Louisa Edwards Can Stand the Heat--Can You?
[door to Captain’s quarters opens quietly and Hellion slips in the door with exaggerated stillness—her ninja lessons with Sin are must be working. She waves at the Louisa Edwards, author of Can’t Stand the Heat, who is sitting patiently by the desk]
Hellion: [exaggerated whisper] Hello, Louisa! Wonderful to meet you, I’m so sorry to have kept you….
Louisa: [furrowed brow] Why are you whispering?
Hellion: [wincing, glancing around to see if anyone has noticed Louisa speaking] No reason [another exaggerated whisper] I just think it’s the crew’s nap time, and they get a little cranky whenever….
Jack: Hellllliooon, my flower, my angel, my turtle dove, where are you my darling? You can’t hide forever.
Hellion: [panicked look, opening the closet door and ushering Louisa into the closet ahead of her] Quickly and quietly. [sets Louisa on a clothes hamper] Okay, I think we can continue here, don’t you?
Louisa: Are all the crewmembers here this…interesting?
Hellion: Some of us more than others.
[the door to the closet opens and Jack Sparrow grins down at them]
Jack: Ah-ha! I found you! [realizing there is another person] Why, hello! Are we having another threesome in the closet? Last time we tried that, you got that foot cramp, remember, Hellie? Oh! I know you! [narrowed look at Hellion] My angel, you promised me I would get to do the next interview.
Hellion: [apologetic look] I’m really sorry. You know how absolute power corrupts absolutely?
Louisa: Oh, Hellion, I’m sure it will be fine. How inappropriate could he be? And he’s so adorable…
Hellion: Well, I apologize for the pirate questions in advance then.
Jack: [bringing a stool to sit on near the closet] I rather like this closet bit. There’s nowhere else you can run. [winks at Louisa] You’re all mine. 
Hellion: Jack, just ask your questions.
Jack: [giving Louisa a smoldering look] Ms. Edwards, it is a pleasure to meet you, and I want to first thank you for coming on the ship today. I have heard so much buzz around the ship with the crew regarding your debut novel, Can’t Stand the Heat—would you mind telling more about it?
[Hellion’s mouth drops; Louisa smiles serenely]
Louisa: How kind of you, Captain! CAN’T STAND THE HEAT is the tale of sharp-tongued food critic Miranda Wake, who gets a chance to spend a month in Adam Temple’s kitchen to write an exposé. It’s a journalistic dream come true! Surely Miranda can find a way to cut the hotshot chef down to size once she learns what really goes on at his trendy Manhattan restaurant. But she never expected Adam to find out her most embarrassing secret: she has no idea how to cook. Adam’s not about to have his reputation burned by a critic who doesn’t even know the difference between poaching and paring. He decides to give the tempting redhead a few private lessons of his own—teaching her what it means to cook with passion…and doing more with his hands than simply preparing sumptuous food.
Jack: It sounds like you write what you’re passionate about. [another smoldering look, inching closer to Louisa as if to conserve body heat] How did you find these characters? Would you say you’re more of a plotter or an organic writer? What is a typical writing day like for you?
Hellion: Who are you and what have you done with Jack?
Louisa: [ignoring Hellion] What insightful questions, Captain Sparrow! I am, indeed, very passionate about what I write. I love food, cooking, and romance—I think they go together splendidly. I tend not to plot every step of every book; it’s important to me to leave room for the possibility of surprises! A typical writing day starts with research in the morning, with maybe a little tweeting and blogging thrown in, then intensive writing in the afternoon.
Jack: [charming grin] Pardon me for my pun, but you do you have any recipes for aspiring writers who want to cook up their own steamy romance?
Hellion: [looking around room, getting up and walking to one of the corners] We’re on Candid Camera…or he’s been bodysnatched.
Louisa: [another concerned look at Hellion] Um. Well, the best advice I can give any aspiring writer is to actually write. Sit at your desk, even if you only have five minutes a day, and just write something you love and feel connected to. If you keep at it, eventually you’ll have a manuscript.
Jack: Excellent advice! Just like I always say: just pirate! You can’t accumulate gold if you don’t sail. I’m sure Hellie will be able to use those tips, just as soon as she stops acting like a raving lunatic. Can you tell us what is up next for us romance readers who are also foodies? I do so love those figs with the goat cheese and honey—I saw them on that barefoot lady’s show, I think. Wherever. They are good. What recipes may we look forward to next in upcoming books?
Louisa: Well, my Recipe for Love series will continue in March 2010 with Devon Sparks’s book, ON THE STEAMY SIDE. He’s a celebrity chef who needs a dose of down home soul cooking to rediscover his love of food and life—and Southern debutante-turned-nanny Lilah Jane Tunkle is just the woman to rekindle his passions! As you might imagine, the recipes in the back of ON THE STEAMY SIDE will showcase the flavors of the South—most of them are old family recipes from my mother and grandmother.
Jack: Delectable. Now then, just a bit more of your time, my sweet. The pirates would not let me hear the end of it—bugger, they might even cut off my rum rations, if you can imagine—if I let you get away without asking you about your….
Hellion: Call story?
Jack: …plans to include pirates in upcoming books. [Hellion shouts “ah ha!”] I mean, you do plan to have a pirate in one of your future books, right? A little swashbuckling, a little romance, a little taking exactly what you want when the opportunity arises…you’re going to have that, right?
Louisa: As a matter of fact, Adam Temple, the hero of CAN’T STAND THE HEAT, is described by his ragtag kitchen staff as the pirate captain of their little crew. He’s bold, brash, totally in charge, and so, in a way, I already write about pirates!
Jack: I knew I liked you for a reason. [roguish look] All right, I think I have taken enough of your time. You have been most illuminating and delightful, Ms. Edwards. [kissing the back of her hand with telling enthusiasm] Do you have any questions for me or the rest of the crew?
Louisa: First, I want to thank you and Hellion for having me here, and for giving me a chance to talk about my Recipe for Love series. I enjoyed every second of this interview! And now, my question. Captain Jack, if I might…where on earth do you buy your eyeliner?
Hellion: I’m afraid that’s a ship secret. He won’t even share that secret with Sin, and if anyone could find out, it’d be her. Okay, crew, do you have any questions for Louisa? Have any of you had a chance to read her debut book? How many of you are as excited as me that Louisa has tapped into my favorite things of all time: true love, hot sex, and food?
Books by the Crew
33 comments:
Hi :)
Thank you for the great interview with Louisa Edwards & thanks to Louisa for sharing.
I am looking forward to reading your Recipe For Love series!
All the best,
RKCharron
xoxo
PS - Louisa Edwards is on Twitter. FOLLOW HER! :)
She's @LouisaEdwards
Welcome to the ship, Louisa! :) And thanks for being patient with our Jack. He's mostly harmless.
So, since Jack didn't ask, can you tell us about your call story?
Welcome, Louisa! I always look forward ta readin' about cookin'...since it ain't somethin' that comes naturally ta me. Those that can't, read 'bout it. And watch cookin' shows!
The novel sounds yummy! And I chime in wit' Marnee, tell us yer call story!
Is there anythin' special ya'd like ta have from the bar, love?
Hi,Louisa! Congrats on all the buzz Can't Stand the Heat is receiving. Adam is a luscious hero, one of the best of the year IMO.
I look forward to On the Steamy Side. I have a deep affection for Southern recipes myself. Fried green tomatoes are on our menu tonight--and cornbread, cooked in a cast iron skillet, of course. Recipes and skillet belonged to my grandmother.
Good morning and welcome, Louisa! Congrats on your debut novel and the great buzz. I've been hearing about this one for a while.
I am the least foodie person you'll probably meet, which makes it even more odd that the hero of my WIP is also a chef. LOL! But my story doesn't revolve around food, for obvious reason. Those being, I could never pull that off.
But I thank you up front for starting the "chef heroes trend taking the nation by storm" *said in loud, movie-announcer voice*. Both Santa and I (she has chefs too but their her heroines) will benefit greatly by that. :)
Did you find you had to balance the foodie detail with other aspects of the story? Sort of like a recipe, how much to add, how much to leave out?
Welcome Louisa! Don't let Jack bother you too much :)
I have Can't Stand the Heat and it's the next book on top of my pile. I can't wait to start it! I too want to know how you balanced the food with the story.
I think I'm with most people on this ship when I say: DINNER AT JANGA'S TONIGHT!
Louisa, thank you again for blogging with us. Your series sounds awesome and I cannot wait for this trend to take the nation by storm! I've picked up many a mystery with "cooking themes" and WISHED for a romance novel that had recipes interspersed into the story...
Welcome Louisa. Congratulations and all the best on this delightful and lovely book. I think that Can't Stand The Heat should be mandatory reading for our souls and hearts as well as all food lovers.
Ruth - That is an amazingly kind and lovely thing to say about my book. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart!
RKCharron - Thanks for the Twitter love!
Marnee Jo - I got The Call on May 15, 2008. It was a shocker because my agent had only sent the proposal to the editor a few days before, and we'd been told we'd have to wait over the weekend for their editorial meeting on Monday. But no, they called Friday and offered! I was working for a nonprofit at the time, and the look on my face made the other office workers think I was about to collapse. Which I basically sort of was. I managed to get outside so I could pace around and jump up and down and be as loud as I wanted. St. Martin's bought me on proposal, in a pre-empt, after the submission had been out only two weeks. I could not believe it.
2nd Chance - In the spirit of the islands, I'll have a mojito please!
Janga - Thank you so much for saying that! I'm a little in love with Adam, myself. It's hard to let go. Although I fell for Devon, too--and the recipes in OtSS were so much fun! I'm testing one this weekend, actually: pecan-stuffed dates wrapped in a savory cheese crust. Your tomatoes sound awesome!
Bo'sun - I love the idea that culinary romances are the new trend! Good luck with yours; it sounds like tons of fun!
It wasn't honestly too hard to balance the food with the story, because the food was so intrinsic to the plot. And I love writing about food (I even reviewed restaurants for my local paper) so if anything, I might have done too much with it! Although no one has complained yet...
Sabrina - I hope you'll let me know what you think of CStH when you finish it!
Hellie - Thanks so much for the interview. It was truly laugh-out-loud funny, and a lot of fun to do.
Welcome Louisa! I love the idea of mixing up good food and hot sex :) Not much better combos than that.
I grew up in the south too, and adore down-home food. Are there recipes in the back of your first book as well? I've been seeing that a lot lately - is that something that you always wanted to do? Or would have done regardless of the trends?
Haleigh - There are three recipes in the back of CStH: two cocktails and the dish that convinces the heroine that the hero can really cook!
Recipes have always been considered "added value" in a book, so publishers love them, but I agree, they seem to be making their way into romance more and more. For a long time, they appeared more in cozy mysteries. When I first started writing my Recipe for Love series, I wasn't actually thinking about having recipes in the books--it was something my editor wanted. I just wanted to write about food and romance! But now I'm glad; it's been very fun and educational to test and develop my own dishes.
You get to develop your own recipes? How much fun! I love how that lends just a bit of something fun an different to the writing. Does it help keep things fresh since you write full time?
Since I've been a little slow on the uptake lately, I've not read a book in ages. I've heard nothing but great things about your writing, Ms. Edwards. Thanks for coming aboard today! And I plan on picking this book up very soon!
hal - It was fun--more work than I thought it would be, but fun! Developing a recipe isn't quite like cooking dinner, where I can taste and season and adjust as I go along. With recipe testing, you have to be very precise and deliberate, document every change, every technique. I do love the way it forces me into the kitchen, though--like everyone else, when I get down to deadline, I tend to rely too much on frozen pizza and store-bought rotisserie chicken!
Ah see - I'm one of those cooks who just dumps stuff in and hopes for the best! I'd be terrible at actually documenting anything. :)
Sin - If I could be the author to tempt you back to reading, I'd be very honored. There are a lot of great books out right now, though! HUNT HER DOWN and MAKE HER PAY by Roxanne St. Claire, ALL FIRED UP by Kristen Painter, DOUBLEBLIND by Ann Aguirre, LUCKY BREAK by Carly Phillips...to name just a few of my recent favorites!
Hal - It's the documenting that's so hard. I'll taste something and think, ooh, needs more salt. I sprinkle it in and then...crap. How much did I just add?!
This pirate ship is hazardous to my OCD. Sheesh!
Louisa, your little blurb has just thoroughly pushed me into contemporaries. I absolutely must read this book.
Renee - Yay! Contemporaries RULE! lol
Renee - We do out best.
That's an amazing call story. On proposal? Really? That's wild. And for the sake of full disclosure, mines not really *culinary* per se. LOL! For most of the story he's working to open his restaurant so not a lot of cooking going on. Not the traditional kind, anyway.
Okay, I cop out. So sue me! (Did I mention I don't know much about food?)
That's cool about the recipes though. Where did your love of food come from?
Bo'sun - My agent was pretty sure she could sell me on proposal because I used to work in publishing as an assistant editor. I wasn't nearly so sure, but she turned out to be right!
I've always loved food; both my parents cook, and are very adventurous. Favorite foods when I was a baby: guacamole and anchovies. I grew up trying anything and everything! Had my first frogs legs at seven, fish cheeks at eleven, chicken feet at fourteen. I'm not saying I loved all of those (chicken feet, for the record, don't taste like much, but are sort of unpleasantly crunchy) but the concept of being open to new flavors is important to me.
I appreciate your adventurous nature, but I think I should have read that comment AFTER I ate lunch. LOL!
My kiddo is the opposite of me in that she'll try most anything and loves lots of flavors. So I'm trying to expand her options, but it's not easy. What made you switch from editing to writing? Or did you always know you'd rather write?
Bo'sun - I always wanted to write; I started my first ms in college (also contemporary) but never managed to finish a polished draft. After college, I thought a job in publishing would suit me, and I was right; I loved it! But when I got married and my husband's job took us to Ohio, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to try my hand at writing.
Good luck with your daughter! An adventurous eater can be hard to keep up with. But I'd rather have that than a picky kid. LOL
I'm game for quite a bit of food (so long as I'm not allergic to it--like I can't have shrimp and scallops because I'm allergic), but chicken feet, not on my list of tries. Mainly because it's like cow tongue. It just seems like a dirty body part that I don't want to eat--it's not hygenic.
Mind you, I'll eat raw oysters like they're going out of style, so clearly there is no rhyme or reason.
I will not eat possum either--they look like rats with faces...and I hate rats.
No worries, I'm the picky kid in this relationship. It's not fun to be the picky one. People look at you funny. LOL!
I'm from Ohio, btw. In what area do you live? I grew up along the river on the East border.
Do you have future books planned that don't contain the food aspect? I always wonder, as a pubbed writer, how far down the line of your career do you focus?
Welcome, Louisa! I have your book on order and am excited about reading it. People are gushing about CAN'T STAND THE HEAT all over the internet. :)
I love books that contain recipes. I'm an enthusiastic cook (and eater) who enjoys trying new dishes. This weekend I'm making Apple Pie Squares, a childhood favorite that one of my aunts used to bring to many a family gathering.
Hellie said, "I think I’m with most people on this ship when I say: DINNER AT JANGA’S TONIGHT!"
I couldn't agree more! Every time Janga starts talking about her grandmother's recipes I have to grab for tissues to wipe away the drool. I'd love to spend a weekend in her kitchen!
A weekend? I think a three week minimum would be required. (By then she will have figured out a way to get me out of her house.)
Welcome Louisa!
Great interview and I love the cover and the storyline for "Can't Stand the Heat".
Glad to hear there is more to come in the Recipe for Love series!!
Hellie - I loooove oysters, to the point where I even get a sick pleasure out of their consistency. Ew, I know, but YUM.
Bo'sun - You ask such interesting questions! At the moment, all I have in mind are culinary romances. As long as St. Martin's wants to publish them, I will be thrilled to write them! Because of pub schedules and how quickly they fill up, you do have to look sort of far down the road. I was lucky enough to get a 4-book deal for my first contract, but now that I'm writing the third book, we're already looking at what comes next. Can't talk about it yet, but I'm pretty stoked!
PJ - I think I'M with most people on this ship when I say, "Post that apple squares recipe right now!" Sounds delicious. I hope CStH lives up to the buzz. LOL
Terri W - Thanks for commenting! I'm pretty excited to continue the Recipe for Love series, too. Book 3, tentatively titled JUST ONE TASTE is about a culinary student and a chemistry genius who get together to study aphrodisiacs!
They all sound delicious, but a book about aphrodisiacs is bound to do well... I might try ta whip up somethin' that interestin'... And I can see ya in yer kitchen, slavin' away at testin' those recipes!
Honey! Try this...what do you think? Oh, now?
Louisa - can you tell us a little about your writing habits? Do you have your own desk area, anything inspirational you keept around, etc.
2nd Chance - I sure hope so!
Sabrina - I definitely have my own dedicated space for writing. I'm too easily distracted to trust myself at the dining room table or on the couch. I don't have anything inspirational on my desk at the moment, although I do keep a file of photos on my computer desktop of the "cast" of my current WIP. Sometimes I line them up beside my document while I'm writing...
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