A Very Special Charity Auction, Devonian and Kentish Food Tips, and a Few Books
Hello friends! Instead of poetic musings or comments on the weather, I have a call to action for you.
A brilliant group of romance writers have organized an online silent auction called Romancing the Vote to support two US voting rights organizations, Fair Fight and VoteRiders. There are some amazing lots in this auction, from beautiful crafts to meet-and-greets with big name romance authors, and yours truly has donated an annotated ARC of The Slowest Burn!
What is an annotated ARC, you ask? Well, an ARC is an advance review copy, an early edition that goes to booksellers, reviewers, and blurbers to gather coverage before release day. And when I say annotated, I mean that I will take my favorite purple ballpoint pen and fill one copy of The Slowest Burn with my snarky commentary, cooking tips, music recommendations, and moments when I genuinely swooned while writing. It’s going to be a completely one-of-a-kind object, a window into my author brain.
So please bid on my very special book, and any other lots that take your fancy, and support the democratic process! Goodness knows we can’t take it for granted…
Bid on an annotated ARC of The Slowest Burn.
Oh, and friends outside the US can join in, too! I will ship the ARC literally anywhere.
Thank you very much, and without further ado:
Things That Have Made Me Happy Recently
Visiting Devon, to see an old friend get married in his family’s garden in the middle of nowhere, and Kent, to stay in a very nice little in-law cottage, also in the middle of nowhere, and finally finish restructuring the first nine chapters (i.e. Act 1) of Book 2. The weather was beautifully warm and sunny (mostly, it is England after all) and the countryside was velvety green and full of birdsong. Idyllic.
Eating at The Goods Shed and Fordwich Arms, both superb reasons to make a day trip to Kent. I especially loved a plate of radishes served with brown crab dip and garnished with basil at The Goods Shed, and a so airy-it-floated duck liver parfait at Fordwich Arms. I also co-cooked some excellent meals with my friend Shed (though let’s be honest, she did the heavy lifting): portobello and oyster mushrooms on cheesy toast, prawn, clam, and tomato linguine laced with creme fraiche and dry sherry. My favorite was a random but very delicious spread we laid out for one lunch: cheesy omelets, whole artichokes, tomato and shallot salad, and butter-anchovy-shallot crackers, followed by fridge-cold cherries. (I hope reading this makes you as hungry as it makes me remembering it.)
Sipping a few glasses of rich, blackberryish Coudoulet de Beaucastel at the 1990s-in-a-good-way Rendezvous Wine Bar, and and a really smooth and nutty oat milk flat white at Crankhouse Coffee, both in Exeter. Turners elderflower cider from Kent - fragrant and just sweet enough without being cloying, perfect for sitting by a meadow on a summer evening watching two horses and a goat graze. Last but not least, my first ever Gibson at the Fordwich Arms. I can particularly recommend gin-and-vermouth-soused pickled onions as a chaser for smoked pork fat.
Reading about an obsessive and prolific stealer of precious objects in The Art Thief by Michael Finkel, and two very different stories about love and celebrity, The View Was Exhausting by Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta, and You Belong With Me by Mhairi MacFarlane.
Lastly, some housekeeping: I’m going to take a summer break from writing about my reading and home bartending for a bit, as Book 2 deadlines and The Slowest Burn’s release date are approaching like Omar Sharif in Lawrence of Arabia. I’ll still be writing to you, but 1) there won’t be a fixed schedule and 2) it’ll be mainly book-related updates, with backstory on how the novel came to be, thoughts on my writing process, and eventually….
*drum roll*
TOUR DATES!
Stay tuned. -s xx