Food for Love Guest Seelie Kay, Chocolate Cake, and her book: Broken Down Cowboy

J. Arlene Culiner …

11 Jan 2024

Welcome to Food for Love, Seelie Kay. Tell us a little about you:

Hi! I’m a former lawyer and journalist who draws stories from more than 30 years in the legal world. My creative pen has resulted in more than 25 tales of contemporary, erotic, and paranormal romance, and romantic suspense.

What inspired your book Broken Down Cowboy?

Broken Down Cowboy was my way of throwing down the gauntlet. There comes a time when you want to read more stories about people your age falling in love. Just because I’m in midlife does not mean I have become a dried-up old prune with a cold heart. I still adore men and I still enjoy romance. More importantly, I adore seasoned men. Men who remember rotary phones and record players and Van Halen. Since I have always had a fondness for cowboys, I created a story about two middle-aged people who, despite their differences, fall in love. It’s funny, it’s sad, it’s romantic, it’s somewhat steamy, but in the end, they find what they didn’t even know they needed. Love. Obviously, I was not alone in wanting older romance. Look at the success of the TV series, The Golden Bachelor!

What fun, Seelie. I also adore seasoned men. Tell us more!

Broken Down Cowboy Blurb

When is it time to take a leap of faith? When the man holding the net is a sexy, middle-aged cowboy!

Tea shop owner and pastry chef Bailey Willis is nonplussed when she finds a handsome Texan sprawled out on the floor of A Spot of Tea. Trevor Anderson, on the other hand, is instantly smitten. Some might call him a broken-down cowboy, but that doesn’t mean he lacks the ability to pursue a beautiful woman, even if she is a northerner and a Green Bay Packers fan! Unfortunately, Bailey has other things on her mind, like winning the Hales Corners, WI holiday bake-off.

When Trevor provides a valuable assist, Bailey begins to regard him in a different light. Too bad he’s planning to head back to his ranch after the new year. Will Bailey agree to wear Trevor’s Texas-size ring? Will Trevor agree to settle in the frozen tundra, the site of one of the Dallas Cowboys’ most humiliating defeats? Hold on to your cowboy hats folks, this tale of romance is going to take you for a ride. Texas style! (Three flames)

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As for a recipe...

One of the recipes featured in “Broken Down Cowboy” is for a Chocolate Peppermint Whipped Cream Cake. The winning “twist” substitutes cocoa powder with melted Frango mint chocolates. The velvety finish this substitution adds to a chocolate cake is miraculous. I don’t have a recipe for the cake. I tend to improvise as I’m baking, but the melted Frango mint chocolate is a game changer—not only in a cake, but brownies, fudge, pudding, and hot chocolate!

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And here's an excerpt from Broken Down Cowboy

Before Mrs. Franklin could respond, they heard a loud crash, and then the sound of breaking glass. The floor seemed to shake.

Bailey paled and quickly curtsied. “Excuse me, please.” She hurried back into the kitchen where her chef, Spencer, held a substantial pastry brush and was swatting a man sprawled out on the floor. A black cowboy hat sat at the man’s feet. “Spencer, what the devil? We do not beat on our customers.” She extended an arm to the man and helped him to his feet. “Now, will someone please explain to me what’s going on?”

Spencer’s victim picked up his hat and slapped it on his leg, then reshaped the crown. He placed the hat on his head. His soft brown eyes, punctuated by crow’s feet that appeared carved into his tan face, gazed at Bailey, and his full lips curled up in a cocky grin. “Sorry, ma’am,” he drawled in a sexy baritone. “I didn’t mean to disturb you, but my daughter sent me to pick up her order for my granddaughter’s birthday party. I saw how crowded it was out front, so I thought it best to come ‘round to the back door.” He made a face. “Not sure how I wound up on the floor. Guess I slipped.” He shrugged and chuckled. “Guess that happens to those of us ready for the pasture.”

Bailey squelched a sigh. Pasture my eye. He couldn’t be more than fifty, around her age. This guy could be on the cover of a romance novel. He was tall and sturdy, with curly dark hair, bushy eyebrows, and just a hint of a five o'clock shadow. And that voice. She could just imagine the man whispering into her ear after a night of passionate sex. A tiny shiver raced up and down her spine. She was exiting her forties, but her body was not immune to a handsome cowboy. Damn, he was fine.

Spencer planted his hands on his skinny hips and scowled. “He didn’t knock. He just whipped open the door and barged on in. Scared the bejesus out of me. I dropped a water glass.” He shot the cowboy a dirty look. “His boots must be wet because he took a less-than-graceful tumble. You know, ass over teakettle? You may be all that in Texas, cowboy. But in Wisconsin, we wipe our feet before entering a building.” He clucked his tongue and tossed his head. “Everyone knows what happens when you track in snow.”

The cowboy held up his hands and tried to squelch a grin. “Hey, I apologize. In my defense, I knocked several times. When no one responded, I just thought it would be easier to come in…”

“Oh, for Pete’s Sake. Did you grow up in a barn?” Spencer huffed. “I need to go clean up. I’ve got enough flour on me to enter a powder puff derby.” He flounced away, muttering about uncouth cowboys with bull crap on their boots.

Bailey rolled her eyes and giggled. She smiled at the man. “I hope that pastry brush didn’t seriously injure you.”

The man chortled. “I’m a bit buttered up, but it beats my granddaughter’s fingerpaints all over my face. As long as he doesn’t force me into an oven, I think I’ll be fine.”

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Book trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOPNBT7LHa4

Buy links:

Publisher:

https://www.extasybooks.com/Broken-Down-Cowboy

Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Broken-Down-Cowboy-Seelie-Kay/dp/148744012X

Barnes & Noble:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/broken-down-cowboy-seelie-kay/1144463727?ean=9781487440121

BookBub:

https://www.bookbub.com/books/broken-down-cowboy-by-seelie-kay