Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Friday, October 31, 2008
New Title
We've settled on a title for my July 2009 Harlequin American Romance. Unless something changes, it's going to be called BACHELOR CEO.
Up next is Twins for the Teacher, my 20th novel. I hope to post the cover soon!
Michele
Up next is Twins for the Teacher, my 20th novel. I hope to post the cover soon!
Michele
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Back cover copy for My March Release
My March 2009 release marks my 20th book for Harlequin. Another American, this one is called Twins for the Teacher. Here's the back cover blurb:
Will She Break Her Golden Rule?
Getting involved with her students’ father is a definite no-no, but elementary school teacher Jolie Tomlison’s finding it hard to resist sexy widower Hank Friesen.
And she’s falling in love with his ten-year-old twins, too!
Hank moved to Missouri to make a fresh start, but he never imagined that life as a single dad would be such a struggle. Good thing Jolie’s on hand to ease the transition. It’s been five years since his wife’s death, and no woman has been able to hold his interest—until now.
It could be a second chance for both of them. But first Jolie will have to tell Hank about her past—if she ever wants them to have a future.
Will She Break Her Golden Rule?
Getting involved with her students’ father is a definite no-no, but elementary school teacher Jolie Tomlison’s finding it hard to resist sexy widower Hank Friesen.
And she’s falling in love with his ten-year-old twins, too!
Hank moved to Missouri to make a fresh start, but he never imagined that life as a single dad would be such a struggle. Good thing Jolie’s on hand to ease the transition. It’s been five years since his wife’s death, and no woman has been able to hold his interest—until now.
It could be a second chance for both of them. But first Jolie will have to tell Hank about her past—if she ever wants them to have a future.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Another Tailspin review
Tailspin
By Michele Dunaway
September 2008
Harlequin NASCAR
ISBN: 978-0-373-21794-6
Reviewed by Christy Janisse
Irony is a funny thing. When I received Michele’s newest release, Tailspin, I was dealing with my husband’s truck accident.
What does that have to do with this new book? That is exactly how Michele opens the book and brings the main protagonists together. Immediate connection. Brilliant! Something that almost everyone has had to deal with at one point or another.
Terri Whalen lives, breathes and loves NASCAR. Almost as much as she loved her beloved truck – which she built with her dad. When the vehicle is destroyed by a construction crew at her friend’s wedding, her life takes a new course – in the way of Max Harper.
Max Harper is a divorce working his way up on the fast track of his company and raising his young daughter. While learning the ropes in each department of his company, he encounters a furious Terri. The image he forms of her over the phone is immediately shattered when he meets her to give her the check for her totaled vehicle.
But it doesn’t end with the check. Max’s company sponsors a NASCAR driver, and as fate would have it, the two cross paths on neutral ground – and the chemistry is a flammable as the pit row fuel canisters.
However, neither Max nor Terri want a relationship. Max because of being stung by a narcissistic ex-wife, and Terri because of the thought of a ready made family.
So they agree to keep it light and take things one day at a time. That is until the ex-wife shows up with plans to reunite her family.
Michele has written a wonderful story full of family, friends, in-depth NASCAR experiences and characters you will love. This is a can’t put it down until the last page read! Don’t miss out on the action and the love!
By Michele Dunaway
September 2008
Harlequin NASCAR
ISBN: 978-0-373-21794-6
Reviewed by Christy Janisse
Irony is a funny thing. When I received Michele’s newest release, Tailspin, I was dealing with my husband’s truck accident.
What does that have to do with this new book? That is exactly how Michele opens the book and brings the main protagonists together. Immediate connection. Brilliant! Something that almost everyone has had to deal with at one point or another.
Terri Whalen lives, breathes and loves NASCAR. Almost as much as she loved her beloved truck – which she built with her dad. When the vehicle is destroyed by a construction crew at her friend’s wedding, her life takes a new course – in the way of Max Harper.
Max Harper is a divorce working his way up on the fast track of his company and raising his young daughter. While learning the ropes in each department of his company, he encounters a furious Terri. The image he forms of her over the phone is immediately shattered when he meets her to give her the check for her totaled vehicle.
But it doesn’t end with the check. Max’s company sponsors a NASCAR driver, and as fate would have it, the two cross paths on neutral ground – and the chemistry is a flammable as the pit row fuel canisters.
However, neither Max nor Terri want a relationship. Max because of being stung by a narcissistic ex-wife, and Terri because of the thought of a ready made family.
So they agree to keep it light and take things one day at a time. That is until the ex-wife shows up with plans to reunite her family.
Michele has written a wonderful story full of family, friends, in-depth NASCAR experiences and characters you will love. This is a can’t put it down until the last page read! Don’t miss out on the action and the love!
Review Time
Tailspin-Michele Dunaway
Tailspin
Michele Dunaway
Harlequin NASCAR, Sep 2008
ISBN: 9780373217946
The asphalt company was at fault for wrecking her truck. Rocksolid Insurance offers to provide Charlotte based personal trainer Terri Whelan with the market value of her vehicle; she rejects their offer; demanding they fix her customized special NASCAR race fan truck that she and her dad upgraded. A beleaguered customer service employee forwards Terri’s call to Max Harper, a Rising Stars program trainee; he accepts the call because he believes a real customer complaint would prove more beneficial in his training than the tapes he has been given. He agrees to look into her demands.
Terri meets Max and his twelve year old daughter Mandy over a commercial the adults are both indirectly involved in. Terri and Max are attracted to one another, but his first interest remains rightfully so his tweener. Besides Mandy’s mom, Los Angeles drama queen Lola knows that what Lola wants Lola gets and she wants Terri gone; not that she wants Max back.
This entertaining contemporary romance stars two likable lead protagonists, a strong positive support cast, and a mom who offers no redeeming values. The lead couple is a wonderful pairing from their first telephonic encounter. However his ex-wife trying to destroy their relationship fails to come out of the starting gate let alone make it around the oval to the finish line. Still overall TAILSPIN is a fun second chance at love for him and first time for her tale.
Harriet Klausner
Tailspin
Michele Dunaway
Harlequin NASCAR, Sep 2008
ISBN: 9780373217946
The asphalt company was at fault for wrecking her truck. Rocksolid Insurance offers to provide Charlotte based personal trainer Terri Whelan with the market value of her vehicle; she rejects their offer; demanding they fix her customized special NASCAR race fan truck that she and her dad upgraded. A beleaguered customer service employee forwards Terri’s call to Max Harper, a Rising Stars program trainee; he accepts the call because he believes a real customer complaint would prove more beneficial in his training than the tapes he has been given. He agrees to look into her demands.
Terri meets Max and his twelve year old daughter Mandy over a commercial the adults are both indirectly involved in. Terri and Max are attracted to one another, but his first interest remains rightfully so his tweener. Besides Mandy’s mom, Los Angeles drama queen Lola knows that what Lola wants Lola gets and she wants Terri gone; not that she wants Max back.
This entertaining contemporary romance stars two likable lead protagonists, a strong positive support cast, and a mom who offers no redeeming values. The lead couple is a wonderful pairing from their first telephonic encounter. However his ex-wife trying to destroy their relationship fails to come out of the starting gate let alone make it around the oval to the finish line. Still overall TAILSPIN is a fun second chance at love for him and first time for her tale.
Harriet Klausner
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
The Cupcake Recipe
It’s been a month of fun! If you missed the cupcake recipe, it's below. (And scroll further to see all my upcoming covers.)
So for the last recipe, I’m going to give you an egg-less cupcake recipe that I use. Yep, there are no eggs in these and they are quick and easy to make. This recipe comes directly from Hershey, my all-time favorite company as they make chocolate, my diet staple. I make these and don’t even frost them. You can using the brownie frosting recipe (on my agent’s blog) but I like them just dusted with powdered sugar or left plain.
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup Hershey’s cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt.
1 cup water
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Heat oven to 375. Line muffin cups (2 ½ inches in diameter) with paper baking cups (I have also used silicon just fine and had them stand alone on a cookie sheet). In medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Add water, oil, vinegar and vanilla, beat with a metal whisk just until batter is smooth and ingredients are well blended. Do not over whisk. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 16 to 18 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost as desired.
And for one last really awesome cookbook that I couldn’t live without, find the Hershey’s 100th Anniversary: 100 Years of Hershey Favorites at http://www.amazon.com/Hersheys-100th-Anniversary-Years-Favorites/dp/0785331646
So that’s it! I hope you have fun this month baking with Rachel and that you enjoyed both The Marriage Recipe and the romance. I don’t have any more Harlequin American novels out until January 2009, but don’t forget my two NASCAR books. Out of Line debuts in June.
Michele
So for the last recipe, I’m going to give you an egg-less cupcake recipe that I use. Yep, there are no eggs in these and they are quick and easy to make. This recipe comes directly from Hershey, my all-time favorite company as they make chocolate, my diet staple. I make these and don’t even frost them. You can using the brownie frosting recipe (on my agent’s blog) but I like them just dusted with powdered sugar or left plain.
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup Hershey’s cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt.
1 cup water
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Heat oven to 375. Line muffin cups (2 ½ inches in diameter) with paper baking cups (I have also used silicon just fine and had them stand alone on a cookie sheet). In medium bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Add water, oil, vinegar and vanilla, beat with a metal whisk just until batter is smooth and ingredients are well blended. Do not over whisk. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 16 to 18 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost as desired.
And for one last really awesome cookbook that I couldn’t live without, find the Hershey’s 100th Anniversary: 100 Years of Hershey Favorites at http://www.amazon.com/Hersheys-100th-Anniversary-Years-Favorites/dp/0785331646
So that’s it! I hope you have fun this month baking with Rachel and that you enjoyed both The Marriage Recipe and the romance. I don’t have any more Harlequin American novels out until January 2009, but don’t forget my two NASCAR books. Out of Line debuts in June.
Michele
The Brownie Recipe
One of my favorite pastimes is baking. I love to cook. I have a full set of All Clad pots hanging from the rack in my ceiling. A trip to Williams Sonoma is a trip to nirvana. I always find a pan I must add to my collection. My brother is a chef, and he wishes he had my kitchen, which I sadly don’t use as much as I should.
So what does this have to do with writing? My latest book is about a pastry chef who has to return to her hometown and enlist the help of the boy next door to help her save her recipes. It still amazes me that I made an intellectual property case sexy. I’ll thank a good friend, a media lawyer who once worked with Oprah, for the great media law class I took as part of my MA degree!
When I created Rachel’s character, I had an excuse to cook. As a mother of two with a full time teaching job (who also is on a permanent diet—aren’t most of us?) I don’t dig out the recipe book as much as I used to. I’m not sure why, especially since I’m a firm believer that anything you bake yourself does not go straight to your hips—and it’s all those ingredients with words I can’t pronounce that cause weight gain.
So since I was researching, I pulled out my cookbooks. I made pumpkin bread, cupcakes, cookies, and some of my old favorites like chocolate cake! I also got to think back to college, when I would bake constantly—for the way to a guy’s heart was through his stomach—and my brownies and chocolate chip cookies were legendary.
In the spirit of cooking, since I can’t send you any cookies virtually, here is my brownie recipe:
Four tablespoons butter, melted
One cup sugar
One teaspoon vanilla
Two eggs
One-half cup flour
One-third cup Hershey’s Cocoa
One-fourth teaspoon baking powder
One-fourth of a teaspoon salt
Heat oven to 350. Grease a 9-inch square pan. In medium bowl, stir butter, sugar, and vanilla together. Add eggs, and with a wooden spoon beat well. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add to egg mixture, beat until well blended. Spread batter into a pan and bake for 20-25 minutes until brownies begin to pull away from the pan. Cool completely in pan. While cooling, make frosting. To make frosting, in a small mixer bowl beat 3 tablespoons softened butter, 3 tablespoons cocoa, 1 tablespoon light corn syrup or honey, one-half teaspoon vanilla until blended. Add 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 cup milk; beat until smooth and of spreading consistency. Add additional milk, one half teaspoon at a time, if needed. Spread over cool brownies and cut brownies into squares. (PS—you can add nuts and/or chocolate chips to the batter before baking).
Enjoy the brownies and the romance!
Michele Dunaway
So what does this have to do with writing? My latest book is about a pastry chef who has to return to her hometown and enlist the help of the boy next door to help her save her recipes. It still amazes me that I made an intellectual property case sexy. I’ll thank a good friend, a media lawyer who once worked with Oprah, for the great media law class I took as part of my MA degree!
When I created Rachel’s character, I had an excuse to cook. As a mother of two with a full time teaching job (who also is on a permanent diet—aren’t most of us?) I don’t dig out the recipe book as much as I used to. I’m not sure why, especially since I’m a firm believer that anything you bake yourself does not go straight to your hips—and it’s all those ingredients with words I can’t pronounce that cause weight gain.
So since I was researching, I pulled out my cookbooks. I made pumpkin bread, cupcakes, cookies, and some of my old favorites like chocolate cake! I also got to think back to college, when I would bake constantly—for the way to a guy’s heart was through his stomach—and my brownies and chocolate chip cookies were legendary.
In the spirit of cooking, since I can’t send you any cookies virtually, here is my brownie recipe:
Four tablespoons butter, melted
One cup sugar
One teaspoon vanilla
Two eggs
One-half cup flour
One-third cup Hershey’s Cocoa
One-fourth teaspoon baking powder
One-fourth of a teaspoon salt
Heat oven to 350. Grease a 9-inch square pan. In medium bowl, stir butter, sugar, and vanilla together. Add eggs, and with a wooden spoon beat well. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add to egg mixture, beat until well blended. Spread batter into a pan and bake for 20-25 minutes until brownies begin to pull away from the pan. Cool completely in pan. While cooling, make frosting. To make frosting, in a small mixer bowl beat 3 tablespoons softened butter, 3 tablespoons cocoa, 1 tablespoon light corn syrup or honey, one-half teaspoon vanilla until blended. Add 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 cup milk; beat until smooth and of spreading consistency. Add additional milk, one half teaspoon at a time, if needed. Spread over cool brownies and cut brownies into squares. (PS—you can add nuts and/or chocolate chips to the batter before baking).
Enjoy the brownies and the romance!
Michele Dunaway
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Rachel's recipe #3
In the spirit of the first post celebrating the release of The Marriage Recipe, I am giving you another yummy recipe that both Rachel and I use, one for sugar cookies. Trust me, these are the world’s greatest and easiest sugar cookies.
By the way, if you go to http://freshfiction.com/blog/ tomorrow, April 21, I am blogging about what food reveals about characters.
This recipe is modified from Just a Matter of Thyme, which is at Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Just-Matter-Thyme-Collection-Satisfying/dp/0740765345 (and while you’re there, don’t forget to pick up The Marriage Recipe if you haven’t already).
Sugar Cookies
Main bowl
1 cup butter (softened)
1 cup granulated sugar1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup cooking oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
Side bowl
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
Using a mixer (stand preferred), cream together 2 sticks butter, 1-cup-powdered sugar, 1 cup granulated sugar, and 1 cup cooking oil until light and fluffy. Add 2 eggs, one at a time, and beat after each. Add 1-teaspoon vanilla. Set asideIn the side bowl, using a fork or sifter, blend together the flour, salt, cream of tartar and baking soda.Add the ingredients in the side bowl to the main bowl a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Then turn mixer to high speed and beat until light and fluffy. Using two teaspoons, spoon out quarter-sized dabs of dough and drop onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Take a glass, wet the bottom and dip it in a bowl filled with one-quarter inch of sugar. Press each dough blob lightly with the glass (once it has sugar on it, you do not need to rewet each time, just dip in sugar first before each cookie). Feel free to sprinkle on sprinkles or extra sugar at this time once cookies are flat. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 6-8 minutes or until the sides are a light golden brown. Transfer to a rack and let cool.
By the way, if you go to http://freshfiction.com/blog/ tomorrow, April 21, I am blogging about what food reveals about characters.
This recipe is modified from Just a Matter of Thyme, which is at Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Just-Matter-Thyme-Collection-Satisfying/dp/0740765345 (and while you’re there, don’t forget to pick up The Marriage Recipe if you haven’t already).
Sugar Cookies
Main bowl
1 cup butter (softened)
1 cup granulated sugar1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup cooking oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
Side bowl
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
Using a mixer (stand preferred), cream together 2 sticks butter, 1-cup-powdered sugar, 1 cup granulated sugar, and 1 cup cooking oil until light and fluffy. Add 2 eggs, one at a time, and beat after each. Add 1-teaspoon vanilla. Set asideIn the side bowl, using a fork or sifter, blend together the flour, salt, cream of tartar and baking soda.Add the ingredients in the side bowl to the main bowl a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Then turn mixer to high speed and beat until light and fluffy. Using two teaspoons, spoon out quarter-sized dabs of dough and drop onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Take a glass, wet the bottom and dip it in a bowl filled with one-quarter inch of sugar. Press each dough blob lightly with the glass (once it has sugar on it, you do not need to rewet each time, just dip in sugar first before each cookie). Feel free to sprinkle on sprinkles or extra sugar at this time once cookies are flat. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 6-8 minutes or until the sides are a light golden brown. Transfer to a rack and let cool.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Monday, April 14, 2008
Rachel's Recipe #2
Pumpkin Bread
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Dump all of the following into a large stainless steel bowl of a stand mixer:
3 and one-half cups flour
3 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 and one-half teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon all spice
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 cup oil (not olive)
1 16-ounce can of pumpkin
two-thirds of a cup of water
4 eggs
Mix together until blended. Be sure to get the stuff at the bottom. Pour into a greased angel food cake pan (the one with the hole in the center but not a bundt pan) and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until a tester inserted comes out clean. (Times may vary; check in 5 minute intervals after 45 minutes.) You may also pour into small or large greased muffin cups, but start checking for doneness after 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Dump all of the following into a large stainless steel bowl of a stand mixer:
3 and one-half cups flour
3 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 and one-half teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon all spice
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 cup oil (not olive)
1 16-ounce can of pumpkin
two-thirds of a cup of water
4 eggs
Mix together until blended. Be sure to get the stuff at the bottom. Pour into a greased angel food cake pan (the one with the hole in the center but not a bundt pan) and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until a tester inserted comes out clean. (Times may vary; check in 5 minute intervals after 45 minutes.) You may also pour into small or large greased muffin cups, but start checking for doneness after 20 minutes.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Rachel's Recipes part 1
As you know, the heroine in The Marriage Recipe is a pastry chef. Thus, to entice you to read (and to cook!), today I’m going to whet your appetite with one of Rachel’s favorite recipes. In fact, all month I will be blogging about food. If you follow me around (sort of like a virtual pub crawl), you'll pick up four recipes and one blog on characters and food. I will be at http://toberead.wordpress.com/ on April 14 with the next installment.
So back to that recipe.
Gooey butter cake is a St. Louis tradition and favorite. There are two ways to make it—with the evaporated milk, flour, etc., or the just-as-good cheat/shortcut version using cream cheese. Here is how you make that second gooey butter cake (the easy version).
1 box yellow cake mix
1 egg
1 stick butter—melted
Blend these together until smooth (it will be thick). Press into the bottom of a 9x13 greased (Pam is fine) cake pan.
8 ounces softened cream cheese (use the bar, not the spread stuff and do not use fat free)
2 eggs beaten
2 cups powdered sugar
Blend softened cream cheese, the 2 eggs and the powdered sugar until creamy and smooth. Don’t worry if there are a few cream cheese lumps. Spread this mixture over the first mixture pressed into he pan. Bake for 325 for 40-45 minutes until the cake edges are light brown. There may be a few brown patches on the cream cheese mixture—if there are, you are also done. Do not let the cream cheese mixture get more than a few or it’s overdone The middle will sink a little upon cooling. Cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. It gets tastier being one day old—so making it the night before is actually recommended.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
NC!
Over my spring break I got to leave the rainy and floody weather in St. Louis and fly to North Carolina. As part of my day job as adviser to an NSPA All-American yearbook (that means it's pretty good), I'm also the holder of the purse strings. This year it's bid time--we are seeking a three-year yearbook printing contract. So I've been touring yearbook plants among other things.
On my trip to Winston-Salem, I flew into Charlotte, and got a rental car. That was an experience in itself as first I went to the wrong counter (oops) and then at the correct one, the woman tried to put me first in a car I didn't want. I'd driven that model before and sworn never again. So then she tried to sell me a more expense one. Uh, no thanks, even though I wasn't paying rental, I was paying for gas. Finally I told her to downsize me, and she put me in a Chevy Cobalt. I was fine with that--I averaged 35 miles highway.
I spent the first night in Mooresville, meeting in the hotel lobby happy hour a whole bunch of Lowes project managers. These are the guys who are in charge of opening stores and reconfiguring stores. They live all over the country and this was their two-week corporate meeting. The next morning it was off to PIT: http://www.5off5on.com/welcome.html
I'm a NASCAR fan, but even I didn't know that you can actually attend school to learn how to be a pit crew member. PIT also does a lot of "think inside the box" workshops for business executives. They even put my book cover on the front page of their website.
I also got to go on a shop tour of Red Horse Racing. What impressed me the most was that the race shop owner himself stopped what he was doing and gave us a personal tour. That's me with one of David Starr's trucks above.
I also got to very briefly meet Jeff Hammond, champion crew chief, who is a partner in PIT. He's a very busy guy and extremely nice.
The day was fabulous. I can't thank them enough. The funniest part was at lunch--where everyone found it quite "interesting" that I'd never had hush puppies and didn't even know what they were. Being me, I in turn asked them if they'd ever had toasted ravioli or gooey butter cake--which are local to St. Louis. No one had Ah, see, those regional differences. Since everyone was so wonderful, I've had a bakery ship them a gooey butter cake; they'll get it next week.
And, if you are curious about gooey butter cake I sent them, you can go here: http://www.hollyberrybaking.com/
Happy end of the month!
Michele
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
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