Showing posts with label Food Truck. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food Truck. Show all posts

Release Blitz + Giveaway: Drive Me Crazy (Food Truck Warriors #1) by Beth Bolden


Foodie romances your thing? Check out today's release blitz from author Beth Bolden and Gay Book Promotions for Drive Me Crazy (Food Truck Warriors #1)! Discover more about the contemporary romance and enter in the $25 Amazon gift card giveaway!

RELEASE BLITZ
Book Title: Drive Me Crazy (Food Truck Warriors #1)
Author: Beth Bolden
Publisher: Beth Bolden Books
Cover Artist: Angsty G Book Cover and Media Design
Release Date: August 26, 2020
Genre/s: Contemporary gay romance, opposites attract,
work romance, foodie romance
Heat Rating: 4 flames
Length: 83 000 words
It is a standalone story.

Buy Links - Available on Kindle Unlimited



Blurb

When Tony Blake walks into what might be a blind date, he’s surprisingly intrigued despite his irritation with his meddling brother. But when Lucas turns out to be a new employee for their food truck, Tony’s usual charm deserts him.

Lucas might be fantastically creative in the kitchen, but to Tony’s disappointment, he’s not interested in more than a casual hookup. Old Tony would have loved the lack of strings, but New Tony is finally ready for it all.

He’s ready to find love, and to help the food truck thrive. What he needs is Lucas next to him, revolutionizing their carnivore menu with his vegan point of view, and what he wants is Lucas underneath him in bed, turning his life inside out.

As the kitchen heats up in the Los Angeles summer, can Tony figure out how to drive Lucas crazy enough to change his mind?



Excerpt

Tony was muttering as he climbed back into the truck.

“Gabriel’s here,” he said, “and so is Ash. And the fucking picnic truck.”

Lucas didn’t know who Gabriel or Ash were, but he had heard of the famous—or apparently in Tony’s mind, infamous—picnic truck. It was called Basket, and it specialized in all kinds of stuff you’d bring to a picnic or a cookout: ribs, hot dogs, potato salad, deviled eggs. Lucas had ordered from it once and had been surprisingly impressed by their macaroni salad. Macaroni salad, that fucking mainstay of middle-class American potlucks and grocery store delis. Completely reimagined and absolutely crazy delicious.

But it sounded like Tony was not exactly thrilled they were here, which kind of made sense, because they definitely seemed to grab the lion’s share of attention wherever they went.

“They’re new,” Lucas said. “A novelty.”

“Ross is a dick,” Tony grumbled, “and Aaron is an even bigger dick.”

That surprised Lucas. Tony didn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d trash his competition. “Really?”

“They stole our onion dip recipe,” Tony said. “Well, Wyatt’s onion dip recipe. And he thinks it’s funny, but it’s really not, because then we had to take it off the menu.”

“Why?”

“They claimed theirs is an ‘old family recipe’ which is total bullshit, but somehow it was basically identical to ours, and Wyatt didn’t want us to look like we were copying them, even though we’d had it as a side, nearly from the start. That was when we decided we’d do more salsas, lean into the fish tacos and stuff.”

“You should make it for me sometime,” Lucas said. He hadn’t intended for it to sound like an invitation or, god forbid, a date, but Tony glanced over in surprise, like he’d just propositioned him. Over onion dip, for god’s sake.

“Next big event, we’ll add it as a special. At least if freaking Basket isn’t around.”

Lucas told himself that he wasn’t disappointed in the way Tony dismissed him. He probably wouldn’t be around for the next big event, and Tony knew it.

Returning to his final set of prep, Lucas tried to let it go, but the way Tony had said it was weird. Stole. Money and a recipe were totally different beasts, but there was a weird similarity there that kept bothering him, piquing his curiosity. Finally, even though he knew better than to bring up what was clearly a sore subject, Lucas put his knife down and turned towards Tony, who was working on the spinach artichoke mixture for the grilled cheese, wilting spinach in a huge pot on the stove.

“What do you mean, they stole it?” Lucas asked.

Tony looked up, surprise etched on his face.

“Like, did they break into the truck and steal the recipe?” Lucas continued, gesturing to where the vague recipes were written out in bold, slashing letters that he’d discovered was Tony’s handwriting. “Or did they just buy some and duplicate it?”

“I don’t know,” Tony said. “I wish I did, but fuck if I know how they got it. I guess they could have recreated it. But . . .”

“It was totally identical,” Lucas finished. “Fuck, that sucks.” He knew how hard it would be to recreate a recipethat closely. It’d take dozens of attempts, and tons of time. Not the kind of time that anyone would waste in the food truck business. Tony was probably right; somehow the Basket guys had stolen the recipe.


About the Author

A lifelong Oregonian, Beth Bolden has just recently moved to North Carolina with her supportive husband and their sweet kitten, Earl Grey. Beth still believes in Keeping Portland Weird, and intends to be just as weird in Raleigh.

Beth has been writing practically since she learned the alphabet. Unfortunately, her first foray into novel writing, titled Big Bear with Sparkly Earrings, wasn’t a bestseller, but hope springs eternal. She’s published nineteen novels and six novellas.
Author Links


Giveaway
Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway for a chance to win
a $25 Amazon gift card




Review: Melting for You (Neighborhood Shindig #1) by A.M. Arthur

After his father’s heart attack, Isaiah Morrell gave up cooking in his own high-end Atlanta restaurant to return home to Reynolds, North Carolina, in order to help his father Thomas heal and to keep an eye on his business Neighborhood Shindig. A collection of food trucks and other small businesses, Shindig is a popular destination in this college town, but Isaiah longs for the fast pace of a big-city kitchen. Until he meets Joel…

Joel Fisher has been out of commission from a serious illness for the better part of a year, but now he’s ready to reclaim his life—except his apartment has been sublet, his partner is missing, and their shared food truck is stripped of everything not attached. In short, Joel has nothing. After an uncomfortable night sleeping on the food truck floor, Isaiah and Thomas Morrell give Joel an offer he can’t refuse: a rented room in their house, as well as their help creating a new food truck concept. Joel hates accepting charity, but he’s hit rock bottom and has nowhere to go but up.

Working with seemingly uptight Isaiah is actually pretty fun, and the pair bonds over a challenge to create a unique grilled cheese sandwich. Light flirting melts into a deeper connection neither man expects, but Isaiah isn’t in Reynolds for much longer, and Joel can’t get attached to the gorgeous professional chef. As Isaiah’s feelings for Joel strengthen and grow, he entertains the idea of staying in Neighborhood Shindig for good—but Joel hasn’t asked him to… 

Welcome to Neighborhood Shindig, a friendly place where you can snack on a lamb kebab while getting your hair done, pick up your favorite herbal tea blend, and then go listen to live music under the pavilion. We’re happy to have you.



First off, reading this book made me hunnnnnngry. There isn’t much better out there than melty cheese and carbs, so Melting for You was speaking my language and the author did a great job of describing the MC’s culinary adventures so the food became a character as well. Which was important for this story as food was a passion for both Joel and Isaiah. Albeit in slightly different ways, it didn’t matter because the story that was told showed how the love of creating good food is universal and I liked that message very much. From high end haute cuisine to food truck fare, good food makes the people happy.

Joel was a character I could really root for. He had some serious crap he’s going through with his health and when he recovers enough to get back to the food truck he loves he finds his partner/ex has committed felony levels of douchebaggery. Joel’s a tough cookie and all around good guy though, so the nonsense doesn’t break him down and he’s committed to turning the stream of negativity around and make the messy mess into an opportunity.

And he does. Not without the help of some convenient coincidences, overly open strangers and whatnot, but who cares when it’s Joel? Not I. Isaiah and his father are the overly open strangers who opened their doors, their hearts and in Isaiah’s case, his pants to Joel allowing Joel to find his feet with his new food truck concept. It was fun reading about Joel and Isaiah brainstorming and experimenting with their ideas and I liked their culinary chemistry a lot.

I didn’t feel a ton of chemistry between them in the relationship department though. Melting for You is the least angsty A.M. Arthur book I’ve ever read and I like the voice of the less angsty story I just think I needed a little bit more of Joel and Isaiah together just being Joel and Isaiah. Not chefs, not temporary business partners, not anything else but two men falling in love. There always seemed to be something else going on that distracted from their time a bit. And it was all good distractions, all good stuff that I wanted to read about, I just needed a smidge more Joel/Isaiah time.

Melting for You is a good start to a series for foodie romantics and there are a lot of us out there. I’ll be looking forward to reading the next one. And getting hungry all over again.




**a copy of this story was provided for an honest review**