About the Author:
As a teen, Rachel Harris threw raging parties that shook her parents' walls and created embarrassing fodder for future YA novels. As an adult, she reads and writes obsessively, rehashes said embarrassing fodder, and dreams up characters who become her own grown up version of imaginary friends.
She grew up in New Orleans, watching soap operas with her grandmother and staying up late sneak still stays up too late reading her favorite romances, only now, she can do so openly. She firmly believes life's problems can be solved with a hot, powdered-sugar-coated beignet or a thick slice of king cake, and that screaming at strangers for cheap, plastic beads is acceptable behavior in certain situations.reading her mam's favorite romance novels. Now a Cajun cowgirl living in Houston, she
When she's not typing furiously or flipping pages in enthralling romances, you can find her homeschooling her two beautiful girls and loves watching reality television with her amazing husband or taking a hot bubble bath.....next to a pile of chocolate. She writes young adult, new adult, and adult Fun, Flirty Escapes, and LOVES talking with readers!
Five Fun Facts You Probably Didn't Know About Rachel . . . But Totally Should:
-- She interned at Entertainment Tonight in NYC the summer before her senior year at LSU. Highlights included the premiere of The Hours, the press junket for America's Sweethearts, a commercial set for Victoria's Secret, the set of Regis and Kelly, and a variety of other celeb locals. Best. Summer. Ever.
-- Also in college, she was a host and producer of two television shows. Sound Check highlighted the local music scene, and Doin' It was a variety show focused on capturing all things collegiate, such as Panama City for Spring Break, Mardi Gras in New Orleans, local hot spots to hit, and game day celebrations
-- Research for her first adult romance, Taste The Heat, required LOTS of eating, some of which was done blind folded. She did not mind this at all.
-- Her husband went to elementary school with Ian Somerholder from The Vampire Diaries. Yes, she has yearbook pictures of him from the fifth grade. And yes, he was hot back then, too.
-- She threw up on her first date. If that doesn't make great fodder for a YA novel, she doesn't know what does.
Connecting with Rachel
One sexy fire captain. One Cajun chef, One combustible kitchen…
When chef Colby Robicheaux returned home to New Orleans to save her family restaurant, the last person she expected to reconnect with was her brother’s best friend and her childhood crush. As tempting as a sugar-coated beignet, Jason is one dish she doesn’t want to taste. Colby is counting down the days till she can leave the place where her distrust of love and commitment originated and go back to Vegas.
Fire captain Jason Landry isn’t looking for love, either. He knows he should focus on finding the perfect mother for his daughter, but when he first sees Colby, all grown up and gorgeous, he can’t help but be drawn to her. And when she suggests a no-strings-attached fling, Jason doesn’t want to say no.
As their relationship grows more intense, Colby finds that Jason isn’t as easy to leave behind as she thought. Could turning up the heat on something real be worth the possibility of getting burned?
So where can you buy the book
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Now onto my review of this book. I absolutely LOVED LOVED LOVED this book. I loved the story line, the characters and pretty much everything about this book. Honestly, I think this is the hardest review I've ever had to write because I want to include EVERYTHING!!! There were so many amazing scenes and parts to this book that it's hard to just hand pick a few to give you examples of the awesomeness of this book.
The book starts off with Colby returning to her hometown of New Orleans to judge the St. Tammany Parish Firefighters' Cajun Cook-off. Colby left town years ago and become a well renown chef and owns her own top of the line restaurant in Las Vegas. Right off the bat you learn that Colby left town years ago because something bad happened in her past and part of it has to do with her father. **Side note** I learned a new game from this book that I so wish I could have played as a kid. Kiss and Catch....I've never heard of it before, but it would have definitely been a fun game to play with some boys back in the day.
I know this is considered to be a young adult/romance type novel, but I wasn't sure how in-depth of romance this novel would get until we meet Captain Jason Landry. *sigh* Who by the way is single father reading about prepubescent hormones, shaving legs, and PMS. I find this comical because growing up my dad was grossed out at the mention of being on my period let alone any other "girly" type stuff. However, this does raise the question about where his daughter's mother is. Obviously he isn't currently married because he seems to be checking out the judge of the cook-off and thinking dirty thoughts about her. Not realizing who she is just yet.
I love Jason's description of Colby as he first takes her in. "Looking back at the brunette stunner, Jason admitted she was out of his league, too. The woman was five-alarm gorgeous. Her long dark hair hung loose around her shoulders, and her pouty lips were lifted in a contemplative smile. She bit the edge of a polished fingernail, lost in thought, and the effect was like a punch in the gut. His fingers actually itched with the desire to wrap her hair around his palm. He bit his lip, wondering if her mouth tasted half as good as it looked. As Jason's eyes snapped back to the brunette, it was all the prompting his imagination needed to fire up a vision of the kind of panties the woman had on –silk black thong, if he had to guess –and all the creative ways he'd like to remove them. With his teeth". HAWT!!!! What I would give for some hot sexy fireman to think that about me at a first glance.
The next part is interesting because Colby recognizes Jason right away, especially since she has spent her entire life crushing on her older brother's best friend. Jason and Colby spend a few public moments openly flirting with each other and it isn't until Colby's older brother Cane sits next to her that some puzzle pieces start to fall into place. And of course everyone knows that the little sister of your best friend is a no no. But of course everyone knows that you're still going to chase after her because you can't help it. And thankfully Captain Jason here continues with the chase. Colby and Jason meet a lot by accident and that spark is there every time they are near each other. They are always drawn to each other in a way that every thing in the world disappears and all that is left is the two of them. Colby also shares things with Jason that she's never told anyone before, especially what happened with her father all those years ago and why she left and never looked back.
The conflict that arises in this story is that something awful happened in Colby's past with her father and she can't stay in her hometown. She is only there for 3 short months to help the family restaurant and then it's back to Las Vegas and her "normal" life. Jason is just as screwed up. We learn that a few years back his wife died and he is looking for a mother for his daughter, who by the way is an adorable child that I would be the step-mother of. But the way he states it is really weird, because he would be with someone who would be a good mother, but not really have a wife. They would live together and be married, but he wouldn't love her and wouldn't really be "in" the marriage. Ohh and both Colby and Jason know that she doesn't really want to be a mother or a fill-in mother and she isn't in town to stay, but he still wants to try and have "something" with her.
So based on that information what is the deciding factor? By dating each other of course....as a no strings attached relationship. So Colby gets to date and sleep with the man of her dreams and Jason gets to get down and dirty with his best friends little sister. What could go wrong? Everything? Nothing? Well so they start this hawt and steamy fling and I love them together and what I find funny is one of Colby's biggest hesitancies is being a fill in mother of sorts, and yet she is awesome at it. Emma wants to be a chef someday and so her and Colby have a connection from the beginning and it just grows from there.
Of course the game changes up because Jason realizes that he doesn't just want a fling with Colby, he wants a lifetime with her. So of course he is going to show her an AMAZING time and what she could have...and O.M.G. who isn't going to want what he is throwing out. I will say that after reading in the first chapter how Jason wanted to remove Colby's underwear with his teeth, their first night together fell a little short for me. There was this build up between the two of them, almost like going up the hill in the beginning of a roller coaster, and it just levels off instead of really going anywhere. Honestly, it isn't like some 50 shades had to be pulled out, but come on this has been Colby's dream for how many years? Even if just touching the subject a little more without having too many details would have worked for me. But the idea behind their first night together was still enough to have an imagination, especially with chocolate.
Colby's brother Cane and her sister Sherry play big roles in this book. Cane is the big brother I've always wished I had and Sherry....well she's Sherry. She's the baby of the family and you can bet she lives up to that name. She has some awesome moments and some pretty funny ones too, especially since she is ALL about Jason and Colby hooking up. And I love her character and when some stuff happens to her I want to go beat the crap out of people.
Now we know somehow drama has to come up and something has to happen for Colby to truly begin to question everything. And of course it does and her past comes colliding with her present. And a lot of questions arise because of this. And some tragedy happens and I was almost in tears at that part, because I was so into the book. Will Colby want to stay? Will she go back to Las Vegas? Does she want to be a step-mom? Can she love and trust Jason? Can he love Colby? So many questions that are answered in this book and trust me when I tell you, you won't be disappointed by this book at all. So go pick up your copy now!!!
Incinerate
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