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Burning Bright
Four Chanukah Love Stories
Megan Hart, KK Hendin,
Stacey Agdern and Jennifer Gracen
Releasing December 1st, 2015
Avon Impulse
This December, take a
break from dreidel spinning, gelt winning, and latke eating to experience the
joy of Chanukah. When you fall in love during the Festival of Lights, the world
burns a whole lot brighter.
It’s
definitely not love at first sight for Amanda and her cute but mysterious new
neighbor, Ben. Can a Chanukah miracle show them that getting off on the wrong
foot doesn’t mean they can’t walk the same road?
Lawyers
in love, Shari Cohen and Evan Sonntag are happy together. But in a moment of
doubt, he pushes her away-then soon realizes he made a huge mistake. To win her
back, it might take something like a Chanukah miracle.
When
impulsive interior designer Molly Baker-Stein barges into Jon Adelman’s
apartment and his life intent on planning the best Chanukah party their
building has ever seen, neither expects that together, they just might discover
a Home for Hannukah.
All
Tamar Jacobs expected from her Israel vacation was time to hang out with one of
her besties and to act like a tourist, cheesy t-shirt and all, in her two
favorite cities. She definitely was not expecting to fall for Avi Levinson, a
handsome soldier who’s more than she ever dreamed.
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Megan Hart is a New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of more than
thirty novels, novellas and short stories. Her work has been published in
almost every genre, including contemporary women’s fiction, historical romance,
paranormal and erotica. Learn more at www.meganhart.com
Jennifer Gracen hails from Long Island, New York, where she lives with her two
young sons. After spending her youth writing in private and singing in public,
she now only sings in her car and has fully embraced her lifelong passion for
writing. She loves to write contemporary romance and romantic women’s fiction
for readers who yearn for better days, authentic characters, and satisfying
endings. When she isn’t taking care of her kids, doing freelance copy
editing/proofreading, reading, or talking to friends on Twitter and Facebook,
Jennifer writes. She’s shocked her family hasn’t yet staged an intervention for
her addiction to social media. But the concerts she gives in her car and the
dance parties she has in her kitchen are rumored to be fabulous.
Stacey Agdern is an award winning former bookseller who has reviewed romance
novels in multiple formats and given talks about various aspects of the romance
genre. She also a romance writer. You can find her on twitter at @nystacey.
She’s a proud member of both LIRW and RWA NYC. She lives in New York, not far
from her favorite hockey team’s practice facility.
KK Hendin writes books where people flirt
awkwardly, make out, dish out a whole lot of sass and ridiculousness, and live
happily ever after. She’s the author of many books, including the TWELVE BEATS
IN A BAR series and the upcoming UNDERCOVER series. She also writes books as K.
Hendin, where people aren’t as nice and Happily Ever After isn’t a guarantee.
KK is currently writing way too many books, and is still waiting for the subway
to run on a regular schedule. When she’s not playing book Tetris in an attempt
to fit everything onto the bookshelves in her tiny NYC apartment, she’s probably
wandering her neighborhood with her camera or drinking yet another cup of
coffee.
Question and Answer Session with the Authors
Chanukah Fun with Megan Hart
Favorite Chanukah Memory or tradition
Definitely the latkes. I like mine with sour cream, although applesauce is more traditional.
Favorite Chanukah Dish/Dessert
Latkes, latkes latkes! However, I don’t have a recipe. I can list the ingredients and tell you what to do, but measurements vary from year to year!
Potatoes
Onions
Garlic
Oil
Salt
Shred the potatoes and onions. Mix with the garlic, to taste. (You can also add salt and pepper) Heat the oil. Fry small patties of potato/onion mix! Enjoy!
Do you have any real life experience with finding love during Chanukah?
I was married before I started celebrating Chanukah, so every year has been full of love!
What was your favorite scene to write for MIRACLE?
I think the first meeting scene is my favorite. It made me giggle. So awkward!
One line that describes your holiday romance.
You’ll never know where the road will take you if you don’t start walking it!
Chanukah Fun with KK Hendin
Favorite Chanukah Memory or tradition:
My favorite memory is from the first year I lived in Israel. I was in school there, and we had the afternoons off that week. A bunch of us wanted to do something fun before lighting the menorah in the evening, but we were all too poor to do anything that really cost money. So we split up into two groups and wrote a ridiculous list of things to do. The goal was to see which group could do more things on the list, with picture evidence to make sure nobody lied. By the end of the afternoon, we had done things like decorate a public bathroom, confuse the heck out of a bunch of soldiers, ask random strangers both silly questions and very serious questions, and hired ourselves to work at people's restaurants. And all for the price of a bus ticket.
My favorite tradition... hmm. Lighting the Chanukah candles every night is really nice, because we do it as a family. Everyone gets together in the living room, and we all light our menorahs together, and sing. And laugh when my dad reminds us not to go near the candles, because when it comes to menorahs, he seems to forget we're all perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves near fire.
Favorite Chanukah Dish/Dessert:
It's traditional to eat both dairy products and fried food on Chanukah, which is the greatest possible combination of foods to eat. One Chanukah night every year we ignore the concept of a balanced meal for dinner and have latkes, homemade french fries, and a bunch of different kinds of cheese. It is a ridiculous overindulgence, and the next day everyone just eats salad as a recovery food. (I eat my latkes with cottage cheese, not applesauce. I don't understand the appeal of latkes and applesauce. I'm sorry.)
(When I called my mother to make sure I got the latke recipe correct, I mentioned eating latkes and cottage cheese. Her response was something along the lines of, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?? WHO EATS LATKES AND COTTAGE CHEESE??". When I reminded her that I have ALWAYS eaten latkes and cottage cheese together, she told me she probably blocked the memory.)
The recipe we use for potato latkes is our potato kugel recipe tweaked.
Potato Latkes (Or Potato Kugel)
5 pounds potatoes
1 large white onion
(You can substitute a zucchini for a few of the potatoes if you want for the potato kugel.)
6 eggs
(1/2 cup oil-for kugel)
1 tablespoon Salt
Pepper
LATKES: In a large mixing bowl, mix together the eggs, salt and pepper. Use a food processor to shred the potatoes and onions, then add to the mixing bowl. Form into patties, and fry them in oil. Serve with applesauce, sour cream, or (to quote my family), if you're irrevocably broken somehow like KK, cottage cheese. Makes a lot of latkes.
POTATO KUGEL: In a large mixing bowl, mix together the eggs, oil, salt and pepper. Cover the bottom of a 9x13 pan in oil and place it an oven set at 450. Use a food processor to shred the potatoes and onions, then add to the mixing bowl. Combine all ingredients together, and the take the mixing bowl directly to the oven, and pour the mixture into the pan without taking the pan out of the oven. Cook for an hour and a half, or until the potato kugel is at the consistency and texture you'd like. Serve hot with anything at all, because potato kugel, and if you have extras somehow, potato kugel is delicious cold with a bit of mustard on top or dipped in humus. Makes one delicious pan of potato-y goodness.
(Alternative, if you're feeling fancy: instead of baking the kugel in a 9 x 13, you can bake it in cupcake tins for fanciness and extra crispy bits. Adjust temperature and cooking time accordingly.)
Do you have any real life experience with finding love during Chanukah?
I think I really and truly fell in love with Israel on Chanukah- I finally was settled in, I knew how to get places without taking the bus, and there were an abundance of cheerful soldiers. It was finally sweater weather, and every person, regardless of religious observance, was excited about Chanukah, and about sufganiyot.
Also, as a New Yorker, getting to go to the beach in December without freezing your face off is pretty cool.
What was your favorite scene to write for ALL I GOT?
Besides the ending? Probably the rain. I've done my share of dance parties in the rain in Israel, and it was so much fun to write one for Avi.
One line that describes your holiday romance.
Sometimes you can meet the love of your life at a bus stop.
Chanukah Fun with Stacey Agdern
Favorite Chanukah Memory, or tradition:
My brother holds a pretty big Chanukah party every year (he calls it Laktepalooza). It’s filled with family and friends, gingerbread houses, music and it’s centerpiece : my brother at the stove frying latkes. I’m not always able to attend, but when I do, it fills my heart with joy, even when it ends up being in March ;)
Favorite Chanukah Dish/Dessert:
Latkes of course J
My family recipe involves applesauce (as a dipping sauce)
-6 potatoes
-3 onions (or one big one )
-2 eggs
-breadcrumbs, matzah meal (or gf alternative) to bind.
-Olive oil
Wash, cut and grate the potatoes (you can use a food processor if you have one ). The goal is thin strips that will crisp up in the oil).
Use a paper towel and get as much water out of the potatoes as possible. Squeeze ;) Then put in a bowl.
Peel and cut the onions, put them in the food processor (or grater). You want them finely chopped. Add them to the potatoes.
Break the eggs into the bowl with the potatoes and the onions. Mix.
Add the breadcrumbs or your substitute into the bowl, just enough to sop up the water that’s being released from the potatoes and the onions.
Oil in the pan; make sure the oil is on the hotter side. Test the oil with a small piece of the potato. When it sizzles, you know it’s ready.
A tablespoon of batter is usually enough. Lower
When the oil sizzles through the latke, it’s time to turn it over.
NB: as long as the latkes are crispy on both sides, you’re good J
Recipe Transcribed from Jane Agdern
Do you have any real life experience with finding love during Chanukah?
The love I find during Chanukah is the love of family and friends; the family who I love, the friends both near and far. All of them make me smile and cry with thoughtful gifts, of memories and of their presence.
What was your favorite scene to write for ‘A Home for Chanukah’?
There’s a scene in ‘A Home for Hanukkah’ that takes places in a big box store. The store has huge displays for each December holiday (and there’s even a nod to one that doesn’t take place in December!). There’s also a big bold wonderful(fictional) Chanukah song playing in the background as my hero and heroine gather the items they came to the store for. I think I cried writing that scene, because it’s symbolic of a world I’d like to see. Where ‘holiday’ means more than one, and at least for a little while, the world is a little brighter and filled with understanding.
One line that describes your holiday romance
3 boroughs, two mensches and one Chanukah romance complete with menorahs, latkes, chocolate and love.
