Today's guest: Megan Caldwell
Why we love her: Her writing is smart!
Her latest: Vanity Fare: A novel of lattes, literature and love
The scoop on it: Molly Hagan is overwhelmed. Her husband left her for a younger, blonder woman; her six-year-old son is questioning her authority, and now so is she. In order to pay her Brooklyn rent and keep her son supplied with Pokémon and Legos, not to mention food and clothing, she has to get a job—fast.
So when an old friend offers Molly a freelance position copywriting for a new bakery, finding romance is just about the last thing on her mind. But the sexy British pastry chef who's heading up the bakery has other thoughts. And then so does Molly, when she meets the chef's intimidating business partner—who also happens to have a secret that might prevent Molly from getting her own happily ever after.
Our thoughts: LOVED, loved, loved. Best book to give us a jump start into the New Year.
Giveaway: FIVE copies. Just leave a comment and be entered to win. We'll select the winners after 3pm on Sunday, December 30th
Where to read more about Megan: Her website
CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS...5 BEST EVERS (Of Megan's choosing!)
1. BEST HAIR PRODUCT You know those quizzes they ask in women’s magazines where they ask what one beauty product you’d take to a desert island with you? (Like there’s someone to impress there, but whatever.) I would not hesitate a moment, I would take Kiehl’s Silk Groom for my hair. I use this every single day, and I seriously panic if I am close to running out. I really hate wispy, fluffy hair (on me, at least) and the Silk Groom calms it down so I am not fluffy in the slightest. Thank goodness.
2. BEST HISTORICAL MINISERIES: There are a surprising amount of entrants to this category, and I think I might have seen every one. But my favorite, the one that makes my heart ache and skip and flutter every single time I watch it, is North and South, starring Richard Armitage and some lady with big eyes. Armitage has the smokiest, deepest, most luscious voice ever, and he’s tall, and plays such a stubborn alpha male who gets completely thunderstruck when he falls in love. SWOON.
3. BEST NOIR FILM: I love noir, which I know is odd given that I love romance novels so much (Spoiler: Noirs do not have happy endings). One of the most brilliant ones of all time is Double Indemnity, based on a book by James M. Cain and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray. It’s a brilliant plot filled with so many double-crosses it’s got hatchmarks, and the performances are excellent.
4. Most HANDSOMEST MAN EVER: It’s not really a controversial choice, given that he is the world’s first male supermodel, but British model David Gandy is by far the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen. Dark hair, blue eyes, height, that body, a scowl, and I’m gone. I can lose 20 minutes at a stretch falling down the Gandy hole, which is when you google image David Gandy and emerge, blinking and lust-crazed, some time later.
5. BEST BRONTE SISTER BOOK: Jane Eyre. I think Jane Eyre began my love of first-person narrative, a chicklit convention, and I wrote Vanity Fare in first person because any other viewpoint just didn’t work. I strongly identified with the plain, unobtrusive Jane who fell in love—and was loved back with fervor—with Mr. Rochester, one of the first Alpha male heroes I ever met. Their dialogue, their courtship, her rescue of him, her strength in resisting him—again, swoon.
Thanks, Megan!
xoxo, Liz & Lisa