1--What is the title of your latest release?
RECIPE FOR A CHARMED LIFE
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Recipe for a Charmed Life is feel-good fiction that will appeal to readers who enjoy stories brimming with food, travel, romance, and a touch of magical realism. It’s a great book club or vacation read.
The story revolves around Georgia, an up-and-coming American chef in Paris who, in one disastrous night, loses her sous chef position, her French boyfriend and her sense of taste! When she receives an unexpected invitation from her estranged mother, she flees to a beautiful remote island in the Pacific Northwest to reconnect with her mom and try to regain her spark in the kitchen. While there, Georgia uncovers an astonishing family secret and finds herself falling for the handsome, grumpy oyster farmer in bright orange rubber overalls next door!
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I like to set my book in places I’ve traveled to and genuinely loved. For this story, I set it half in Paris (one of my favorite cities) and the charming town of Friday Harbor on San Juan Island in the Pacific Northwest. Both are gorgeous, atmospheric places and it was a joy to get to “live” there for awhile through the story.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Absolutely! Georgia is feisty, generous, bold and a touch impetuous. She’s like the best friend we all wish we had. A little bit of trouble and a lot of fun!
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Determined. Hot-tempered. Brave.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I got to research oyster farming and visit several ocean-side oyster farms in the Pacific Northwest. My oyster farm field trips were fascinating and very tasty!
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I like to get a solid first draft completely done, then go back and edit and make it prettier. But sometimes I can’t resist starting to edit before the first draft is all the way done! I love the editing stage and really don’t love writing the first draft. I’m always so glad when the first draft is done. Then I get to start the fun part!
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Good quality dark chocolate, preferably with something yummy in it
9--Describe your writing space/office!
I’ve written in all sorts of places around the world during my years of travel and living abroad in Europe. I even wrote part of a novel in a basement storage room sitting next to a hot water heater (so glamorous, I know!) Now for the first time I have a real room of my own in our house, and I write on a daybed surrounded by too many decorative pillows, looking out the window at Puget Sound.
10--Who is an author you admire?
I adore Katherine Center! Her stories are the perfect mix of humor, hope, and emotional intelligence.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
Little Women. It was my favorite book as a teenager, and I found such inspiration and courage in the story of a young author triumphing against long odds and the March family’s love and care for one another.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I was visiting some colleagues in Paris who ran a restaurant, and the only place I could get good internet was in the kitchen of the restaurant. So I had a midnight (local time) conversation with my agent in the dark and closed kitchen of a restaurant in Paris. That’s when I got the good news!
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
I love books that make me feel happy and satisfied at the end, usually in the book club/upmarket fiction category, but if I’m stressed, I love a good clean romcom!
14--What’s your favorite movie?
The Brothers Bloom
15--What is your favorite season?
Spring! It comes early in the Pacific Northwest (the end of February) and lasts through May.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
My birthday is 5 days before Christmas, so I usually celebrate surrounded by festive cheer. My favorite way to celebrate is a gatherings of good girl friends with cocktails and tasty tidbits to eat.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I just finished the last season of Ted Lasso and could not love that show more! I adore the themes of identity, honor, redemption and emotional honesty.
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Truly international. I’ve lived, traveled and cooked in many countries, and I’ve gleaned a recipe or two from each place I’ve been. I love to cook and enjoy traveling the globe at our dinner table – Hungarian chicken paprikash one night, and Korean Bibimbap the next.
19--What do you do when you have free time?
I love being outside in the Pacific Northwest, so I walk around the small island where I live almost daily, kayak as often as I can, and I just started gardening and growing dahlias last year.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
I’m hard at work on book #6 which is set on an olive farm in Italy! I’m really loving this story which has gorgeous settings, tasty food, a touch of magic, family drama, and a second chance romance.
After a day of unrivaled disappointments, a promising young chef finds every bite of food suddenly tastes bitter. To save her career, she travels to the Pacific Northwest to reconnect with her estranged mom, and discovers a family legacy she never suspected in this delicious novel from the bestselling author of The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie.
American chef Georgia May Jackson has one goal—to run her own restaurant in Paris. After a grueling decade working in Parisian kitchens, she is on the cusp of success. But in one disastrous night, Georgia loses her sous-chef position, her French boyfriend, and her sense of taste! Renowned for her refined palate and daring use of bold flavors to create remarkable dishes, Georgia is devastated to discover her culinary gift has simply...vanished.
When she receives a surprising invitation from her estranged mother, Georgia flees to a small island near Seattle hoping the visit will help her regain her spark in the kitchen. As she tentatively reconnects with her mom, a free-spirited hippie eager to make up for her past mistakes, Georgia realizes there is something about the enigmatic island she just cannot piece together. Good luck charms start appearing in the oddest places. Her neighbor is a puzzlingly antagonistic (and annoyingly handsome) oyster farmer. And her mom keeps hinting at a mysterious family legacy.
With the clock ticking and time running out to win her dream job in Paris, Georgia begins to unravel some astonishing secrets that make her wonder if the true recipe for a charmed life might look—and taste—very different than she ever imagined.
Women's Fiction Friendship [Berkley, On Sale: January 9, 2024, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9780593440216 / eISBN: 9780593440223]
Rachel Linden spent her childhood in a magical world of make-believe, enjoying countless hours playing pioneer house under a towering blue spruce tree, mixing potions for enchantments, and pretending to be a member of the French Resistance in WWII. These early adventures prompted her to write stories with such exciting titles as Beans!, which she fashioned into books bound in cardboard from cereal boxes. Rachel’s taste for adventure and her interest in the world led her to a career as an international worker with a faith-based charity, and her experiences living and traveling in forty-seven countries around the globe continue to provide excellent grist for her stories. Rachel holds a BA in Literature from Huntington University, an MA in Intercultural Studies from Wheaton College, and studied creative writing at Oxford University in England during her undergraduate education. She currently splits her time between Seattle, Washington, and Budapest, Hungary, where she lives with her husband and son on the banks of the Danube River. When she is not dreaming up a new story, Rachel spends her time traveling on trains across Central Europe with her family, enjoying good food and wine with friends from around the world, and exploring the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest and the history and architecture of Europe.
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