Upcoming Release and a Recipe.

 

Hello everyone, Winnie Griggs here.

My upcoming release, Talulla, is part of the Love Train series. Pam and Shanna have already spoken of it in their posts but just as a reminder all the books in the series feature a hero and heroine who are traveling on board a Union Pacific train and get together with the help of a matchmaking conductor.

In my book, Tally and Max are the heroine and hero. They were childhood friends but a tragic accident that resulted in the death of Tally’s brother drove them apart. Tally convinces her father to send her away to boarding school halfway across the country and she’s never looked back.

Twelve years later Tally’s father convinces her to come home to fetch some pearls she’s inherited.  Max, now a widowed father traveling with his seven year old daughter, coincidentally (or is it??) is on the same train. Thanks to the conductor, Max and Tally end up in the same Pullman section.

Almost the entirety of the first half of the book takes place on the train, and Max and Tally are in close proximity for the two and a half day trip which forces them to interact. BUT Max’s daughter is with them which means they have very little opportunity to get to the heart of their conflict and their building attraction.

So when I finally got them to their destination I had to come up with at least one  scene where a reluctant heroine and my single father hero would find themselves alone together for several hours. I finally settled on a berry picking outing.

Which led me to do some research. I know all about the berries that grow wild here in north Louisiana, but I had no idea what grows in Wyoming. My research quickly led me to the boysenberry, which is apparently similar to the blackberries that grow around here. That scene turned out to be not only one of my favorite in the book, but story-wise it proved to be quite fruitful, on several fronts.  🙂

Anyway, while I was looking at info on the boysenberry I found quite a few online recipes, some of which looked quite yummy.  And reading through some of them made me think about my recipe for blackberry cobbler, a recipe I thought I’d share with you.  This is one I got from a friend many, many years ago and then tailored a bit over the years for my own taste.  Hope you enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup salted butter, melted
• An additional 2 tablespoons salted butter, melted
• 1 cup self-rising flour
• 1-3/4 cups sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups fresh or frozen unsweetened blackberries
• 1 cup fresh or frozen unsweetened sliced strawberries

 

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350°.
• Pour 1/2 cup melted butter into an 8-in. square baking dish and make sure the bottom is evenly covered.
• Combine the flour, 1 cup sugar, milk and vanilla in a separate bowl until well mixed then add to butter in baking pan.
• Combine the berries, the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar and the remaining 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Toss until it is well mixed. Spoon berry mixture over the batter in the baking dish.
• Bake approximately 45-50 minutes, until the topping is a golden brown and the fruit is tender. (The berries will sink beneath the batter as it cooks)
• Serve warm. Delicious topped with whipped cream or ice cream.

TALULLA

Will returning home bring Talulla the peace that’s eluded her for half her life?

Ten-year-old Talulla watched in horror as her beloved older brother fell through the ice while trying to save her. Thanks to the quick actions of Max, her brother’s closest friend, she survived. Her brother didn’t. When she overhears Max tell her father that she’s to blame, Talulla feels betrayed by the two people she thought she could most trust.

Unable to bear their disappointment, she begs to be sent to a boarding school halfway across the country, and in twelve years she’s never looked back. Until now.

Widowed father Max is traveling home with his seven-year-old daughter. Unfortunately, a bad case of travel sickness overtakes the little girl, and Max turns to the conductor for help. When the man finds a passenger willing to share her Pullman section, Max is relieved until he discovers his daughter’s benefactor is Talulla, a woman who abandoned her own father and whose last words to Max were an impassioned I hate you.

Can these two find a way to push past their mutual distrust to regain the friendship they once shared? And perhaps something more…

 

Pre-order HERE