UNQUIETLY ME

 

Guest Post: Character Interview by Pat Henshaw

Character: Adam de Leon, the Thug Chef
From: When Adam Fell

1. What did you want to be when you were a kid?

A buccaneer. I saw too many pirate movies. I figured swinging from mast to mast on a big boat with huge cannons would be the way to go. I even walked around school like I was the swaggering captain of the ship. It didn’t make me many friends.

2. What do you value the most in your friends?

Truth, loyalty, a sense of right and wrong. Yeah, I like all those things. Mostly I just want my friends to be straight with me, and I’ll be straight with them. And yes, I know that’s funny coming from a gay guy.

3. What is your favorite song?

It’d either be “Friends in Low Places” by Garth Brooks or “Bad to the Bone” by George Thorogood. Both of them are good old boy songs, and I’m a citified good old boy.

4. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

I’d be more suave. Because of how I grew up, I never learned about polite behavior. Shit, I don’t even think that I could sit down at a formal dinner and know what silverware to use. Ironic coming from a top chef, huh?

5. What word or phrase do you overuse?

I swear a lot when there’s a rush on in the kitchen. But I’m an equal opportunity swearer, so you can choose any four-letter words. My overused phrase is “in a minute” when a bunch of people want me to do something for them while I’m busy.

 

Author Name: Pat Henshaw

Book Name: When Adam Fell

Release Date: February 24, 2016

 

Blurb:

When his lover Jason’s drug addiction spiraled out of control, TV celebrity chef and cookbook author Adam de Leon walked away from him. Adam also abandoned his renowned restaurant in San Francisco to start a small bistro in the Sierra Foothills.

Five years later Adam is battling the conservative leaders of Stone Acres, California, to open a new restaurant in historic Old Town when Jason turns up on his doorstep—a recovered Jason, now going by the name David and claiming he’s overcome his addictions. What’s more, he begs Adam to take him back and says he’s ready for their happily ever after.

Adam has enough on his plate with problems plaguing the opening of his restaurant. And now he’s having a hard time deciding which to follow—his head or his heart.

 

Pages or Words: 29,800 words

Categories: Fiction, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, Romance

 

Excerpt:

I watched Jason rise from the stoop.

He looked good. His golden hair sparkled in the day’s first light. A happy smile tinged with nervousness spread across his lips. He was wearing a silver-gray Bogner jacket, some sort of expensive pants, and sturdy boots. Hanging from his shirt collar, his sunglasses looked like those high-priced titanium ones. All in all, the guy standing in front of me could easily have fit into the young, hip app crowd now flooding the valley. Too much money and no idea where to spend it. He looked like a guy who’d eat at the Bistro and then fucking strut up to me after dinner, put a wad of Franklins in my pocket, and whisper, “Quit this job and come cook for me.”

Nothing tempted me, especially not the hundred-dollar bills I’d thought were Monopoly money the first time I’d seen them. Nothing had moved me like this, seeing Jason rise straight up in front of me like a fucking miracle.

Standing there in my scuffed clogs, beat-up jeans, and ratty Stanford Cardinal T-shirt, I felt underdressed for this particular dream. Shouldn’t I at least be wearing my chef’s regalia, toque and all? Shouldn’t I have a Henckel in one hand and a Wüsthof in the other? Or maybe clutching a shield made of my cooking classics, which I’d written with an angry, tormented mind but a clear eye to royalties?

“Cat got your tongue?” the vision asked.

“Fucking A, man. Is it really you, Jason?”

“Sorta. Who else would come knocking at your door looking like me?” He flung his arms out like he wanted me to hug him or some shit.

I backed away and kept my hands to myself, though my dick perked up immediately. Did Jason have a twin or a younger brother, somebody who resembled him? I didn’t think so. All I’d thought for five years was nobody—and I mean nobody—could ever have come back from where my Jason had buried himself. At least I never thought so.

There’ve been moments in my life when I was sure I was losing my mind. When I knew whatever tenuous grasp on reality I thought I had was really smoke up my ass. This moment smacked of those. As the legendary John Fogerty sang and the great Yogi Berra is supposed to have said, it was like déjà vu all over again. Only not.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked. Suspicion tasted bitter on my tongue.

Slowly his arms came down, and he gave me a pained but understanding look.

“Yeah, well, it was too much to hope we’d just kiss and make up.” His husky croak had once made me roll over and do anything he asked, but not now. “Can I come in? It’s a little chilly out here.”

I wasn’t cold, but then I’m tall and stout, a real cliché chef image. Fuck, I guess somebody’s got to be the cliché, right? It’s how clichés are born.

I shrugged at his question, swiped at the sweat rolling from my forehead, and moved aside. “Kitchen’s downstairs.” I gestured to the steps.

He walked past me, letting his hand trail over my groin. Once I would have nearly come at the gesture. Now I ignored my dick because my mind was numb and had been for years. He might think he could reawaken my love and lust, but I was pretty fucking sure that ship had sailed and gotten lost at sea.

 

Buy the book:

Dreamspinner Press: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=7452

 

Meet the author:

Pat Henshaw, author of the Foothills Pride Stories, was born and raised in Nebraska where she promptly left the cold and snow after college, living at various times in Texas, Colorado, Northern Virginia, and Northern California. Pat enjoys travel, having visited Mexico, Canada, Europe, Nicaragua, Thailand, and Egypt, and Europe, including a cruise down the Danube.

Now retired, Pat has spent her life surrounded by words: Teaching English composition at the junior college level; writing book reviews for newspapers, magazines, and websites; helping students find information as a librarian; and promoting PBS television programs.

Her triumphs are raising two incredible daughters who daily amaze her with their power and compassion. Fortunately, her incredibly supportive husband keeps her grounded in reality when she threatens to drift away while writing fiction.

 

Where to find the author:

Website: http://patbooked.blogspot.com

Series website: http://foothillspride.blogspot.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pat.henshaw.10

Twitter: https://twitter.com/phenshaw

Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/Pat-Henshaw/e/B00BPDEDEA/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1436131610&sr=8-1

Email: [email protected]

 

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6998437.Pat_Henshaw

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Cover Artist: AngstyG

 

 

Tour Dates & Stops:

25-Feb:
Velvet Panic, Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews

26-Feb:
BFD Book Blog, Book Lovers 4Ever

29-Feb:
Jessie G. Books, Kirsty Loves Books, Hearts on Fire

1-Mar:
Inked Rainbow Reads, Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents

2-Mar:
MM Good Book Reviews, Open Skye Book Reviews, KathyMac Reviews

3-Mar:
V’s Reads, Divine Magazine, Love Bytes

4-Mar:
Making It Happen, Unquietly Me

7-Mar:
Havan Fellows, Happily Ever Chapter

8-Mar:
The Novel Approach, A.M. Leibowitz

9-Mar:
Bayou Book Junkie, Alpha Book Club, Rainbow Gold Reviews

 

Rafflecopter Giveaway:

Giveaway Link: One of three $10 Starbucks Gift Cards

 

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