Guest Post and Giveaway: How the Cookie Crumbles by Jaime Samms

We’re so pleased to welcome author Jaime Samms today, on the tour for her new novel How the Cookie Crumbles. Enjoy Jaime’s guest post, and then be sure to check out the giveaway details below.

Now, here’s Jaime

1.) “This thing has about as much aerodynamics as a toaster.”

2) “Maybe little Timmy always wanted to be a cat herder.”

3) “Hey! Check the dryer before you close the door!’

“For what?”

“The cat!”

4) “How the cookie crumbles…”

One of these things is not like the others. Normally, inspiration for my stories comes from something very mundane and unremarkable.

Like the first three real-life snippets from real-life conversations.

The first one, I was eight months pregnant with the first kidlet, and we were trundling everything we owned on an eight-hour, early spring highway trip to move back north before the baby arrived. We drove the largest moving van you can rent with a class-G driver’s licence. It was completely full and top heavy, and even 15 years ago, cost a fortune in gas to get it here. We made it. Barely. And while I nursed, I wrote one of my first published stories to that sentence that made me laugh when my back hurt and I was tired and a baby was standing on my bladder. Thanks, Hubby.

The second one came about when I was trying to wrangle a barely-walking toddler and two cats out of the kitchen after they had “shared” a carton of milk. One of the cats vanished to the laundry area for quite some time. That story, about a young man who couldn’t decide what to do with his life is still–well. It’s a herd of cats, and acting accordingly. Some day, it will get done.

And the third one, I think is pretty self explanatory, and will be a story about a forty-something, self-professed “dog man” suddenly finding himself the caretaker of an orphaned litter of kittens and a down-on-his-luck drifter, all camped out together in the man’s hunting cabin.

The last thing on the list isn’t the inspiration for a story, but the end result of a new challenge for me: Writing in someone else’s universe. None of the rules were mine, and the landscape already existed. All I brought to the table were a young, disillusioned baker, and a slightly older, sort of clueless, but sincere business man. For a pantser, having so much of the backdrop already created and ready to go was a unique challenge, and I had to think outside of my regular box. It was an amazing journey, and I hope the result is as interesting and fun for you to read as it was for me to write.

~Jaime

About How the Cookie Crumbles: After losing a rigged cooking show competition—and a potential lover—to another baker, Frederic Jackson packs up his considerable baggage and moves to Bluewater Bay. He uses the network’s hush money to buy a new bakery where he hopes the small town’s revitalized economy will let him start anew.

Blaire Caruthers never wanted to work for his father at Caruthers Industries. He should have known that fixing the company’s show results was a mistake, and that choosing another man over kind, generous Frederic was an even bigger one. But the damage is done. To escape the fallout, he’s gone to Bluewater Bay to oversee the company’s interest in Wolf’s Landing merchandise.

Stuck in a small, nowhere town doing a job he hates, Blaire wants nothing more than to prove to Frederic he’s changed. However, Frederic struggles to trust the man who betrayed him once already. As Blaire loses ground with his father, and Frederic starts falling back into self-destructive habits, they both have to find the balance and control that’s been missing from their lives.

About Jaime Samms: Jaime has been writing for various publishers since the fall of 2008, although she’s been writing for herself far longer. Often asked, “Why men? What’s so fascinating about writing stories about men falling in love?”, she’s never come up with a clear answer.  Just that these are the stories that she loves to read, so it seemed to make sense if she was going to write, they would also be the stories she wrote.

These days, you can find plenty of free reading on her website. She also writes for Freya’s Bower, Jupiter Gardens, and Total E-Bound, Dreamspinner Press, MLR Press, and Riptide Publishing.

Spare time, when it can be found rolled into a ball at the back of the dryer or cavorting with the dust bunnies in the corners, she’s probably spending crocheting, drawing, gardening (weather permitting, of course, since she is Canadian!), or watching movies. She has a day job, as well, which she loves, and two kids, but thankfully, also a wonderful husband who shoulders more than his fair share of household and child-care responsibilities.

She graduated some time ago from college with a fine arts diploma, and a major in textile arts, which basically qualifies her to draw pictures and create things with string and fabric. One always needs an official slip of paper to fall back on after all. . .

Connect with Jamie: Website || Blog || Twitter || Amazon Author Page || Goodreads

The Giveaway

Leave a comment for a chance to win $20 in Riptide credit. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on February 20, 2016. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. Entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!

The Fine Print:

*Entrants must be 18 years or older to qualify
*The Novel Approach will not be held liable for prize delivery unless otherwise specified
*Void where prohibited by law