King of the Kitchen is out today!

I'm at work today, so sadly I couldn't do a release day party like I usually do. But I'm so, so excited that King of the Kitchen is out today! I had such a blast reading from it at GRL, and the response I've gotten so far has been wonderful.

If you haven't been following my blog tour, be sure to check out my posts on Joyfully Jay and Gay List Book Reviews earlier this week. I'll be hosting a Dreamspinner Press Facebook chat Saturday, Nov. 7, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. EST, and I'll be over on Prism Book Alliance (Nov. 9) and The Novel Approach   (Nov. 10) next week. I'm including a recipe at each stop on the blog tour, either something from the book or something that's a personal favorite of mine. Come check them out!

Early reviews for King of the Kitchen have been great, and I'm looking forward to hearing from more readers about how they liked Beck and Duncan!

From Divine Magazine: "King of the Kitchen by Bru Baker is the kind of book you can't put down but never want to end."

From The Novel Approach: "I would highly recommend this book if you enjoy a real romance and slow buildup kind of story. This was my first Bru Baker story, but it definitely will not be my last!

Blurb:

Rising kitchen talents Beck Douglas and Duncan Walters have been on the foodie paparazzi radar for years, since their status as heirs to two of the biggest celebrity chef empires around makes them culinary royalty. Beck is known for his charm and traditional food as cohost of his uncle's popular TV cooking show, while Duncan earned himself a reputation as a culinary bad boy, both for his refusal to work in his father's restaurants and his avant garde approach to cooking.

They're also heirs to a food rivalry that could put the Hatfields and McCoys to shame, and when they're photographed in the middle of a heated argument, the press goes wild with speculation. Damage control ensues, with a fake friendship engineered by PR cronies that leaves both of them secretly pining for more.

Beck chafes under his uncle's micromanagement, and Duncan's relationship with his homophobic father becomes even more tenuous when Beck and Duncan start getting closer. It's hard to hide their chemistry on national television when Duncan joins Beck's cooking show, but they won't be able to take their relationship—or their careers—to the next level without breaking a few eggs.

Buy links: Amazon, Dreamspinner Press, Barnes and Noble, Are

It's release day for Playing House, book 3 in the Dropping Anchor series!

It's a little hard for me to process that the last book in the Dropping Anchor series releases today. The start of the series, Island House, was my first manuscript, and I started it in 2010. You'll note that it isn't my first published work, an honor that goes to the short story Traditions from the Heart, which was part of the 2012 Dreamspinner Press Advent Calendar. I'd gotten most of the way through Island House and then gotten discouraged, put it aside, and moved on to other projects.

The story kept eating at me, though, and I went back to it time and again. I'm more than a little bit in love with Niall, and I'm sure that shows in the book. While it's technically a romance, Island House is really the story of Niall coming to terms with an unimaginable loss and giving himself permission to grow and move on.

The book set the tone for the entire Dropping Anchor series. Each book is about a different kind of life journey, and all three have main characters who are a little lost and confused and have to find their way to happiness. In Island House, Niall finally lets go of his guilt over his partner's death and allows himself to live the kind of life his partner would have wanted for him.

In Finding Home, we watch Ian, who is self absorbed and brusque, finally settle down and grow into himself. Even though he's in his thirties, he never really grew up. Despite his character flaws--which are legion--he's a good guy at heart. It just takes the right motivation for him to uncover those depths.

The last book, Playing House, comes out today. I love all three books in the series, but for personal reasons, Playing House will probably always be the book closest to my heart, and it's all because of Frank.

All his life, Frank has been different. He's never had a label for it, but he's known that the way he processes things and experiences the word around him is somewhat off kilter from the norm. It hasn't negatively impacted his life, because he hasn't let it. He's taken completely by surprise when his husband says he wants to start a family, and Frank has to really take a good, hard look at himself and see if that's something he wants as well. And, of course, he has Niall and Ian there to help him along the way.

The entire Dropping Anchor series is about watching the struggles as men we've come to love--Niall, Ian, Frank--navigate the challenges that have been thrown their way, learning and growing as they go. The overarching theme in all three books is self-acceptance, and that's something I hope all readers are able to internalize for themselves. We're always so hard on ourselves, and the men in the Dropping Anchor series have to learn to be gentler with themselves. It's something we could all take a lesson from.

The Dropping Anchor series is available at most online book retailers.

Release day for Late Bloomer (and psst, it's on sale!)

It seems like I've hardly had time to blink since my last release, but here we are again! My first holiday novella of the season The Magic of Weihnachten, released on Dec. 1, and today my second holiday tale, Late Bloomer, hits the virtual shelves. 

This one isn't exactly a Christmas tale. We meet the main characters on Thanksgiving Day, which is pretty much universally accepted as the start of the Christmas season here in the United States. The book is set in Michigan, and most of the families I know in the Midwest (ours usually included, if we're not traveling!) put up their Christmas tree either on Thanksgiving Day or that weekend. So it stands to reason that the early part of the holiday season would be the busiest time of the year on a Christmas tree farm, which is where David and Erik meet .

Working any kind of retail during the Christmas season is my idea of a nightmare, and David Rochester would agree. His family owns the Christmas tree farm, and even with his self-professed dislike of people and hatred of Christmas music, he finds himself working the dreaded Christmas Shoppe on the property more than usual, thanks to his family's meddling attempts to match him up with Erik, one of the part-time employees they take on to get through the busy season. 

Need some fluff and banter to perk you up this holiday season? Late Bloomer will leave you with a smile on your face. And bonus: through Dec. 13, it's 25% off at Dreamspinner Press!

Late Bloomer

Available now from:

Dreamspinner Press
Amazon

Barnes and Noble 

ARe

If not for his family and his Christmas tree farm, David Rochester would be a recluse. And Erik Shriver wouldn’t know a quiet moment if it smacked him in the face. But now David’s farm has brought them together. When Erik’s flurry of bad jokes and frenetic energy sets David off kilter, his family notices and begins conspiring. They push David and a very willing Erik together again and again until David stops denying his attraction. But an almost-hermit and a soon-to-be-former club boy each bring baggage into a relationship. They’ll have to take things slowly to find the middle ground between David's taciturn silence and Eric's boundless chatter.

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December releases and a HUGE Cyber Monday sale on my titles at ARe!

I have THREE new releases this month, which is kind of amazing. And even more amazing is the fact that  All Romance ebooks has my entire catalog for half off today for Cyber Monday! That include's today's release, The Magic of Weihnachten, as well as preorders for my other Christmas novella, Late Bloomer, and the third book in the Dropping Anchor series, Playing House. That is a seriously amazing deal...jump on that while you  can! *g*

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The Magic of  Weihnachten

American Walsh Brandt is happy when a promotion lands him his dream job and a quiet new life in Germany. Until December rolls around, when he realizes it’s almost impossible to hide from the holiday season in Germany.

Dierck Reiniger is fascinated by Walsh’s hatred of Christmas and makes it his personal mission to help Walsh enjoy Weihnachten and the German traditions he grew up with. Walsh has a great time getting to know Dierck—but he still isn’t sold on Christmas, despite Dierck's efforts. Dierck's on the rebound, and he's determined to develop their physical relationship slowly, much to Walsh's frustration. It isn’t until they’re alone in a secluded cabin—hiding from the traditional trappings—that Walsh finally recognizes what the magic of the season can bring when spent with someone special.

A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2014 Advent Calendar package "Celebrate!".

Buy links: Dreamspinner Press, ARe

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Late Bloomer

If not for his family and his Christmas tree farm, David Rochester would be a recluse. And Erik Shriver wouldn’t know a quiet moment if it smacked him in the face. But now David’s farm has brought them together. When Erik’s flurry of bad jokes and frenetic energy sets David off kilter, his family notices and begins conspiring. They push David and a very willing Erik together again and again until David stops denying his attraction. But an almost-hermit and a soon-to-be-former club boy each bring baggage into a relationship. They’ll have to take things slowly to find the middle ground between David's taciturn silence and Eric's boundless chatter.

Release date:  Dec. 10, 2014

Preorder links: Dreamspinner Press, ARe, Amazon

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Playing House

Dropping Anchor: Book Three

College sweethearts Frank and Warner have been together for sixteen years, married for eleven. Having grown up in a freewheeling hippie environment, Frank thinks their structured life is great, although lately he and Warner have fallen into a rut. Frank isn't concerned; it's what happens to old marrieds. Frank’s blindsided, though, when he finds Warner looking into adopting, and Frank realizes just how not okay things really are. 

Frank doesn’t want kids. They bring chaos and unpredictability. He had enough of that growing up. Trying to salvage their relationship, Frank and Warner reach out for help. In the process of marriage counseling and working through their differences, Frank discovers his rigid adherence to schedules, anxiety attacks, and host of personality quirks are actually markers for Asperger Syndrome. With the help of a psychologist, Frank’s life gets easier, and he realizes a future with children isn’t as unfathomable as he once thought. 

Through it all, Frank is stunned by how much making a family with Warner has boosted the intimacy between them. It’s taken thirty-five years, but he’s finally got a handle on life, and the future looks even better.

Release date: Dec. 22,  2014

Preorder links: Dreamspinner Press, ARe

It's release week for Finding Home, and I'm celebrating by giving away a $20 Dreamspinner Press gift certificate!

Wow, is it just me or is this year just flying by?! It seems like I just finished writing Finding Home a few days ago, but it's actually been almost seven months. (And even more mind-blowing for me: I'm a few days away from finishing the third book in the series!)

Today is release day for Finding Home, and I'm so excited to share Ian's journey from the roguish playboy we met in Island House to the man he is at the end of Finding Home. Don't get me wrong--Ian didn't completely transform his personality. I think we'd all be upset if he wasn't the same snarky, slightly selfish bastard he was when we got to know him. But in Finding Home he matures and finally starts to settle down, and it's so much fun to see how he reacts to domesticity. (Hint: There are quite a few bumps on the way.)

I'm on the Dreamspinner Press blog all day today talking about the book and giving away prizes, so come see me there. If you miss it, don't worry--I'll be touring blogs for the next month talking about Ian and the first man who's ever captured his heart enough to make him want to settle down: Luke Keys.

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BLOG TOUR

June 19: Why I love flawed characters, on J.P. Barnaby

June 23: Writing a series, on Charley Descoteaux

June 25: Living vicariously through my characters, on Tempeste O'Riley

June 27: Writing kids, on Jamie Lynn Miller 

July 7: Character continuity, on Anne Barwell

July 28: Dropping Anchor book 3, on Kim Fielding

July 31: When Pinterest leads us astray, Cup 'o Porn

I'll be guesting with Jana Denardo, Grace Duncan, and CJane Elliott as well!

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Finding Home is available from Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, AllRomance, and other online book vendors.

In the meantime, I'll be giving away a $20 Dreamspinner Press gift certificate to celebrate Finding Home's release. The contest runs from June 23 through June 27, and there are opportunities to enter daily. Good luck!

EDIT: Congrats to Andrea, who won the gift certificate!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Celebrating Branded's release with a Dreamspinner Press giveaway!

I've had my head down for a while since I've been so focused on getting the third book in the Dropping Anchor series written (I feel like Dorie... just keep writing/just keep writing/writing, writing wriiiiiiitiiiinnggg), so today's release kind of snuck up on me. Oops!

That's a good thing, though. New releases are always happy things, even when I'm up til 4 a.m. the night of the release frantically writing blog posts for the release day blog party that I also somehow managed to forget about.

I'll be over on the Dreamspinner Press blog all day today talking about the hurt/comfort trope (it's one of my favorites!), the book, and some of the whacked out things I researched on Google so I could make it as accurate as possible. There will be several chances to enter to win a $10 Dreamspinner gift certificate that I'll be drawing a winner for at 9 p.m. EST tonight (June 1), so make sure you come by at least once to enter. (Hint: You can enter on each post today, so come by often and comment a lot for more chances to win!)

Branded is part of the Dreamspinner Press Mended Anthology, which is a collection of 30 different hurt/comfort stories. They're available individually or you can buy the whole set.

Release day!

It's been three years in the making, but release day is here for Island House! Even better, it's debuting with a 4.5 star review under its belt, courtesy of Nikyta at Sid Love.

It's especially awesome because Island House was my NaNoWriMo novel in 2010, and in a nice parallel, its spin-off Finding Home is my NaNo project this year. It's been a challenge to stay on top of the daily word counts while prepping my blog tour for Island House and getting ready for all the awesome release day festivities I have planned, but it's well worth a little lost sleep.

I'll be over on the Dreamspinner Press blog all day today doling out snippets of Island House, insights into my favorite parts of the book, and most importantly, prizes!  That's right, I'll be giving things away all day long to readers who come to my virtual release party at Dreamspinner. Head on over at 9 a.m. EST to enter the first giveaway, a chance to win a free ebook of Island House.

If you can't come play with us today, don't worry. I'll be giving away Island House goodies all month long on Twitter, so you'll get another chance at swag. You can also catch up with me on my blog tour. Last week I talked about where I got inspiration for Island House's setting on Kim Fielding's blog, and today I'm be sharing a steamy prequel scene on Charley Descoteaux's blog in celebration of her Kink Month. Tomorrow catch my Q&A on Andrew Gordon's blog (and check out Island House and other great new releases in his Monday new release round-up today!)

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Island House

Available from Dreamspinner Press

Unable to move on after the death of his lover, British expat Niall Ahern clings to Nolan's dream of living in the Caribbean by moving to Tortola. Once there, he finds that not even the beauty of the island can fill the hole in his heart. Broke and spent in nearly every way imaginable, Niall wants out of the lonely, miserable, guilt-ridden life he's carved out for himself.

When Ethan Bettencourt, a wealthy tech guru, shows up in British Virgin Islands looking to purchase a second home, he gives Niall hope that he can move on. Both men fall hard and fast, but Niall finds piloting his yacht in the midst of a hurricane is nothing compared to weathering life's simple misunderstandings. As their troubles come between them, Niall is left to wonder if he and Ethan are over before they've begun.

On sale today: The Buyout

My new novella, The Buyout, is on sale today. It was mentioned in this week's Happily Ever After romance novel round-up in USA Today, which was incredibly exciting for me. I hope you'll pick up a copy!

All Parker Anderson has ever wanted is to take over as CEO of Anderson Industries when his father retires. But when his father is ready to leave the company, he doesn’t plan to pass the reins to Parker. Instead, he plans to sell the company, jeopardizing not only Parker’s job but hundreds of others.

Parker finds an unlikely ally in Mason Pike, the company’s resident IT guru. What starts as a flirtation takes them from coworkers to coconspirators in a plan to forcibly buy Anderson Industries out from under Parker’s father. While they focus on the buyout, their budding romance has to be put on hold, but that doesn't stop them from flirting and teasing each other to distraction—and once their master plan comes to fruition, nothing and no one can keep them apart.

ISBN-13: 978-62380-775-7

Pages: 125

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: Lou Harper
Categories: Novellas, Contemporary

Book type: eBook

File Formats Available: .epub, .mobi, html, pdf

Purchase The Buyout directly from Dreamspinner Press 

or find it on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Soggy soccer games and steamy summer fiction!

This has been a busy week here in the Baker household. The Barnacle's preschool let out last week so it was the start of her summer vacation, and the Bub's last day of kindergarten was Tuesday. It's been stormy and gross here, which means I've been stuck inside with grumpy kiddos who had gleefully been awaiting the arrival of summer for weeks (there were charts and a video count-down diary involved...the Bub is very thorough).

All kindergartners read apocalyptic classics, right?

Luckily, the Bub is a bookworm like me, so he's been amusing himself by getting a start on his summer reading. I bought him the abridged version of War of the Worlds thinking it would get him through the summer as a reading project. It's 150 pages (and he's 6 with the attention span of a gnat) so I'd planned to spend the next two months cajoling him into sitting long enough to read a page or two at a time. He plowed through it in two days. He even snuck it into bed with him so he could finish, as I found out when he started yelling "It was the germs!" at 11:30 p.m., hours after I thought he was asleep. Hubs and I had to promise him we'd have a book club discussion about the end of the book over breakfast the next morning just to get him to shut up.

It was still pouring this morning when I dutifully marched over to the soccer fields to watch the Barnacle and the Bub play and Hubs coach. Seriously, they play in the rain. It's not like they're in a feeder system for the Premier League...this is U6 rec soccer! Let's be honest: They're primarily in it for the snacks afterward.

Maybe the smile was just on the inside...

Anyway, despite being soggy and frozen, I had a smile on my face because Diving In released today! It's part of the Dreamspinner Press Make a Play Anthology, which is filled with a lot of steamy sports action to start your summer on the right foot.

I loved writing this piece, and not just because it meant I got to watch YouTube videos of water polo matches. (Hubs wandered in during one session, looked at the laptop, shook his head, and walked back out of the room. What? It was research!)

Diving In has Speedos, hot sex, and a hint of angst and pining--everything you could ask for in a pool or beach read. (Or the in a I-wish-I-was-at-the-pool-or-beach read for those of us who are land-locked and/or stuck in the eternal misery that is a Midwestern spring.)

If you pick it up, I'd love to know what you thought of Diving In. You can find me here, on Twitter, or on Goodreads. *g*

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Diving In

Being the pool boy makes it easy for Max Jansen to ogle his long-time crush, water polo player Everett Caldwell. Never mind the fact that Max owns the company and is extremely overqualified for the task of monitoring chlorine and cleaning skimmers. He's just happy to watch his unattainable dream play—until one day Everett invites him over and suddenly Max is his platonic plus-one for everything from movie nights to racy industry parties. Then Max learns the one-time Olympian isn't as straight as everyone assumes, and he isn't sure how long he can hold out before his crush grows much deeper.