BURNING BRIGHT
Four Chanukah Love Stories
by Megan Hart, KK Hendin,
Stacey Agdern and Jennifer Gracen
Releasing December 1, 2015 from Avon Impulse
This December, take a break from dreidel
spinning, gelt winning, and latke eating to experience the joy of Chanukah.
When you fall in love during the Festival of Lights, the world burns a whole
lot brighter.
It’s
definitely not love at first sight for Amanda and her cute but mysterious new
neighbor, Ben. Can a Chanukah miracle show them that getting off on the wrong
foot doesn’t mean they can’t walk the same road?
Lawyers in
love, Shari Cohen and Evan Sonntag are happy together. But in a moment of
doubt, he pushes her away-then soon realizes he made a huge mistake. To win her
back, it might take something like a Chanukah miracle.
When
impulsive interior designer Molly Baker-Stein barges into Jon Adelman’s
apartment and his life intent on planning the best Chanukah party their
building has ever seen, neither expects that together, they just might discover
a Home for Hannukah.
All Tamar
Jacobs expected from her Israel vacation was time to hang out with one of her
besties and to act like a tourist, cheesy t-shirt and all, in her two favorite
cities. She definitely was not expecting to fall for Avi Levinson, a handsome
soldier who’s more than she ever dreamed.
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About the Authors:
Megan Hart is a New York
Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of more than thirty novels, novellas and
short stories. Her work has been published in almost every genre, including
contemporary women’s fiction, historical romance, paranormal and erotica. Learn
more at www.meganhart.com
Jennifer Gracen hails from Long
Island, New York, where she lives with her two young sons. After spending her
youth writing in private and singing in public, she now only sings in her car
and has fully embraced her lifelong passion for writing. She loves to write
contemporary romance and romantic women’s fiction for readers who yearn for
better days, authentic characters, and satisfying endings. When she isn’t
taking care of her kids, doing freelance copy editing/proofreading, reading, or
talking to friends on Twitter and Facebook, Jennifer writes. She’s shocked her
family hasn’t yet staged an intervention for her addiction to social media. But
the concerts she gives in her car and the dance parties she has in her kitchen
are rumored to be fabulous.
Stacey Agdern is an award
winning former bookseller who has reviewed romance novels in multiple formats
and given talks about various aspects of the romance genre. She also a romance
writer. You can find her on twitter at @nystacey. She’s a proud member of both
LIRW and RWA NYC. She lives in New York, not far from her favorite hockey
team’s practice facility.
KK Hendin writes books where
people flirt awkwardly, make out, dish out a whole lot of sass and
ridiculousness, and live happily ever after. She’s the author of many books,
including the TWELVE BEATS IN A BAR series and the upcoming UNDERCOVER series.
She also writes books as K. Hendin, where people aren’t as nice and Happily
Ever After isn’t a guarantee. KK is currently writing way too many books, and
is still waiting for the subway to run on a regular schedule. When she’s not
playing book Tetris in an attempt to fit everything onto the bookshelves in her
tiny NYC apartment, she’s probably wandering her neighborhood with her camera
or drinking yet another cup of coffee.
Chanukah Fun with KK
Hendin—
Favorite Chanukah Memory
or tradition:
My
favorite memory is from the first year I lived in Israel. I was in school
there, and we had the afternoons off that week. A bunch of us wanted to do
something fun before lighting the menorah in the evening, but we were all too
poor to do anything that really cost money. So we split up into two groups and
wrote a ridiculous list of things to do. The goal was to see which group could
do more things on the list, with picture evidence to make sure nobody lied. By
the end of the afternoon, we had done things like decorate a public bathroom,
confuse the heck out of a bunch of soldiers, ask random strangers both silly
questions and very serious questions, and hired ourselves to work at people's
restaurants. And all for the price of a bus ticket.
My
favorite tradition...hmm…lighting the Chanukah candles every night is really
nice, because we do it as a family. Everyone gets together in the living room,
and we all light our menorahs together, and sing. And laugh when my dad reminds
us not to go near the candles, because when it comes to menorahs, he seems to
forget we're all perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves near fire.
Favorite Chanukah
Dish/Dessert:
It's
traditional to eat both dairy products and fried food on Chanukah, which is the
greatest possible combination of foods to eat. One Chanukah night every year,
we ignore the concept of a balanced meal for dinner and have latkes, homemade
french fries, and a bunch of different kinds of cheese. It is a ridiculous
overindulgence, and the next day everyone just eats salad as a recovery food.
(I eat my latkes with cottage cheese, not applesauce. I don't understand the
appeal of latkes and applesauce. I'm sorry.)
(When
I called my mother to make sure I got the latke recipe correct, I mentioned
eating latkes and cottage cheese. Her response was something along the lines
of, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?? WHO EATS LATKES AND COTTAGE CHEESE??".
When I reminded her that I have ALWAYS eaten latkes and cottage cheese
together, she told me she probably blocked the memory.)
The recipe we use for
potato latkes is our potato kugel recipe tweaked.
Potato Latkes (Or Potato
Kugel)
5
pounds potatoes
1
large white onion
(You
can substitute a zucchini for a few of the potatoes if you want for
the potato kugel.)
6
eggs
(1/2
cup oil-for kugel)
1
tablespoon Salt
Pepper
LATKES: In a large mixing bowl,
mix together the eggs, salt and pepper. Use a food processor to shred the
potatoes and onions, then add to the mixing bowl. Form into patties, and fry
them in oil. Serve with applesauce, sour cream, or–to quote my family—if you're
irrevocably broken somehow like KK, cottage cheese. Makes a lot of
latkes.
POTATO KUGEL: In a large mixing bowl,
mix together the eggs, oil, salt and pepper. Cover the bottom of a 9x13 pan in
oil and place it an oven set at 450. Use a food processor to shred the potatoes
and onions, then add to the mixing bowl. Combine all ingredients together, and
the take the mixing bowl directly to the oven, and pour the mixture into the
pan without taking the pan out of the oven. Cook for an hour and a half, or
until the potato kugel is at the consistency and texture you'd like. Serve hot
with anything at all, because potato kugel, and if you have extras somehow,
potato kugel is delicious cold with a bit of mustard on top or dipped in humus.
Makes one delicious pan of potato-y goodness.
(Alternative,
if you're feeling fancy: instead of baking the kugel in a 9 x 13, you can bake
it in cupcake tins for fanciness and extra crispy bits. Adjust temperature and
cooking time accordingly.)
Do you have any real
life experience with finding love during Chanukah?
I
think I really and truly fell in love with Israel on Chanukah- I finally was
settled in, I knew how to get places without taking the bus, and there were an
abundance of cheerful soldiers. It was finally sweater weather, and every
person, regardless of religious observance, was excited about Chanukah, and
about sufganiyot.
Also,
as a New Yorker, getting to go to the beach in December without freezing your
face off is pretty cool.
What was your favorite
scene to write for ALL I GOT?
Besides
the ending? Probably the rain. I've done my share of dance parties in the rain
in Israel, and it was so much fun to write one for Avi.
One line that describes
your holiday romance.
Sometimes
you can meet the love of your life at a bus stop.
TOUR WIDE GIVEAWAY
1 comment:
Thank you so much for hosting BURNING BRIGHT and KK Hendin!!
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