The
Recipe
by
Maisy Dee
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Craig
has pined for Emily since the fourth grade. Imagine his surprise
when, when at the start of his junior year, he discovers that she has
finally noticed him. When Emily returns to school the fall of her
junior year, she finds that her old friend Craig has transformed from
a gangly, brace-faced adolescent into a blue-eyed babe who is making
her insides tingle.
Craig
and Emily stir up a sweet and sexy adventure, exploring new recipes
both in and out of the kitchen. But when things heat up on New Year’s
Eve, Craig is not sure he can stand it. Is he man enough for Emily?
And what recipes have his closest friends Ryan and John been cooking
up without telling him?
In
alternating points of view, Emily and Craig search for the secret
ingredients of friendship, love and intimacy. This isn’t really a
book about cooking. Recipes, however, are included.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPTS
Excerpt
One:
Craig
came back to school that September looking different. Or maybe it
just seemed like it. He didn’t get much taller, or at least not
like he did a couple of years ago when he came back after a summer
growth spurt that made you wonder about those growth hormones in
milk. This time was different. OK, it’s true he had finally gotten
his braces off. The last one of our friends. But it was more than
that—he was kind of, uh, hot. And well, when he walked into Trig,
sat down next to me, smiled, and said, “Hi, Emily,” I was caught
off-guard, to say the least. I inhaled sharply, and then felt heat in
my cheeks. Shit, I thought.
“Hey,
stranger,” I said a little too loudly, trying to recover my
equilibrium. Class began, saving my ass, but I found it hard to
concentrate. What on earth was my problem? This was Craig, the kid
who used to chase me around the play- ground during recess at Green
Acres Elementary. I remember him throwing up all over the place in
Mr. Thompson’s class in 4th grade. We shared the same group of
friends through the embarrassments of puberty, early romances, and
health class (sex, drugs, and ewww—the birth video). We hung out in
a group all the time, but had never really talked much one on one.
Craig was Craig. Nice enough, but I really never thought about him
much.
This was
the guy who was suddenly making it hard for me to breathe?
AUTHOR
Bio and Links:
It was
Back to School Night, and my parents were headed to the High School.
I looked up from my book long enough to describe all my teachers. For
example: “My science teacher will be wearing black chinos pulled
waaay too high and a short-sleeved button-down with pens in the
pocket. He has Mr. McGoo glasses and a three-strand comb-over. He’s
totally weird.”
My
parents returned to tell me a) I was grounded until I brought my
grades up, and b) I had an uncanny ability to describe people. The
teenage me, stressed out from deciding who I was and what I was
supposed to do, snapped, “Yeah? Well, what job does that get me?!”
My
mother gazed at me calmly. “You could be a writer. But for now,
you’re grounded.”
I have
never forgotten that moment. I took creative writing classes in
college and continued to read a lot, but it wasn’t until I had
children of my own that the idea for “The Recipe” came to me. My
girls are avid readers, and I spent a lot of time hanging out in the
youth room at the public library. I read a ton of current YA novels,
and reread books from my teenage years. I began to look for
contemporary stories about early sexual experiences that were as
honest and non-judgmental as Judy Blume’s Forever. I didn’t find
any, but I did find a dangerous mixed message.
On the
one hand, overwhelming, irresistible (even paranormal) passion is
presented as the ideal romantic experience. That unrealistic
expectation, along with all the other unrealistic sexual images they
find in books, movies, cable tv, and the internet, is bound to result
disappointment in the real thing.
On the
other hand, sexually active teen characters in books are invariably
punished with pregnancy, violence, humiliation, heartbreak, or a
sexually transmitted disease so virulent that it will not even let
you die. Yes. If our teens give in to their normal, healthy impulses,
they will surely become vampires.
So I
decided to write a book about first love and “the first time”
that would offer my daughters one story that is a little closer to
the truth–things are bound to be less than perfect, and that’s
not the end of the world (or the beginning of life after death, no
matter what the French call it.) The process was difficult,
rewarding, and a lot of fun, and there’s a good chance my daughters
will never read it, because who wants to read a book about sex that
your mother wrote. Gross.
I’m
currently working on my second novel, and yeah, there will be more
teens having sex in that one too.
Contact/Links:
@MaisyDeeRecipe
(twitter)
