Cooking With Paige from Bartlett’s Rule

My characters are very real to me and they do all of the normal things that humans do — like cooking. In this excerpt Paige Andrews has cooked one of Lon Bartlett’s favorite dishes, the recipe is below.

It’s been a while since she walked out on him and didn’t look back so Paige is hoping that a comfortable meal together will help soften the awkwardness a little.

I hope you enjoy!
~ Chelle

Paige prepared one of his favorite dishes, Tortellini Alfredo. There was a tossed salad and warm garlic bread to go with it. The aroma of the Italian cooking mingled with the sweet flavors of the Caribbean restaurant downstairs cast an appetizing smell to her apartment. She hadn’t spent much time cooking since moving to Delaware. Cooking for one never seemed so inviting.

She had just finished setting the small card table she had opened in the living room when he knocked on the door. Taking the time to light candles on their dinner table, Paige called out that the door was open.

Lon came through the doorway and suddenly her small living room just seemed to get a little smaller. He carried a bottle of wine in one hand and a delicate bouquet of flowers in the other.

Paige pivoted to face him. She felt a nervous twinge in her stomach. “Hi.” She motioned to the table. “Dinner is just about ready. Thank you for coming.”

CHEESE TORTELLINI ALFREDO    

1 lb. cheese tortellini
1 pkg. frozen peas
1/4 lb. softened butter
1/2 cup grated Pecorino and/or Parmesan cheese (blend to taste)
3/4 cup heavy cream

Place peas in colander and run warm water to break them up. Cook tortellini in boiling water until firm; drain to the colander over the peas. In a pot on low heat, melt butter and mix with cream. Return the tortellini and peas to pot. On low heat, mix well with butter/cream, add cheese, salt, and pepper; mix well. Serves 4; best served with a side salad and hot garlic bread.

Survivors Series by Chelle Cordero

 

Bartlett’s Rule by Chelle Cordero shares the story of Lon and Paige’s love affair; a romance filled with hardship, emotion, danger and triumph. Falling in love was never the challenge; being there for each other, knowing just what to say and making it work is the real test. Paige and Lon are real; they are human, they cry and they laugh. Paige has to learn to trust. Lon has to learn to be patient.

Bartlett’s Rule was named one of Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s Top Ten Reads for 2009.

Reviews:
Malcolm Campbell
Barbara Moroch
Bobi / Amazon

BUY LINKS

AUDIO
PRINT on Amazon
Kindle
Barnes & Noble – Print or NOOK
AllRomance Ebooks
Smashwords for All E-readers
Payloadz Instant Download

& the FREE Book Club Discussion Packet with full color printable bookmarks, author bio and photo, discussion starters, and synopsis

Strong Female Characters & Vulnerability

a guest post by LK Hunsaker

The current trend in romance novels is for the heroine to be strong, independent, and usually feisty to some extent. It makes sense, since women have found their voices and are taking every advantage of their newly broken barriers. These days, you’re liable to hear a woman talking more like a sailor, excuse the cliché, than even male sailors talk. I’m not so sure public swearing is a step in the right direction, but of course the freedom to do so very much is.

But what defines a woman as strong and independent? Does she have to be vocal, headstrong, and have it all together? Does she have to be dominant over her partner? Does she have to make a good living or be her own boss? Does she have to be self-assured?

I don’t think a strong woman must be any of those things. She can be, but she doesn’t have to be. Sometimes strength, true strength, means that despite her quiet nature, her tendency to take the path of least resistance, her disorganized barely-paying-the-bills daily life, and her constant fight against her doubts, she keeps stepping out that door, going to that dead-end job, watching for other paths, and giving it her best try.

Vulnerability that doesn’t give up is true strength. Independence is making the choice to be who you are despite the current trends, even when it looks for all the world as though you’re behind the times or lack confidence. Sometimes confidence, true confidence, means accepting you aren’t and don’t want to be one of the crowd because it doesn’t work for you. Stepping away from the crowd, knowing you’re bucking the trend and will be considered a fringe element and unusual and often fully overlooked in favor of those floating with the tide takes true strength. I love those heroines, the ones with cores of steel hidden by a gentle, non-abrasive exterior. It takes real strength to be gentle and kind. Men are finally learning this in recent times. We women must remember it, as well.

Strength can mean a lot of things, as Delaney tells Eli about rescue in Shadowed Lights, my newest release featuring a very strong social phobic heroine.

AUTHOR BIO

Ella M. Kaye is a pen name for author LK Hunsaker’s shorter, spicier romance line featuring dancers of various genres in lighthouse settings. They focus on the darker side of life, with such themes as devastating injury, destruction, and emotional trauma. At the end, though, there is always a light.

Website/Blog:  www.ellamkaye.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6952444.Ella_M_Kaye

Shadowed Lights

by Ella M. Kaye 

When her sister loses her house to Hurricane Sandy, Delaney Griffin welcomes the family into her home. Months later, with five noisy kids and an overbearing brother-in-law threatening her sanity, Delaney spends much of her free time at the wildlife refuge, which also works as her refuge. Still, the lack of privacy, along with space to dance, her only passionate release, causes her debilitating social anxiety to escalate.

Eli Forrester has come from small town Indiana to Barnegat, New Jersey with his company to help restore the coast. A high rise worker who loves new people and new places, he fears nothing, except water. When he accidentally kicks one of the sea critters Delaney is trying to help rescue, he is drawn to the quiet New Jersey girl. Unwilling to take her cues to leave her alone, Eli is alternately put off and turned on by her odd behavior.

Under shadow of devastation, fear, and forced separation, Delaney and Eli search for their own rescue light

Cracking the WIP

            All alone. Not me, the heroine of my current WIP (work-in-progress). She’s married, lives with her husband and his mother in a small town where everybody knows her name. But she is alone. She feels lonely and is looking for a way to escape. For now my working title is “Dreamwalker”, I have to wait and see what the final title will be.

            I’ve been blessed with my life since, even when I might have been at odds with a person or two around me, I’ve never experienced such total isolation, I have never felt the desolation that my heroine, Annie, feels. So I am trying to get into her head and understand the sadness and the frustration.

            The story is a Paranormal, a first for me, I’ve never written in this style before. I am not sure WHAT kind of paranormal will this be, will it be a Paranormal Romance, Paranormal Thriller or what. But I am starting to get into the heads of my characters little by little and I am finding they are writing their own story. And this is a good thing, it’s the way I write.

            Several times I’ve been surprised by some of the choices and actions my characters have made. In His Lucky Charm I never expected the heroine’s cousin to be such a “bad boy” who was still mourning the loss of his high school love. I definitely did not expect Paige to bolt in Bartlett’s Rule when Lon was just doing his best to protect her. And it really surprised the heck out of me when Sudah turned her back on Matt in Hyphema and blamed him for her cousin’s death.

            I allow my characters to come to life and that is what I am doing now with Annie, Dave, Scott and Dianne (be warned, the names may change before I finish if the characters decide they don’t like the names I chose for them). They tend to become real and yes, like many writers experience, they talk to me and tell me what makes them happy or sad, or why they want their life to be different. Sometimes I play the role of a stern, lecturing parent to try to get them back on the right track, or at least the concept I had of them. Sometimes I am forced to add a twist to my story simply because I didn’t want my characters angry at me.

            I once said I give birth to my characters and sometimes the labor is long and arduous, but it is always well worth it. As I put words to paper I grow more and more anxious to see the way this turns out. I think I am probably going to be a bit surprised.

for more of Chelle’s books