Don't forget to look for the giveaway at the end of the post.
Food is our common ground, a universal experience. I didn’t say that – chef and food writer James Beard did. We can all agree it’s true, though, because food is something we all need, like air and water. But what would you miss if you couldn’t eat?
The main character in my paranormal romance novel, Between Seasons, is a ghost named Patrick Boyle, and it’s one of the things about being alive he misses quite a bit – eating. The very act of it and the flavor of it. The moist chocolate cake his mother makes roils around in his brain for the forty years he’s stuck alone, haunting his childhood home. And when Sara Oswald buys his house after all that time, he’s drawn to her, spying on her in the kitchen.
The woman flapped her hand at Sara and pulled out a chair before sliding into it. “No worries. If I’d been thinking I would have brought you some coffee. I’m a bear when I haven’t had a few cups in the morning.”
“Would you like a cookie at least?” Sara took the plastic wrap off the plate and held it out. Patrick hovered over the food, fingers twitching into a chocolate chip as he looked on in longing. It had been forever since he’d had a cookie, and he could just imagine how it would crumble in his mouth, the chocolate like silk on his tongue. He groaned and stepped away, wishing he could grab the plate and run away to gorge himself.
“Nope. You’ll need something fattening and completely terrible for you after getting your house in order.” The neighbor grinned. “I just wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood and introduce myself.”
Sara set the plate on the counter and chuckled. “I’m an ass – I haven’t even told you my name. Sara Oswald.” She placed her fingers over her chest, drumming them twice against her prominent clavicle.
Eating is a social event for many of us. Clinical studies have demonstrated that the elderly feel most lonely when they eat alone, and this phenomenon applies to other age groups as well. It’s one of the main reasons why I chose to focus on food as one of the things Patrick misses about his life: being alone for decades is bad enough, but compounding it by really missing food makes it so much worse.
It’s also not uncommon to associate food and eating with emotion. Sara is dealing with heavy emotional turmoil when she buys Patrick’s house, the result of which is she’s not eating as she should. And that cake Patrick misses so much is something he associates with motherly love and comfort. Without the food to nourish them physically, the characters in Between Seasons lack emotional comfort as well. As things change between Patrick and Sara, so do their relationships to food.
If you became a ghost tomorrow, what would you miss most about your life? What foods and flavors would leave you longing?
Aida Brassington lives in a haunted house in the suburbs of Pennsylvania with her husband of five years and a Great Dane named Patrick. She loves all things related to Halloween and spooky movies, but not because she shares her house with a ghost (and it should be noted her ghost does nothing more than occasionally appear in the second floor hallway and hide her keys) — she just likes being scared. She is a former political junkie with a deep interest in artisan food, reading, and scuba diving.
Find her at Twitter, her Website or Goodreads
Buy Between Seasons:
Amazon US | Amazon UK | BN | Smashwords
Thank you so much Aida for stopping by today! I think I would really miss brownies and I'm a big tea drinker so yeah would probably miss that too.
Giveaway:
* To win an electronic copy (Kindle, Nook, or PDF) of Between Seasons please leave a comment with your answer to Aida's question
If you became a ghost tomorrow, what would you miss most about your life? What foods and flavors would leave you longing?
* Don't forget to leave an emailadress so I can contact you if you win.
* Giveaway is international.
* Giveaway is international.
* This giveaway ends Februari 4th and the winner will be chosen by random.
* Please don't forget to read my giveaway policy
No answer and/or email = no entry
