Sugar Rush by Rachel Astor (Interview)

Lexi: I say Halloween, you say _______. Naughty readers, I was thinking candy. Speaking of candy, Rachel Astor’s new book features a woman who runs a sweet shop. Let’s welcome Rachel and see if she has a sweet tooth!

Candy Land Confections is the shop in Sugar Rush. Did you HAVE to go do a lot of research and check out various candy shops? And did you find any new favorites?

Rachel: I did do a lot of research and it certainly wasn’t torture given the subject matter. Sadly though, most of my research was done online and inside the pages of cookbooks. :o( We don’t have a lot of selection in the small city I live in to really get into the spirit of hands on chocolate research. 

Lexi: I love how you describe your hero, “sexy smirk and chocolate brown eyes”. Appropriate for the book. Are you a sucker for brown eyes?

Rachel: I do love brown eyes, there is something really pure about them, but I have to say I’m not exclusively attached to brown eyes. My husband’s are a deep, dark blue. :o)

Lexi: A pair of brown eyes is the reason for one younger me embarrassing story. I will share mine if you share yours...in particular the embarrassing moment that is hidden somewhere in Sugar Rush?

Rachel: Ah, I’m afraid I don’t have an embarrassing story of my own hidden inside Sugar Rush, those are hiding inside my McMaster the Disaster series where my main character Josie is, let’s just say, a bit on the clumsy side. Those stories I’ll be going to my grave with. :o)

Lexi: Lips are sealed huh? Maybe the sugar has glued them closed. Or you just have an iron will. How about getting you to talk about your next project or Halloween plans?

Rachel: I have a few things on my writing scope at the moment. Oddly enough, I’m currently working with my agent on polishing a middle grade novel fittingly set in a spooky abandoned mansion, but I’m also in the middle of plotting a new romance with a bit of mystery, which will take center stage soon.

My Halloween plans consist of making costumes for the kids – not for the faint of heart!

Lexi: I am prepping for Halloween by working my way through a bag of Reese’s Peanut Butter cups, regular sized because size matters. And it has given me a Sugar Rush! Want your own Sugar Rush? Check out Rachel’s new book, Sugar Rush.

Thanks for stopping by Rachel! Good luck with your Sugar Rush!

Rachel: Thanks so much for having me! 

Sugar Rush
by Rachel Astor 
ebook, 265 pages
Published August 25th 2012 by Bliss
ISBN13 9781622669691

There’s nothing quite like your first bite.
Dulcie Carter has been running her family’s homemade sweet shop, Candy Land Confections, on her own since her mom passed away. But business is slow and rent is high, so Dulcie knows if she wants to keep her mom’s dream alive, she’ll need a miracle. Winning the annual Assembly of Chocolatiers competition will change everything, if only she can overcome her fears and bring herself to create something new for the first time in a long time.
Then she meets Nick, a molten-hot guy with a sexy smirk and chocolate brown eyes. The attraction is stronger than any sugar rush—until she discovers he’s set to inherit his family’s big-box candy shop in town, which is her strongest competitor for first prize. Nick’s got his own reasons for needing the win, but then being around Dulcie is proving addictive.
As the competition heats up, so do the sparks between them. Can they keep their sights on winning, when love might be the sweetest prize of all?

Goodreads
Purchase at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

Rachel grew up on a little farm outside a tiny town in the middle of the wide open Canadian prairie, which is good, since when she travels, she gets a little claustrophobic when there’s too much landscape looming over her. She lived with her parents and three sisters; an older, a younger, and a twin, in a house with only one bathroom.
She still lives on the prairie, but now it’s with her husband and two stepsons (and thankfully, two bathrooms), and has constant girl stuff withdrawal.
Rachel has had a lot of jobs, but none quite as interesting as when she waitressed at a bar named after a dog.
She writes light, fun books that she hopes put smiles on reader’s faces.
P.S. A little tidbit about the McMaster the Disaster trilogy: at least one of the embarrassing moments of each book in the trilogy are inspired by her own personal moments which have found new life on the pages of Josie’s journal. She will go to her grave before admitting which ones. 

http://rachelastor.net/

*Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net and Simon Howden