Thank you for joining us on the Virtual Book Tour for Simmer and Smoke: A Southern Tale of Grit and Spice, a Women's Contemporary Fiction novel by début authorPeggy Lampman (20 July 2015, Peggy Lampman, 381 pages). This is the first book in the Squash Blossom Trilogy.
Ten percent of net profits from the sale of this novel are donated to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
PREVIEW: Check out the book's synopsis and excerpt below, as well as our Q&A with author Peggy Lampman. Read the Prologue and the first chapter with Amazon Look Inside. Simmer and Smoke is FREE on Kindle Unlimited and Kindle Owner's Lending Library.
Author Peggy Lampman will be awarding a $50 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Please do take part: comment on our post and follow the tour where you will be able to read other excerpts (☀), interviews (ℚ), reviews (✍) and guest blog posts (✉).
Synopsis | Teaser | Author Q&A | About the Author | Giveaway & Tour Stops
Synopsis
A single mother who dreams of becoming a chef.A food writer who just lost the love of her life.
Two women discover what's worth fighting for in this deliciously rendered novel that illuminates the power of food, love, friendship and family on the human heart
1. ASSEMBLE INGREDIENTS:
Shelby Preston--a young, single mother trapped in a hardscrabble life in rural Georgia--escapes her reality as she fantasizes herself a respected chef in a kitchen of gleaming stainless steel and pans shimmering with heat. Mallory Lakes--an Atlanta newspaper food writer--may lose her job, and searches for her muse in a shot glass of illusion.
2. SIMMER:
Mallory secures her job by crafting a zealous doppelgänger to satisfy the expectations of an illusive cyber audience. This also mollifies the memories of her lover who recently bolted; no warning. Shelby persuades her mother to take care of her daughter so she can pursue her dream of going to chef school in Atlanta. She cooks them a special dinner said to bring good luck; Lord knows her family could use a pot of something good.
3. SMOKE:
Chasing desires and ambitions, the women's lives unravel down a path beyond the kitchen, then weave together in an unsettling culinary landscape of organic farms and shadowy borders--some borders not meant to be crossed. As Mallory combats her demons with booze and pills, and Shelby battles the odds stacked against her for becoming a chef, the women discover what's really worth fighting for.
Teaser: Excerpt
MalloryMemos from the edge, self-help hieroglyphics, throwaway lines galloping off paper, most of them unfinished. These are the words I should have said to Cooper the day he left, bade farewell, adios, arrivederci—however you say goodbye. Itchy, my dearest friend, is returning a platter and will ignore them, assuming they are recipe scribbles. But if these tourniquets had a voice, their banshee wail would rant, rage and scream, shaking the foundations of Atlanta.
Dearest Cooper. What a splendid feast you made of me. A sprinkle of salt, a grind of pepper, you chewed me up then spit me out. Was I that abhorrent?
Visceral, grisly, teeth-gnashing words; much better script. I write, post, then return to my cutting board. Chopping furiously, I collect, examine, and discard words much too ordinary to assuage my grief. Words...words...I need more words; what words can I write that will ease the pain of what you’ve done?
Simmer and Smoke
Available NOW!
UK: 
US:
About the Author
Peggy Lampman was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama.
After graduating from the University of Michigan with a degree in communications, she moved to New York City, where she worked as a copywriter and photographer for Hill and Knowlton, a public relations firm.
She moved back to Ann Arbor, her college town, and opened up a specialty foods store, The Back Alley Gourmet.
After selling the business, she wrote under a weekly food byline in The Ann Arbor News and MLive.
This is her first novel.
Follow Peggy Lampman:
Giveaway and Tour Stops
Enter to win a $50 Amazon/BN GC – a Rafflecopter giveawayRemember to comment to win!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Follow Simmer and Smoke's tour at:
Jan 11: Danita MinnisJan 12: Liz Gavin's Blog ✍
Jan 13: Jbiggarblog
Jan 14: Christine Young
Jan 15: BooksChatter
Jan 18: A Writer's Life
Jan 19: The Reading Addict
Jan 20: Room With Books
Jan 21: Laurie's Thoughts and Reviews
Jan 22: Deal Sharing Aunt
Jan 25: Unabridged Andra's
Jan 26: It's Raining Books
Jan 27: Hart's Romance Pulse
Jan 28: Reviews by Crystal
Jan 29: Musings and Ramblings
Feb 1: The Avid Reader
Feb 2: Liz Crowe ✍
Feb 3: Long and Short Reviews
Feb 4: Writer Wonderland ✍
Feb 5: Where the Story Comes First
26 comments:
Thanks for hosting!
Good Morning! It's a pleasure to be invited to Book Chatter. By the way I love the layout and font used on your site-it's easy to navigate and welcoming. I'll be in and out through the day to answer any questions any of you have.
My news (and sorry to be redundant for those following the tour), is that on Monday my agent called with a deal from Lake Union Publishing to buy this book and they're giving me an advance to write a next book. The scary news for me is that my idea for a second book (which I'm already well into writing) is not their idea for the next book! The next book has to be agreed upon (we have a good idea cooking) and written within the year. I took me a solid 3 years to write Simmer and Smoke. If any readers have any hints on inspiration and focus, I'm all ears!
Really enjoyed reading the entire post, thank you!
Great post, thank you for sharing! It's very generous of you, Peggy, to donate part of your profits! Congratulations on your great news! Unfortunately, I don't have any tips for you but I'm sure you can do it!
Sounds like a great read.
Thanks for the chance!
Good luck with the release!
--Trix
Thank you, Nikolina. I hope you didn't miss the playlist on the other post. That was fun (at least for me!) Peggy
Thanks for the comment, Betty. I"m honored to donate a portion of the proceeds of the sales to the Southern Poverty Law Center. For years I've admired there work helping those less fortunate who don't have the means of protecting their rights in the legal system. Peggy
To read more for free and decide if you like it, go to the "look inside" feature on Amazon. You'll be able to read the first couple of chapters: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0128KSSLW/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?ie=UTF8&btkr=1
Good luck, Anna Josefin! Peggy
Hi Trix. Yep--I believe that mother luck does play a role in new release. One can't manipulate current trends and timing. Thanks for the good wishes! Peggy
Sounds like a great story.
Thanks MomJane!
Really great post, thanks for sharing!
I much enjoyed the post
Thanks for the chance!
I love cooking and books/movies about it. Have you seen "Burnt" yet?
Sounds great,thanks for the chance! :)
This book sounds great and I would love to read it. ty.
Thanks for the excerpt. I can feel the angst in the cooking!
Great giveaway, thank you!
I just love the book cover, it’s amazing!
Thank you for a great post. I enjoyed it thoroughly!
No I haven't but I'm told that I should. Did you enjoy it?
I'm glad you like it, Dario. Lake Union, however, is planning to re-do. Should be interesting to see what they come up with!
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