#BerkleyBookmas: Julie James favorite recipe + Giveaway

December 7, 2017 by ·

Dirty Girl Romance is so excited to participate in Berkley Bookmas and we’re hosting Julie James today!

Berkley Bookmas is chock full of exclusive content from authors like exclusive excerpts, deleted scenes, author recipes and more!

Check out the calendar of events below:

Today, Julie James is sharing her favorite holiday recipe, and it sounds absolutely YUMMY!!

Need Cookies for the holidays? I’ve got your back.

When I was a kid, one of my favorite things about the holidays was my grandmother’s cookies. She used to spend days baking, and when we visited her house every Christmas Eve, there would be platters and tins of cookies seemingly everywhere.

Over the years, my cookie recipe book has expanded, but below are two classics that have been party of my family’s holiday traditions for years. Both are kid-friendly, adult-friendly, easy to make, and loaded with chocolate (generally a requirement for all my cookies, snickerdoodles excepted.) Enjoy!

Snowball Cookies

1 cup butter (softened to room temperature)
½ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 cups flour
1 package Hershey’s kisses
Confectioner’s sugar

Beat butter, granulated sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add flour and nuts. Shape dough around kisses and roll into balls. (Hint for first-timers: you don’t want too much dough; use just enough to cover the Hershey kiss.) Bake on cookies sheets lined with parchment paper at 375 degrees for about 8-10 minutes, or until the bottom of the cookies are a light golden brown. Let cookies cool, then roll them in confectioner’s sugar.

Variation: Mr. James is a little fussier than I am about cookies, and doesn’t like milk chocolate. (Miraculously, we’ve managed to stay married for 15 years despite this character flaw.) So for some of the cookies, I roll the dough around a bunch of semi-sweet chocolate chips (instead of a Hershey’s Kiss), and everyone’s happy. J

M&M Cookies


1 cup butter (softened to room temperature)
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
2 ¼ cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 pound bag of M&Ms
Julie’s add-on: I also throw in 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips because more chocolate = yummy goodness

Beat butter and sugars, then beat in vanilla and eggs. Add remaining dry ingredients, mix well, then stir in M&Ms (and chocolate chips). Bake at 375 degrees on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper for 9-11 minutes, or until light

Bet you’ll be trying these goodies for your holiday treats! I know we will!

ENTER HERE for a chance to win A $100 Visa gift card, and a book/galley/bound manuscript by each of the authors participating.

For tomorrow’s fun, head to one of the following blogs:

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Review & Excerpt: The Thing About Love by @juljames

April 18, 2017 by · Leave a Comment

THE THING ABOUT LOVE
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: Julie James
Release Date: April 18, 2017

Two undercover FBI agents can hide who they are from everyone but each other in the latest novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Suddenly One Summer.

FBI agents Jessica Harlow and John Shepherd have a past. The former lawyer and cocky Army ranger clashed during their training at Quantico, gladly going their separate ways after graduating from the Academy. Six years later, the last thing either of them expects is to run into each other again–assigned to work as partners in a high-profile undercover sting.

For both of them, being paired with a former rival couldn’t come at a worse time. Recently divorced from a Hollywood producer and looking for a fresh start, Jessica is eager to prove herself at her new field office. And John is just one case away from his dream assignment to the FBI’s elite Hostage Rescue Team. In order to nail a corrupt Florida politician, they’ll have to find a way to work as a team–a task that becomes even trickier when they’re forced to hole up at a romantic, beachfront resort as part of the investigation. Suddenly, the heat behind their nonstop sparring threatens to make the job a whole lot more complicated. . .

AMAZON | iBOOKS

Steeling himself, John turned around and smiled as Jessica approached. “Yes, Agent Harlow. How can I be of service?”In response to his dry tone, she threw him a glare so cold it could’ve frozen all nine circles of Dante’s Hell. Fittingly, just nine of the many places he would rather be than stuck working with her on this investigation.

“Look, I’m not thrilled about this, either.” Keeping her voice low, she came to a stop next to him at the elevator bank. “I thought you were supposed to be on the Hostage Rescue Team already.”

“And I thought you were supposed to be in L.A.”

There was a quick flash in her eyes before she shrugged off his question. “Change of plans.”

The elevator arrived at their floor, and they both stepped inside. She hit the button for the seventh floor, where the public corruption squad was located. Standing on the opposite side, he pressed the button for floor five.

They faced off as the doors shut. She folded her arms across her chest and studied him with those crystalline blue eyes that could so cleverly mask her emotions.

As he knew well.

“We’re going to have to figure this out,” she said. “We’re supposed to be business partners in this.”

Thank you, yes, being a professional, he was aware of that. He took a step closer. “It’s called “undercover” work, Harlow. If I can pretend to be a gun-buying, murder-for-hire thug, I think I can handle playing some rich investor-type who wants to skirt a few measly zoning laws.” Even a rich investor-type who was apparently masochistic enough to get in bed with the likes of her.

Professionally-speaking.

“Measly zoning laws?” she repeated.

Ooh, now he’d gone and pissed her off. How nice it was, really, that they could pick up like this, right where they’d left off.

She drew in closer, tilting her head back to meet his gaze. He was over a foot taller than her, although he noticed that she was heightening a bit with those expensive-looking three-inch heels she wore.

“Our target in this investigation is the mayor of the thirteenth largest city in the United States. That’s a pretty big deal in my book.” She gestured to his facial scruff and hair. “And while I appreciate that this . . . Sons of Anarchy motif you’ve got going might ingratiate yourself with the gun-buying, murder-for-hire, organized-crime thugs of the world, that’s not quite going to fly with this sting operation.”

“’Thirteenth largest city in the United States?’” he scoffed. “Just how many hours did you spend reviewing the case files last night?”

She smiled sweetly as the elevator arrived at her floor. “Enough to get the jump on you.”

Then the doors sprang open, and she gave him a friendly wave, once again stepping into the role of Ms. Congeniality. “So glad we got to catch up like this, Agent Shepherd. We’ll talk again soon.”

He watched her stride confidently down the hallway as the elevator doors closed between them.

Enough to get the jump on you.

Not for long, sweetheart.

Time for him to get cracking on that case file.

Nearly fifteen thousand special agents in the FBI, spread throughout the United States in fifty-six field offices, and she had to show up in Chicago for what was quite possibly his last undercover assignment. As his new partner.


God but I love this author. She writes stories that are funny, swoony, full of witty banter and humor, and they just keeps getting better and better! First of all, if you haven’t read anything by her yet, you need to rectify it immediately by reading her FBI/US Attorney series. One, because it’s AMAZING. And two, because you’ll definitely appreciate a few of the cameos in this book. But let’s get back to the matter at hand; all of the awesome that was this book.

So let’s see? We already know that enemies to lovers is my catnip, and no one seems to write it better than Julie James.

In response to his dry tone, she threw him a glare so cold it could’ve frozen all nine circles of Dante’s Hell. Fittingly, just nine of the many places he would rather be than stuck working with her on this investigation.


What makes it good is not just the humor interlaced flawlessly throughout the story, but the wit and sarcasm. Her characters are perfectly balanced and equals of each other. I love how James has a knack for writing incredibly endearing and strong female leads. They’re just the right amount of witty sarcasm and strength and Jessica Harlow was no exception. After her dedication to her job cost her her marriage, she’s looking to dive in further into her work and forget men. She doesn’t need them. She certainly doesn’t need an incredibly cocky, smart mouthed, Thor lookalike that made her months at Quantico training a living hell. Too bad it appears that he’s her new partner for an undercover sting and she’s stuck with him. He may know how to start a fire with two sticks and the ass end of a lightning bug, but he’s a royal pain in her butt and she won’t let him forget it. Digs and sarcasm galore, you guys!

John Shepher is on the track to make the FBI’s elite Hostage Rescue Team. He has one final assignment before he finds out, and it may be the longest assignment of his life because his new partner is as equally infuriating as she is sexy. The sparks flew between them when they first met but a simply misunderstanding of intentions turned them into rivals. Now they’re older, at a different point in their lives, but the spark hasn’t diminished even a little.

Feeling her body tremble, he leaned down and reached between her legs, the words pouring out of him in a low, possessive growl. “I love when you’re on the edge like this. You’re so goddamn sweet. So mine.”

The chemistry between theses two was through the roof hot. What I especially loved was how balanced to each other they both were. John didn’t come charging in and unermine Jessica’s ability as an agent. She was fully capable and he knew it. They were perfect equals and that’s so rare to find in today’s romance.

As per usual James fashion there was plenty of sexual tension and humor to keep you glued to the pages. The Thing About Love was a laugh out loud, swoon till you melt, keep you turning the pages well into the night sort of read. I adored it. I simply adored it. I will never get enough of this author and I can’t recommend her enough if you love smart contemporary romance with swoony heroes and capable, strong heroines. It was perfection!

Okay,” he repeated. She knew that look. “You’re going to kiss me, aren’t you?” He pretended to consider this. “Well, with all the emotions flying around, it just feels … expected.”

MEET JULIE JAMES

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