Dear Reader,
Shelley Shepard Gray is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of numerous romantic fiction series and mystery novels, including the Seasons of Sugarcreek series, the Sisters of the Heart series, the Families of Honor series, and others. She is the recipient of the RT Book Reviews Reviewers' Choice Award. She has written more than eighty novels, translated into multiple languages. Her new book Edgewater Road, is book one in her new series, Rumors in Ross County. You'll find more info at: shelleyshepardgray.com.
Enter the drawing for one of five copies Shelley is giving away to book club readers. Email: shelleygsbooks@gmail.com
Someone asked me the other day if I had a random talent that I was especially proud about. Don't you hate questions like that? I always get a deer-in-the-headlights look when someone asks me something off topic, especially when I'm just planning to talk about work or kids
or the weather.
Anyway, caught off guard, I answered with the first thing that came to mind. I said that I can make really good buttermilk biscuits. My answer went over as well as one of those proverbial lead balloons.
I don't blame the gal for looking confused. We recently moved to a little town outside of Cleveland. Buttermilk biscuits aren't exactly a 'thing' here--and neither is buttermilk. If the conversation ever does veer towards breakfast foods, more than likely most people describe their hunts for really good New York style bagels.
However, after that second's delay, the gal smiled and asked me how my biscuit talent came to be.
Next thing I knew, I was telling her about Sunday mornings in Texas and watching my father use the top of a juice glass to make perfect circles in dough. I remembered him never using a rolling pin and how his hands would always become a floury mess. How he created something really special with just a bunch of self-rising flour, Crisco, and a jug of whole milk.
I also shared that while the biscuits were baking, Dad would make sausage gravy. Within minutes, the whole house would smell like sausage and grease and flour and goodness. It smelled like home.
He passed away when I was still in my twenties--years before I convinced my Clevelander husband that biscuits were really a whole lot better than bagels for breakfast. Eventually, I decided I needed to figure out how to make perfect biscuits, too.
In case you're curious, my latest 'go to' recipe is on the back of a baking powder can. It's written really small--you'll likely need to find a pair of readers to see those tiny numbers. My hint is to go out and get a pint of buttermilk for them (it's worth the effort), don't use a rolling pin, and keep the dough thick. When it's time to cut them out, the top of any glass will do.
All things told, my special talent really isn't all that special, but the memories of how it came to be are. In the end, that's what really matters the most, don't you think?
--Shelley Shepard Gray
Enter the drawing for one of five copies Shelley is giving away to book club readers. Email: shelleygsbooks@gmail.com
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.
THE WAR OF TWO QUEENS (FICTION) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
I cannot believe my new title is finally here. I had this book in my head long before I even finished book one. It was definitely an amazing feeling finally seeing some of what I'd always planned come together. Poppy was the Maiden--the Chosen. A bargaining tool. A friend and then a lover. A wife. The Queen. A god. And now, you will see her become something very, very different.
Enter to win one of five copies, click on Authorbuzz and the book jacket to enter.
Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader click on THE WAR OF TWO QUEENS to read more and to email author Jennifer L. Armentrout, you'll get a reply.
KIDSBUZZ: Click here to discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win.
This month's Penguin Classics book is The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway. I have a copy of the book to share with a lucky reader, so start reading and enter for your chance to win.
Comments