The Matchmaking Chef Collection
by
MADDIE JAMES
The eight novellas of The Matchmaking Chef Series
When Suzie Matthews (Bed, Breakfast & You) accidentally cooks up a scene that causes her sister to get back together with her high school boyfriend (Home for the Holidays), she wonders if she can help other singletons living in the small mountain town of Legend, Tennessee find the loves of their lives.
Being a matchmaker isn’t really on her list of things to do—after all, she has a bed & breakfast to run, cookbooks to write, and a television show on the Food Channel to keep up with. But baking is her thing, and perhaps matchmaking can be her thing, too. After all, there is a song going through her head that goes something like this…
Matchbaker, Matchbaker, bake me a match? No wait. Make me a match. Nevermind! You get the picture, right?
Welcome to Legend, Tennessee. And welcome to the matchbaking, er, matchmaking world of Chef Suzie Matthews.
Includes the 8 novellas: Perfectly Matched, Dates Du Jour, Hot Crossed Buns, Side Dish, Mate To Order, Romancing The Scone, Better Than Chocolate, and Hard Candy Kisses, @ 133,000
Novellas also available separately.
Available at the following retailers: AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLE | KOBO | IBOOKS | SMASHWORDS | ALL ROMANCE EBOOKS
Blurbs from each novella:
Perfectly Matched, Book One
Suzie Matthews is hard at work on her new cookbook, Perfectly Matched, when she asks the local “wallflower” to help her with a project. Mary Lou Picketts dreams of falling in love with country music star, Nash Rhodes, but is ready to settle for Thurman Phillips down the street. But she doesn’t want to. Not really. When Nash comes to Legend for a music benefit and stays at the lodge, Suzie wonders if she can perfectly match this miss-matched couple.
Hot Crossed Buns, Book Two
Wild Katie Long, she’ll never settle down. But Chris Marks has had his eye on her for a long time. When Chris hires Suzie to set him up with a romantic dinner for two, Suzie does all she can to set the mood. Thing is, Katie isn’t about to be wooed and she’s hotter than hot crossed buns when she figures out what Chris is up to. Then Suzie turns the tables by supplying Chris with a couple of items that just might tame Katie after all—handcuffs and a leather riding crop.
Dates Du Jour, Book Three
Speed dating? Speed eating is more like it. When Suzie sets up lunch date after lunch date for Lyssa Larkin, Legend’s homegrown homecoming queen of 1992, she knows she’s bit off more than she can chew. Lyssa rejects dates in two bites and sends them on their way. Suzie wonders if she really wants to date or just eat two lunches, and worries that soon Lyssa’s hips won’t fit on her dainty chairs. That is, until Suzie takes a risk with a man that Lyssa knows, but doesn’t, and who is falling for her hard and fast.
Side Dish, Book Four
Becca North doesn’t want a boyfriend but her best friend Nora certainly does. Becca is soooo off men. But when Nora, owner of Nora’s Novel Niche, meets Suzie the Matchmaking Chef, during a booksigning at her store, she pays the matchmaker to arrange a romantic picnic date lunch for her—a blind date, no less. Nora drags Becca along all the way from Pigeon Forge for moral support and to check out her date. Thing is, Nora’s date would rather check out Becca, instead.
Mate to Order, Book Five
When Suzie’s success as a matchmaker hits the national scene about the same time as her debut cooking show on the Food Channel, her new producer comes to her with a list of requirements—not for Suzie’s job, but for a husband. Patricia Plum has a specific list and if Suzie really wants to make it big in New York City, she’ll make every attempt to deliver, Patricia’s “Mate to Order.”
Romancing the Scone, Book Six
High tea or sweet tea? As long as there are scones, it doesn’t matter. In fact, Sydney Schul, owner of Sydney’s Sugar Coffee Stop and Bakery, makes the best damned scones east of the Mississippi, and there was an article written about her in Southern’s Best magazine to prove it. All is well and life in Legend is good, until a mysterious male stranger comes to town, stalking her scones and coercing Legendarians to nab her recipe.
Better than Chocolate, Book Seven
When Scott Matthews escapes to Legend to visit his brother, Brad and his wife Suzie, he has only one request—he doesn’t want to talk, smell, or taste chocolate. Nor does he want to discuss getting fired as chocolate taster from world-renowned Bianchi Chocolates. What Jillian Bass needs is to make it in Legend. This Manhattan transplant knows nothing about small town living other than she wants to make it big here real bad. Forget New York, she’s trying to set up her small chocolate shop and impress the locals. And all is fine until she smacks straight into Scott.
Hard Candy Kisses, Book Eight
New Year’s Eve is just around the corner and Legend Elementary teacher Patti Jo Baker has tried every trick in the book to land a date for the annual New Year’s Eve Bash at The Lodge. This includes setting up a kissing booth at the Legend Elementary Winter Carnival—a booth which Principal Jim Hamilton promptly shuts down. Because if Patty Jo Baker is passing out kisses, any kind of kisses, he wants to be both first, and last, in line—and he definitely doesn’t want to sample them in front of the student body.
Welcome Maddie James! Please start off by telling us a little about yourself.
Hello! Thanks for having me here today. It’s a pleasure to spend time with your readers.
I’m Maddie James, and I deal in words. Words that build into stories. Stories that hopefully enrich someone’s day. I’ve been writing for a long time and published my first novel in 1997. I have nearly 40 titles available at the moment with a number of releases slated for 2014. I work in the book world 24/7 (which means, I quite my day job!). Besides writing, my fingers are stuck in several pieces of the book industry pie, including publisher and cover designer.
Is The Matchmaking Chef a single title, or part of a series?
The title I’m talking about today is a boxed set, and is indeed a series. All 8 novellas in The Matchmaking Chef series feature Suzie Matthews, who is known as the matchmaking chef. Suzie works her matchmaking magic with love and food on the residents of Legend, Tennessee. Sometimes things go just right, other times, they go awry…
Here is the description of the series:
THE MATCHMAKING CHEF COLLECTION (Ladies of Legend Spin-off Series)
The eight novellas of The Matchmaking Chef Series (romantic comedy)
When Suzie Matthews (Bed, Breakfast & You) accidentally cooks up a scene that causes her sister to get back together with her high school boyfriend (Home for the Holidays), she wonders if she can help other singletons living in the small mountain town of Legend, Tennessee find the loves of their lives.
Being a matchmaker isn’t really on her list of things to do–after all, she has a bed & breakfast to run, cookbooks to write, and a television show on the Food Channel to keep up with. But baking is her thing, and perhaps matchmaking can be her thing, too. After all, there is a song going through her head that goes something like this…
Matchbaker, Matchbaker, bake me a match? No wait. Make me a match. Nevermind! You get the picture, right?
Welcome to Legend, Tennessee. And welcome to the matchbaking, er, matchmaking world of Chef Suzie Matthews.
This collection includes the novellas: Perfectly Matched, Hot Crossed Buns, Dates Du Jour, Side Dish, Mate to Order, Romancing the Scone, Better Than Chocolate, and Hard Candy Kisses
What were your inspirations for the story?
Oh, without a doubt, Suzie is the inspiration. I created her character for a novella that was to be part of a series written with three other authors, and once the book was written, I simply could not let her go. I wrote her into the second story, which was her first foray into matchmaking, in a way. And the series was born after that. I just love my Suzie!
Please share your setting for The Matchmaking Chef Series. Have you ever lived or visited there? If so, what did you like most?
Legend, Tennessee, where romance lives next door. A sleepy Smoky Mountain town where porches are still for sitting and troubles for one family affect the entire community. Its existence lives only in the minds of its writers and the hearts of its readers.
Like this little blurb says, Legend is very real to the authors of the series, and to many of our readers. They tell us so! In reality, it is a fictional, made up town (but don’t tell Suzie that!)
When did the writing bug first bite?
I’ve been storytelling all of my life. I didn’t realize this until I was an adult. Looking back, I remember making up stories in my head as a child, to help me fall asleep. I would recall television shows I’d watched and rewrite the story in my head, rearrange dialogue, change the ending. I first dabbled with writing in high school, and later in college, but it wasn’t until after my life was well underway that I seriously started pursuing writing as a possible career. That was in the mid-to-late 80s. I joined Romance Writers of America in 1990 and knew that writing romance was what I wanted to do. My first novel, as I said, was published by Kensington in 1997.
Thank you so much for hosting me here today! I really appreciate your time and look forward to discussing my little matchmaker with your readers!
Maddie is giving away 1 ebook copy of
The Matchmaking Chef Series Collection
Thank you, Harlie, for hosting me today, along with Suzie, the Matchmaking Chef! I hope your readers enjoy the interview and snippets. Enjoy and don’t forget to enter the raffle!