The Secret Ingredient — Diary of a Fic Fiend - The Official Blog of Author Kilby Blades

"The Secret Ingredient" is an RWA Vivian Award Finalist!

It's official! The Secret Ingredient is a finalist in the inaugural Vivian ® Awards. For folks who are blessedly unfamiliar with what’s happening on the author side in Romancelandia, the Vivian is intended to be the rebirth of the most prestigious award in Romance. The former RWA RITA ® Award was widely accepted as the leading award in the Romance genre. Publisher’s Weekly published an article about RWA’s decision to retire the RITA award and to create the Vivian in its place. This, in honor of RWA founder, Black author and industry pro, Vivian Stephens.

Hidden Gems Just Named "The Secret Ingredient" One of its Hottest Romances of 2019. Here's Why I'm So Excited...

I am a-okay with the fact that Hidden Gems put The Secret Ingredient on its list of the Hottest Romances of 2019! I am even more okay with the reader review they put in the article. If you’ve ever sat with me and talked books, or listened to interviews with me in which I talk about my reading preferences, you’ll know all about a pet peeve of mine when it comes to romance novels.

Awards and AccoladesKilby BladesJanuary 18, 2020The Secret IngredientComment

"The Secret Ingredient" is a Quarterfinalist in the Publisher's Weekly Booklife Prize for Fiction!

Hot on the heels of an amazing review for The Secret Ingredient from Publisher’s Weekly, I’ve heard great news about the book: it’s been named a Quarterfinalist in the Publisher’s Weekly Booklife Prize! The competition this year was really amazing, with the five titles that made it to the Semifinals scoring 9.5 or above. I am so thrilled to have been honored even though I did not progress to the next round. Here is the full text of the scoresheet/critical review:

Awards and AccoladesKilby BladesSeptember 26, 2019The Secret Ingredient, Critical ReviewsComment

Kilby Q&A: 10 Things You Always Wanted to Know About “The Secret Ingredient” (But Were Afraid to Ask)

It's time for another installment of Kilby Q&A! This week, I answer 10 questions about my award-winning culinary romance!

Q1: Why write chef? What’s so hot about kitchens? Pun intended. A: Food is such an intimate experience—the cooking and eating of it—of course it’s a place where love belongs. It’s a place that’s really ripe for passion and flirtation.

Kilby Q&AKilby BladesJune 11, 2019The Secret IngredientComment

I'm (Finally) Releasing "The Secret Ingredient" on March 25th!

Remember when I posted a whole page on my website about how psyched I was to release The Secret Ingredient, and how I’d started asking folks to support my forthcoming Amazon Scout campaign? Then, remember how, just weeks before my Scout campaign was set to release, Amazon cancelled the program? Yeah. I remember that, too.

I won’t regale you with the long, boring story of what I did next and why it took me so long to just publish it already. What’s most important is that it will be available very, very soon. On March 25rd, The Secret Ingredient will be available across all digital retailers and on Amazon and Barnes and Noble in paperback!

Kilby BladesMarch 21, 2019The Secret IngredientComment

Four Books. Four Awards. And an Amazing time in Denver at RWA 2018!

It's hard to even know how to begin this article. My experience at RWA this year is a lot different from my first year in Orlando in 2017. Not knowing anything about anything that first year, I blindly followed the advice of my book bestie, L.G. O'Connor. I signed up too late to have secured appointments with agents and editors, and, either way, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to go traditional. But I was sick of sitting at home in my bathrobe, writing and swilling coffee. It seemed a good opportunity to get out of the house. So I went. I attended workshops. I had, literally, no place to be. I met other authors. I visited the overwhelming swag room. And I watched nominees walk across the stage to accept RITA Awards.

"The Secret Ingredient" and "Crocodile Tears" are Finalists in the Unpublished Stiletto Awards!

More news on the awards front: this time about two unpublished manuscripts I've been sweating over for months: the Contemporary Romance Writers of America have named "Crocodile Tears" and "The Secret Ingredient" as finalists in their unpublished Stiletto Contest!

These books are very special to me. I'll be blogging about them one of these days and releasing teaser pages that show off the plot. For the time being, it means a lot to get the scorecards, hear validation that judges liked both, and to see where these manuscripts may need work.

Awards and AccoladesKilby BladesMay 22, 2018Crocodile Tears, The Secret IngredientComment

The Sad Tale of Why "The Secret Ingredient" Will Not Be Submitted to Kindle Scout

I was stoked to have made the decision to try out Kindle Scout for the next title you've heard me rave about, The Secret Ingredient, a culinary romance about a frustrated female television chef named Marcella and her sexy neighbor-for-the-summer, Max. Cella, ostensibly there to write her next cookbook is licking her wounds from a number of professional failures, and is itching for a break from her predatory agent, Liz. It just so happens that the guy who owns the house next door is the nephew of a late, lauded chef whose restaurant closed when she died…

ReleasesKilby BladesApril 17, 2018The Secret IngredientComment

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