Between our kitchen model and life in general, being able to have time and my mind in the right mental space for writing has been a bit of a challenge in recent months.
Finally, I finished the sweet and wholesome small-town contemporary romance I’d originally hoped to release in July.
Challenging the Chef will release October 19! I’m so thrilled to share this story with you!
I’m fortunate you can’t gain weight by drooling over Pinterest recipes because I sure found a lot of tasty ideas to include in this book. Writing it made me so hungry and eager to get in my kitchen and create something!
The book is about Owen Thorpe, a former celebrity chef who moved to a tiny little Eastern Oregon town to help his uncle during his last days before he passed away. Owen settled into the community of Summer Creek and decided to stay. He inherited his uncle’s dive bar and restaurant, and is working hard to change the reputation of the Broken Bucket to a destination for people who love good food. Owen gets coerced into contributing a week of cooking lessons to an auction package. He has visions of a middle-aged foodie winning the package and driving him nuts.
Tawni Young is a school psychologist. The demands of her job are stressful, so she uses cooking and gardening as her therapy to relax and unwind. When her aunt wins the Summer Creek auction package and gives it to Tawni as a gift, Tawni is shocked to realize the cooking lessons are with a celebrity chef she had a huge crush on in college.
When they meet, nothing is like either of them had expected.
When an interloper arrives in his kitchen, will romance start to simmer?
Chef Owen Thorpe left behind his celebrity status when he moved to Summer Creek. The quaint town and country atmosphere allow him to seek solace in his recipes. His peace and quiet is threatened when he’s coerced into being part of a big auction package that includes the winner spending a week cooking with him in his restaurant. The last thing he wants is some chef wannabe in his way. However, the real danger he faces is losing his heart when the winner turns out to be a beautiful woman who knows her way around a kitchen.
Burdened by the weight of her demanding career as a school psychologist, Tawni Young turns to cooking and gardening to escape from the never-ending stress of her work. When her aunt gifts her an auction package that includes cooking lessons in the small town of Summer Creek, Tawni realizes the chef she’ll be working with is none other than a celebrity she had a huge crush on during her college years. From the moment the two of them meet, an undeniable attraction sizzles while wits collide.
As they embark on a tantalizing journey of culinary delights, will Tawni and Owen discover the most important ingredient is love?
In this heartwarming and deliciously wholesome tale, Challenging the Chef takes readers on a savory adventure filled with sweet romance.
If you could win an experience with a celebrity,
who would you choose and what would the experience be?
Share your answer for a chance to win an autographed copy of
Catching the Cowboy,
the first book in the Summer Creek series.
I’d love the chance to learn photography from someone who has great skill at it, especially for shooting live action (like rodeos). One of my favorites is Matt Cohen.
After spending her formative years on a farm in Eastern Oregon, hopeless romantic Shanna Hatfield turns her rural experiences into sweet historical and contemporary romances filled with sarcasm, humor, and hunky western heroes.
When this USA Today bestselling author isn’t writing or covertly hiding decadent chocolate from the other occupants of her home, Shanna hangs out with her beloved husband, Captain Cavedweller.
Hey Shanna! I’d like to meet you, Shanna! You seem like someone who is down to earth without all the hoopla! I don’t think I’m talented enough to take on writing, but I’ve always dreamed of doing a cover of a book with my art. Back 40 years or more, I told my mother she could write books and I would make the covers. I still love covers of books to this day. You can’t judge a book by its cover, but it should make your first impression to want to read it! And if not you, then Karen Kay! Why? Because I would love to draw one of her hunky Indians! LOL
As you know, I rarely read contemporary, but I have been known to read some! And this one sounds delicious! Best wishes always!
Hi Tracy! You are such a sweetheart. I would love to meet you someday too! And that is so fun about the covers. You have the talent to do them! Thanks for popping in today, my friend!
I would love to meet Duff Goldman or Paul Hollywood. They are so great on the baking challenge shows for different reasons. Duff is openly so funny and encouraging and Paul can be so intimidating but genuine with his praise when baking impresses him. I would love to watch them bake.
I think that would be a great experience. Duff is really fun and funny to watch. It would be cool to watch the two of them in a challenge!
That would be fantastic!
a dude ranch experience with Scott Eastwood!!
Oh, yes, please! That would be an unforgettable experience!
filming with Tom Cruise
Wouldn’t that be a memorable experience! So fun!
The experience would be making a quilt at Missouri Star with Jenny.
That would be amazing! They are so talented – and have a great website!
Hanging out with a favorite author and talking to them about their writing and their life. I have too many to choose just one.
Oh, that’s a great one! I hope you have a chance to do that someday!
I am going with Jeffery Dean Morgan and just spending a day with and maybe going out to dinner.
So fun! You’d have a grand time!
I would love to spend a day hanging out with the Robertson family of Duck Dynasty fame.
I think you’d be entertained the whole time you were with them. They are quite a family!
Exactly who isn’t important but I would choose a baker/pastry chef to experience becoming a better baker or if it’s overwhelming, just watching. Just imagine all the yummy sweets there would be to eat.
Yum, yum, yum! I think it would be awesome to learn some tips and tricks from a pastry chef!
I honestly don’t know! However, I’ve always wanted to learn to play a steel guitar, so a musician who plays steel guitar would be great!!
Oh, that would be a cool thing to learn. May the opportunity arise for you, Trudy!
Celebrities have no appeal for me but I would like for one of the noted chefs in Phoenix to critique my cooking.
Wouldn’t that be a fun experience! Have a beautiful autumn, Joye!
I am too old to want to do anything anymore. My bucket list has even outdated me. Oh well, what’s wrong with just sitting back and reading a good book, or enjoying these beautiful fall days. It has been fabulous lately. this book sounds delightful and I look forward to reading it, Shanna.
Hi Judy! It is such a beautiful time to enjoy changing seasons. Wishing you lovely days with a wonderful books!
Hey, Shanna! I’d love to win a tour of Scotland with my favorite Scot, Gerard Butler. If you’re going to tour a place, you should really have a native for your guide. :).
You absolutely should have a native tour guide! So fun!
I would love to meet you! This book sounds like a great read!
Oh, that would be so fun, Barbara! <3 Thank you!
I’ve already filmed a commercial with Angelo Surmelis (HGTV, TLC, Lifetime, STYLE) in my kitchen for Swiffer, and I did a magazine Christmas shoot with Katie Brown for FAMILY CIRCLE magazine.
I’ve been blessed–anything else would be gravy.
That is so, so cool, Denise! What great experiences you’ve had!
I would like to spend time with an artist who could help me improve on my painting skills. Don’t know a name off hand but there are a lot of them featured in Cowboys and Indians magazine with their art of horses and all things Western which is an interest of mine.
Aren’t there some amazing artists featured in the magazine! What a fun thing to have an artist give you tips. Wouldn’t that be awesome to do that!
I would’ve to spend a day with Basil Rathbone and talk about his work. I got to meet him when I was young because he was friends with a couple my family knew. He was very nice and answered my questions, but how I wish I could talk with him again.
That is such a fun choice! So neat you got to meet him when you were younger.
I’d like to meet Mike Huckabee, attend his show and have dinner with him and his staff. Thanks for the chance to win a prize.
That would be such an interesting experience, Vickie! Happy autumn to you!
Learn to play the violin… Lindsey Stirling is amazing!
That would be fantastic to spend time with her!
I’d like to meet Sam Elliot and be in one of his scenes of a cowboy movie
That would be an experience of a lifetime! Happy autumn, Rhonda!
Bobby Flay because he is fun and I know he can teach me how to grill specialty items.
Wouldn’t that be fun to learn from Bobby. I bet he has so many tips and trick to share!
I would like to smoke one with Willie Nelson!
He seems like a character!
I would like to met the actors from the Chosen and learn from them about meeting Jesus face to face.
That would be such a memorable experience! Thanks for stopping in today!
I’d love to take dancing lessons from a professional. I think that could be fun.
That would be so fun! Happy autumn to you!
I would love e to spend some time with Reba and attend one of her concerts. I have loved her for many years. I’ve bought her CDs and I purchase all the seasons of her TV show ‘Reba’. Even my boys when they were little had a little crush on her.
She seems like someone who would be fun to know. So neat you are a big fan!
I would love to have afternoon tea with Sir David Attenborough. The stories he could tell and the passion he has for
animals and saving the natural world in my mind are spell binding.
That would be a marvelous afternoon, listening to his stories and learning from him. Happy autumn to you!
I would love to spend some time with the cast of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman! It would be so fun! Especially would be awesome to meet them on the set of where it was filmed. Sadly it was destroyed in a wildfire. It would still be fun to meet the cast. I have never met any celebrity in person. I’m not sure how I would react. Lol!!
I loved that show! It would be fun to meet them all. I bet the day would be full of laughter and joy! Happy Autumn!
Tough choice! If Roy Rogers was still alive I would have had to choose him. I would have liked to experience filming a horse chase movie scene with him. If I had to pick someone who is still alive I would have to choose, Amberley Snyder. I would like to experience one of her horsemanship clinics.
Those are both fabulous choices. I think seeing how those old horse chase scenes were made would be so fascinating! Thanks for stopping in today!
I would love to go golfing with Tiger Woods.
That would be a very memorable day! Happy Autumn!
I would love to spend time with Amber Marshall and ride horses with her all day!!
Wouldn’t that be something! She is amazing!
I dabbled in photography in my youth but never had any training. It would have been nice to have some guidance on camera settings, etc. I went from never using a camera to having one that needed multiple settings. Framing came naturally but it took lots of tries to figure out the settings. Todays cameras are more forgiving with auto settings and digital pictures. I went through a lot of film and never knew how things would turn out until weeks later. I really don’t know of a specific photographer I would like to work with.
That’s so neat you’ve dabbled in photography, Patricia. I bet you’ve taken some beautiful shots! I think time with a professional photographer would be so amazing!
I would love to work with a celebrity like Rae Drummond to make simple meals.
Wouldn’t she be a hoot to meet! I think time spent with her would be both tasty and fun!
I’d like to go back in time and meet President Harry Truman.
That is a fabulous choice, Rachel. He was such an interesting person. Thanks for stopping on today!
I would like to meet some of the Authors that I have read their books That would be something that would be fun to me!
It would be fun! Thank you for stopping in today, Sarah! Happy autumn to you!
I would like to spend a day with an author. It would be fun to see how you work out plot twists and story lines. I have so many that I look up to that I cannot pick who. Thank you for sharing. God bless you.
I hope one day that wish comes true for you, Debra. Autumn blessings to you!
Cooking with Ree Drummond
She would be so fun to meet and you’d likely leave with so many fun kitchen tips!
I’d love to meet some of my favorite authors, such as (but not limited to) Jennifer Moore, Laura Beers, Clarissa Kay, and Jennie Goutet! I’d love to see how they handle life on a super busy day.
That would be great fun!
I’d like Erin Krakow and spend the day on the set of When calls the heart, love that show 🙂
Oh, wouldn’t that be fun! I’d be checking out all the costumes!
I would love to meet either Derek Hough, and have him teach me to dance, or Scott McGillivray and have him redesign inside our home.
Either Derek or Scott would be so fun to meet!