Please join me in welcoming Rosanna Leo to this week’s Tasty Tuesday installment.
Rosanna is chatting about how humor and grief go together, and is dishing up a slice of…I bet you think I’m going to say apple pie, right? Well, she’s fresh out of home baked goodies, instead she is serving up a slice of her new, hot and sexy release SELKIE’S REVENGE (blurb and excerpt posted below).
Never fear, there’s always food on the blog on Tuesday’s, so in honor of Rosanna’s blog post and because she’s as sweet as apple pie…I’m sharing an apple pie recipe that is as delicious as the Selkie on Rosanna’s book cover.
Trust me, the sauce that goes with this recipe is like a big ‘O’ for your taste buds (recipe below).
Without further ado, or naughty food metaphors, I give you, the witty and fun-loving Rosanna Leo.
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I’d like to offer a huge thank you to my pal, Selena, for hosting me today! I’m so proud to be here.
If you know either of our canons of work, you know humor is pretty important to our writing. I never really fancied myself a comedic writer, but once I discovered my author’s voice, I realized there was a lot of snark and silliness in there. Go figure.
This doesn’t usually present a problem to me. You see, I write paranormal and contemporary romance and there’s plenty of room for humor in both genres. However, with my latest work, SELKIE’S REVENGE, I realized pretty quickly that it couldn’t be a total funfest. You see, one of the themes is grief and how it can devastate a person.
Funny, huh?
Perhaps not, but if you’re like me, you still laugh at that scene in Mary Tyler Moore where Mary cracks up at a funeral. Even in our darkest moments, we do seek the light. We look for something, anything, to ease our burden. And humor can be an incredible stress reliever. Just a little giggle, a modicum of silly, can sometimes take a bit of our pain away, or at least push it aside for a little while. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t tend to look for pratfalls at funerals. I don’t lay banana peels in the church aisle in the hopes of tripping up one of the funeral directors. But sometimes a shared memory can trigger a smile, even a laugh. And when that happens, another part of our heart is touched. The sadness becomes more poignant and bittersweet.
So in writing about the grieving process of my heroine, did I leave out the humor? No. Let’s face it, life is funny. And I think a book that dwells only on sadness would just about break my heart. We need something uplifting, a little sweetness. A reason to keep reading.
Have a seat with me now. Let’s put on that episode of Mary Tyler Moore, and pay homage to Chuckles the Clown. Because, dammit, it is hilarious!
Blurb:
On the beaches of Orkney, Scotland, an evil entity stalks mortal women. Machar “Mack” Kirk is a selkie man with a haunted past, one that has prompted him to become a hunter. He prowls the beaches at night, his arrows aiming for the finman who took his first love.
Beth Pedersen also watches the sea. The haunted widow has suffered losses of her own, ones that have crippled her into a state of stony grief. Beth can no longer feel, can no longer see color and life. Until the day Mack Kirk saves her from a mysterious foe, flooding her world with brightness and foreign temptation.
As Mack and Beth fight their inundating passion, the finman escalates his attacks. Before long, Mack realizes he’s not just playing Good Samaritan. He wants Beth, too, and will do anything to ensure his lover isn’t taken by the finman. But can he protect his mate from a monster with no soul?
Excerpt:
As a torrent of emotion coiled up through her core, Beth kissed him. She barely understood his words, barely comprehended her own thoughts, but she knew she needed Mack’s mouth upon hers. She smashed her lips against his, and his tongue penetrated the warmth of her mouth, finding its home there. He slid his hands down her back to her bottom, and he groaned, digging into the soft flesh of her behind.
Desire and common sense raged a war inside her head. Common sense told her to pack a bag, purchase a ticket to New Smyrna, and leave Mack Kirk far behind. Desire told her to submit, and it was winning out by a mile. “I don’t know what to do. I need you to tell me what to do.”
He leaned in, smelling so sweet, like an exotic fruit she just needed to peel and gobble up. “Just let go, Beth. Just feel.”
She dared to look him in the eye. “I’m afraid to feel.”
“I know. For years I was too.” He brushed his lips against hers, and his tongue slipped out to caress between them, making her ache with such yearning. “But I’ll help you.”
Jamie and Edan arrived with beers. Edan gave Jamie a look as if knowing they’d interrupted something. “I’m heading back to the bar to try my luck with the luscious bartender.”
Jamie grimaced. “The old one with the beard?”
“Not him, you eejit,” Edan said with a grunt. “The female bartender. The one with the big…” He paused, looking at Beth. “Uh, bottle of vodka. Right, that one.” He dashed off.
Jamie winked at Beth. “I’ll get to her first.” With a smile, he was after his brother.
She leaned against Mack’s wall of a chest, wanting to lose herself in him. “Show me how to feel again.”
“With pleasure,” he growled into her ear. He nibbled her earlobe and then proceeded to slide back out of the booth.
“Where are you going?” she asked, already needy for his touch again.
“Just to the jukebox,” he replied, grinning. “You are going to dance with me. And feel.”
She watched, glued to her seat as Mack inserted a couple of coins into the jukebox and selected a song. He turned to her, his lips curled in a grin. As the first rolling guitar chords of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” washed over her, making her want to move, Mack beckoned to her with a finger.
Beth’s body moved toward him, responding like a homing pigeon diving toward its destination. He pulled her into his arms and they swayed. Beth had never danced so closely with a man to anything but a romantic ballad, but Mack wouldn’t break contact with her. He moved his hard body against hers, his hands on her hips, and his erection was a thick temptation grinding against her stomach. She had to fight the need to drop to her knees, rip down his jeans, and take his cock deep in her throat. The urge, and the depth of emotion accompanying it, made her light-headed. He turned her away from the bar area toward the nearest wall and slid his hands over the curve of her bottom. His fingers dug into her ass, and Beth had to remind herself they were in public. She wanted him to nail her right to the wall. Through the damn wall. She needed him inside her at all costs.
He felt so good.
My mate. Could it be?
He lowered his head so he could whisper against her ear. “Do you feel me, Beth? Do you feel my desire throbbing against you? My need to be joined to you again?”
The song reached its crescendo, and his hips rolled against hers in a heady foreshadowing of what he would do to her the next time they were alone. Beth closed her eyes. The way he moved was sinful. She imagined devils from the most depraved circles of hell might dance in such a fashion. All of a sudden, even her soft leggings felt tight and restrictive. She wanted them off. She wanted no barrier between their bodies. As if sensing her need, Mack reached a discreet hand toward her breast and located her distended nipple through her tunic. He tugged and she had to bite her lip not to cry out.
“Take me home, Mack,” she begged in an unfamiliar, wanton voice. “I want to feel more.”
About Rosanna Leo
Rosanna Leo is a multi-published, erotic romance author with Liquid Silver Books. Her books include For the Love of a God, Up In Flames, Sweet Hell, The Selkie, Sunburn and Predator’s Kiss. When not writing, she can be found haunting dusty library stacks or planning her next star-crossed love affair.
Connect on Goodreads with Rosanna
APPLE PIE
Ingredients:
Any pie crust recipe for a two crust, 9 inch pie. (You can use store bought pie crust to save time, including, gluten-free pie crust for the GF crowd)
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup water
3 TBSP all-purpose flour (for the gluten-free version, you can use either almond flour or rice flour)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
3 TBSP real maple syrup
8 Large apples (Granny Smith works well, or you can use your favorite variety), cored, peeled and sliced
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 F
Add the bottom pie crust to a pie baking pan and set aside.
On the stove top, turn heat to medium and in a pot add add butter and stir until melted.
Slowly add the flour and stir until butter and flour look like a paste.
Add water, brown and white sugars, salt, cinnamon and maple syrup, stir and bring everything to a boil. Once it’s at a boil, reduce the heat to low and let mixture simmer.
Fill pie baking pan with apples.
Cover apples with strips of pie crust (like a lattice).
Remove pot from the stove and carefully its contests all over the crust. Do this slow and gentle so there is no overflow.
Bake for 15 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 350 and continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes.
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