Q&A with The Always Amazing Kristan Higgins #NewRelease #Giveaway #Recipe @kristan_Higgins @sarahburningham

A Tasty Read chats with Kristan Higgins

 So, for any of my readers that have been with me from the beginning, you MUST know by now that I am a HUGE Kristan Higgins Fan...Yes, I have met her and acted like a teeny-bopper at an N'CYNC concert, but I squeeled on the inside!  And I might have asked her to adopt me a few times, but all in fun...haha!  In all seriousness, I one day hope to be as talented and as fantastic of a person as she is, and I am HONORED to have her stopping by for a little chat about her New Release, Blue Heron Book Four, IN YOUR DREAMS. (You can read my review here.)

A Tasty Read: So, since IN YOUR DREAMS is Book Four in the Blue Heron Series, which revolves around the Crazy Holland Family, I have to ask, are the Hollands based on a Family you know, or your family?

Kristan Higgins: A little bit! The grandparents, Goggy and Pops, bear some resemblance to my own maternal grandparents in the way they both bicker and love each other, and how hard they still work. There are some familiar sister dynamics between Honor and Faith that might (just might) resemble those between my sister and me. And I have a brother who’d rather drive his car into the frigid Bering Sea than hear about any feminine problems, so he and Jack have that in common.

ATR: When you first began the Blue Heron Series, did you know that you would eventually use Emmaline as a main character, or for Jack's love interest, or was that something that came to you later on?

KH: No! Em came as a surprise to me. When I first started the series, I only knew I’d write about Jack eventually. I thought about Colleen, but that seemed too easy. So when it came time to write his book, I took a look around town, so to speak, and all of a sudden, there was Emmaline, who works as a cop with Levi, Jack’s brother-in-law. And I just knew she was the one. Funny, how that happens sometimes. I didn’t know too much about her, other than she gives Levi a hard time, but the second she was in my brain, she started taking on this great personality.

ATR: Kevin...UGH...Where did his part of the storyline stem from?  Were you reading "Amazing Weight Loss" issue of People?

KH: Watching The Biggest Loser, actually! Body image is such an issue with women, but I wanted to tackle it with a male character, too. Kevin and Emmaline meet in 8^th grade, both outcasts in a tough crowd of over-indulged, wealthy kids. Em has a profound stutter; Kevin is overweight. I guess I wanted to show that men struggle with body image just as much as women. In fact, Em’s the one with healthy self-esteem, until Kevin becomes obsessed with weight and food. He was a character I loved to hate…and yet I ached for him, too. There’s a scene when he admits how much he hates being overweight, and it was heartbreaking!

I do love stories of people who’ve gone from morbidly obese to healthy and so admire what they’ve had to do to get there. But I’ve also wondered about these people who’ve hidden behind weight. What are they like without that shield? In Kevin’s case, while he became more and more attractive and fit, he also became meaner. I think he’s a great character because he’s complicated, and kind of fun to hate.

ATR: My one question that I am wondering, as I do a re-read of JUST ONE OF THE GUYS and CATCH OF THE DAY, do you ever look back and wish that you had written the heroes POV as well?

KH: Nah! I think both of those stories would’ve been weaker if we’d known what was going on in the heroes’ heads. In CATCH OF THE DAY, half of Malone’s appeal is that he’s a mystery; if we get inside his head, he’s not anymore. The same is true with Trevor. If the reader knows how he feels all along, it would certainly take a lot of bang out of certain scenes.

I love writing first person books for just that reason. In real life, we don’t get a window into someone else’s brain. Reading a first person story is incredibly intimate for that reason; it’s like we become that person. But I also love writing from the male perspective, because the dichotomy between a guy’s take on what happened vs. a woman’s take can be so funny and surprising. Jack, for example, says to Emmaline at one point: “I also like you.” A very simple statement (if you’re a guy). But when Em hears that, she has a little mental freak-out. What does that mean? He likes her, sure, but how? For how long? Why? Like as in buddy, or like-love? Like with a potential for love, or just like-lust? And there’s Jack, just cooking dinner, oblivious that “I like you” can be such a complicated statement.

ATR: Are you allowed to share what you are working on now?  Is it another Blue Heron Series Romance or a Stand Alone?

KH: I just finished a book is called IF YOU ONLY KNEW, and it’s a stand-alone women’s fiction book about two sisters. Jenny, a wedding dress designer constantly faced with happy brides, is stuck on her ex-husband, who just had a baby with his perfect and wretchedly likable new wife; Rachel, a stay-at-home mother of triplet toddlers, has just found out her husband is cheating on her. The book was incredibly fun to write and has a really lovely romance in it. It will be released as a trade paperback.

There will also be another Blue Heron book, which I’m working on right now. Connor O’Rourke shouldn’t stay single, don’t you agree?

KH: Thanks for having me, Tasty Reads! It’s been wicked fun!

ATR: Kristan, it's such a pleasure and you are welcome back ANYTIME!!

Recipe

ATR: Because this is A Tasty Read, can you share a favorite recipe, maybe one of your Grandmother's Delicious Desserts!

KH: Well, since chocolate cake plays an important role in this story, here’s Gram’s Hershey Bar Cake!

1 7-ounce Hershey bar (milk chocolate, no nuts) broken into pieces

¼ cup butter

1 ²/₃ cups boiling water

2 ¹/₃ cups unsifted flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs, lightly beaten

½ cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups light brown sugar

Combine chocolate, butter and boiling water in medium bowl; stir till smooth. In large bowl, combine flour, soda and salt, Gradually add chocolate mixture, beating well. Blend in eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Beat till smooth, for about a minute. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes.

Perfect Chocolate Frosting (Hershey’s recipe)

1 stick butter

²/₃ cup Hershey’s cocoa

3 cups powdered sugar

¹/₃  cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla.

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Jack and Emmaline take a midwinter trip to beautiful Malibu, California. If you could go away for a long weekend in the dead of winter, where would you go?

Places to Find Kristan:

http://www.kristanhiggins.com/

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https://www.facebook.com/KristanHigginsBooks 

IN YOUR DREAMS by Kristan Higgins (Blue Heron #4) #Review #Giveaway #NewRelease @Kristan_Higgins

IN YOUR DREAMS

Blue Heron #4

Kristan Higgins

Releasing September 30th, 2014

HQN

Emmaline Neal needs a date. Just a date—someone to help her get through her ex-fiancé's wedding without losing her mind. But pickings are slim in Manningsport, New York, population 715. In fact, there's really only one option: local heartthrob Jack Holland. Everyone loves Jack, and he won't get the wrong idea…. After all, Jack Holland would never actually be interested in a woman like Em. Especially not with his beautiful ex-wife creeping around, angling to reunite ever since he rescued a group of teens and became a local hero.

But when the wedding festivities take an unexpectedly passionate turn, Em figures it was just one crazy night. Jack is too gorgeous, too popular, to ever end up with her. So why is she the one he can talk to about his deep, dark feelings? If Em is going to get her dream man, she'll have to start by believing in him…

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Ok...YES...I wanted to punch one of the secondary characters in the face repeatedly...BUT...I have to say, IN YOUR DREAMS just solidified that for me, Kristan Higgins is in a league of her own. Now, that is said not to put other amazing authors down..but it is just something about the magic of her talent, the writing, the plots, the humor, the emotion, the world building, the Special Something that is Kristan Higgins, and it just can't be duplicated.

For those who are HUGE Higgins fans like me, well, you might find that IN YOUR DREAMS has that feel of JUST ONE OF THE GUYS, which is my all-time favorite from Higgins, and maybe cause it was my first, but I just had that same little feeling when reading IN YOUR DREAMS, as I get when I pick up JUST ONE OF THE GUYS.

For those who have never read a Kristan Higgins romance, I will tell you that you are MISSING OUT on Magic! From CATCH OF THE DAY, to SOMEBODY TO LOVE, to UNTIL THERE WAS YOU to MY ONE AND ONLY...See I can't even write this without my chest squeezing in emotion...I swear I can't get through a Higgins Romance without the waterworks...they are just that "Special".

So..On to IN YOUR DREAMS...well...we meet the lovely Emmaline in THE BEST MAN (also AMAZING), who we get to know as a little snarky, no-nonsense kinda lady and that just continues through to IN YOUR DREAMS, and Jack Holland...OH MY...If you weren't already half in love with him already...well...just wait...cause Jack and Emmaline just made my heart feel so so good! Great Guy All Around Jack, and Emmaline, the Hockey Playing Cop are not to be missed. With "Crazy" Ex's (OMG...Yes...You will want to STRANGLE them both), the fun as EVER Holland Clan, and an "Underwear" scene that had me laughing almost as much as when Chaz's pup goes on a joy-run in men's tightie-whities!

I laughed, I cried, my heart squeezed, my chest clenched, and I simply ADORED, IN YOUR DREAMS!!!

(Click the Button above to Enter to Win PRINT Copy)

I started writing romance novels when my kids were little. I’d always been a writer of some type—public relations, advertising, research—but wanted to stay home with the bunnies. I’d been reading romance novels ever since I swiped Shanna by Kathleen Woodiwiss from my grandmother’s night table. “Higgins,” I said to myself, “I bet you could write one of these.” And so I sat down every afternoon when the kids were napping, took my lifelong love of romance novels and tried to make a career out of it. We’ve been living happily ever after since.

I live in my hometown, a small, pretty place in Connecticut where there’s a beautiful library and a wicked good ice cream stand. I’m the mom of two lovely children who have very long eyelashes and excellent vocabularies, the wife of a heroic and brave firefighter and the willing love-slave to a naughty mutt named Willow. Our cat, Huck, occasionally deigns to sit on my lap, especially when I'm typing.

I love to write books about relationships, since the search for love and security is one of the driving forces of life. My characters are regular people, folks like us, and I hope to give them a big, memorable love story rich with family, pets, food and laughter. When I’m not writing, I like to be with my kids, goof around with my husband, read, watch baseball, ride my bike and bake. I suffer from chronic bedhead and an unhealthy (and completely understandable) obsession with Derek Jeter, shortstop for the New York Yankees. We spend as much time as possible at our family home on Cape Cod, swimming in the Atlantic, shivering on the beach, swatting horseflies and watching fish evade my lure at Higgins Pond. It’s as close to heaven as it gets.

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