Into the Fire Review

Into The Fire By Amanda Usen

 

 

Book Description

Jackson Calabrese has a lot of nerve. He beat Lila Grant in the Culinary Academy competition using her recipes. Now, he’s opening a restaurant and wants her help? Fine, she'll fix his menu, but it's going to cost him.

Heir to the Calabrese restaurant empire, Jackson can buy anything he wants, except creativity, so he buys Lila's instead. He can craft perfect paella, but to take New York by storm he needs her innovative spark.

Skillets aren't the only things hot in the kitchen, and an uneasy truce ignites into passion. They’re great in bed, but Jackson doesn't trust her, and Lila is contemplating revenge. The restaurant opening approaches, the menu is completed, and the tables are set for one final act of betrayal. How can love bloom in the midst of such a hot mess?

 

ebook, 201 pages

Expected publication: June 10th 2013 by Entangled: Indulgence

Buy Links:

Purchase from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Into-the-Fire-ebook/dp/B00CNTTE9Y/ref=sr_1_9?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1368220082&sr=1-9&keywords=into+the+fire

Purchase from Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1115250852?ean=9781622661350

Purchase from iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/into-fire-hot-nights-series/id645263899?mt=11

 Purchase from Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Into-Fire-Hot-Nights-Series/book-rl5r4oqYdECnUWi2AVitjQ/page1.html

 

 

Review

Lila Grant been waiting forever to finally shine through her culinary graduates but she faces her competition Jack Calabrese the man who has it all and has the family name that does him justice. It true what they say, Chefs never share their secret recipes. Just before the big cook off, Lila and Jack dive into their indulgence and desires but once the cook off started, it was anyone's kitchen. Months later after Lila took off to do her own thing after being upstaged by Jack Calabrese, she hoped she never see that Jack again until now . . . The growing love and hate romance get hotter and it might be too hot for both chefs to handle. A determine Jack wants to rekindle with Lila whenther she denies it or not but Jack also asked of her help with his new restaurant opening and believes his menus aren't good enough. Can these two work together or will it be Chopped?

 

I give this a 5 Cat's Tails, I love the mixture of food and romance, heck even the whole back and forth arguing about anything and everything that deals with them and food.

Ramble

This book was pretty hot in the kitchen, both Lila and Jack can't deny the chemistry they have together. However Lila still holds a grudge against Jack, will she take this opportunity to sabotage Jack. I love that they both shared the same passion for food, and even the same passion in bed. Lila's intentions were to create chaos for Jack's restaurant but after spending a little more time with him, her perspective changed. Jack has that family dynamics, he has to do everything perfect otherwise his father looks the other way. Jack spent most of his cooking career trying to shine on that is why it was so important that he won the cooking competition but I wonders if he knew of Lila's position and why she was so edger to win.

I like the pace of the book but there were some part where I felt it wasn't needed to fill in the gap, but it was still focused on Lila and Jack. Overall it was an enjoyable read, I like the whole chefs concept because I haven't read anything like this before so it was a new read for me.

 

About the Author

Amanda Usen knows two things for certain: chocolate cheesecake is good for breakfast and a hot chef can steal your heart. Her husband stole hers on the first day of class at the Culinary Institute of America. They married after graduation in a lovely French Quarter restaurant in New Orleans. After enjoying the food and the fun in the Big Easy for a few years, they returned to Western New York to raise a family.
Amanda spends her days teaching pastry arts classes at a local community college and her nights writing romance. She’s a member of the Romance Writers of America ® and the Western New York Romance Writers. When she’s not writing, teaching or baking, she can usually be found chasing the kids around the yard with her very own scrumptious husband.

Where to find Amanda
https://www.facebook.com/amandausen
https://twitter.com/AmandaUsen
http://amandausen.wordpress.com/

Into the Fire Blog Tour + Guest Post

Who doesn't like a little romance with a lot of yummy foods to drool over? If your're one of those people then you came to the right book.  Amanda delivers a mixture of both food and romance and today I have her here on my blog SassyCat for some of her favorite scenes/passages.

So take it away Amanda!

Howdy, y’all! Hi, Kat! You want to know which scenes are my favorite, huh? The first one that comes to mind happens after Jack has proposed a one-night truce during their ongoing feud. He shows up to pick Lila up for their date, pulls his white t-shirt off over his head and waves it around like a white flag. Then he drops it on the floor. These two have tons of sexy tension, and I had so much fun writing a scene in which Lila could say:

“Are you kidding? Sex first, then dinner—and I don’t have to wear

uncomfortable shoes? Sold.”

Another favorite part happens right after that – Jack takes her to three of his favorite restaurants in NYC. I would love to go on a date like that! Wouldn’t it be great to get all dressed up, make mad, passionate love…then put on comfy clothes and stuff yourself silly at dinner? Yes! Pick me! Jack even says, “If you aren’t in a complete food coma after dessert tonight then you didn’t try hard enough.” Of course, I’m a pastry chef married to a chef, so that may have something to do with my food and sex fantasies – ha!

I also love the beginning of Chapter Three, which was the original Chapter One. (My editor thought it would be a good idea to go back and write Jack and Lila’s one-night-stand, so I added a couple chapters to the beginning. I mean, who would argue with great advice like that?) Lila is a catering chef, but she is pinch hitting for a server. It just so happens the catering company uses sex as a sales hook, so Lila’s uniform is a very revealing French maid getup. You can guess what’s going to happen, right? She hasn’t seen Jack since the morning after their one-night-stand when he did something so dastardly, she hopped the first train out of town. Jack’s at the party! Of course he’s at the party! And her boobs are on display, and she has to serve him hors d’oeuvres! While they sling zingers at each other! Jack gets the last word until he follows her into the kitchen. Trust me, Lila gets the last word there.

It’s not all sexy-sex and sexy-food, though. It’s a love story. Jack and Lila have good reasons to fight, but they are also falling in love with each other. I adore these thoughts from Lila:

Her feelings about Jack reminded her of the time she had waded into the ocean to the edge of the sand and stood firm. Every wave that hit her shins had washed a little sand from beneath her feet until she lost her balance. She felt as if every minute spent with Jack washed away a little more of her resolve. She needed to make a decision. Step forward or race back to firm ground?

And yes, I was standing in a lake, feeling sand wash out from beneath my toes, when I came up with that. Since I’m usually a little less lyrical and a little more direct, they almost got cut, but I fought for them.

Honestly, my favorite line in the book is near the black moment. Jack says something that makes my heart drop into hell every time I think about it. In case you decide INTO THE FIRE is up your alley, I won’t spoil that moment for you. Love is a risk, and it isn’t always easy, especially if, like Jack, you have ISSUES. So I will leave you with a line from Lila instead:

“A deal with the devil demanded a price, and it was always nearly impossible to pay.”

NEARLY impossible. Thank goodness Jack isn’t really the devil – he just plays him for the first part of INTO THE FIRE. Good thing Lila is such a clever, resourceful woman! It’s fun to watch her handle him. ;-)

Thank you for stopping by SassyCat today! I really enjoyed revisiting my favorite moments. Kat, thanks for having me and giving me a chance to talk about my characters. I love them so much, and I hope readers do, too!

Tour-Wide Giveaway

 

Amanda Usen is offering winners a chance to at some wonderful prizes during the Into the Fire Blog Tour.

Grand prize: $25 gift card (Amazon, B&N, or The Book Despository) and gets to name Betsy’s hero in Book 3 of the Hot Nights series & give him 1 author-approved trait".

Runner Up: $15 gift card (Amazon, B&N, or The Book Despository) and the chance to pick a dish to go into book three of the Hot Night series (Amanda will also share the recipe on her website).

Consolation Prizes: 5 random winners will get Amanda’s favorite kitchen tool: a mini offset spatula

 Simply fill out the rafflecopter form provided below for your chance to be entered. J

a Rafflecopter giveaway About Amanda Usen

Amanda Usen knows two things for certain: chocolate cheesecake is good for breakfast, and a hot chef can steal your heart. Her husband stole hers the first day of class at the Culinary Institute of America. She married him after graduation in a lovely French

Quarter restaurant in New Orleans, and they spent a few years enjoying the food and the fun in the Big Easy. Now they live in Western New York with their three children, one hamster, two guinea pigs, a tortoise, and a new-to-them beagle. Amanda spends her days teaching pastry arts classes and her nights writing romance. If she isn’t baking or writing, she can usually be found chasing the kids around the yard with her very own hot chef husband.

Want chimichurri, chocolate cake or Chicken Alighieri? Visit Amanda at http://www.amandausen.com, where you can find recipes for many of the yummy dishes in her books. She can also be found on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/amandausen) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/#!/AmandaUsen) if you want to chat about romance, writing, or recipes.

 

Where to find Amanda

Author Website: http://amandausen.wordpress.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/AmandaUsen

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4732223.Amanda_Usen
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amandausen
Sign-up for Amanda’s Newsletter: http://amandausen.us4.list-manage2.com/subscribe?u=dabfde75a2e90474123400fe9&id=d995e0a667

Currently Reading

It's been awhile since I'd posted a Current read, sorry about that but trust me I have been reading books 

Some are re-reads for reviews some are books that need reviews for its upcoming release. So as you can see I'm pretty busy reading books while I'm still reviewing some other books I've read.

So here's a few that are on my current reads

Into The Fire By Amanda Usen

Jackson Calabrese has a lot of nerve. He beat Lila Grant in the Culinary Academy competition using her recipes. Now, he’s opening a restaurant and wants her help? Fine, she'll fix his menu, but it's going to cost him.

Heir to the Calabrese restaurant empire, Jackson can buy anything he wants, except creativity, so he buys Lila's instead. He can craft perfect paella, but to take New York by storm he needs her innovative spark.

Skillets aren't the only things hot in the kitchen, and an uneasy truce ignites into passion. They’re great in bed, but Jackson doesn't trust her, and Lila is contemplating revenge. The restaurant opening approaches, the menu is completed, and the tables are set for one final act of betrayal. How can love bloom in the midst of such a hot mess?

I'm reading this book for a review and hopefully participate for the blog tour. I finished reading it the other night but now I have to skim through it agian for the review aspect. But I can say I did enjoy this book, do you have a taste for hunger?

Werewolves Be Damned (Magic and Mayhem #1) By Stacey Kennedy

Nexi Jones—part witch, part guardian, and wannabe kick-ass warrior—can’t throw a punch or conjure the simplest magic. But that doesn’t stop her from hunting the werewolves who slaughtered her human family. She’ll have her revenge, but only if Kyden, the elite guardian, would get the hell out of her way.

Kyden can’t decide if Nexi wants to get herself killed or if she just has no clue what she’s doing. But her father made it clear: keep Nexi safe…or else. Of course, the more Nexi runs toward revenge, the more she needs Kyden’s aid, and as she grows into her power and confidence, so does his desire to protect her. The only problem? She’d rather he dropped dead.

But when a vampire paints a bull’s-eye on Nexi’s back, she’s hard-pressed to deny Kyden and the help he’s offering. Even if it means getting her revenge will be a little bit harder. At least it will still be as sweet.

This story was previously published elsewhere under the title The Willow in 2010, and has been revised and expanded for Entangled Publishing.

I got this as a early copy of the book because I participated in the cover reveal, but I haven't had the time to read it. So I've add it to current read since it long overdue. The author been getting many reviews and praise on her WBD and I want to share her my thoughts, my review.

Dare You To (Pushing the Limits #2) By Katie McGarry

Ryan lowers his lips to my ear. "Dance with me, Beth."

"No." I whisper the reply. I hate him and I hate myself for wanting him to touch me again....

"I dare you..."

If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does....

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him.

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all....

 

I've read this book back in April, and now I'm kind of re-reading but I also have to do an Review since it's release date is shortly coming up. Can I remember how this book goes since it been about a month since I've read it? 

 

Oath Bound (Unbound #3) By Rachel Vincent

The Tower Syndicate will fall...

The secret daughter of the head of an infamous Skilled crime family, Sera Brandt has hidden her past, her potential and especially her powers. But when a tragedy strikes her other family, Sera needs justice. And the only way to get it is to reveal her heritage–including a rare Skill–and take the reins of the Tower Syndicate from her cunning and malicious aunt.

If he can figure out how...

Kristopher Daniels might have the answer. He's fought the syndicate to protect his sisters, but he'd never realized just how close to the new heir he needed to get....

And if they can survive

Neither is used to trusting. But there's something between them that can't be ignored. And so Sera is on the run with a man she can't figure out, a target on her back and the new knowledge of just how powerful she really is....

Highly anticipated book to read!!! I went through this book in about three days but now I'm re-reading it again and after that I will be able to write the long waiting review. This is a concluding ending to the Unbound Series so this review has to be good. No Pressure