Ten Most Delicious Desserts Inspired by Novels from Andrea Lochen

TODAY I have a special guest post for book and foodie lovers to enjoy...

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by Andrea Lochen
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Ten Most Delicious Desserts Inspired by Novels
As an avid reader with a major sweet tooth, I love when authors include the recipes for the yummy desserts they’ve made me drool over throughout their book. It’s a marriage of two of my favorite activities—reading and baking! And if you’re a book club member, what better treat to bring to your meeting than a dessert straight out of the novel? Here are ten of my favorite book-inspired desserts!

The Help
by Kathryn Stockett
Goodreads | RECIPE
1) Southern Caramel Cake from The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Who hasn’t wanted to try a bite of the scrumptious-sounding caramel cake that Minny makes in The Help? (Maybe not so much her chocolate pie, however!) Though Stockett didn’t include the recipe in the back of her book, this food blog has the The Junior League of Memphis Cookbook recipe that supposedly inspired her.

The Coincidence of Coconut Cake
by Amy E. Reichert
Goodreads | RECIPE
2) Coconut Cake from Amy E. Reichert’s The Coincidence of Coconut Cake
The titular coconut cake in Reichert’s The Coincidence of Coconut Cake earned its place on the cover of this heartwarming book. To the main character, Lou, baking her grandmother’s cake is the ultimate expression of love. In the book, those who get to eat it earned their slice, which certainly made me crave a piece all the more!

Island in the Sea:
A Majorca Love Story
by Anita Hughes
Goodreads | RECIPE
3) Crème Caramel Flan from Anita Hughes’ Island in the Sea: A Majorca Love Story
In Hughes’ newest novel set in Spain, she describes how Majorca's restaurants serve a mouthwatering variety of delicious fresh fish and locally grown vegetables and how many diners like to end the meal with a dessert that satisfies any sweet tooth while not being heavy or cloying. This creme caramel flan recipe certainly does the trick!

Shelter Me
by Juliette Fay
Goodreads | RECIPE
4) Lemon Cream Cake from Juliette Fay’s Shelter Me
Fay introduces the concept of “pology cake” in her first novel, Shelter Me, as something you bake for someone you’ve wronged in the hopes of that person forgiving you. Though according to Fay, it doesn’t need to be a particular kind of cake, her recipe for lemon cream cake in the back of the book and on her author website sounds fabulous!

Kitchens of the Great Midwest
by J. Ryan Stradal
Goodreads | RECIPE
5) Peanut butter bars from Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal
Though there are several delicious dishes described in Stradal’s debut novel about Midwestern foodie culture, it was the blue-prize winning peanut butter bars recipe from Lutheran church lady, Pat, that caught my eye. I made this for my book club and these chocolate-frosted bars are just as decadent as they sound!

One More Day
by Kelly Simmons
Goodreads | RECIPE
6) Thumbprint Cookies with Jam from Kelly Simmons’ One More Day
Baking figures prominently in Kelly Simmons’ book because in One More Day, the main character, Carrie Morgan, bakes with her grandmother, as she did when she was a little girl. However, it's not clear whether her grandmother is dead or alive! These thumbprint jam cookies look like just the thing to bake when you’re in a nostalgic mood (or simply in the mood for something buttery and sweet)!

Ruby Among Us:
A Novel (La Rosaleda #1)
by Tina Ann Forkner
Goodreads | RECIPE
7) Mantecadas from Tina Ann Forkner’s Ruby Among Us
In Ruby Among Us by Tina Ann Forkner, Kitty and her granddaughter Lucy spend a lot of time together talking over cookie and tea. Lucy even has a special tea cup that she drinks out of with her grandmother Kitty who is keeping a lot of secrets about Lucy’s past. Below is a link to Kitty’s secret recipe for Lucy’s favorite cookie, Mantecadas. Yum!

Miracle Beach
by Erin Celello
Goodreads | RECIPE
8) Nanaimo Bars from Miracle Beach by Erin Celello
Nanaimo Bars are served in the cafeterias of the ferry boats between Vancouver Island and mainland Canada. In Miracle Beach, when main characters Magda and Jack come to the Island, they fall in love with the sinfully sweet bars. Author Erin Celello testifies that they’re amazing!

The River Witch
by Kimberly Brock
Goodreads | RECIPE
9) Damascus' Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake from The River Witch by Kimberly Brock
In The River Witch, a family feast brings an estranged southern family together. When ten-year- old Damascus Trezevant’s summer ends with a bounty of pumpkins, she sets out to heal deep wounds with a sweet, old recipe for Pumpkin Spice Pound Cake and faith in the magic of a mother’s love. You won’t be sorry you tried this recipe!

The Repeat Year
by Andrea Lochen
Amazon | Excerpt
Goodreads | RECIPE
10) The Best Chocolate Cake Ever from The Repeat Year by Andrea Lochen
What dessert list is complete without a delectable chocolate cake? In The Repeat Year, main character Olive is named after her maternal grandmother who passed away the week before she was born. In addition to her grandma’s name, Olive also inherited her recipe for the “best chocolate cake ever” which her mom bakes as a peace offering for their family in a time of major transition.

What are your favorite recipes inspired by novels? Comment below!
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Guest post created by Andrea Lochen, author of The Repeat Year.
© 2016. All rights reserved.

About the author:

Andrea Lochen is the author of two novels, Imaginary Things and The Repeat Year. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan and her BA in English at the University of Wisconsin. Since 2008, she has taught undergraduate writing at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha.

When she isn’t teaching, reading, or baking, she is hard at work on her third novel.

Find out more about this author:
Amazon | Goodreads
Website | Facebook | Twitter @AndreaLochen

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by Andrea Lochen
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* image source Minny's Caramel Cake

The 10 Most Memorable Moms In New Fiction from Andrea Lochen

Happy Mother's Day!
May your day include some quiet reading time along with the festivities.

For all you list lovers (myself included), below is a guest post sure to please.

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by Andrea Lochen
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10 Most Memorable Moms in New Fiction
by Andrea Lochen
What better time of year than Mother’s Day to showcase some of the most memorable fictional mothers in some of the best new novels? From loving, supportive mothers to complex, trailblazing mothers to selfish, vindictive mothers, this list has it all!

*** #1 ***

The Perfect Son
by Barbara Claypole White
(Lake Union, July 2015)
Amazon | Goodreads| Website
Ella Fitzwilliam, the mom in THE PERFECT SON, quit a successful career in jewelry design to be full-time parent, mental health coach, and advocate for her son, Harry, who has a soup of issues that include Tourette syndrome. She has devoted 17 years of her life to his therapy, to educating teachers, to being Harry’s emotional rock and giving him the confidence he needs to be Harry. Thanks to her, Harry is comfortable in his own skin, even when people stare. After Ella has a major heart attack in the opening chapter, her love for Harry tethers her to life. But as she recovers, she discovers the hardest parenting lesson of all: to let go.


*** #2 ***

Rodin’s Lover
by Heather Webb
(Plume, January 2015)
Amazon | Goodreads| Website
In RODIN’S LOVER, Camille’s mother, Louise Claudel, is spiteful, jealous, and disapproving of Camille’s pursuit to become a female sculptor in the 1880s. She also shows signs of mental illness. Because of this relationship, Camille struggles with all of her female relationships the rest of her life, and ultimately, to prove to her mother that she’s truly talented.


*** #3 ***

Imaginary Things
by Andrea Lochen
(Astor + Blue Editions, April 2015)
Amazon | Goodreads | Website
In IMAGINARY THINGS, young single mother Anna Jennings has a unique power that most parents only dream of—the ability to see her four-year-old son’s imagination come to life. But when David’s imaginary friends turn dark and threatening, Anna must learn the rules of this bizarre phenomenon, what his friends truly represent, and how best to protect him.


*** #4 ***

The Magician’s Lie
by Greer Macallister
(Sourcebooks, January 2015)
Amazon | Goodreads| Website
In THE MAGICIAN'S LIE, Arden's mother is remarkable both for what she does and what she doesn't do. As a young woman, she bears a child out of wedlock and runs away with her music teacher, never fearing the consequences. But later in life, her nerve fails her—just when her daughter needs her most.


*** #5 ***

Five Days Left
by Julie Lawson Timmer
(Putnam, 2014)
Amazon | Goodreads| WebsiteIn FIVE DAYS LEFT, Mara Nichols is, in some ways, a typical mother: she loves her daughter fiercely, thinks about her constantly and goes to great lengths to balance her high-stress legal career with her daughter’s needs. But there are two ways in which Mara isn't typical at all. First, she adopted her daughter from India, making good on a lifelong promise to rescue a baby from the same orphanage where Mara herself lived decades ago. And second, when Mara is diagnosed with a fatal, incurable illness that will render her unable to walk, talk or even feed herself, she has to make the kind of parenting choice none of us wants to consider—would my child be better off if I were no longer alive?


*** #6 ***

House Broken
by Sonja Yoerg
(Penguin/NAL, January 2015)
Amazon | Goodreads| WebsiteIn HOUSE BROKEN, Helen Riley has a habit of leaving her grown children to cope with her vodka-fueled disasters. She has her reasons, but they’re buried deep, and stem from secrets too painful to remember and, perhaps, too terrible to forgive.


*** #7 ***

You Were Meant for Me
by Yona Zeldis McDonough
(Penguin/NAL, 2014)
Amazon | Goodreads| WebsiteIn YOU WERE MEANT FOR ME, having a baby is the furthest thing from Miranda Berenzweig’s mind. She’s newly single after a bad break up, and focused on her promotion at work, her friends and getting her life back on track. Then one frigid March night she finds a newborn infant in a NYC subway and even after taking the baby to the police, can’t get the baby out of her mind. At the suggestion of the family court judge assigned to the case, Miranda begins adoption proceedings. But her plans—as well as her hopes and dreams—are derailed when the baby’s biological father surfaces, wanting to claim his child. The way she handles this unforeseen turn of events is what makes Miranda a truly memorable mother.


*** #8 ***

The Far End of Happy
by Kathryn Craft
(Sourcebooks Landmark, May 2015)
Amazon | Goodreads -enter to win this -exp May 18 | WebsiteIn THE FAR END OF HAPPY, Ronnie has hung in there as long as she can during her husband's decline into depression, spending issues, and alcoholism and he will not accept her attempts to get him professional help. She is not a leaver, but can't bear for her sons to witness the further deterioration of the marriage. She determines to divorce—and on the day he has promised to move out, he instead arms himself, holes up inside a building on the property, and stands off against police. When late in the day the police ask Ronnie if she’ll appeal to him one last time over the bullhorn, she must decide: with the stakes so high, will she try one last time to save her husband’s life? Or will her need to protect her sons and her own growing sense of self win out?


*** #9 ***

Your Perfect Life
by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke
(Washington Square Press, 2014)
Amazon | Goodreads| WebsiteIn YOUR PERFECT LIFE, long-time friends, Rachel and Casey wake up the morning after their twenty year high school reunion to discover they’ve switched bodies. Casey is single with no children before becoming an instant mom to Rachel’s two teenagers and baby. Despite her lack of experience as a parent, and her often comedic missteps with the baby in particular (think: diaper blow outs and sudden sleep deprivation) Casey’s fresh perspective on her new role helps her connect with each of the children in a very different way than Rachel. And when the oldest, Audrey, is almost date raped at her prom, it is Casey’s strength that she draws from an experience in her own past that ultimately pulls Audrey through. Although it is hard for Rachel to watch her best friend take care of Audrey when she so desperately wants to, she realizes that Casey can help her daughter in a way she can’t. And Casey discovers she might have what it takes to be a mom to her own children someday.


*** #10 ***

The Life List
by Lori Nelson Spielman
(Bantam, 2013)
Amazon | Goodreads| WebsiteElizabeth Bohlinger, the mother in THE LIFE LIST, is actually deceased. But she still has a big presence in her daughter's life—some may say too big! With heartfelt letters, Elizabeth guides her daughter, Brett, on a journey to complete the life list of wishes Brett made when she was just a teen. Like many mothers, Elizabeth has an uncanny ability to see into her daughter's heart, exposing buried desires Brett has long forgotten.

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Guest post created by Andrea Lochen, author of Imaginary Things
© 2015. All rights reserved.

About the author:
Andrea Lochen is a University of Michigan MFA graduate. Her first novel, The Repeat Year (Berkley, 2013), won a Hopwood Award for the Novel prior to its publication. She has served as fiction editor of The Madison Review and taught writing at the University of Michigan. She currently teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha, where she was recently awarded UW Colleges Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching. Her second novel, Imaginary Things (Astor + Blue Editions, 2015) is recently released and has garnered wonderful praise. With features on Barnes & Noble.com, Huffington Post, and Brit + Co., her work is being introduced to thousands of new readers. Andrea currently lives in Madison with her husband and daughter and is at work on her third novel.

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon
BarnesNoble
Goodreads
Publisher
Website
BookExcerpt
Facebook
Twitter @AndreaLochen

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by Andrea Lochen
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* Which of these catch your eye?

* guest post courtesy of publisher

* header image source: William W. Churchill (1858–1926), Woman Reading on a Settee, ca. 1905–10

Stacking the Shelves - 6.2.13

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga's Reviews (details). Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

Note: most of these will be offered as giveaways within the next two months

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Bought:

Celebrating Pride and Prejudice:
200 Years of Jane Austen's Masterpiece
by Susannah Fullerton

While We Were Watching Downton Abbey
by Wendy Wax
getting reading for TEA at Downton Abbey, July 20-24
Free from Kindle: beware some free offers are limited - get yours now

The Five Kisses
(Pride Meets Prejudice Regency Romance #1)
by Karla Darcy
For Blog Tour:

The Repeat Year
by Andrea Lochen
courtesy of BookSparksPR
Thanks Erin!
my review
If you are interested in this and would like to have my review copy, let me know in comments by June 9. I will do a random drawing.

Girl Unmoored
by Jennifer Gooch Hummer
courtesy of BookSparksPR
Thanks Erin!

The Promise of Provence:
A Novel
by Patricia Sands
courtesy of France Book Tours
Thanks Emma!
For Review:

The Other Typist
by Suzanne Rindell
courtesy of publisher
Thanks Lydia!
signup to win this here

Of Fidelity and Faith
by Evan Ostryzniuk
courtesy of Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours
Thanks Amy!

Introducing the Honorable Phryne Fisher:
The First Three Phryrne Fisher Mysteries
-Cocaine Blues
-Flying Too High
-Murder on the Ballarat Train
by Kerry Greenwood
courtesy of publisher
Thanks Angie!

A Question of Death
An illustrated Phyrne Fisher Treasury
by Kerry Greenwood
courtesy of publisher
Thanks Angie!

Unnatural Habits:
book 19 - Phryne Fisher Mystery series
by Kerry Greenwood
courtesy of publisher
Thanks Angie!
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* per usual, check out the sidebar for my current giveaways to you

The Repeat Year by Andrea Lochen

The Repeat Year
by Andrea Lochen

Visit Andrea:
Book Excerpt
Website
Facebook
Goodreads
Shelfari

Just released: May 7, 2013
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Genre: New Adult, Women's Fiction
Paperback: 400 pages
Rating: 4

Amazon | BarnesNoble

Everyone has days, weeks, even months they wish they could do over—but what about an entire year? After living through the worst twelve months of her life, intensive care nurse Olive Watson is given a second chance to relive her past and attempt to discover where she went wrong…

After a year of hardships, including a messy breakup with her longtime boyfriend Phil, the prospect of her mother’s remarriage, and heartbreaking patient losses at the hospital, Olive is ready to start fresh. But when she wakes up in her ex-boyfriend’s bed on New Year’s Day 2011—a day she has already lived—Olive’s world is turned upside down.

Shouldering a year of memories that no one else can recall, even Olive begins to question herself—until she discovers that she is not alone. Upon crossing paths with Sherry Witan, an experienced “repeater,” Olive learns that she has the chance to rewrite her future. Given the opportunity of a lifetime, Olive has to decide what she really wants. Should she make different choices, or accept her life as she knows it, flaws and all?

My two-bits:
In-a-word(s): think holistically

Loved this concept of an extended groundhog-kind-of-day. I liked how this book got me thinking of past and present experiences and how they can affect the future if mindful of those experiences.

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* win a copy of this book on Goodreads here - offer ends May 31

* review copy courtesy of Summer Reading Road Trip 2013 the Summer Reading Reading Challenge sponsored by BookSparksPR