Shannon here: Regina Rudd Merrick shares a romantic excerpt from her Contemporary Romance, plus a yummy recipe for Indoor S’mores. Comment or answer the question in this post to enter the drawing for an e-book copy of Christmas Rewired. Deadline: Nov 23rd, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Regina:
When the days get short and the air gets cooler, what do we think of?
Cooking.
And my favorite cooking is sweets. Especially anything I can put together quickly to satisfy that sweet tooth. Not the healthiest of habits, but …
In Christmas Rewired, Hannah Buckner is not a cook, she’s a licensed electrician. She does have a sweet tooth, though, so there are two things she does very well: hot chocolate and s’mores.
Here’s a glimpse, from Trace Reno’s point of view.
Excerpt from Christmas Rewired by Regina Rudd Merrick
Hannah poured the steaming milk into two oversized mugs and gestured to the living room. “Let’s go in there where it’s warmer.”
She bypassed the furniture and sat down in front of the fire, Trace following suit. The firelight flickering over her features assured him he was right where he wanted to be. He leaned his back up to the ottoman behind him, positioned perfectly to see her face.
Tucking a flyaway strand of hair behind her ears, she took a sip and groaned with pleasure. “I may not be much of a cook, but I’m glad I kept making hot cocoa until I got it right.”
“It’s amazing,” Trace said, surprised. “And no store-bought packets in sight.” He held his mug up in a toast.
Hannah chuckled. “Mom used to try to pass that stuff off as hot chocolate, and about the time I turned twelve or thirteen, I watched a cooking show where this guy was making cocoa from scratch with some ingredients I’d never thought about.”
“Such as?” Trace sipped, trying to identify what was different.
“Maybe I’ll keep it a secret.” Smug, she took a long sip, batting her eyelashes at him.
She was playing with fire, now.
He narrowed his eyes, pondering the best response.
Patience. Slow and steady wins the race. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
Keeping his narrowed eyes trained on hers, he said, his voice lowered, “I’ll get it out of you. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday, somewhere, when you least expect it, I will find out what makes this the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had in my life.”
The giggle bubbling from her lips made every bit of patience and waiting worthwhile.
Will Trace discover Hannah’s secret to her amazing hot chocolate? You’ll have to read to find out!
If you want something just as sweet as Hannah and Trace, but a little quicker, here’s a recipe for “Indoor S’mores,” straight from the Golden Graham’s box in the 1970s, that we’ve been making in our family for years (no fire required)!
Enjoy!
Indoor S’mores
Ingredients:
1/3 c. light corn syrup
1 T. butter
1 c. semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips
4 c. Golden Grahams Cereal
1 ½ c. miniature marshmallows
Butter a square 9×9 baking dish.
Heat corn syrup and butter to boiling, remove from heat. Add chocolate chips; stir until the chocolate chips are melted. Fold in cereal, 1 cup at a time, stirring gently until completely coated with the chocolate mixture. Fold in marshmallows.
Press mixture evenly into pan. Let cool (if you can), cut into squares.
As a family of four, sometimes we would cut the pan of s’mores in 4 pieces and eat the whole pan in one sitting!
Question for Readers: What is a dish YOU make that proved to be “the way to a man’s heart?”
About Regina: Regina Rudd Merrick started her journey as a life-long lover of reading in first grade, and eventually parlayed that love of literature into a degree in library science, with stints as both elementary and middle school librarians, and later as a public library director.
After finding the enjoyable world of reading and writing “fan-fiction,” she realized that God had given her the ability to weave a story, whether it be in an online community or with original characters. Her first novel, Carolina Dream, book one of the Southern Breeze Series, was the winner of a publishing contest with Mantle Rock Publishing, LLC (now Scrivenings Press), and her writing career was born.
Now the author of eight novels and a contributor to four novella collections, Regina writes about people like all of us who sometimes struggle with their faith and trusting God. In addition to writing, Regina has recently added the title of “editor” to her resume.
Her most recent novel, Christmas Rewired, November 2024, is book four in her RenoVations Inc. Series, book five releasing in 2025.
Regina loves chocolate, the beach, providing keyboard and vocals in her church’s praise band, historical homes, watching other people renovate on HGTV, and Hallmark movies. She and her husband of forty-plus years are empty nesters in rural western Kentucky and are the proud parents of two grown-up daughters and a son-in-law. Learn more & connect:
Regina’s Website Regina’s Facebook Regina’s Instagram
Regina’s Pinterest Regina’s Author Page
About the book – Christmas Rewired:
In electricity, as in love, opposites attract.
When electrical engineer Trace Reno loses his job during the holidays, he decides it’s time for a change. He hires on with the family contracting firm, RenoVations Inc., as assistant to the licensed electrician, Hannah Buckner.
Hannah is known for her sunny disposition, but lately, she has decided God must have forgotten her as her friends all around her find “the one,” and she hasn’t. When the only man in her life who shows an interest is the grouchy Trace Reno, she tries to be patient, but in her opinion, he’s bossy. And even worse, he knows nothing about construction. She’d rather be single.
Love at first sight for him—pure irritation for her.
A mishap on a last-minute Christmas Eve job gives them the time together Trace craves, and Hannah makes the best of it. Could it be possible that Trace has a gooey center beneath his crusty exterior?
Can’t wait for the drawing? Worried you won’t win? Need extra copies for Christmas gifts?
Interested in Regina’s other titles? Get your copy/copies now!
Christmas Rewired Regina’s Books
Come back Nov 15th for Mesu Andrews!
Thanks for hosting me, Shannon! I hope everyone enjoys the book AND the recipe!
n/a
Chicken Marsala from scratch.
Oh my goodness – that sounds AMAZING!! It’s 8am and my mouth is watering! lol!!
My sons love a dish called Burger Bundles. It’s basically a dressed-up meatloaf with Pepperidge Farm herb stuffing mix combined with the ground beef (plus a few other seasonings), shaped into meatballs, and then covered in Campbell’s Golden Mushroom soup. They love it so much, one of them wrote about the experience of eating it for a college entrance essay!
Hope, that sounds wonderful! Loved seeing you last week!!