Books Read & Giveaway: Dana Bate - Too Many Cooks

Kelly Madigan seems to have it all: a fabulous boyfriend, a supportive – if eccentric – family, and a flourishing career as a cookbook ghostwriter. But after finding a letter from her recently-deceased mother, criticising her stable but unexciting life, Kelly knows she needs to make a change. When a mysterious new writing opportunity in London presents itself, she jumps at the chance to get away from it all.

Enter Natasha Spencer – Oscar-winning actress and health nut, not to mention a total nightmare. She’s working on a new cookbook and has asked for Kelly’s help. What Kelly didn’t factor in was meeting Natasha’s dishy MP husband, Hugh Ballantine.

Away from her family, friends, and the life she knows – will this fish out of water ever get back in the swim?

Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback

Books Read: Dana Bate - The Stall of Second Chances

Sydney Strauss is obsessed with food. 

Not just with eating it - though she loves that too - but with writing about it as an aspiring cookery reporter. But food journalism jobs are more coveted than cupcakes, and so Sydney is stuck working for one of TV's biggest egomaniacs - until she's left scrambling for shifts at the local farmers' market. 

Selling muffins at the Wild Yeast Bakery is hardly going to make her the next Nigella. But soon Sydney is writing the market's weekly newsletter, and her quirky stories gain attention from a prominent food columnist. After years of being left on the shelf, she's even dating again. And then Sydney gets a shot at the story, one that could either make her career or burn it to a cinder - along with her relationship and her reputation.

Amazon links: Kindle or Paperback 

Books Read: Dana Bate - The Secret Supper Club

Starter
If twenty-six-year-old Hannah Sugarman had her way, she'd be whipping up carrot cakes and running her culinary empire. Instead, she spends her hours cooking up papers on the financial crisis. It doesn't help that no one in her life takes her passion seriously - not even her boyfriend. 

Main
When her relationship implodes, Hannah decides to jump-start her life by hosting a secret supper club out of her landlord's flat. Her underground operation presents some problems. Running an unlicensed restaurant out of someone's home is not, technically speaking, legal. 

Dessert
As the success of Hannah's supper club grows, so do the number of secrets she is forced to keep. Can Hannah keep her pop-up restaurant underground? When mysterious guests turn up for dinner, can she handle the heat? Or will she have to step out of the kitchen? A charming romantic comedy, The Secret Supper Club is a story about finding yourself, fulfilling your dreams, and falling in love along the way.

Christmas Shorts with... Dana Bate

Today's Christmas Shorts feature post has been written by American author Dana Bate whose debut book The Secret Supper Club has recently been published here in the UK.  Dana has written a short feature about celebrating the Christmas Spirit Without the Christmas Story.
 

I didn’t grow up celebrating Christmas. Well, that isn’t exactly true. I was raised in the Jewish faith, but my mother was raised Catholic, and although she converted to Judaism before she married my father, she had trouble giving up Christmas altogether. So when I was little, we had a tree and baked Christmas cookies and exchanged Christmas gifts, in addition to celebrating the eight nights of Chanukah.

Author Interview: Dana Bate

Happy publication day to Dana Bate who is my guest today to talk about her debut novel The Secret Supper Club.  I'm reading this book at the moment and can highly recommend it, my review will be published shortly.  

Can you tell us a little bit about The Secret Supper Club? 

The story is about a twenty-six year oId woman named Hannah Sugarman who is having a quarter-life crisis.  On paper, she seems to have it all: impressive job, brilliant boyfriend, famous intellectual parents.   But all Hannah cares about is cooking, and no one takes her passion seriously -- not her boyfriend, and not her parents , who want her to become a professor like them.

When her relationship falls apart, Hannah seizes the chance to do what she's always loved  and starts an underground  supper club out of her new landlord's town house -- a secret venture that is both wildly successful and highly problematic, given that it is not, technically speaking, legal.  As the success of her supper club grows, so do the number of secrets Hannah is forced to keep.  Can she keep her underground restaurant a secret?  Or, like everything else in her life, will it end up being a recipe for disaster?