The Chef and the Ghost of
Bartholomew Addison Jenkins
by Aletta Thorne
Genre: paranormal romance,
mainstream romance, holiday
Publisher: Evernight Publishing
Date of Publication: October 26, 2017
ASIN: B076WJK63L
Number of pages: 158
Word Count: 51,000
Cover Artist: Jay Aheer
Tagline: What happens if you have a one-nighter—with a ghost?
Book Description:
Autumn, 1982. MTV is new, poodle perms are the rage, and life just might be getting better for Alma Kobel. Her ugly divorce is final at last. Her new job as chef at Bright Day School’s gorgeous old estate is actually fun. But the place is haunted—and so is Alma’s apartment. Bartholomew Addison Jenkins’ ghost has been invisibly watching her for months.
When he materializes one night, Alma discovers Bart—as he likes to be called—has talents she couldn’t have imagined…and a horrifying past. What happens if you have a one-nighter with a ghost? And what happens if one night is all you want—and you end up ghosting him?
Some spirits don’t like taking “no” for an answer.
Excerpt:
A ghost. Of
course he was a ghost—even though before that night, she’d never felt anything
spooky at her place in the almost-year she’d lived in it. Alma still had the
plate with the omelet on it in one hand. Ghosts didn’t eat, did they? She held
it out to him anyway.
“Go ahead and
have your supper,” he said. “I don’t need food. I take it you understand why.”
Alma nodded, not
sure what to say. For a ghost, the man looked rather … dashing, she decided was
the world. He must have been muscular in life. There were nicely rounded biceps
under that loose shirt, and they showed when he moved his arms. His knee knickers fit tightly over a flat
belly, and his stockings made his calves look like they were made out of
smooth, white marble. His eyes were a startling, luminous golden brown.
“Sadly, we are
still perfectly able to smell a good meal cooking.”
“We?” Alma said.
The man nodded.
“Your dead,” he said, solemnly.
“My dead?” she
said.
“Well, you live
here, don’t you? So, I’m your dead, now.” He stopped looking so serious then
and as if guys in knee knickers and white stockings were born doing it, he
opened her refrigerator and pulled out the bottle of Chablis. “Here, give me
your glass,” he said, and topped it off. The glow from the refrigerator’s light
made him even more luminous—and just the slightest bit translucent.
“Thanks,” she
said, although it was her wine. She put her plate and glass down on a little
enamel-topped kitchen table she’d bought at a local church thrift shop and
pulled out one of the table’s funky old chairs for herself.
“Fork? Napkin?”
he said, pulling those things out of the drawers next to Alma’s stove. Alma
used cloth napkins from the restaurant supplier—big white ones.
“You know where
my things are,” she said, spreading the napkin across her lap.
“That shouldn’t
surprise you,” he said. “Eat your omelet while it’s hot. Go ahead.”
Alma took a
bite. “Um, the pepper grinder on the stove?” she said. “Could you, please?”
“My lady.” He
smiled and handed it to her with a little bow.
She ground a little pepper over her plate and
took another bite and sipped her wine. He sat down across from her, put his
elbows on the table, and his chin in his hands.
“I enjoy
watching you eat.”
“Okay, I guess.
It’s not … weird?”
“No.”
A ghost is watching me eat an omelet. “What’s
your name?”
“Bartholomew
Addison Jenkins,” he said. “These days, I just use Bart.”
“These days. But
you’ve been here since you…”
“Since 1784,” he
said.
“Which was when
you died, I guess.”
“I must tell
you, dear lady, saying that to one of us is considered rude. In better ghostly
circles, that is. Some of us are not aware we are dead. Some of us do not like
to be reminded of it.”
What Makes This Book Special
Asking an
author about what makes her new book special is a little like asking a mom
what’s so great about her kids: obviously, hers are the best kids ever! Maybe a little trying at times, but anyone can
see how totally superlative they are in every way!
Problem is,
you haven’t read The Chef and the Ghost
of Bartholomew Addison Jenkins yet, so I’d better be a little less glib and
a little more specific. Here are three
things about this book that I’m really proud of: the characters, the plot
twists, and the fact that it’s very funny in places, even silly.
Could I
address silly first? I think if you’re
telling the truth about life (and good romance does that better than any other
genre I can think of), you have to deal with silly. Life can go from being terrifying to
giggly-silly in half a heartbeat--and some terrifying things happen in The Chef and The Ghost of Bartholomew
Addison Jenkins. But there is also a LOT of silly! The book is set in 1982, and The Chef is Alma
Kobel, a young woman just emerging from a nasty divorce with a promising food
career…and a haunted apartment. She’s
lonely—and so is Bartholomew Addison Jenkins, who materializes in her place one
autumn night. He’s pretty cute for an 18th
century dead guy—and eager to educate Alma about some delightful and surprising
talents ghosts no one would expect a ghost to have.
So what
DOES happen if you have a one-nighter with a ghost? Alma’s about to find out—and it’s both
terrifying and ridiculous. And pretty
steamy in places! The plot in this book
is a wild, wild ride.
Alma’s
character was very fun to write. I was a
chef myself in the 80’s, and like Alma, I worked in a fancy private school kitchen,
and did some restaurant work. I remember
the pirate ship scene the culinary world was then, and it was great fun
reliving it. Alma, like me, went to
college for serious English literature—but discovered that the real world
needed someone with a real world skill.
She’s gutsy, but not as tough as she thinks she is. And the happy ending she gets in the book’s
close is hard-won with laughter, tears, a loaf of whole wheat bread over the
head, and a totally illegal steel wool pot scrubber stuffed down the bra! (It’s
a long story…)
The Ghost
of Bartholomew—or Bart as he likes to be known—was also a blast to write. I can’t go into too much detail about him
here without spoilers, but I’ll note his nice legs, his wit and the fact that
he is proud of the fact that he’s kept up with trends over the past two hundred
years. Also: great kisser. Really great kisser. Bart’s best ghost friend
Geoff is maybe my favorite character in the book: a trickster with a bigger
heart than he lets on. (Did I mention
how much I loved the old “Topper” TV show when I was little?)
So, if you
want a delicious ghost story that will make you laugh while it hollers “Boo!”
check out The Chef and the Ghost of
Bartholomew Addison Jenkins. I’ll bet you’ve never read anything quite like
it. I’ll leave you with one last piece
of advice: if you ever do chat with a ghost, especially a cute one, don’t
remind him he’s dead. Among the deceased, that’s considered to be very rude—and
as Alma learns, you don’t want to be
rude to the ghosts!
About the Author:
Aletta Thorne believes in ghosts. In her non-writing life, she is a choral singer, a poet, a sometimes DJ, and a writer about things non-supernatural. But she’s happiest in front of a glowing screen, giving voice to whoever it is that got her two cats all riled up at three AM. Yes, her house is the oldest one on her street. And of course, it’s quite seriously haunted (scared the ghost investigator who came to check it out). She is named after a little girl in her family who died in the late nineteenth century, at the age of two. The Chef and the Ghost of Bartholomew Addison Jenkins is her first romance.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alettasghosts/
And personal: https://www.facebook.com/aletta.thorne.3
2 comments:
Thanks for the exposure. Great blog!
You're very welcome! And thank you! Delighted to have you!
Post a Comment