Sarah Chamberlain Author Talk • The Slowest Burn: A Novel

*Everyone who purchases a copy of The Slowest Burn will receive a specially printed recipe card!*

Sarah Chamberlain is a writer, editor, and cookbook translator whose articles have appeared in The Guardian (UK), Food52, and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. When she’s not writing witty, sexy contemporary romance, she enjoys making dinner for her friends and family, watching Cary Grant movies, and setting records as an amateur competitive powerlifter. Originally from Northern California, she lives in London.

Kate Leahy has collaborated on more than a dozen books on food and wine, including Italian Wine, Wine Style, Lavash, and Burma Superstar. Her first book, A16 Food + Wine, won the IACP best book of the year and the Julia Child first book award. She co-hosts the podcast Everything Cookbooks and is currently writing a mystery set in Northern California.

The Ruby is a collective of Bay Area nonbinary, transfeminine, and woman-identified creatives who have a desire to learn, curiosity, and a range of interests—and who continually seek enrichment. It's for those who are passionate about their creative and professional pursuits and want to share them with others, who value community and are interested in new friendships — especially outside of their chosen fields of work. More than just a workspace, The Ruby offers its members opportunities to learn new skills and engage over a communal table of food and drink made by local nonbinary, transfeminine, and woman-identified chefs, restaurateurs, and wine makers.

The Slowest Burn — Ellie Wasserman’s life is neat and tidy, and that’s exactly how she wants it. Really. A top ghostwriter for celebrity cookbooks, she was widowed three years ago and has no interest in taking chances―not on writing her own cookbook, not on telling her still-grieving in-laws she wants to move out, and certainly not on dating, which is about as intimidating as a recipe with fifty steps.

Kieran O’Neill isn’t known for being organized. An up-and-coming chef who scored big on a reality television competition, he’s been the guy who cracks jokes and makes messes―something his chilly family has never let him forget. The only place he feels truly capable is at the stove. But when he’s paired with an uptight ghostwriter with cool blue eyes and distracting curves to write his debut cookbook, she shreds his class clown act like a paring knife cuts an orange peel.

As Ellie and Kieran are forced to work closely together in a hot kitchen for weeks on end, their sharp edges and harsh judgments slowly soften and sweeten into a wildly delicious attraction. Long, steamy days turn into even steamier nights, but they have to face their painful pasts to know if this tender new love can transform into something lasting.