Karen’s Killer Fixin’s
**AUTHOR SPECIAL**
with SHANON GREY!
Welcome to my Friday bonus feature called Karen’s Killer Fixin’s **Author Special**!! Today, in lieu of one of my own recipes, I’m going to introduce you to a new author who will share one of her favorite recipes. Not only will you and I occasionally learn how to make something new and delicious, but we’ll get a chance to check out some wonderful authors. Introducing author, SHANON GREY, and her favorite recipe for JIFFY MIX BANANA PECAN COCONUT LOAF!
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CURRENTS OF DESTINY
Contemporary Romantic Suspense
BY SHANON GREY
Blurb
After a rogue wave turns Bobbi Moore’s world upside down in more ways than one, she finds herself indebted, not once but over and over, to a wounded war veteran who keeps disappearing as readily as he appears. Grappling with the changes life is throwing at her, Bobbi is determined to follow the currents of the fate laid before her. But destiny has other plans, ones that cannot be ignored.
Having returned from the war a changed man, Mac finds solace in his photography, until he captures a surfer being swallowed up by the sea. Without thinking, he fights the deep to recuse her, intertwining their paths tighter and tighter, until he must decide whether or not to relinquish his past for their future.
CURRENTS OF DESTINY
Contemporary Romantic Suspense
BY SHANON GREY
Excerpt
The feel of the rising swell lifting her board pulled Bobbi out of her reverie. The next one was it. Swinging forward, flat on her board, she started to paddle. The energy pushed her. Her pulse accelerated with each stroke. At just the right moment, she popped up, let her weight push back against the force beneath her, balancing. She felt the wind and salt spray assault her. It was going to be a good ride. No—a great ride.
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Mac saw her quick movement and raised the camera. Frames clicked in rapid succession as he immortalized the moment. He’d been shooting her off and on for about a month, whenever he happened to be there when she showed up. He loved watching her. With the thick blonde braid hanging down her back, the lithe muscular body moving with a grace that seemed to defy the laws of physics, and her pure enjoyment of the moment, she took command of the board—the ocean. He’d already captured some incredible shots. However, today was perfect. The waves rose higher, madder. She literally glowed from the energy around her. The wave rose with her atop it. His camera snapped over and over.
Looking through the viewfinder, he watched as the water rose behind her, growing as a monster wave formed out of nowhere.
“Shit,” he cursed, dropped the camera down on the towel, and took off running toward the water.
****
Bobbi saw darkness out of the corner of her eye. As she turned her head to look, she felt her board disappear from beneath her and, momentarily, she hung in midair as the wave she’d been riding disappeared, being sucked backward into the wall of water rising high behind her. She gasped, now in freefall, with nothing she could do as she saw Pogo’s riderless board flying through the air, directly at her. She felt the force of it ram into her shin and gulped a lungful of air as she was swallowed by the overtaking wave. Bobbi’s body was forced forward and down by the wall of water, a rag doll tossed underneath the churning waves. As soon as she felt it ease, she relaxed, knowing that, with one strong kick, she would thrust upward toward the surface. As she tried to move her leg, the pain flashed red behind her eyes and it took everything she had not to suck water into her lungs.
Just as her face broke the foam-crested waves, she felt the pull on her legs. With barely enough time to take in a mouthful of air, the sea claimed her once more. Cold currents gripped her, pulled her deeper. Her body twisted. Undertow. As the currents ran one against the other, she found herself caught in the middle of the fighting forces. She tried to kick, but one leg was useless and the other was bound by the water as it spun around her legs, strapping them together. Pogo flitted through her thoughts and she prayed he was okay. She tried to move her arms above her head to thrust upward, only to be trapped in the current as it pushed her farther down. Crap. Relax. She tried to remember what she’d been taught. She still had air.
Bobbi forced her body to go limp. She felt the pull and let it take her, tumbling her in the roiling water. The water churned around her, obscuring any vision. Her lungs burned. When she was sure she was going to die, her head broke the surface. Not wasting a second, she took in as much air as she could. Water filled her mouth as the angry ocean claimed her again. Relax. Move with the current. Parallel to shore. She had no idea where shore was. The next time she surfaced, she looked around quickly as she took more air. The shore was behind her and way too far away. Down she went. This time she turned with the current and began to move in it. She broke the surface, slightly closer to shore. The tow was lessening. She took a chance and screamed. Her reward was a mouthful of water. Lucky for her, the next break was quick. She gulped air and tried to flatten out on top of the water. Her injured leg pulled like a dead weight. She fought, face up, staring at a cloudless sky. She felt the swell underneath her and moved with the swell, using just her hands to guide her toward shore. Afraid too much movement would tempt the gods of the deep, she forced her battered body to relax and bob on the surface.
When she heard the waves breaking on shore, she rolled over to body surf in, but her arms and legs turned to lead. As she sank below the surface, the water swirled about her like a shroud. She succumbed to the deep. The world went dark.
About Author Shanon Grey...Shanon Grey weaves fiction with romance, suspense, and threads of the paranormal. THE SHOPPE OF SPELLS, MEADOW’S KEEP, PENNYROYAL CHRISTMAS, GLYNDA’S DARE, and TWISTED FATE are stories created with her love of Ruthorford in mind. Her newest, CURRENTS OF DESTINY, a contemporary suspense, takes you to Virginia Beach, Virginia, a place close to her heart. Her books are available in digital and/or print.
Shanon spent her life on coasts, both the beautiful Atlantic and the balmy Gulf. Hurricane Katrina taught her the fragility of life and the strength of friendship, family and starting over. She currently lives in the mountains of Georgia, trading the familiarity of the coast for the lush beauty and wonder of the mountains, where her husband fulfilled her lifelong dream—to live in a cottage in the woods. There, she garners inspiration from horses grazing on rolling pastures and deer that wander by to show off their young.
With Covid-19 devastating so many, Shanon continues to give you stories to help you escape from the stress for a bit and give you hope for the future. You can join her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ShanonGrey, follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ShanonGrey and visit her website at www.shanongrey.com. Contact her at shanongreybooks@yahoo.com. She would love to hear from you. CURRENTS OF DESTINY, as well as her other novels, are available in digital and/or print on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2F5AVz6
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Links to Shanon‘s Website, blog, books, etc.
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/ShanonGrey#!/ShanonGrey
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4833324.Shanon_Grey
Website:
http://shanongrey.wordpress.com/
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/ShanonGrey
Amazon Shanon Grey:
http://www.amazon.com/Shanon-Grey/e/B004Z9TS7I
I hope you enjoy the recipe Shanon is sharing today on Karen’s Killer Fixin’s. Happy Eating!
Karen
P.S. We’re at 485 recipes and counting with this posting. Hope you find some recipes you like. If this is your first visit, please check out past blogs for more Killer Fixin’s. In the right-hand column menu, you can even look up past recipes by type. i.e. Desserts, Breads, Beef, Chicken, Soups, Author Specials, etc.
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NOTE FROM SHANON: I was never a huge banana bread fan; but, when I started experimenting and tossed in some pecans and coconut, I knew I’d found a favorite. Then, I grabbed my trusty Jiffy Mix and I was on a roll. Enjoy.
JIFFY MIX BANANA PECAN COCONUT LOAF
(Makes one 9X5-inch loaf
Temp. 350 degrees F, 45-50 minutes
Ingredients:
2 Cups Jiffy Mix
¼ Cup melted Butter
¾ Cup sugar
2 Large eggs (I used extra-large)
1 Cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3 bananas)
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ Cup chopped pecans (toasted or untoasted)
½ Cup shredded unsweetened coconut (sweetened might be too sweet)
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 9 x 5 loaf pan
In a bowl, mix melted butter and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, and bananas and mix well.
Add to Jiffy mix and mix well. Add pecans and coconut and blend together.
Pour into loaf pan and bake 45-50 minutes, until top is golden brown. A wooden skewer will come out clean by feel damp. Let rest for 15 minutes before turning out. Let it cool before cutting.
Wrap it and keep in the refrigerator. Or, you can wrap it well and freeze it for a few months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight before serving, if frozen.
Enjoy with a hot cup of coffee or tea. I love mine with coffee.
(I am sure Bisquick can be substituted)
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**Special Giveaway** Shanon will give away a signed copy of CURRENTS OF DESTINY to one lucky reader who comments on her Karen’s Killer Book Bench blog. Happy Reading!
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Thanks, Shanon, for sharing your book with us!
Don’t miss the chance to read this book!
The book sounds exciting and the recipe sounds delicious and easy to make. Thanks for both! 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and for commenting. It is easy and great–so is the story!
interesting recipe
The book sounds interesting and I like this twist on banana bread. My hubby’s current favorite version is one with bourbon, chocolate, and pecans (sometimes i do walnuts too)
That sound like fun. I’ll have to try it! Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
Not only a gripping excerpt but a test sounding recipe to accompany the book!
I’d be so engrossed, I’d forget to eat it, though!
Thanks, Karen and Shanon.
I love your comment! Enjoy them together!
Good morning, Shanon, and welcome back to Karen’s Killer Fixin’s. There aren’t a lot of surfing books so your premise promises to be fascinating. I can’t wait to it. Thanks for sharing your book and the different take on banana bread. I have to try it!
Thank you for having me! It was fun writing the story and goes back to my younger days when sitting a surfboard didn’t seem so daunting. Truthfully, I sat better than surfed, but it was a great way to meet guys!
I love the banana bread recipe and plan to do some more experimenting. I might just add it to my Ruthorford series Abbott Bed & Breakfast menu. 😉
I always love being here. Your readers are the best!
WOW!! You hooked me with your excerpt. I need more of this story!! The recipe sounds yummy. Thanks so much for sharing.
Thanks for visiting and commenting. You made my night!
This recipe does make banana bread sound so much better, Sounds like my kind of read!
Same here. It works well. Thanks for stopping by.
Well, I’m late, but I’m here! I just saw the post on Facebook and sashayed myself over here to have a look at all the good stuff! Loved the excerpt AND the recipe. You have to tell me, will Bisquick work the same as Jiffy Mix? You know how the grocery shelves are right now, empty of some things lol. Anyway, what could be better than a new read shared with a warm slice of banana bread? 🙂 Thanks for the recipe and for a look inside the latest release, Shannon 🙂 Your gal-pal, who to quote another southern broad, loves you more than her luggage! 😉 Lo
Bisquick is just another quick mix from another mother, so I would say absolutely give it a try. I got hooked on Jiffy when I couldn’t afford Bisquick and found it on a lower shelf. Been using it ever since. Thanks for coming by–definitely better late than never. Big hugs, my southern shoulda-been cousin!