Let’s have Breakfast at the Honey Creek Cafe

By Jodi Thomas

One of the wonderful things about being a writer is I can choose any occupation I want to in life in a book doing just that.

In my new book, BREAKFAST AT THE HONEY CREEK CAFE, I stepped into running a cafe in a small town where everyone knows everyone.

Now, cooking comes easy for me. When I decided to go to college my mother told me to major in Home Economics. She said it would be easy and Home Ec. teachers would all be needed. She lied to me on both counts, but I had to learn to cook to get out of Texas Tech.

Turns out I did love cooking.

Years later my best critique partner and dear friend said, “The group can always tell when your writing isn’t going good. You bring baked goods to the meeting.”

I make the best cinnamon rolls in the world, so of course, they’ll be served at the Honey Creek Cafe.

1. First, make the dough. Use half for dinner rolls.
2. Then roll out the leftover dough thin, about as thick and round as a big pizza crust.
3. Melt a stick of butter and spread it out. It should be soft, not boiling.
4. Then mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle it around. I like mine with lots of cinnamon. The mixture should cover the butter and mix.
5. Then roll it out as tight as you can without pushing the butter out.  Then cut about an inch and pack (cut side up) in a cake pan.  As soon as they brown, flip them carefully out on a plate.

At my house, when just the family is around, we eat them as appetizers. My grandson likes to unroll his and eat it as a cinnamon strip.

You might want to have your cinnamon roll with milk while you read about the cafe in Honey Creek where everyone thinks there’s a ghost living on the second floor.

Piper Kate McKenzie, mayor of Honey Creek, won’t let a major scandal rip her quirky hometown apart, or jeopardize her dream of one day running for higher office. So she calls for reinforcements to find the source of corruption in the sheriff’s office—two men recommended by her Texas Ranger brothers . . .

At seventeen, Sam Cassidy left home, heeding the call to be a preacher. Later he found another mission: serving his country. After his one love died, he lost both his faith and his fight. Drifting from one assignment to another, he’s come to Honey Creek intending to earn his paycheck and move on.

As a Dallas cop, Colby Riddell has grown skeptical and wary. People have a bad habit of disappointing each other, but the job never lets him down. This job in particular—his first undercover—is too intriguing to pass up.

Piper, who’s been wondering if Honey Creek might be the only real love of her life, suddenly finds herself drawn to two very different men. And if she can keep her town—and her heart—from going completely off the rails, there may be a sweet, unexpected future in store . . .