Hi guys, we have Pat Henshaw stopping by with her latest release When Adam Fell, we have a short interview with Pat, a great excerpt, a fantastic giveaway and Prime’s review, so enjoy the post and click that giveaway link <3 ~Pixie~

When Adam Fell

(Foothills Pride 04)

Pat Henshaw

When his lover Jason’s drug addiction spiraled out of control, TV celebrity chef and cookbook author Adam de Leon walked away from him. Adam also abandoned his renowned restaurant in San Francisco to start a small bistro in the Sierra Foothills.

Five years later Adam is battling the conservative leaders of Stone Acres, California, to open a new restaurant in historic Old Town when Jason turns up on his doorstep—a recovered Jason, now going by the name David and claiming he’s overcome his addictions. What’s more, he begs Adam to take him back and says he’s ready for their happily ever after.

Adam has enough on his plate with problems plaguing the opening of his restaurant. And now he’s having a hard time deciding which to follow—his head or his heart.

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Interview

Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing Pat Henshaw author of When Adam Fell.

Hi, Pat, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.

I’m a product of a Midwestern U. S. upbringing and a world-lust adulthood. With my husband and children, I’ve lived on both coasts and have absorbed the differences and similarities of thoughts in each. I’ve also traveled quite a bit, visiting places like Nicaragua, Thailand, and Egypt as well as England and continental Europe. All of these experiences and the people I’ve met filter into my stories and spill into how I see people.

In “When Adam Fell,” celebrity chef and cookbook author Adam de Leon, whom readers met in the first Foothills Pride story, “What’s in a Name?,” is surprised when the former love of his life returns after drug rehab and wants to resume their relationship. Can Adam believe that his lover, whom Adam left in San Francisco, has kicked his habit? While his head is unsure, Adam’s body and heart are ready to jump in and give the man a second chance.

Do you pay attention to literary criticism? If so, how do you handle it?

Yes. In fact, When Adam Fell is directly a product of a review I had. When my first Foothills Pride novella (What’s in a Name?) came out, the reviewer said that he’d like to know what Adam’s story was. At the time, I wasn’t planning on writing a book about Adam, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized Adam had a story worth telling. I take from every review what’s positive and try to discard what’s negative.

How do you come up with your titles?

Sometimes they just come to me without fuss or fanfare—like When Adam Fell, which fit the story perfectly for me. Some are like pulling teeth. I have to yank and pull and agonize—like the title for Foothills Pride #5, which has three possible titles. How am I going to decide which one is it? I don’t really know!

What new authors have grasped your interest?

I’m really enjoying two new authors: Roan Parrish and Santino Hassell. Both have introduced me to contemporary settings I didn’t even know existed.

What was the hardest part about writing this book?

I do a lot of research while writing each book. For this one, I not only found out how to set up a restaurant, including business codes in California to menu planning, but I also looked for and found a number of ways in which addicts have kicked their habits. Deciding which pieces of my research to use and which to lose has been the hardest part in writing each of the books.

Name your four most important food groups.

Iced tea, chocolate, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, and fruit, particularly berries.

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Excerpt

I watched Jason rise from the stoop.

He looked good. His golden hair sparkled in the day’s first light. A happy smile tinged with nervousness spread across his lips. He was wearing a silver-gray Bogner jacket, some sort of expensive pants, and sturdy boots. Hanging from his shirt collar, his sunglasses looked like those high-priced titanium ones. All in all, the guy standing in front of me could easily have fit into the young, hip app crowd now flooding the valley. Too much money and no idea where to spend it. He looked like a guy who’d eat at the Bistro and then fucking strut up to me after dinner, put a wad of Franklins in my pocket, and whisper, “Quit this job and come cook for me.”

Nothing tempted me, especially not the hundred-dollar bills I’d thought were Monopoly money the first time I’d seen them. Nothing had moved me like this, seeing Jason rise straight up in front of me like a fucking miracle.

Standing there in my scuffed clogs, beat-up jeans, and ratty Stanford Cardinal T-shirt, I felt underdressed for this particular dream. Shouldn’t I at least be wearing my chef’s regalia, toque and all? Shouldn’t I have a Henckel in one hand and a Wüsthof in the other? Or maybe clutching a shield made of my cooking classics, which I’d written with an angry, tormented mind but a clear eye to royalties?

“Cat got your tongue?” the vision asked.

“Fucking A, man. Is it really you, Jason?”

“Sorta. Who else would come knocking at your door looking like me?” He flung his arms out like he wanted me to hug him or some shit.

I backed away and kept my hands to myself, though my dick perked up immediately. Did Jason have a twin or a younger brother, somebody who resembled him? I didn’t think so. All I’d thought for five years was nobody—and I mean nobody—could ever have come back from where my Jason had buried himself. At least I never thought so.

There’ve been moments in my life when I was sure I was losing my mind. When I knew whatever tenuous grasp on reality I thought I had was really smoke up my ass. This moment smacked of those. As the legendary John Fogerty sang and the great Yogi Berra is supposed to have said, it was like déjà vu all over again. Only not.

“What the hell are you doing here?” I asked. Suspicion tasted bitter on my tongue.

Slowly his arms came down, and he gave me a pained but understanding look.

“Yeah, well, it was too much to hope we’d just kiss and make up.” His husky croak had once made me roll over and do anything he asked, but not now. “Can I come in? It’s a little chilly out here.”

I wasn’t cold, but then I’m tall and stout, a real cliché chef image. Fuck, I guess somebody’s got to be the cliché, right? It’s how clichés are born.

I shrugged at his question, swiped at the sweat rolling from my forehead, and moved aside. “Kitchen’s downstairs.” I gestured to the steps.

He walked past me, letting his hand trail over my groin. Once I would have nearly come at the gesture. Now I ignored my dick because my mind was numb and had been for years. He might think he could reawaken my love and lust, but I was pretty fucking sure that ship had sailed and gotten lost at sea.

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About Pat

Pat Henshaw, author of the Foothills Pride series, was born in Nebraska but promptly left the cold and snow after college, living at various times in Texas, Colorado, Northern Virginia, and Northern California. Pat has visited Mexico, Canada, Europe, Nicaragua, Thailand, and Egypt, and regularly travels to Rome, Italy, and Eugene, Oregon, to see family.

Now retired, Pat has taught English composition at the junior college level; written book reviews for newspapers, magazines, and websites; helped students find information as a librarian; and promoted PBS television programs.

Pat has raised two incredible daughters who daily amaze everyone with their power and compassion. Pat’s supported by a husband who keeps her grounded in reality when she threatens to drift away writing fiction.

Where to find the author:

Giveaway!

Win one of three $10 Starbucks Gift Cards!

(Just click the link below)

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(Ends 16th March 2016)

Review

Title: When Adam Fell

Series: Foothills Pride 04

Author: Pat Henshaw

Genre: Contemporary

Length: 92 pages

ISBN: 978-1-63476-970-9

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (24 Feb 2016)

Heat Level: Moderate

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥ 4 Hearts

Reviewer: Prime

Blurb: When his lover Jason’s drug addiction spiraled out of control, TV celebrity chef and cookbook author Adam de Leon walked away from him. Adam also abandoned his renowned restaurant in San Francisco to start a small bistro in the Sierra Foothills.

Adam has enough on his plate with problems plaguing the opening of his restaurant. And now he’s having a hard time deciding which to follow—his head or his heart.

Product Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=7452

Review: I simply love returning to Pat Henshaw’s world of the Foothills Pride series, where a community in Sierra Foothills near San Francisco is the location for a small group of gay men to settle and call home.

This story we get to know more about Adam – he was once a famous TV chef with fancy San Francisco restaurants and cook books – he had also been a local boy and had moved back to Stone Acres when things turned to shit in San Francisco. Adam had been both lover and best friend to Jason when the two set out to make their fortunes in San Francisco. But San Francisco seemed to have swallowed Jason whole in a world of drugs and sex.

Adam has been in the series since the start in What’s In a Name? – a real funny and quirky book for those who have not read it yet. We pick up the story of Adam and Jason when a clean and sober Jason (now David, which is his middle name) goes to Adam’s restaurant to talk. The guys still great chemistry together despite the years, heartache and trauma that had initially led to them losing each other.

I love that David (Jason) is not bitter at Adam or has any abandonment issues. David has no illusions to what he was. It seems that abandonment was exactly what he needed to get clean.

This is a story about rediscovery and lost love. It is totally sweet. The only thing that I would have liked to have know more about was a bit more of an injection of emotion when it came to their shared past, I think that would have made their future all the more sweeter.

If you’ve been reading the Foothills Pride series this is another satisfying instalment. If you’ve not read the books, while this reads well as a standalone, I think it would be nice to go back and read the first three – if not for anything else you get to read about other charming characters such as Fredi, Max, Jimmy and Guy. Although Abe and Jeff from book 3 do not make an appearance there is a brief mention of them.