Alison Kent

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Along Elena’s smooth white back is an ancient scar that cuts downward in grotesque beauty like a long, graceful snake. It begins at the joint of her right shoulder and sails south across her shoulder blade, then her spine, swoops around the lower edge of her left ribs and across the unguarded softness where vital organs once lived, and finally ends deep in her left buttock. In places, it looks like a rope dark pink and angry; in others, it submerges beneath the flesh, showing only a slight white scratch above the skin.

Men love it, thinking themselves so original, so generous in their tracings of it, so accepting. In fact, it is the lover’s version of slowing to look at an accident on the freeway, equal parts horror, fascination, and, if there is any wisdom, gratitude. Some ask her what happened. Some do not. All of them wonder.

But only Elena’s ghosts know her story. The ghosts who travel with her. The ghosts she protects. The ghosts who will never leave her.

I’ve been a fan of Barbara Samuel since reading my first Ruth Wind authored Silhouette Special Edition. I followed her into her historicals, then stayed with her as she moved into big women’s fiction. For me to want to put my life on hold and read an author’s work, she has to own her voice, to be a confident master of her prose, and Barbara does it every time. She is a brilliant storyteller, one who wields the tools of a wordsmith with such skill that getting lost for hours in her world is pure pleasure.

Her latest book, THE LOST RECIPE FOR HAPPINESS written as Barbara O’Neal (Bantam Discovery, trade $13, mmpb $6.99, 464 pages, December 30) continues her exploration of troubled, damaged women who find their place in life, make peace with their past, and allow themselves the love of a good man. Elena Alvarez is hired as executive chef to take over a failing Aspen restaurant owned by restauranteur and movie mogul Julian Liswood. Julian also owned the Vancouver restaurant from which she was fired as sous chef the very day he asked her to resurrect what becomes The Orange Bear. Elena has her work cut out for her, dealing with a kitchen staff of illegal immigrants, a previous executive chef whom she dubs Rasputin, the pressure of being a female chef running her own kitchen (and with a boss to whom she is attracted), and working on her feet for long grueling hours with her physical body betraying her.

As a teenager, Elena was the sole survivor of a horrible car accident that killed two siblings, a cousin, and her boyfriend. Her sister, Isobel, and Edwin, whom she was to marry, still appear to her all these years later, as Elena’s survivor’s guilt keeps her rooted to her past — and unable to put down roots in any of the cities where she’s worked. Aspen is different, however. Whether it’s being in charge of her own kitchen and bringing her New Mexican culture, customs, and cuisine with her, or whether it’s the comfort of including old friends in the venture while growing close to new ones, Elena finds herself shedding the old skin of the life she’s lived and trying the fit of this new one — one in which Julian Liswood and his daughter Portia play a huge part.

Barbara O’Neal tells the story of Elena Alvarez’s spiritual and emotional recovery with unmistakable authenticity. The colorful details of the Colorado and New Mexico Southwest flavor the book as fully as the recipes she’s included, and the food is as much a character as is Elena’s dog Alvin - and anyone who regularly reads Barbara’s blog knows of her enjoyment of cooking, her passion for her heritage, and her love for her animals. I found myself hungry for tamales and churros and pork pie, and dying to try the pomegranate baklava. (I did try Juan’s Carne En Su Jugo, and loved it!) My only quibble with the book was never feeling as if I knew Elena’s old friend Patrick (who has a substantial role) as fully as I knew her new friends Juan and Ivan and Julian and Portia, or even as fully as her long dead sister Isobel. But that doesn’t keep me from recommending this book highly. It’s big and lusty and delicious, and well worth taking a day away from real life to spend in the world Barbara has created.

I’m giving away one copy of the book (my last giveaway of 2008) to a commenter who tells me something about food. Something you ate for Christmas dinner, or a favorite holiday recipe, or a restaurant you can’t get enough of. I’ll pick a winner Monday night, December 29, 2008, at 8:00 p.m.ish CST whezn I pick the 12 Days of Alison Kent’s Christmas winners. THE LOST RECIPE FOR HAPPINESS releases on December 30, so if you got a book store gift card in your stocking, this should be the first thing you buy!

Did everyone have a wonderful Christmas Day? I had hoped to have more pictures, but when we changed out the batteries in my digital camera, it refused to boot up, so I was stuck using my Blackberry’s camera and really, it’s just crap. I did get the back of Sam’s head in the middle of everything. He had the best time. And since the husband’s son Mike never makes it onto my blog, I figured he was due. That’s Takumi in the foreground refusing to be still long enough for me to get the shot. There were eight of us (the daughters’ boyfriends were at their families’ homes) and four dogs, though the dogs had to stay outside until the gifting was done and the food consumed.

Tomorrow I’ll have a surprise, related to the previous cooking post, so be sure and stop back then. And the winners of the 12 Days of Alison Kent’s Christmas giveaways will be announced next Monday, December 29, 2008, at 8:00 p.m.ish CST. PLEASE READ THE RULES because if you don’t know how to claim your prize, you might lose out (which is why I posted the rules link at the end of each giveaway post). Here’s one more picture of Sam and his daddy playing not long before they went home.

The crisped bacon

The strips of round steak and the chopped onions

The jalapeno wheels cooking with the beef

The shredded cabbage, cilantro, and lemon juice

Juan’s Carne En Su Jugo

The recipe book on top of my refrigerator

More to come . . .

Twelve Novellas to Read . . . Click the Covers to Read the Blurbs

Click here to read the nitty gritty of The 12 Days of Alison Kent’s Christmas.

Eleven Romances to Read . . . Click the Covers to Read the Blurbs

(There are 3 stories in Tex Appeal, and The Badge And The Baby is a Mills & Boon copy packaged with another author’s Temptation, making a total of 11 romances.)

Click here to read the nitty gritty of The 12 Days of Alison Kent’s Christmas.

more animals

Ten Romances to Read . . . Click the Covers to Read the Blurbs

Four Men & A Lady is the first book where Ben, Quentin, Randy, and Jack appear and is Ben’s romance. Quentin gets his story in Kiss & Makeup, Randy in Red Letter Nights, and Jack in Goes Down Easy

Yes, there are only five covers, but there are 3 stories in Red Letter Nights, 3 stories in Mother, Please!, and Four Men & A Lady is a Mills & Boon copy packaged with another author’s Temptation, making a total of Ten Romances to Read!

Click here to read the nitty gritty of The 12 Days of Alison Kent’s Christmas.