The Start of Something Wonderful

Sweet Romance Reads welcomes our newest member

Merri Maywether!

This could be the start of something wonderful! I didn't realize how frequently I said that in my stories until I starting making memes for my characters.

The situation was the same.  A mentor-type character would buddy up with the hesitant female protagonist and say something along the lines of, "I know this is scary. But let's look at it differently. This could be the start of something wonderful." Of course, the conflicts made it look like the mentor character may have missed the mark. But the happily ever after validated the wisdom. 

What I love about the start of "something wonderful" is it happens all the time.  And it starts with a small moment.  My new beginning started with baking. After five years of failures, I decided it was time to make a homemade cinnamon roll that couldn't be used as a weapon. This meant going to Pinterest and getting help from the experts.  

One pin led the next. The bunny trail took me to a Sweet Romance Readers group. The one thing I love more than homemade cinnamon rolls is reading sweet romance books. 

In 2019, I declared 2020 was going to be a good year. With that in mind, I asked if I could join the group. You know, sit at their lunch table and listen to what they had to say. This was a big deal for me. These authors had written books that I read and loved. 

I expected a polite maybe. 

What I received nothing short of wonderful. The day after my request, my inbox was full of notes.  Authors who had written stories that touched my heart took a minute to say hello and welcome to the table.   Which I loved. What happened next floored me. They asked me to share something about myself. This was more than looking into their world and sharing them. They were interested in my story,  too.

My something wonderful is two-fold.  I have a cadre of friends who enjoy the sweet romance genre as much as I do, and  I finally learned how to make homemade edible cinnamon rolls.

So, keep an eye out for wonderful moments. They come when you least expect it in the most unusual ways.  🍪

I'll close here wishing you warm, sweet tea on the porch summer days. 

xoxoxo 

Is Susan Waters ready to experience the Paradise Hills magic?

When Susan makes a wish for Santa to bring her a special present, she sets off a chain of events she never expected. She has helped other people find their true love. It only makes sense that her friends would try to repay the kindness. There is one little hitch to their plans. They're trying to match her with Hunter Lane. The same Hunter Lane she'd rather avoid for reasons she'd rather not disclose.

Hunter is the oldest of the Lane brothers and the only one of them who is single. When Hunter sees Susan, he knows there's something special about her. As he gets to know her, Hunter learns two things. They have a shared past, and he sees Susan in his future.

When Susan finds herself in a situation that demands Hunter's help, they discover it takes more than a wish to hold on to love.

Christmas Wishes is available for 99¢ at Amazon and Kobo

Meet Merri Maywether

Twenty years ago, Merri Maywether went on a date with a very sweet man from Montana. Three weeks later, they were engaged and they have lived happily ever after. 

💖💖💖

If you are looking for a feel-good, happily ever after, small-town experience, I have a story for you. When I write my romance novels, the characters are inspired by the people I see on a day to day basis. Up here in what I like to call the far, far north, people work hard, live fiercely, and love knowing that they have a community behind them. When I'm not writing, I'm testing out an adventure that will end up in a book or trying a character's favorite recipe

If you're looking for more titles or quick reads visit my website Small Town Stories 

Breaking Bread by Laura Ashwood

Did you know that the phrase "to break bread" originates in the bible? It refers to when Jesus would eat with His Disciples, they would break the bread and pass out pieces to be shared amongst themselves. Breaking bread means more than just eating - it is sharing a sense of fellowship with someone or a group of people.

Right now there are many of us that aren't able to share that fellowship because we are in quarantine or have fallen under Safer at Home recommendations. It's a difficult time, especially for those that really crave that connection and fellowship. But I think there are ways to still "break bread" with people in a virtual world.

We have been using Facebook video and FaceTime to stay connected with our families. It's not the same as seeing them in person, but it's better than a phone call because you still get a higher level of personal connection. I'm sharing a recipe here that I got from a friend during quarantine and I think it would be great fun to make it a "breaking bread" sort of challenge. A fellowship of bread baking. Try it and let me know in the comments or in the Facebook group. Let's break bread together!

The ingredients are simple, there are only 4. I used all purpose flour because I can't find bread flour in my store and I honestly think it makes the bread lighter, so I will always use all purpose flour from now on. You can make recipes with one package of yeast, which is also harder to find right now. I measure out what I need from the packet and then tape it shut and stick it in my fridge until I need another loaf. AND this bread makes the best toast. Seriously.

Rustic No Knead Bread - uses cast iron dutch oven

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
13 ounces lukewarm water (not hot)
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Start the bread the night before you want to bake or very early in the morning. If I'm baking in the early afternoon, I will make the bread dough right before I go to bed. Otherwise, I get up early (5 am) and will start it then. You need to plan for 10-12 hours of resting time before you bake the bread.

In large bowl measure dry ingredients. Use the scoop and shake method for the flour, it's a very forgiving recipe. Mix the dry ingredients to disperse the yeast and salt throughout the flour. Add the water and stir just until mixed. Now if you've made traditional bread, you're going to think it's all wrong at this point. It's not. It's a very wet dough. Cover with plastic wrap and let set for 8-12 hours.

Prepare work surface by dusting with flour. Dump dough out of bowl and fold each side into the middle. Get a 10" skillet and spray with no-stick spray. Using a scraper or spatula, lift the dough into the skillet and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Let set for 2 hours.

 

When there is 45 minutes left of your 2 hour wait time, preheat your oven to 450°. Place dutch oven in oven while oven is preheating. Let oven preheat for 45 minutes (it takes the cast iron pan additional time to get fully heated). CAREFULLY remove hot dutch oven and dump the dough from the skillet into the hot vessel. You can sprinkle with flour and make a couple cross cuts on the dough if you want, but you don't have to.

Cover, return to oven and bake for 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake 5 additional minutes. Remove from oven and dump bread onto a cooling rack. Cool 1-2 hours before slicing.

I hope you try this. I was a little nervous about the high temp because I am sort of a klutz in the kitchen, but I have made many loaves of this and haven't burned myself once. It's my husband's favorite bread.

Take care and be safe.
xo, Laura

www.lauraashwood.com

Writing About French Pastry by Milou Koenings

Have you ever noticed that books can be fattening?

Mini eclairs by Camillestyles

Yes, I get that all those hours I spend reading, I'm not moving — even if I am traveling to exotic places half a world away. But I meant in more direct way. For example, the most fattening movie I ever saw was Julie & Julia.

I never, and I mean never, ate butter if I could help it — until I saw that movie. If you've never seen it, it's really two stories in one: modern-day Julie who decides she's going to cook her way through Julia Child's cookbook in one year and blog about it, and Julia Child herself, learning to cook in post-war Paris. Watch it and you'll never look at butter the same way. 

Honestly, I owe at least five extra pounds to Meryl Streep and Julia Childs.

For some reason, I've never written a book in which someone isn't cooking or baking. My characters have made spaghetti, baked apple pies, barbequed, and shared gingersnaps. But none of them have ever been professional cooks. However, not long ago, a delightfully sweet reader reviewed my latest release, I Love You Three, by comparing it to a mille-feuille French pastry.

Amazon | Kobo | Nook | iBooks

I kept thinking about that delicious review and had a brainstorm. My next heroine was going to be a French pastry chef!

This is the first time I'm writing a character who is a professional baker. In my work in progress — another Green Pines romance — the heroine is a French-American pastry chef who studied in Paris.

Mille-feuille - from Bloglovin on Pinterest

Since I spent much my childhood school vacations living above my uncle's bakery, I figured that shouldn't take too much research. I have a pretty good idea of how a bakery works. I might have tried to swing a trip to Paris as work-related research, but since I took my daughters to Paris about five years ago, I knew a repeat wasn't going to be in the cards.

The pastry case of the bakery that

 my kids and I frequented for breakfast in Paris.

But the problem is that a pastry chef has to be making something, right? I can't just write, "Bailey was kneading something." It's got to be a particular kind of dough, and she's got to be making a specific pastry.

Eclairs ... croissants ...

Check out this croissant tutorial from Ironwhisk!

Profiteroles ...

Profiteroles by Beeta Hashempour

Madeleines ...

Orange-blossom Madeleines from Bakingamoment

Of course, I can't possibly write about baking something if I haven't made it. How else will I know what my character is doing, correct?

Palmiers ... brioche ... puits d'amour

(As a self-respecting Romance writher, I can't possibly not make a pastry called a "well of love," can I?)

Yeah.

This is going to be one very fattening book.

Milou Koenings is a USA Today bestselling author. She writes romance because, like chocolate, stories with a happy ending bring more joy into the world and so make it a better place.

Her other Green Pines sweet romances, Reclaiming Home, The Kampala Peppermint Twist and Sweet Blizzard are available on Amazon,  Amazon.uk, iBooks, Nook, Kobo and all your favorite e-book retailers.








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