Bublé—such an upbeat tune and the words are indicative of Blake and Liz. They both are so closed off yet they have all these feelings that they don’t know how to express.
4. Waiting for a Girl Like You sung by Foreigner—not only is this my absolute favorite song from one of my favorite bands (I saw them in concert three times when I was in college-okay dating myself!) but also it speaks to the heart of Blake and Liz and the wounds of the past and the hope for the future.
5. Here and Now sung by Luther Vandross—a throw back to the 80’s but one of the all time best love songs and perfect for Valentine’s and for Blake and Liz’s HEA.
• Love Lessons Learned: Real life romance lessons learned from the book.
I would say the real life romance lesson is seen in the way Jillian, the heroine’s newlywed sister, remains faithful to her marriage vow, despite her new husband’s duplicity. A case could have been made that she could exit the relationship for a variety of reasons but Jillian and Liz were taught to honor their commitments. Liz admires Jillian and learns from her how to take a chance on love.
• Movie Star Cast: Pick movie stars to play your characters in a movie.
Liz Cantrell to be played by Jade Bryce. I love the color of her hair here and the determined look in her eyes.
Blake Fallon to be played by Milo Ventimiglia. I was a huge fan of the Gilmore Girls and thought Milo was a nice looking young man. And now that he’s a bit older, he’s definitely hero material. I like the intimidating stare here, just what I imagine Blake would use.
• Date Night: What would your characters do for the perfect Valentine’s Day date?
Dinner in a romantic restaurant with a window seat overlooking the ocean, soft music playing in the background and candlelight dancing across the table. Staring into each other’s eyes and knowing that no matter what happens in life, that as long as they are together, they can weather any storm.
Q&A with Terri Reed – Ransom
What are five words that describe your writing process?
Controlled chaos, linear, plot driven.
Is anything in Ransom based on real life experiences or purely all imagination?
For the most, part pure imagination. However since this is an inspirational, the faith element draws upon my own understanding and learning of God.
If you were to name one piece of clothing that describes your personality, what would it be?
Yoga Pants.
Do you work with an outline or plot or do you prefer to just see where an idea takes you?
I am a heavy plotter. I like to have a detailed outline to write from otherwise I meander, which slows the process.
Who is your favorite literary villain and why?
My favorite would be Mrs. Bennett from Pride and Prejudice. Most people think of Mr. Bennett as the villain but to me it is Mrs. Bennett who drives the story with her neurotic, fanciful, panic-stricken obsessive need for security and her willingness to push her daughters into loveless marriages. My daughter played Mrs. Bennett in her high school production of Pride and Prejudice. She stole the show with her very natural comedic flare and vivid portrayal of the conniving Mrs. Bennett.
What was your favorite scene to write in Ransom?
I always enjoy writing the declaration scene where my hero and heroine are ready to let down their guard, open up and risk their hearts.
If you had your own talk show, who would your first three guests be?
Hugh Jackson, Susan Elizabeth Philips, Carol Burnett.
What did you find most useful/least useful/most desctructive in learning to write?
The most useful tool in learning to write was the craft book Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain. The least helpful, hmmm, I can’t think of anything specific. I guess I would say harsh contest judges.
What does a perfect day look like to you?
A light breakfast and a good cup of coffee-like a hazelnut milk cardamom latte or an almond milk caramel latte—an hour of Zumba, five to six hours of productive writing and someone else cooking dinner.
What are you working on next?
I just turned in the fifth book in the Northern Border Patrol series, titled Identity Unknown. This book features a secondary character from Ransom. Canada Border Service officer Nathanial Longhorn gets his own story set in the fictional town Calico Bay on the coast of Maine. Up next, I’m developing a new series for Love Inspired Suspense. I’m still in the early stages so I don’t have details to share yet. But I’m going to put to use my 14 weeks at the Washington County Sheriff’s Department Citizen’s Academy. I filled an entire notebook with in-depth info and can’t wait to put those notes to work.
Bon Appétit and a Book: A delicious recipe to enjoy alongside the book. (2 images with the Bon Appetit )
My characters rarely get to eat anything other than fast food. I thought I’d share my chocolate chip cookie recipe…since warm cookies definitely go with any story.
2/3 cup Butter Flavored Crisco, softened–not melted
2/3 cup margarine, softened–not melted
1 cup granulated sugar
1 3/4 to 2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
2 eggs
4 teaspoons vanilla (if you use REAL vanilla, back it down to 2 teaspoons)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
chocolate chips to your liking
nuts if you must
NOTES: You’ll definitely want a good mixer. Invest in baking stones. The perfect cookie isn’t achieved on a metal baking sheet. The cookies bake in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes and they’ll be sooo gooey you can’t remove them. You’ll be tempted to put them back in the oven. If you know how a baking stone works, it retains heat and will continue to cook the gooey cookie while it cools. THAT’s THE SECRET! Fortunately, I have more than one stone and can cook a batch while one is cooling.
If your cookies are a bit too soft, back off the brown sugar a tad. Honestly, I discovered Baker’s Chef brown sugar and have noticed a difference in the taste of the cookies when I didn’t use this brand.
Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Thoroughly blend softened margarine and Crisco. It needs to be one blended mixture. Add eggs, blend again. Add vanilla, blend again. *I do things differently, I add the baking soda, baking powder and salt here (realizing that most people add them with the dry ingredients, but I want to make certain they blend well–and after the flour goes in, it gets harder to mix). Add granulated sugar, blend. Add brown sugar, blend. Add 1 cup of flour at a time until all is blended. Add chocolate chips, but the recipe is great without them too.
Drop cookie dough onto baking stones. Another secret to a soft cookie is to make them larger. I had a bus driver accuse me of making mini-pizzas. Band kids always wanted second cookies, but the band director said they could only have one. HAHA…so I made larger single-serving cookies. But this rebellion helped me develop a very soft cookie.
Don’t squish the dough, just spoon it and let it sit tall, give it plenty of room to spread out when it cooks.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes (at least in Texas).
Cool at least 8 minutes on the baking stone.
Q&A with Angi Morgan-Bulletproof Badge
What are five words that describe your writing process?
Storyteller. Texan speak. Linear. Feedback-needy.
What emoji best describes your personality? Why?
I had to ask my friends for this answer. They said the sunglass smiley face because I’m cool. But it’s probably because a lot of my pictures have sunglasses on my face. I love road trips and can’t drive without them.
Which would you rather do: Never write another story or never read another book?
If I never wrote another story, the ones in my head would probably drive me (and everyone around me) nuts. So sadly, I’d have to give up reading and stick with storytelling.
How important are names to you in your books? Do you choose the names based on liking the way it sounds or the meaning?
Oddly enough, I thought the names were extremely important…up until my West Texas Watchmen series heroines’ names needed to be changed. I’d called them Scottie, Donnie and Ronnie. Too masculine…so I ran a fan contest and let them name them. Sometimes I’ll hear a name and say, that’s this character’s name and it can’t change…Ever.
Are you a spring, summer, fall, or winter person?
Summer. I love hot–and it gets hot enough in Texas. But give me the beach and a tan. I’ve spent many springs and summers running a girls fast pitch softball complex…snow cones and pickle pops are the best!
Is there a certain type of scene that’s harder for you to write than others? Love? Action? Racy?
Love scenes…I can write action in about an hour…love scenes take me all week. Action is action. But I always want a love scene to be special for just those two characters. It has to be unique and progress the characters’ stories.
What was your favorite scene to write in Bulletproof Badge? Why?
Garrison takes Kenderly back to his aunt’s house which is modeled after my grandmother’s home. He’s tending a deep scratch after escaping the bad guys…
“How could I have gotten into this mess?” She fanned her cheeks in a motion his sister used years ago when trying not to cry. “When I woke up this morning, I never imagined I’d have two dogs at my feet, be sitting in a funny little kitchen with peroxide dripping down my thigh and have a complete stranger blowing up my skirt.”
If you had your own talk show, who would your first three guests be?
I’ve been a fan of Dennis Quaid’s smile all my life, so he would need to be on.
Kurt Russell because I’d love to know if he had stories of Walt Disney.
Chris Pine because I recently discovered he could be any of my heroes.
I’d eventually have writers, I’m sure. (Hiding behind my sunglasses emoji now.)
What did you find most useful in learning to write?
Listening to myself and trusting my gut about my work.
What was least useful or most destructive?
Not listening to myself and not trusting my gut about my work.
Seriously, the hardest thing for a neurotic writer is trusting that the version of the story on the page is the absolute best version there is. Trusting that you got it right? It’s hard. And all of a sudden I realized that people liked the way I told stories. When I got that version of my writing on the page I gained some confidence and ran with it.
What is your next project?
This week I’m finishing up book four of TEXAS RANGERS: ELITE TROOP. Hard Core Law is about the Company F commander and the decisions a very good man is faced with in order to save his children. My next project is about two brothers from Liberty Hill, Texas where football rules the town year-round. The first hero is the sheriff (former quarterback and town hero). He gives his brother his word that he’ll protect a woman, then finds out she’s wanted for murder. Does he arrest her or protect her like he promised?
Addison Fox – Colton’s Surprise Heir
Bon Appetit and a Book
They say that there are two types of people in the kitchen – bakers and cooks. If I had to put myself into a category, I’d definitely lean toward baker. I have a few dishes that have become part of my standing repertoire, but as a recent attempt at a ham and bean soup will attest, my skills lean toward those recipes that involve copious amounts of butter and sugar, NOT meat, veggies or starch.
I’m not a southerner by birth, but I first moved to Texas nearly two decades ago. In the years since, I’ve learned about the fine art of casserole making AND just how many wonderful ways there are to combine butter and sugar. So…without further ado, here’s a personal favorite. I first heard it called Chess Cake but Paula Deen has perfected it as “Ooey Gooey Cake.” Regardless of what you call it, I can promise you it will be a dessert everyone loves.
CHESS CAKE
Ingredients:
1 box of yellow cake mix
3 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 sticks of butter
1 package of cream cheese
1 box (16 oz) of Confectioners Sugar
Mix one stick of melted butter with one egg and the yellow cake mix. Mix thoroughly with a mixer until the dough is thick and easy to work with. Press into the base of a 9×13 glass pan.
Take a package of cream cheese and cream with the mixer. Add two eggs and the teaspoon of vanilla, continue mixing. Once fully mixed together, slowly add in the Confectioners Sugar. Mix thoroughly, then layer the mixture over the base you’ve already pressed into the pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes (depends on your oven…mine’s perfect around minute 43). The top gets a very thin crust and the insides below should be slightly wet on a tester or thin knife.
Let cool and enjoy!
Happy Baking AND Reading!
Addison
PHOTOS INCLUDED:
Chess Cake + Book
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