UPDATE: The winner is…Charlotte!
*~*~*
Project Runway. Face Off. Skin Wars. Top Chef. Hell’s Kitchen (only while I’m editing). Bar Rescue.
Okay, I could go on, but I won’t. Because this episode of Binge Watch Confessions is about Bar Rescue.
It started at first because, apparently, my muse likes the soothing background music of men screaming. I’m sure there’s a lot for a therapist to unpack there, but that’s for another day.
But I was flipping channels, and there was Jon Taffer yelling at a beleaguered bar owner who is too stuck in his own way to get out of his own way.
That part wasn’t all that interesting, but then he brought in his bar experts. A mixologist for the drinks and a chef for the kitchen. Now, I get my fill of foodie stuff in other places, but the drinks.
Oh, that was interesting. Drink programs tailored to the bar, either by theme or location. Or both. It was fascinating and I ate it up. I watched as they explained why stirring a drink or shaking it made a difference. As they used fresh ingredients and explained the reason it made drinks better. For a person who got a degree in the background tech of theater, it spoke to me.
I like to craft. To make. I guess it’s not all that off base that I became an author. Crafting stories.
Well, in XAVIER, the heroine is True Sinclair, and she is a mixologist hired to craft a drink program for “The Majestic” a bar at a resort that caters to shapeshifters. It’s a resort that is being brought back to its heyday after years of being dormant.
The idea is to create a place where shapeshifters can just “be” and not worry that they have to protect themselves from humans or people who are curious. The entire town is a place where shifters have been open about their lives since its foundation.
So, when I was researching drinks to “transform” into shifter-themed drinks, I was shocked to find out that somehow I’d tied a plot point into a neat little bow. Without realizing it.
My hero, Xavier, is a panther shifter. He crafts his own moonshine for himself and his friends. During my research, I discovered that a slang name for moonshine is PANTHER’S BREATH.
Well, goodness…wasn’t that…odd.
Xavier releases next Tuesday and is on a preorder sale that will continue for a short time after release.
Xavier
He thought he wanted his freedom and his solitude more than anything else in the world… until he met her.
Xavier Salazar lives the life that he wants. He has his friends and his home carved into Mystic Mountain. It’s his retreat, his refuge. When a gorgeous woman shows up in town to help make the resort’s bar a brilliant success, he’s torn. Xavier is determined to drive her away, but his panther wants to touch her all over, hide her away in their den, and add to the family that he was slowly creating around himself.
Oh, he was going to fight… hard. And yet, even he knew he was probably fighting a losing battle.
True Sinclair is at the top of her profession. Being a world-class mixologist means she knows how to blend all kinds of things together. She just can’t fathom why Xavier treats her like he’s oil and she’s water. There was no doubt that he was combustible around her.
At first, he can’t seem to force himself to be civil or even make an effort to share the same town, but she finds herself drawn to the dichotomy warring inside of him.
True knows what he is and she knows what she wants, but she won’t wait around forever if the man who makes her blind with love and drunk with passion won’t even meet her halfway.
Contest
I’m happy to offer an ebook copy of Book 1 of the series WINTER.
All you have to do is tell us their favorite mixed drink and why you like it!
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Wow! I didn’t know that Mixology was a thing. And I managed a bar once upon a time. But, my clientele were happy with beer and basic mixed drinks. I think the fanciest anyone asked for was a margarita. Now, that is a good drink, if done correctly. My favorite mixed drink? I don’t have one anymore. Even when I drank mixed drinks, I really didn’t have a favorite. These days, if I drink at all, it’s a micro brew beer or Brandy, straight up. Although, now that I have thought about it, a Margarita sounds very good about now.
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Mojito -soothing mix of rum, mint, sugar and lime. Perfection. Just one. Boom. I’m a cheap date.
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Not much of a drinker… will on occasion have a frozen strawberry daiquiri… usually I will have a diet soda with lime.
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no fav
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How fun, Reina! And I love how your research led you to such a useful tidbit! I’m not much of a drinker, alas! Panther’s Breath is such an intriguing name for something you imbibe!
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I am like a lot of others I do not drink many mixed drinks. I like a whiskey sour or I did when I was a lot younger, I do love a Margarita, the regular variety. As I like the sour not sweet, so a Lime Daiquiri is good. I do like red wine cabernet sauvignon or merlot. or beer. lol My reality shows are Dancing with the Stars and Oak Island.