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Hungry Heart
by Meg
Benjamin
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Peace,
love, and barbecue—with a big order of sexy on the side.
Sous
chef Darcy Cunningham is less than entranced with small-town Konigsburg’s
obsession with barbecue. But her future career as a chef de cuisine requires
expanding her culinary horizons, so she talks the Barbecue King, a.k.a. Harris
Temple, into taking her on as his apprentice.
However,
learning Harris’s professional secrets wasn’t supposed to include falling for
his spicy blend of smoky sexiness and laid-back charm.
Chico
Burnside specializes in flying under Konigsburg’s small-town radar, but lately
life has been going a little too smoothly, even for him. Hoping to shake things
up a bit, he talks Harris into teaming up for Konigsburg’s first barbecue
cook-off. But once shy scientist Andy Wells catches his eye, Chico’s got more
on his mind than brisket. Like enticing her out of her shell to show her just
how tenderly a big guy can love.
As
the competition ignites, so does the romance. Until a natural disaster
threatens to derail Konigsburg’s dream team before the grills even get good and
warmed up.
Excerpt:
He leaned forward slowly, maybe giving her a chance to run.
A chance she wasn’t going to take. His lips brushed hers, lightly, as his hands
cupped her face. He rubbed his thumbs across her cheekbones, dark eyes watching
her carefully.
The flecks of green had deepened, making his eyes even
darker now. She leaned forward, placing her hands on his shoulders, bringing
her mouth against his more firmly. The contact seemed to send an arrow of heat
through her body, making her nipples ache, her pulse warm again.
His mouth opened against hers and she let him inside,
rubbing her tongue against his, feeling it rasp against her teeth. She sucked
his lower lip for a moment, nipping him lightly, hearing the catch in his
breath.
His hands dropped to her breasts, cupping, then rubbing
them, his palms brushing her nipples to hard points. She felt cool air against
her back as he pushed her shirt up, his fingers fumbling with the catch on her
bra. His lips drifted down the side of her throat, leaving a trail of heat as
he did.
She pushed his shirt up, running her fingers through the
slight dusting of hair across his chest, then down along the ripple of muscle
over his stomach.
His hands cupped her breasts, pushing the bra aside. He
leaned down, taking one nipple into his mouth, sucking, his tongue laving the
aching peak.
Somewhere behind them something beeped loudly. Porky came
awake with a woof.
“Shit.” His hands dropped to her hips, his forehead pressed
against her breasts. “Shit. Fuck. Goddamn.”
“Timer’s beeping,” she muttered. “And Porky’s awake.”
He nodded, his forehead still resting on her collarbone.
“Fire’s ready. And you’re behind with the meat as it is.”
He raised his head to look at her. “I didn’t plan this.”
“I know.” She wasn’t entirely sure what he meant—the timing
with the meat or the timing with the two of them. She brushed a hand across his
cheek, pushing his hair back from his face.
“I don’t want to stop.”
“I don’t either.” She slid back a few inches, moving her
hands to his shoulders. “But like you once said, barbecue waits for no man.”
**Nona’s Review of Hungry
Heart by Meg Benjamin**
Hungry
Heart is a down-home, down-to-earth romance by Meg Benjamin
set in Konigsburg, Texas (Book Eight in the Konigsburg Series). Now I’m not a
Texan, but apparently barbecue (also known as ‘cue) is a big deal in the Lone
Star State. When The Barbecue King (aka Harris) runs into Darcy things start
smoking, baby. Darcy is a sous-chef at The Rose Restaurant, but has her eyes on
bigger and better things. The King has ambitions, too, of starting his own
barbecue place. When he insults Darcy’s fancy potato salad, she sees red. But
she also notices how hot The King is. Thinking it can’t hurt to learn more, she
offers to help him out in exchange for him teaching her how to make ‘cue.
Things heat up between them pretty fast.
There’s a secondary romance as well, featuring Andy and
Chico. Chico’s a big tough-looking guy with a tender heart. Though he works as
a bar bouncer, he’s also part-owner in the business. His size intimates people
and leads them to underestimate his intelligence. Andy is drawn to him and his
gentleness with her, though is uncomfortable with the stares the townspeople
direct their way. Things gets touchy when Chico, who’s a dab hand at ‘cue
himself, enlists The King to join him in entering the local Barbecue cook off.
Andy’s verbally abusive ex-husband was a cook-off champ and the whole thing
(pardon the pun) leaves a bad taste in her mouth.
Hungry
Heart is an enjoyable and sexy read. It was fun to read a romance
featuring people you might meet in your own home town. The story had a very
realistic feel. Which isn’t to say there was no drama: Andy’s nasty ex returns
to town, The King comes face to face with someone from his past, and Darcy has
to decide if she’s finally ready to settle down in one place. There’s also an
exciting scene with the four of them battling a severe rainstorm that threatens
to destroy everything The King has worked so hard for. Not to mention the
cook-off itself, where The King is accused of sabotaging another contestant’s
entry.
I haven’t read any of Ms. Benjamin’s other Konigsburg
novels, but now I’d like to. Characters appear in the story who’ve starred in
other installments in the series and I’m interested in reading about them, too.
If you enjoy small town romance featuring hot, hunky heroes and sassy,
appealing heroines you’ll eat up Hungry
Heart. And you’ll learn a few things about ‘cue!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Meg Benjamin
is an author of contemporary romance. Her Konigsburg series for Samhain
Publishing is set in the Texas Hill Country and her Medium trilogy for Berkley
InterMix is set in San Antonio’s King William District. Meg’s books have won
numerous awards, including an EPIC Award for Contemporary Romance, a Romantic
Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for Indie Press Romance, the Holt Medallion from
Virginia Romance Writers and the Beanpot Award from the New England Romance
Writers. Meg lives in Colorado with her DH and two rather large Maine coon
kitties (well, partly Maine Coon anyway). Her Web site is
http://www.MegBenjamin.com and her blog is http://megbenj1.wordpress.com/. You
can follow her on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/meg.benjamin1), Pinterest
(http://pinterest.com/megbenjamin/), and Twitter (http://twitter.com/megbenj1).
Meg loves to hear from readers—contact her at meg@megbenjamin.com.
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