September is upon us! And I can start to feel fall in the air. Oh please, dear god, let fall get here soon. Though I’m a Floridian, the heat and I are not friends and I do enjoy having seasons in New England, despite my allergies. While fall hasn’t quite arrived and summer is still holding on, I wanted to create a drink that would blend two of the seasons.
Destined for a King by Ashlyn Macnamara is a historical romance with a touch of fantasy set in a fictional kingdom. I was immediately captured by the cover because I really need to find a way to work a red cloak into my wardrobe. I also adore the “nursed back to health” trope. Within the first few pages, as the hero Torch and his men are storming a stronghold, the heroine, Calista, wounds him with an arrow. Torch winds up taking over Blackbriar Keep as part of his quest toward the throne. Calista is ordered to heal Torch, or else her family will suffer the consequences.
Even ill and wounded, Torch is charming, always ready with a tart, flirtatious quip. He’s also desperate for marriage and an heir. So here’s my reasoning for making what I call Kingsbane (it’s a traditional Jack Rose cocktail):
- It’s red, which matches the gorgeous cover.
- The citrus adds freshness and a bit of tang, which reminds me both of summer and the hero’s silver tongue.
- Plus, apples are a fall staple and sign of fertility (waggles eyebrows).
Kingsbane is also the poison that brings the hero and heroine together. But I promise this drink isn’t poisonous!
Also, we have a giveaway thanks to the great people at Loveswept! We have two digital copies up for grabs, so check out the details below on how to enter.
Shopping list
Apple brandy
Grenadine
Lemon or lime juice
Cherries (optional for garnish)
Proportions (in a shaker full of ice):
2 oz apple brandy
1 oz lemon or lime juice
1/2 oz grenadine
Modifications and notes:
- A Jack Rose typically calls for Applejack, which is frustratingly hard to find. I substituted Calvados for Applejack, which is also a bit pricey. So feel free to find any sort of cheap apple brandy that you tastebuds and wallet can both appreciate.
- Instead of grenadine, experiment with other mixers. I saw some tasty looking pomegranate liqueur that would probably work well and increase the alcohol content.
- Boozy fruit! I love these little cherries so much. I get excited whenever I order a cocktail at a bar and seem the perched on a toothpick in my drink. They’re so tasty and if you can find them, I highly recommend ‘em.
- I used lemon juice from concentrate because I’m lazy and didn’t feel like making a trip to the grocery store for some actual lemons. I firmly believe fresh is usually better, but at the same time, it’s getting mixed with other things, so I didn’t stress about it too much. If concentrate is all you have on hand, go for it! However, bottled juice is a bit stronger than fresh; keep that in mind.
- Instead of cherries, you can garnish with a lemon or lime slice, especially if you used fresh juice.
- Chill your glass!
Now it’s giveaway time! The best time! We have two (2) digital copies of Destined for a King to give away.
Since this book has one of my favorite tropes, I want to know what are yours. Comment below with your favorite romance trope to enter! The giveaway will end Sunday, September 11, 2016 at noon, EST, so get your comments in before then!
Standard disclaimers apply. We are not being compensated for this giveaway. Void where prohibited. Open to international residents where permitted by applicable law. Must be over 18. Be sure to keep your quivers full and your healing poultices well-stocked. Grousing, shirtless marauders will get zero sympathy. Mystical pendants shall be treated with care!
Best of luck!
UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who left comments! Glad to see I’m not the only one who loves the nursed-back-to-health trope.
And our winners are Janine and Kael! Keep an eye on your inboxes!
I’m a sucker for enemies to lovers. And no, I have no idea why!
I love the friends to lovers and second chance romance tropes.
I’m not quite sure this is a trope, but I call it “Surprise, I’m a spy.” Basically, it is when one of the main characters is a spy and the other has no clue until they’re swept up in whatever espionage is going on at the time. I love love love it.
P.S. That drink looks really good and I’m not much of a drinker (alas, I’m not allowed to drink for a couple of weeks–something about alcohol not mixing with a healing wisdom tooth removal site).
Not really a trope but I love historical romances set in the US (westerns are okay, but I mean other areas and time periods). Oh – and beauty and the beast tropes.
I really love the fake relationship turning into a real relationship trope. And I love it if one of the people involved had feelings for the other one.
I have to say non-intellectual(but clever) hero, super smart heroine. He admires her but thinks she’s odd, she thinks he’s dumb but hot. Hijinks ensue!
I don’t how to describe it. But the love story between Lois Lane and Superman. Whatever that is called, that’s my catnip. Every single time.
I love enemies to lovers (like in Lord of Scoundrels) and also love the bluestocking/female scholar in historicals.
Favorite trope: Friends to lovers
Secret babies all the way!
I am instantly into any fish-out-of-water story. Well, strike that. Not so much fish-out-of-water as fish-out-of-universe; stories with people crossing time and/or dimensions, or even characters suddenly thrown into a new paradigm within their current time/dimension (“Ye’re a wizard, Harry!”) are completely irresistible to me. Even really, really badly written ones. I can’t help it! I’m too much of an addict for silly things like taste and shame.
So many tropes, so little time, lol! My faves are fake dating, friends to lovers, and marriage of convenience.
Also, I have a red cloak (former SCA-er here). Not that I use it much these days, but still.
I love a historical drama with enemies/one stubborn against it and one pushing for the other, mad pursuit of love, the world is against them love story. I especially love when these author gets very detailed about the clothes and smells, I want to feel like I’m in the story. And a happy ending is a MUST!!!
The curmudgeon hero. Every time, the grumpier the better. With the smart and snappy heroine who gives no shits for his attitude.
Winemaker comment on home production of applejack: freeze distillation tends to concentrate methanol and other distillation “head” products as well as ethanol. Heat distillation gives a bit more control of the different stages and components, which is one of the reasons it’s more popular. This is a greater problem as one increases the number of times it’s been frozen, as well as the concentration of those components and does depend somewhat on the starting chemical characteristics of the juice and of the cider itself. Basically it’s like homemade moonshine; when it goes wrong it can go very wrong. But I might still try making it some day?
One of my favorite tropes is of the injured hero or heroine. I also like romances with amnesia (which often results from an injury so perhaps that’s a subset of the former).
So embarrassing but alien steals human…
I am loving reading all the comments. I love friends to lovers or more specifically brother’s best friend to lover. Enemies to lovers is also good.
Rachel – hopefully you have read Sherry Thomas’ Tempting the Bride which is exactly what you described. I loved it.
Really enjoy romances that play with class, especially where class intersects with race (although I have yet to read one that really touches on this).
Enemies to lovers!! I love the struggle of “I-hate-you-but-you’re-so-sexy-wait-I-hate-you-but-i-want-to-kiss-you-now-i-love-you”:) thanks for sharing!
I can’t resist “rake and bluestocking” because I always identify so strongly with bookish girls who don’t quite fit in (now that I’m a few years post college, and uh managed to get married, those feelings have subsided a bit!). Tessa Dare’s A Week to Be Wicked is my favorite example. But I also love the gender flip in Elizabeth Hoyt’s Thief of Shadows!
Hero secretly loves heroine from afar, followed by second chance romance and friends/enemies to lovers. The Hating Game had two out of three. So happy with it.
Marriage of convenience, definitely! Also like epistolary romances (or the modern versions)
This is great! Who knew I loved so many of these tropes! I think I’ve agreed with all these posts, so I guess that means that I just really like a well written, interesting and engaging romance. Either that or I like crazy sauce alltheteopes at once!
I’m all about the mutual pining, especially if the author can work it into an arranged marriage/marriage of convenience plot.
I enjoy opposites attract kind of plot. One with an imperfect heroine that must overcome insecurities and a redeeming hero that never knew she/he was where love could be found A slow burn with creative sex scenes always a good idea.
A good screwball romantic comedy with lots of verbal sparring hits all my sweet spots. Trust Me on This by Crusie and It Happened One Night are examples of the sort of thing I go for.
my favorites are friends to lovers and like, years long torch-holding.
I love “rake and bluestocking” and “the wallflower blooms” stories, but my ultimate (and all-too-scarce) catnip is when the heroine is the badass with the dark past.
Most definitely Beauty and the Beast. That is my catnip for sure.
I’m a sucker for enemies to lovers
Second chances are my favorite trope.
I also love the boozy maraschino cherries. Much better than the Food Lion or Kroger stuff. 😉
Small town romances are my favorite…I love the family feel most of them have.
I enjoy stories with strong heroines and dashing heroes who have incredible tension, but slowly realize that they were absolutely meant for each other!
I love me a time travel trope and/or nursing back to health with heroine or the hero!
I do love marriage of convenience stories.
I totally dig the enemies to lovers trope. And I love a cranky heroine. Bet Me and Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie are two of my favorites.
(FYI – Both Bet Me and Agnes and the Hitman are part of Audibles 3 books for 2 credits sale. I believe the sale ends 9/11. Also part of that sale is Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters, which is the book that got me hooked on the enemies to lovers trope.)
My favourite trope is probably the fake relationship/marriage.
I love a forced/marriage of convenience with a Alpha hero that realizes over the course of the story that loving the awesome heroine doesn’t make him week. It gets me everytime!
I don’t really consciously follow tropes (though I do appreciate forced proximity in all its varieties), I’m more of a “find an author I like and glom her backlist, then subtly bug her to write more goodness faster” kind of gal.
Marriage of convenience/fake relationship, and brother’s best friend are my favorite tropes. If you put the two together I may break myself trying to give you all my money.