Author Spotlight: Kelly Cain Has a New Release and a Fun Giveaway!

We have a winner! Congratulations, Debbie Tyler–your name was randomly drawn from the commenters to win a $25 Amazon gift card! Kelly will be in touch with you. Thanks for coming by and thanks to everyone who stopped by and commented!

What’s more fun that introducing you to a fellow Tule author? How about introducing you  to a fellow Tule author with a new release? Meet Kelly Cain, mes amies!

Kelly is a native Northern Californian but has spent the last couple of decades in Texas, currently residing in the live music capital of the world, Austin. Consequently, most of her books are set somewhere between those two locations.

Kelly writes multicultural romance with determined women directing their own fates, and the swoon-worthy men who adore them. She loves reading most genres but please don’t ask her to pick just one. However, she can pick her favorite book boyfriend – Will Herondale.

When she isn’t reading or writing, Kelly is most likely using a genealogy site to research her extended family, both old and new. Or cooking/baking something delightful.

She has two adult daughters, and a 3-year-old granddaughter.

She is represented by Amy Brewer at Metamorphosis Literary Agency.

Giveaway!

Kelly is giving away a $25 e-gift card! Just comment below with your favorite dessert. Winner will be chosen at random and announced on Friday, August 12. 

N: Welcome to the blog, Kelly! I’m so delighted to have you visiting today. So, what inspired you to start writing?

A: Thanks for much for having me back, Nan. I’m excited to be here. During the age of New Adult, I tore through a bunch of them and after several months declared I could write one. What hubris! Turns out, I was actually a writer and didn’t know it. So, at my big age of 48, I sat down and wrote my first novel (my first anything really) in 6 weeks. I caught the bug then and haven’t set down my metaphorical pen since.

N: The third book in your Everheart Brothers of Texas series with Tule Publishing released yesterday—that’s so exciting! What is the most surprising thing you discovered about yourself while writing this series?

A: It is exciting! The most surprising thing I discovered is that I’m in love with Declan Everheart. He’s the oldest brother and a bit standoffish and reticent. Or so it seems. I still can’t get over how is arc was so big. The other two brothers are wonderful as well, but Declan had to work overtime for his.

N: Talk to us about Tastes So Sweet, how much research went into writing Weston’s role as a pastry chef, and have you ever worked at a restaurant like Everheart Bar and Fine Dining?

A: I’ve never worked in a restaurant at all, neither Michelin-star nor fast food. I am a devoted home cook though, so the recipes are authentic. The inner workings of the restaurant took a ton of research because even though I’ve dined in them plenty, learning the terminology, especially Back of House, was a challenge. At this point, I think I could open one (Ah! There’s that hubris again). I’m not a chef like Weston, but I do a lot of baking so that was easier to write about. The chocolate cake Weston makes for Ryan’s birthday is my personal favorite I make for special occasions. I included the recipe so I hope readers will make it too. It’s otherworldly delicious.

N: I love the friends-to-lovers trope in Tastes So Sweet. What’s your very favorite trope to write?

A: Because I’m naturally snarky, I love enemies-to-lovers because the quips flow easily for me. That’s probably why I launched this series with a rivals/enemies-to-lovers chef’s competition. Writing friends-to-lovers was difficult because I needed to capture their sweet friendship then turn that into more. There’s no room for snark (well, unless you’re speaking with Flynn Everheart lol) but lots of room for sweet touches, blind support, and attentive love.

N: Give us three words to describe your character Ryan—love that name, by the way. Three words to describe your hero Weston?

A: Thank you! I had the name Ryan for a FMC on my board awhile before I got to use it. For Ryan, I would say nurturer, altruistic, and capable. For Weston, selfless, kind, and (surprise) exhibitionist.

N: What do you like to do when you are not writing?

A: Reading and cooking/baking of course. I also love genealogy. I started building my family tree about 10 years ago. Then decided to take one of those DNA tests for fun which led me to learn I was adopted. So, I put those tree-building skills to use and built a new tree for my birth family based on my distant cousin DNA matches. It was quite a ride figuring all those new family members out.

N: What did you want to be when you grew up?

A: A psychologist. While growing up, my parents owned homes for people with mental illnesses and that informed my choices. I helped my mom with charting and typed up the reports the psychologist left behind and his words were so interesting to me. I ended up not pursing it, but I met my BFF in college and that was her major. Because she didn’t like anything technology, again I revisited my teen years and typed up charting reports for her. I suppose all that typing was training for my current writing career.

N: Favorite book when you were a kid?

A: I didn’t really read as a kid (gasp! I know). Obviously, we had to read in school and the only book I remember is Charlotte’s Web. My love of reading really didn’t spark until my sophomore English teacher, Mrs. Ghio, handed me The Color Purple then took me and a friend out to lunch to discuss. To this day, I have such love for epistolary novels. I’ve written about this extensively on my website if anyone’s interested in the longer story.

N: And here is my signature question that everyone loves: If you could choose three people, living or dead, to invite to a dinner party, who would they be and why?

A: This definitely changes every time I think about it lol. I suppose there are just so many. I think my birth grandfather, Jacobus tenBroek, because he led a fascinating life. Blinded as a kid, he went on to get multiple degrees and was a beloved professor (by all accounts) at Cal Berkeley. He also founded the National Federation of the Blind. I’m lucky much of his writing was published and in reading his words, I can definitely see myself in his tone and humor. As for the other two, my parents only because I miss them so much and would I’d love to see them again. I also have some, um, questions.

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Tastes So Sweet

Forbidden fruit has never tasted better…

After losing her parents in high school, Ryan Landry grew up fast, solely focusing on supporting her younger twin sisters. With the twins now preparing for college, the financial stakes are raised so Ryan enters a restaurant manager of the year contest. Her chances for the grand prize are strong—after all, she’s the executive manager of Everheart Bar and Fine Dining, which is as famous for its exemplary service as it is for its mouth-watering food.

The only thing standing in her way? The restaurant’s Michelin star patriarch chef. Ryan meets his near-impossible challenges, except this creates another obstacle—increased temptation with her best friend and pastry chef Weston Everheart. She’s fought to keep Weston in the friend zone, because romantic fraternization means immediate firing, and she needs her job and the prize money more than ever.

But when she realizes Weston has also been in love with her for years, it becomes impossible to maintain business as usual. Will Ryan play it safe or finally listen to her heart?

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