Caridad Pineiro® Romance Author
NY Times & USA Today Bestselling Romance Author
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and I’m sending you some holiday cheer! From my family to yours, Merry Christmas! Tonight, we’ll be feasting on good vibes and good food, and I hope you’ll be surrounded by love and laughter too! Here’s to more magical moments together!
My friend Hope Tarr has a new release and I wanted to share it with you! Hope is a fabulous romance author but she’s starting a new series of historical fiction set in New York City during the early 1900s. Here’s a teaser for Irish Eyes, Hope’s new release!
In the aftermath of America’s war with Spain, Rose leaves her beloved Arans and boards a steamer for New York City. Herded through the emigrant landing depot at The Battery, abandoned and alone, she soon discovers that the New York streets are no more paved in gold than those of Galway. To survive, she must ford her way through Lower East Side tenements and sweatshops, Fifth Avenue mansions and tony hotels – tangling with Tammany Hall for the soul of the man with whom her fate is inextricably linked while fighting her feelings for the first love who still holds her heart. Just as she begins to make peace with the past, the Great War erupts in Europe, threatening to topple the dynasty for which she has sacrificed so much.
You can download Hope’s Irish Eyes at https://amzn.to/41v3XRH.
Woo hoo, I’ve finished all the gift shopping and wrapping but I still have to finish all the shopping for the food. If you’re like me, that’s a good thing but you’re seeing all the expenses pile up. Ugh. I know that credit card bill is going to be an ouch next month. To help you with that I’ve got several free reads for you on Kindle Unlimited at https://amzn.to/3SG2rtz. There are also several specially priced 99 cent reads at https://amzn.to/3viPM60.
What do readers want for Christmas? Books, books, books of course! But what else can you get the reader in your life? Gift cards for books. Nice bookmarks if they still read print like I do. A nice cover for their kindle or tablet. A subscription to Kindle Unlimited or the new Kobo Plus. More books and gift cards. A registration to a readers conference or driving them to a fun FREE event like Roz Lee’s Day of Wine, Romance, and More! If you’re a reader how can you gift yourself? Check out all my FREE Kindle Unlimited reads at https://amzn.to/3SG2rtz.
I am so loving the new covers for the South Beach Security K-9 Division spinoff. Newsletter subscribers got to see the Sabotage Operation cover first and they’ll get to see the Escape the Everglades cover first in this month’s newsletter. In the meantime, here’s a little teaser cover reveal for you!
If you want to get those exclusive cover reveals, free reads, or a chance to win this month’s giveaway, visit https://bit.ly/CaridadsNewsletter to sign up for the newsletter! This month’s giveaway is a $25 gift card and an autographed copy of The Family She Never Met.
What’s even better than all those exclusive subscriber benefits? If you subscribe to my newsletter, you can get an e-book of The Fifth Kingdom for free! How awesome is that!
Plantains are a staple in Cuban cooking and there are so many ways to eat them! When they are green you can boil them and then mash them or make tostones, which are flat and crispy. When they are yellow – or pinton (half-ripe) they are often used in soups or stews. My family’s favorite way to eat them is when the skin gets black, just like with an overripe banana. They are very sweet then and you just cut and fry them in slices. Nom nom. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t loved these sweet plantains that we call maduros and they are super easy to make. If you’re in Miami like the crew from the South Beach Security series, you’d find maduros at every Cuban restaurant! P.S. – If you haven’t read the series yet, it’s not too late to start it before the first K-9 Division spinoff releases in late May. I think you’ll love seeing what’s happening with Trey, Mia, and Ricky, the Gonzalez siblings. Download the series at https://amzn.to/3QBMj9J.
2 ripe plantains
3-4 tablespoons olive oil for frying
The most important thing is to make sure the plantains are ripe. They are just like regular bananas, going from green to black when they are the ripest. It may take a couple of weeks for a plantain to go from green to ripe, so you’ll have to be patient.
First thing, cut off the hard ends at either side. Then slit the skin lengthwise to expose the orangey flesh beneath. Slice on the bias to have nice long slices.
Put the olive oil in a non-stick skillet (or cast iron). Heat the oil until shimmering and then add the banana slices. Cook on one side until golden and caramelized then flip and cook the other side. Remove from heat and immediately salt to taste.
Mexicans also eat plantains and one tasty variation is to drizzle some Mexican crema and cotija cheese over the ripe plantains, but they are tasty just as they are also!
As best as I can remember, I haven’t had a hero with a tattoo in any of my books. Well, except for that one time my editor called me to say that they wanted the heroine to have a tattoo on the cover even though I never mentioned a tattoo in the book. That was for Temptation Calls, one of my vampire suspense books. The heroine in that book is a vampiress who has suffered horrible abuse as a human and is now dedicating her life to running the Artemis Shelter for abused women and children. Since Artemis is an archer, that’s what she had as a tattoo. But enough about that. Do you like tattoos on your romance novel heroes? I think a nice tattoo on a shoulder works for me. Maybe an artful full sleeve, but no neck, face, or hand tattoos for me. What about you? Do you like tattoos on your heroes or heroines? P.S. – You can read Temptation Calls for free on Kindle Unlimited at https://amzn.to/474TrBG.
