New Release: Lady Emily's Exotic Journey by Lillian Marek

Launch Day is weird.

Okay, the book is out there. There’s nothing more I can do about it, but I feel as if there’s something I ought to be doing. Is there some protocol for nervous authors?

I don’t want to find myself checking the rankings on Amazon every ten minutes or so in hopes that somebody has actually bought the book. Yes, I know, this is silly, but it’s hard to resist.

I certainly don’t want to Google the book’s title to see if there are any reviews. That’s really not a good idea. If there’s a new review, it might not be a good one. Then I would be depressed, and that’s even worse than being nervous.

I don’t want to stare out the window all day, feeling as if there ought to be something happening out there. I know what I’ll see. Nothing. Nada.

So I could do what I usually do when I’m a nervous wreck: I will cook. Preferably something wildly elaborate that I have never made before and will take me HOURS.

I have a recipe for a pâté that has seventeen different ingredients, including three different kinds of meat that all need to be ground separately. That would keep me busy, but some of the ingredients are supposed to be marinated overnight, so I would have to start the day before Launch Day. That would just prolong the agony.

Or I could make little phyllo pastries. I’ve done this before, and it’s always a bit tricky keeping the phyllo sheets covered with a towel that’s damp enough to keep them from drying out but not so damp that they get wet and glued together. I would always try a new filling. Maybe goat cheese and dates and pistachios. That might be interesting.

But it’s August, and the farm stands are full of great vegetables. If they have those little mini peppers and the baby eggplants and the round zucchini, I could make Provençale stuffed vegetables—breadcrumbs and sausage in some of them, salt pork and rice in others, and maybe some with ground pork.

Then maybe the best idea would be to make some wildly elaborate dessert. I could try layers of meringue topped with sliced almonds, filled with whipped cream blended with raspberry purée and topped with piped swirls of whipped cream, tucked in the freezer to make sure it doesn’t collapse before serving time.

Come to think of it, I have an even better idea. I’ll make a pitcher of iced tea, collect some of my more exotic cookbooks, sit on porch swing and read about unusual recipes I could make one of these days. Maybe when I’m not so nervous.

Title: Lady Emily’s Exotic Journey

Author: Lillian Marek

Series: Victorian Adventures, #2

Pubdate: August 4^th, 2015

ISBN: 9781492602293

From sensible, sheltered girl

Safe in the embrace of her loving family, Lady Emily Tremaine longs to feel more intensely alive. Surely the magic and mystery of Assyria and the fabled ruins of Nineveh will bring about the transformation she seeks.

To the woman his heart desires

Scarred by his past and estranged from his noble grandfather, French adventurer Lucien Chambertin desires neither a home nor the chains of emotional attachment. He seeks only to explore the far reaches of the world. But he did not know the world contained the likes of Lady Emily—whose curiosity and sense of wonder match his own.

Lillian Marek was born and raised in New York City. At one time or another she has had most of the interesting but underpaid jobs available to English majors. After a few too many years in journalism, she decided she prefers fiction, where the good guys win and the bad guys get what they deserve.

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