Turn Up the Heat - Guest Post & Giveaway

Turn Up the Heat

Pine Mountain #1

By: Kimberly Kincaid

Releasing March 4^th, 2014

Blurb

"It's not you."

There are only so many times a girl can hear those words before she believes that it is, in fact, very much her. Unexpectedly jilted by her locally famous boyfriend and haunted by a boss who makes Attila the Hun look like a lap dog, Bellamy Blake does what any self-respecting girl in her shoes would do. She rounds up her two best girlfriends and makes plans to get the hell out of Dodge.

But Bellamy's escape plan takes a nose dive on the side of rural route 164 when her transmission self-destructs, leaving her in the middle of a cell phone dead zone with nothing but her wits. Oh, and Shane Griffin, the hottest mechanic who's ever checked under her hood.

Yet this small-town man isn't all he seems. Can Shane and Bellamy prove that sometimes the most unlikely ingredients make the most deliciously sexy mix?

Buy Links

Amazon * B&N * Kensington

Guest Post:  10 Things About Turn Up The Heat

This book has been on quite a journey, and it sure didn’t look like this when I first came up with the idea. Turn Up The Heat has gone through a bunch of incarnations, inspirations, changes and challenges. Here are 10 things about the book that nobody really knows…

One: Turn Up The Heat was originally a road trip story. Bellamy was headed cross-country to attend her sister’s impromptu wedding, and her car broke down in the middle of Montana, where she was stranded with super-hot rancher, Shane Griffin. The original flavor of the story stuck around (city girl/small town guy, heroine stranded), but the details sure changed along the way!

Two: That very first outline (with the rancher) was written in late 2009. It was tabled—several times, in fact—for other projects. But Shane and Bellamy never quite left my head.

Three: Until 2011! I started writing the “real” version of Turn Up The Heat in early January 2011. I was driving home one night when the song “Come On Het Higher” by Matt Nathanson came on the radio. I immediately got a huge flash of the story elements in my head, and swerved over three lanes of traffic to write the lyrics of the song and the story ideas down. I had no paper in my car, so I ended up writing it all on my arm with a Sharpie. I started the book that night, and finished it three months later. Thanks, Matt!

Four: Turn Up The Heat was originally titled “It’s Not You”. But my amazing editor suggested getting something with the food theme in there. In hindsight, it’s a perfect fit!

Five: In my head, Shane looks just like actor Alex O’Loughlin. You’re welcome J

Six: The Pine Mountain series sold as the result of a romance writing contest. Shane and Bellamy’s book was a finalist in the WRW Marlene in early 2012. The judging editor requested it, but then went on maternity leave, so my now-editor read it instead. She fell in love with the story, and the rest is history.

Seven: The Sugar Cookie Sweetheart Swap, which is the intro to the Pine Mountain series, was actually written after the first three books. But because of the production schedule, we were able to get Sugar Cookie in as a way to show everyone a glimpse of Pine Mountain, but I did get to use the chance to “drop hints” (and characters) for the upcoming books in my novella. Look closely. Shane is in there!

Eight: Turn Up The Heat was originally supposed to have a secondary storyline where Jackson (Shane’s buddy) and Jenna (Bellamy’s friend) had a clandestine hookup, which would then carry over into their own book. But I couldn’t get the two of them to cooperate no matter what I did! Turns out, I had them mismatched. Check out the sneak peek at the end of Turn Up The Heat for more on that!

Nine: The town of Pine Mountain is modeled after Deep Creek Lake, in the Blue Ridge Mountains. My family loves to vacation there, and I love getting to call it “research”.

Ten: Speaking of research! I’m not a chef, so when it came time to figure out the nuts and bolts of working in a kitchen, I had to get really creative. I spent a bunch of dinner services in the “back of the house” at a neighborhood bar and grill here in my home town, and did a lot of interviews and taste-testing. Best research ever! Like Bellamy, I loved every second if being in the kitchen. 

About the Author:

Kimberly Kincaid writes contemporary romance that splits the difference between sexy and sweet. When she's not sitting cross-legged in an ancient desk chair known as "The Pleather Bomber", she can be found practicing obscene amounts of yoga, whipping up anything from enchiladas to éclairs in her kitchen, or curled up with her nose in a book. Kimberly is a 2011 RWA Golden Heart® finalist who lives (and writes!) by the mantra that food is love. She has written two digital novellas, Love On The Line and Drawing The Line, about hot cops and sexy chefs, with a third novella, Outside The Lines, due this summer. She is also thrilled to have collaborated on a Christmas anthology with Donna Kauffman and Kate Angell, titled The Sugar Cookie Sweetheart Swap, to kick off her Pine Mountain foodie series with Kensington this October. Kimberly’s first full-length novel, Turn Up the Heat, will follow in February 2014. She resides in northern Virginia with her wildly patient husband and their three daughters.

Connect with the author at:

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Goodreads

Link to Follow the Tour HERE

a Rafflecopter giveaway