When Kimberly'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 eclairs in her kitchen, or curled up with her nose in a book. She resides in northern Virginia with her wildly patient husband and their three daughters.
You can find Kimberly at http://www.kimberlykincaid.com/, or check her out on facebook or twitter.
http://www.amazon.com/Kimberly-Kincaid/e/B00BLKI79Y/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_3
Food is Love: Why I Write Foodie Romance
When I sat down to write my first book a little over five years ago, there were a couple of things I knew for sure. I wanted to write romance (I am a happily-ever-after kind of girl!), I wanted to write about people with strong family relationships (either born families or chosen), and I wanted to incorporate food into everything I wrote. My own family base has always been grounded in the mantra that “food is love”, and it was something I wanted my stories to convey.
Writing about chefs (and caterers and restaurant owners and wine experts and… well, you get the idea) was a great place to start, but I wanted the food to be an integral part of each story. In the same way that I chose the setting and the character traits and the plot points of each book as I wrote, I also selected what the characters would cook together with a lot of care and forethought. In my first “line” novella, Love On The Line, my hero, Noah, is a rough, gruff career cop who has been injured in the line of duty. As you can well imagine, he’s not a happy camper at being told he needs a caretaker to prepare his meals, especially since that caretaker turns out to be the sister of his detective partner (and someone with whom he shares a past). As they began to overcome their differences and care for one another, I wanted them to share a meal that said “comfort food”. So I picked one of my go-to meals for a cold, crummy day: chicken and dumplings. The characters prepare it together, and it turns out to really embody their relationship. Each of them is a source of ease for the other (even though it takes them until the end to realize it!)
In my Christmas novella (coming out in September from Kensington Books) The Sugar Cookie Sweetheart Swap, the hero and heroine are competing against each other in a huge cookie competition. In one scene, they both make gingersnaps. Easy, right? Not so fast. Pete, the hero, has a bold, cocky outlook on life, where our heroine Lily is a reserved, by-the-book baker. They both come up with wildly different versions of the same cookie, and each one embodies their personality on the page. I wanted to show that even though both characters were incredible cooks, worthy of that prize, the dishes they created were part of them and showed who they are. PS, if you want to find out who wins, you’ll have to snap up the book! But yes. The winning recipe is in the back of the book!
So for me, I love not only having food as a thematic element in my stories, but what my characters cook takes a lot of thought. I use food to characterize my hero and heroine, as well as to bring my characters and communities together. So whether it be a PB and J (yes, I’ve written that!) or pasta from scratch (written that too), when I put my hands on the keyboard, the food is love
Violet Morgan puts the personal in personal chef, catering to clients who want the full
cooking experience rather than a culinary drop-and-dash. But when her brother’s
police detective partner is injured in the line of duty and needs help during
recovery, she makes an exception. Violet lost her father to the job seven years
ago, and worries for her brother’s safety every day. The last thing she wants
is to get up-close with her brother’s career-cop partner…again.
For Noah Blackwell, being a detective isn’t just a
lifestyle, it’s a legacy. So when he’s forced to take mandatory leave and deal with the trauma amnesia keeping
him from identifying his shooter, it’s a literal case of adding insult to
injury— and now he’s got to deal with an unwanted culinary caregiver on top of
it. Never mind that he and Violet shared a steamy, secret kiss last New Year’s
Eve. She rejects everything related to the job, and Noah’s not about to be
distracted from recovering his memory and getting back to what he does best. No
matter how pretty Violet is.
Despite their differences, Violet and Noah share a
surprising bond in the kitchen that grows into something neither of them expect.
But as Noah heals and their feelings for each other extend from the kitchen to
the bedroom, Violet knows she must make an impossible choice. She may wear her
heart on her sleeve when it comes to food, but can she risk it all to put love
on the line?
Drawing The Line, now available as a new release on Amazon!
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