A little about C.H.:

Southern born… Northern bred

C.H. was born in Aiken, South Carolina, but her parents moved back to northern New Jersey where she grew up. She’s always had her nose in a book, has traveled the world over, and even tested the time-space continuum, thanks to the awesome power of the written word.

Her love for the written word is a gift from her parents, but the need to write was instilled by her 7th Grade English teacher. One of her writing quirks is that she loves to include bits and pieces of her ancestors and ancestry in all of her books. Check out her fun facts and genealogy page to see which characters are named after family or friends.

Fate, destiny and love at first sight will always play a large part in her stories because they played a major role in her life. When she saw her husband for the first time, she knew he was the man she was going to spend the rest of her life with. She’s loved him forever…well…more than half her life. Each and every hero she writes about has a few of her husband’s best qualities; his honesty, his integrity, his compassion for those in need and his killer broad shoulders. She’s such a sucker for a man with broad shoulders.

From C.H.

Thanks for inviting me to blog today at Reader’s Entertainment Group. I like to add just a bit of my Irish heritage in all of my books. In TYLER, the Garahan brothers are named for my great, great grandmother, Anna Garahan Flaherty. In our home, we celebrate our Irish heritage by remembering our ancestors who came to America, so the month of March is always a cause for celebration.

I enjoy cooking and love to bake, every year I bake Cream Scones and Irish Soda Bread. It was a special treat for the Irish to have raisins, but my guys don’t like raisins or Caraway seeds in their Soda Bread, so we keep it simple as most of our ancestors did. I’m still searching for a recipe for Whiskey Cake that comes close to the perfection I tasted years ago at Davey’s Locker in Montvale, but I haven’t found it yet. There is a tradition our ancestors brought with them when they immigrated, boiled suppers. When they arrived in New York City, beef brisket was readily available so instead of the mutton they’d been used to at home, they began using the beef brisket and later corned beef. While I do try to keep to traditions, we like our cabbage steamed, it’s fabulous with a pat of butter, and fresh ground pepper.

Here’s my special recipe from Cream Scones:

This recipe is fabulous served with clotted cream or whipped cream and fresh raspberry preserves and a cup of strong honey-flavored tea with a dash of milk.

4 tbsp unsalted butter (1/2 stick)
1 ¾ cups Hecker’s unbleached flour
¼ tsp salt
5 ½ tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cream of tartar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup heavy cream

Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour and salt. Mix until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Add the sugar, baking soda and cream of tartar. Mix well.

Beat the eggs with the cream and add to flour mixture, using a wooden spoon to make a spongy mixture. Place the dough on a well-floured bread board, or counter top and pat to ½ inch thickness. Cut the dough into rounds with a biscuit cutter (or large cookie cutter). Flour your hands and place the cut out scones on a nonstick cookie sheet, leave for 10 minutes to settle.

Bake in preheated oven at 450 for 8 minutes, or until golden brown.

Serve with jam, preserves or whipped (or clotted) cream.
© 2011 C.H. Admirand

The first book in my new contemporary Western Romance series from Sourcebooks, TYLER, hit the stores Tuesday, March 1st. While TYLER is my tenth book, it is my debut in mass market paperback coming from the Library Market, so this is a huge leap for me.

To celebrate, I’m giving away a signed copy of TYLER today. To enter the drawing, please leave a comment with your email address. I will be away for most of the day, but will be able to check in around lunchtime and then again when I get back from NYC tonight…I’m one of the three guest authors reading at Lady Jane’s Salon at Madame X’s. I will try to post the winner tonight.

COS Productions created the fabulous book video for TYLER highlighting the ad that Tyler answers in the beginning of the book.

For more stops in the Virtual Tour for TYLER, here’s the link.

I’ve had wonderful reviews so far and will leave you with a few quotes:

“The passion between the two main characters is electrifying…” RT Book Reviews
“C.H. Admirand scores a perfect 5 blue ribbons for Tyler.” 5 Blue Ribbons – Natalie, Romance Junkies
“Wow, I completely loved Tyler!” 5 Delightful Divas, Shelly – Dark Divas Reviews
“I want to head to this strip club in Pleasure…” 4.75 Night Owl Reviews – Reviewer Top Pick
“This fabulous cowboy romance left me with a huge grin in my face.” TRS – 4.5 hearts

You can read the reviews by visiting my website:

Thanks for inviting me today, have a wonderful week!

Slainte’
C.H. Admirand