The Marinara Theory by Kristin O'Ferrall

Title: The Marinara Theory

Author: Kristin O'Ferrall

Genre: Chick Lit/Romantic Comedy

Release Date: August 7, 2020

Blurb

Meet Ashley Whitaker, a twenty-six-year-old advertising associate, who considers herself a modern-day Mary Tyler Moore. Filled with moxie and a contradicting wealth of insecurities, Ashley uses all her coping mechanisms to deal with the minefield of dating.

After being dumped via text message, Ashley decides to focus her energies on her aspiring advertising career, becoming a Taekwondo badass, and funding a trip to Europe with a part-time waitressing job.

It’s only when she discovers the magic of the Marinara Theory that her life takes a surprisingly positive turn upwards. Suddenly it seems as if the heavens have opened up and populated the universe with available bachelors seeking her affection. Even her ex (AKA Mr. Text Dumper) is susceptible to the Marinara Theory’s magic and wants Ashley back.

The Marinara Theory also lands Ashley the role of manager of a lucrative new advertising account. But can Ashley rise to the challenge? It doesn’t help that tongues are wagging at work about a juicy rumor. There’s also office politics and her own self-doubt that she must overcome in order to lead her creative team and please the client.

Will the power of the Marinara Theory dissipate like Cinderella’s glass slipper at midnight or will Ashley recognize the secret to sustainability? The answer can be found in the pages of The Marinara Theory, which humorously chronicles Ashley Whitaker as she searches to find self-empowerment and, with any luck, her Prince Charming.

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Excerpt

Not in person. Not by phone. Not even by email. Text. 

Are you kidding me? 

That is how I, Ashley Whitaker, was dumped by my boyfriend (AKA guy I was dating).   

Don’t think it’s going to work out. Please take care. 

That was it!  No explanation. No apology.

I really liked him too—at least, I think I did. No, what am I saying? Yes, I did like him. And, I thought he liked me too.  Case in point: his last text to me – the one before the last text – seemed so promising.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing you tonight.”

It didn’t say “see you tonight” or even “looking forward to seeing you tonight”.

It said “really”.  “I am really looking forward to seeing you tonight.”

I mean, really?

And our date in retrospect also seemed great. We had gone to dinner and then to the movies. At dinner, he held my hand across the table and laughed at all my corny jokes. While waiting in line for the movie, he put his arms around me. I remember thinking: This is good. We’re now at the stage where PDA is acceptable. 

I remember coyly looking up at him, and when I did, he smiled back as if we were sharing a moment.  My stomach actually had butterflies.

And then, it happened. I opened my mouth and impulsively spewed, “So, would you consider me your girlfriend?”

I never did get an answer—the ticket lady conveniently asked for our tickets right at that moment. I also never got another date or another “really looking forward to” text.

Oh, right. I guess that was my answer. No, he didn’t consider me his girlfriend.

I need chocolate.

Praise for The Marinara Theory

This novel was a delightful read. It was everything you want in a book. Characters you love and can relate to and an engaging plot. I highly recommend this book. Perfect for reading on the beach or anywhere. If you are looking for a fun book that will entertain people of all ages, The Marinara Theory is perfect.

I absolutely LOVED reading this book!!! I recommend it to any book lovers in search of something timeless, funny, honest, and riveting.

O'Ferrall truly understands the everyday comedy AND tragedy of being a female in our current society. Such a wonderfully relatable and hilarious read. I'd say more, but I don't want to spoil the plot.

I recommend The Marinara Theory to any and all readers, male or female! You won't be disappointed.

Love this book! Hard to put it down! I highly recommend it!

Author Bio

Kristin O’Ferrall is a creative at heart who has incorporated writing throughout her career as a grant writer, marketer, blogger, and author. Her first writing job was at eleven years old when Kristin was regularly commissioned by her mother to write pithy words of inspiration for her sales newsletters.

Kristin’s debut novel Marianna Mestre: Nothing’s As It Seems is the first in the middle-grade mystery series, Marianna Mestre. The sequel will be coming out later this year.

To learn more about Kristin O’Ferrall, be notified of future releases, or to sign up for her newsletter, visit https://linktr.ee/KristinOFerrall.

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Sour Grapes (Blue Plate, #2) by Rachel Goodman

Title: Sour Grapes

Series: Blue Plate #2

Author: Rachel Goodman

Genre: Light Women's Fiction/Chick Lit

Release Date: June 5, 2020

Blurb

Uncork this delectable Texas Hill Country romance from the critically acclaimed author of From Scratch, the “smart, sexy, and funny” debut that “piles on the Southern charm” (Publishers Weekly). 

Margaret Stokes is bitter. And not in the robust fine wine or tangy dark chocolate kind of way. She just got dumped, is fed up with her job as a glorified party-planner for the rich, and can’t possibly listen to one more veiled insult from her impossible-to-please mother. So she retreats to the comfort of her grandmother’s ramshackle bed and breakfast in Texas wine country, where the wide open vineyards are filled with surprises, from the shockingly delicious Tempranillo to the aggravating yet oh-so-tempting man who makes it.

Ryan Camden’s easy approach to life encourages Margaret to loosen up and have a little fun, despite her better judgment. She resists the urge to micromanage every detail, embracing the welcome distractions of her surroundings and letting their relationship unfold at a natural rhythm. But when a health scare forces Grammy J to give up the B&B, Margaret begins to wonder if Ryan really is the man he promises—and whether the problems she tried so hard to escape ever really went away.

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Excerpt

The night has taken on a dreamy quality, and it feels as if I'm buzzing in a sort of tipsy state that has nothing to do with the wine I've consumed and everything to do with my renewed sense of confidence.

Ryan is staring at me with an expression I can't quite read. It's part contemplative, part desire, part something else. I wait for him to speak, but he remains quiet.

As I start moving toward his SUV, he grabs my hand and draws me around to face him. We're standing so close I can smell the remnants of his aftershave and feel his breath on my forehead. Ryan brushes an errant strand of hair away from my cheek, his callused thumb ghosting over the sensitive spot below my ear. I swallow, my chest tight, as though there isn't enough space for my heart to fit inside my rib cage.

Ryan slides his hand around to cradle the back of my head, while the other travels down and settles on the curve of my hip. "If I kiss you again, is there going to be a jail cell on the other end of it?"

"Only one way to find out," I say with a breathless laugh.

He pulls me flush against him, and then his lips are on mine. An electric jolt shoots through me as the pressure of his mouth changes from tender and coaxing to needy and demanding.

And I'm right there with him, matching everything he's giving. My palms skate over his broad shoulders and arms, his shirtsleeves stretched over the hard muscle beneath. He tastes like the chocolate cake we shared for dessert. Like something I could eat every day for the rest of my life.

I weave my fingers into the soft hair that curls slightly at the nape of his neck, tugging gently at the roots. Ryan lets out a sexy grunt that I want to hear over and over again. He lifts me off the ground, and I hook my legs around his waist. He steps backward until I'm pressed against his car. With the dark surrounding us, it feels as if we can do anything and not get caught. A rush of heat shoots through me at the idea. I reach for the buttons on his—

Sudden loud barking makes us jump apart, our chests heaving.

I sway a bit before regaining my balance. I glance at Ryan, who looks as disoriented as I feel. Sticking her head out the open window, Bordeaux paws at the inner door handle. Ryan pushes on her nose and mutters what sounds like, "Great timing." Snorting, Bordeaux ducks back inside and drinks from the water bowl on the floor mat. Ryan turns to me, rubbing a frustrated hand down his face. "She's a resource guarder, and I'm her favorite toy."

I let out a shaky laugh, my whole body vibrating with pent-up energy. "Or maybe she's warning us that we're about to have an audience," I say, gesturing to the hostesses emerging from the side entrance of the restaurant. They walk around the building to the service lot.

Ryan's expression morphs from slightly irritated to focused and determined. He leans in close to me, his lips grazing the hint of collarbone peeking out from beneath my shirt. Air catches in my lungs and my skin prickles, but I force myself not to fidget, not to move for fear I may collapse right here on the gravel. Skimming his mouth up my neck, his breath stirring wisps of my hair, he whispers in my ear, "What happened to living recklessly?"

My brain is a fog, so I only manage to blurt, "Show me."

A devastatingly wicked grin spreads across his face. "Follow me."

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Author Bio

Rachel Goodman is the critically acclaimed author of the Blue Plate and How to Score series. She was raised in Colorado on Roald Dahl books and her mother's award-worthy cooking. Now an engineering professor at her alma mater, Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, she has not lost her passion for culinary discovery or a well-told story. A member of RWA, she continues to hone her craft through the Writer's Path at SMU while seeking to create the perfect macaroni and cheese recipe. Follow her on Twitter (@mojitomaven), Instagram (@mojitomaven), and Facebook (@RachelGoodmanBooks), or visit her website at rachelgoodmanbooks.com.

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From Scratch (Blue Plate, #1) by Rachel Goodman

Title: From Scratch

Series: Blue Plate #1

Author: Rachel Goodman

Genre: Light Women's Fiction/Chick Lit

Release Date: May 1, 2020

Blurb

A down-home, feel-good debut Southern romance, From Scratch explores one woman’s journey back home to Dallas, Texas, where her family is cooking up a plan that doesn’t quite suit her tastes…

Thirty-year-old Lillie Turner grew up with maple syrup stuck to her skin and bacon grease splattered on her clothes, courtesy of working in the family diner. Thank goodness she escaped all that when she moved to Chicago five years ago. Now a successful strategy consultant and newly engaged to a man who complements her like biscuits and gravy, she has everything she wants.

When an urgent phone call about her father’s health pulls Lillie back to Dallas, she soon learns it was a ruse to bring her home so she can run the diner she’d rather avoid and compete in the Upper Crust, an annual baking competition, with no option to withdraw. Lillie is furious and ready to run back to Chicago, but her father’s haggard appearance makes her wonder if he’s hiding something. Things go from bad to worse when Nick, her handsome ex and the only man she ever truly loved, reappears, looking as scrumptious as ever.

Lillie’s trip home forces her to question the path she’s chosen, find her place in the family she abandoned, and wonder if the life she left behind is what she really wants after all.

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Excerpt

"Move around," Nick says. "It'll help flush out the lactic acid in your system."

I nod, too exhausted to reply, and walk back and forth with my fingers linked behind my head. A breeze washes over my face, cooling me, but still my lungs are screaming. I can't seem to suck in enough air.

Nick strides over to me. "You want your breathing to come from deep in your diaphragm. Right here," he says, placing one hand on the curve of my back and the other just below my rib cage, applying pressure. "Can you feel that?" His gaze rakes over my face, painfully slow, as though he's afraid to miss something.

Is he kidding? His palms are burning holes in my shirt, making me dizzy, and he wants to know if I can feel that? Suddenly I go from barely being able to retain oxygen in my lungs to a total inability to breathe at all. I should be shocked that after all this time a simple touch from him has the power to steal my breath, but after what happened between us at the Tipsy Teakettle, nothing surprises me anymore.

Stepping away, I pick up the water bottle lying on the ground by his feet and gulp some down, the liquid sloshing around in my stomach.

"Drink it slowly. Otherwise you'll throw up," he says, tugging on my ponytail. My heart trips in my chest at the way his voice dips with his playful scolding. Sticking out my tongue, I squirt some water at him and stretch my aching muscles. Nick does his own form of post run recovery, which involves some strange yoga poses mixed with light strength exercises. I squeeze my eyes shut when I hear him groan, the sound similar to those he once murmured during sex.

After he's done, he uses the hem of his T-shirt to wipe his neck and forehead. His chest expands and retracts with his breathing, his skin glistening. I swallow thickly, watching a bead of sweat travel down the length of his torso and absorb into his mesh shorts. Everything about Nick is corded muscle and hard, chiseled angles and lines. My eyes drop to his hands resting on his hips, and I have an overwhelming urge to feel them on me. My whole body clenches as I remember exactly what those fingers are capable of.

A dog barks, snapping me out of my haze. I focus on the college-age guy playing fetch with a golden retriever across the park and wait for my heart rate to return to normal.

"It's okay, you know."

"What is?" I ask.

"To check me out," Nick says, smug and without shame. "Don't think I didn't notice your little eye dance."

I balk. "I wasn't checking you out. You were doing those weird poses, and I was curious."

He laughs, deep and sexy, erasing all of my common sense. His soles scuff against the gravel as he saunters toward me. He stops and stands so close I can feel the heat radiating off his body and see the faint scar above his left eyebrow—a casualty from back in my diner days when I accidentally opened the freezer door into his face.

When he speaks, his words send a shiver down my spine. "You forget, Lillie, I know your blush."

My breath hitches, and his smile grows into that destructive grin that's always been deadly to me. I force my eyes away, over to the other side of the parking lot where a woman is adjusting a set of ankle weights, back to the guy still tossing a tennis ball with his dog, down at my grungy shoelaces, anywhere other than at him.

"At least I used to," Nick says, low and hoarse. "Before . . ."

He settles a hand on the crook of my neck, his thumb ghosting along my collarbone, and everything inside me ignites, alive and volatile. I look at him, and the intensity in his stare causes a fresh wave of heat to rush through me. I lean toward him, pulled by invisible fingers. His gaze flicks to my mouth, and as if on their own volition, my lips part. My breath comes in shallow gasps, my body humming in anticipation, waiting for him to pin me against my truck and kiss me the way he did at the Tipsy Teakettle. The way he used to.

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Author Bio

Rachel Goodman is the critically acclaimed author of the Blue Plate and How to Score series. She was raised in Colorado on Roald Dahl books and her mother's award-worthy cooking. Now an engineering professor at her alma mater, Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, she has not lost her passion for culinary discovery or a well-told story. A member of RWA, she continues to hone her craft through the Writer's Path at SMU while seeking to create the perfect macaroni and cheese recipe. Follow her on Twitter (@mojitomaven), Instagram (@mojitomaven), and Facebook (@RachelGoodmanBooks), or visit her website at rachelgoodmanbooks.com.

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From Scratch (Blue Plate, #1) by Rachel Goodman

Title: From Scratch

Series: Blue Plate #1

Author: Rachel Goodman

Genre: Light Women's Fiction/Chick Lit
Cover Design: Najla Qamber Designs

Release Date: May 1, 2020

Blurb

A down-home, feel-good debut Southern romance, From Scratch explores one woman’s journey back home to Dallas, Texas, where her family is cooking up a plan that doesn’t quite suit her tastes…

Thirty-year-old Lillie Turner grew up with maple syrup stuck to her skin and bacon grease splattered on her clothes, courtesy of working in the family diner. Thank goodness she escaped all that when she moved to Chicago five years ago. Now a successful strategy consultant and newly engaged to a man who complements her like biscuits and gravy, she has everything she wants.

When an urgent phone call about her father’s health pulls Lillie back to Dallas, she soon learns it was a ruse to bring her home so she can run the diner she’d rather avoid and compete in the Upper Crust, an annual baking competition, with no option to withdraw. Lillie is furious and ready to run back to Chicago, but her father’s haggard appearance makes her wonder if he’s hiding something. Things go from bad to worse when Nick, her handsome ex and the only man she ever truly loved, reappears, looking as scrumptious as ever.

Lillie’s trip home forces her to question the path she’s chosen, find her place in the family she abandoned, and wonder if the life she left behind is what she really wants after all.

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Title: Sour Grapes

Series: Blue Plate #2

Author: Rachel Goodman

Genre: Women's Fiction/Chick Lit

Cover Design: Najla Qamber Designs

Release Date: June 5, 2020

Blurb

Uncork this delectable Texas Hill Country romance from the critically acclaimed author of From Scratch, the “smart, sexy, and funny” debut that “piles on the Southern charm” (Publishers Weekly). 

Margaret Stokes is bitter. And not in the robust fine wine or tangy dark chocolate kind of way. She just got dumped, is fed up with her job as a glorified party-planner for the rich, and can’t possibly listen to one more veiled insult from her impossible-to-please mother. So she retreats to the comfort of her grandmother’s ramshackle bed and breakfast in Texas wine country, where the wide open vineyards are filled with surprises, from the shockingly delicious Tempranillo to the aggravating yet oh-so-tempting man who makes it.

Ryan Camden’s easy approach to life encourages Margaret to loosen up and have a little fun, despite her better judgment. She resists the urge to micromanage every detail, embracing the welcome distractions of her surroundings and letting their relationship unfold at a natural rhythm. But when a health scare forces Grammy J to give up the B&B, Margaret begins to wonder if Ryan really is the man he promises—and whether the problems she tried so hard to escape ever really went away.

ADD TO GOODREADS

Pre-order Links

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

AVAILABLE NOW IN PRINT

Author Bio

Rachel Goodman is the critically acclaimed author of the Blue Plate and How to Score series. She was raised in Colorado on Roald Dahl books and her mother's award-worthy cooking. Now an engineering professor at her alma mater, Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, she has not lost her passion for culinary discovery or a well-told story. A member of RWA, she continues to hone her craft through the Writer's Path at SMU while seeking to create the perfect macaroni and cheese recipe. Follow her on Twitter (@mojitomaven), Instagram (@mojitomaven), and Facebook (@RachelGoodmanBooks), or visit her website at rachelgoodmanbooks.com.

Author Links

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INSTAGRAM
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WEBSITE

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