Rebecca Hamilton Guest Post + Her Sweetest Downfall Giveaway

Please welcome today's paranormal guest author Rebecca Hamilton.  Rebecca is the author of Her Sweetest Downfall.

Keep reading for a chance to win an ebook copy of Her Sweetest Downfall by Rebecca Hamilton.

Food in Fiction

I love food. It probably shows in my writing, too, as many people who read my books tell me certain scenes made them hungry, or that I must be an amazing cook (I’m not. I’m awful. I’m an amazing eater, though!) I try to keep the foods my characters eat appropriate them, though. For example, in one book I am working on (or rather, is sitting in my drawer waiting for me to return to…) my character is big into baking and comfort food. One of the most memorable scenes in the book, so I’m told by my beta readers, is toward the beginning, when she is baking a rhubarb pie.  Have you ever HAD rhubarb pie? Oh, you need to.

Oddly, my recent work in progress (Book 2 of the Forever Girl Series: Come, the Dark) doesn’t have my usual “food” touches. I blame pregnancy. I’m too busy eating food to think about it. But still, there are a few mentions. Fruit and bread, mostly, the occasional stew. What is it about food that I can’t seem to leave it out of my books?

I think food is one of those things everyone can relate to. You might not like the same foods as a character, but you can relate to liking foods and needing food to survive. Surely many people have even bonded over a shared favorite dish. It’s only human for characters to eat . . . though I guess it really depends what they are eating.

Years ago (I think I was 16, so I guess I should say over a decade ago…) I would visit my friend at work. She worked at Wendy’s at the time. She used to make these double fried crispy chicken sandwiches with cheese, which I still eat to this day, and I still think of her every time I eat one. Well, one day while I was visiting her, I noticed an elderly couple on the other side of the restaurant both eating burgers. The man took the onion off his burger and gave it to his wife (leaving her with extra onion) and the woman gave the man her tomato (leaving him with extra tomato) and I remember thinking right then, that’s what love is.

Sounds silly, right? How could love be onions and tomatoes? Or food at all for that matter. But it was about more than food. It was about how opposites attract and about how liking different things can sometimes work out in everyone’s best interest. It was about being different parts of the same puzzle, and how a puzzle can’t make a picture if all the shapes are the same.

So I think food in books is like that, too. Food is a part of life for all of us and at the same time, unique to all of us. I always read social media advice articles saying, “Stop tweeting about what you had for lunch. No one cares,” when actually, the opposite is true. People like talking about food, and food brings people together.

Some of my favorite foods are tacos and pie. What about you?

Her Sweetest Downfall by Rebecca Hamilton.

Ophelia’s been successful at hiding her true identity, until the mark of the serpent appears on her neck—a death sentence, should it be seen by anyone in her town. Hiding the mark might save her from falling victim to the witch hunts of her era, but the scorching sensation it carries can’t be ignored.

When the mysterious Ethan is sent to collect her for a life of something more, she learns concealing the mark is the least of her worries. She’s destined to don a new mask—to join a dark, supernatural world and protect the future of people she may never meet.

What she doesn’t know—what she learns too late—is that her initiation won’t be complete until she kills the man she loves.

Set in an alternate Regency England, Her Sweetest Downfall is a standalone novella in the Forever Girl series, written as a gift to fans of the Forever Girl series.


Thank you Rebecca for joining us here today at From the Shadows!

To learn more about Rebecca Hamilton and her books, please visit her website.

**Her Sweetest Downfall Giveaway**

We are giving away one ebook copy of Her Sweetest Downfall by Rebecca Hamilton.

To enter, leave a comment on this post.  Please include your email address so we may contact you if you win.  This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL.  Giveaway ends March 29, 2013 midnight EST.