BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--GUEST AUTHOR MEG BELLAMY

Along with her husband, her family and her books, language and travel are Meg Bellamy’s passions—along with cooking, baking, knitting and quilting. It’s a good thing Meg loves to travel, since she lives in the gorgeous San Francisco Bay Area, but her daughter’s settled in New Jersey and her son’s in England—talk about Frequent Flying! Between flights this long-time language teacher writes contemporary romance, both of the traditional and the women’s fiction type. Learn more about Meg and her books at her website. 

Chocolate and Honey and my Sweetie, Oh My

Chocolate. Does just reading the name bring a smile to your lips?

For me, “chocolate” conjures up delights, pleasure, romance and, oh yes, a few pesky calories. I consider chocolate an essential food group. Chocolate has been a reliable treat—to eat, to drink, and to gaze at arrayed in a sumptuous candy box.

So imagine my bewilderment when I met the delightful man who is now my second (and last!) husband—and discovered that he’s a chocophobe. Chocophobe. I didn’t even know there were any people of that persuasion. He’s not even the only one in the world, though I think there aren’t many with that proclivity.

When I brought him to meet my parents and told Mom that he hates chocolate, she panicked. “What am I going to feed him?” A prodigious cook and baker, she managed to come up with plenty.

So how did he become a chocophobe? According to his family legends, at age six he had a prescription medicine that had a “chocolate flavor.” Must have been really awful.

I, on the other hand, hate honey—an opinion that earns me raised eyebrows in some circles. In my family of origin, honey was the take-it-or-else remedy for colds, etc. To this day, my brother and I turn green at the prospect of ingesting the stuff.

Is there a pattern here?

Despite the fact that I hold my nose as I put the ingredients together, I do make a honey cake with an ingredient list that includes coffee and cocoa. My daughter asked who in my household is willing to eat that cake. Both DH and I enjoy it—I can only guess it’s because the ingredients combine and then cancel each other out.

My love for chocolate inspired one of my books, Divorce by Chocolate.

Divorce by Chocolate

While she makes sweets, her partner cheats…

Diana Lambert seems to have it all—a loving husband, a successful business and a gorgeous home. Then, on returning from a business trip, she finds her husband and trusted assistant playing house. Even worse, they’ve planned a coup to remove her from Goddess Goodies, the business built from her dreams—and her family’s recipes.

Devastated, Diana is ready to drown herself in hot fudge and sorrow when her inner goddess spurs her not to let her talents go to waste. She rolls up her sleeves, unleashes the goddess within and starts cooking up a recipe for getting even through the best means—success. Her life’s sweet treats aren’t confined to the kitchen, as she discovers with the support and love of her sister, her friends and one very special guy.

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