Sweet Evil Read Along Week 2

Hey y’all! Welcome to week one of the Sweet Evil Read Along hosted by Mindy at Magical Urban Fantasy Reads and co-hosted by me here at Two Chicks on Books as well as Rachel from Fiktshun, Tara from Tater’s Tall Tales and Nancy from The Ravenous Reader!

This week we’ll be reading chapters 10-15 and our topic this week is Pear or Citrus recipes. I love pears and citrus and since I’m not the biggest dessert fan I decided to share one of my favorite salad recipes. It incorporates pears and citrus with one of my other favorite things on the planet, blue cheese! So here’s the recipe what are some of yours?

Pear, Pecan, and Blue Cheese Salad with Cranberry Vinaigrette

• Vinaigrette:
• 1/2 cup canned whole-berry cranberry sauce
• 1/4 cup fresh orange juice (about 1 orange) 
• 1 tablespoon olive oil 
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon minced peeled fresh ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Salad:

• 18 Bibb lettuce leaves (about 2 heads)
• 2 cups sliced peeled pear (about 2 pears) 
• 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice 
• 1 cup (1/8-inch-thick) slices red onion, separated into rings
• 1/3 cup (2 ounces) crumbled blue cheese
• 1/3 cup crumbled bacon or bacon bits
• 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped pecans, toasted 

Preparation

1.    To prepare the vinaigrette, place the first 7 ingredients in a medium bowl; stir well with a whisk.

2.   To prepare the salad, divide the lettuce leaves evenly among 6 salad plates. Toss pear with 2 tablespoons orange juice. Divide pear and onion evenly among leaves. Top each serving with about 1 tablespoon cheese, 1 tablespoon bacon, and 1 teaspoon pecans. Drizzle each serving with about 2 1/2 tablespoons vinaigrette.

Ok so lol this is totes not going to be a review again but I’m going to share a couple of my favorite passages from these chapters and you’ll then see why we chose pears and citrus for this week’s theme!

“What is it you smell, exactly?” His voice too on a husky quality, and it felt like he was taking up a lot of room. I couldn't bring myself to look at him. Something strange was going on here. I stepped back, hitting the tub with my heel as I tried to put the scent into words.

“I don’t know. It’s like citrus and the forest or something…. Leaves and tree sap. I can’t explain it.”

His eyes bored into mine while he wore that trademark sexy smirk, arms still crossed.

“Citrus?” he asked. “Like lemons?”

“Oranges mostly. And a little lime too.”

He nodded and flicked his head to the side to get the hair out of his eyes. Then his smile disappeared and his badge throbbed.

“What you smell are my pheromones, Anna.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Would you like to know your own scent?” he asked me.

My heart swelled up big in my chest and squeezed small again. This whole scent thing was way too sensual to be discussed in this small space. Any second now my traitorous body would be emitting some of those pheromones and there’d be red in my aura.

“Uh, not really,” I said, keeping my eyes averted. “I think I should probably go.”

He made no attempt to move out of the doorway.

“You smell like pears with freesia undertones.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He blinked at me, seeming surprised by my easy forgiveness. I gave him a small smile and took a sip of my orange juice. He leaned back in his chair and observed me.

“How’s your orange juice, Ann? Does it have a touch of lime?”

The glass paused at my lips as I processed his innuendo, and I took a second to make sure my embarrassment stayed hidden inside. I let the drink swish over my tongue a moment before swallowing and answering.

“Actually it’s a little sour,” I said, and he laughed.

“That’s a shame.” He picked up a green pear from his plate and bit into it, licking the juice that dripped down his thumb. My cheeks warmed as I set down my glass.

“Okay, now you’re just being crude,” I said.

He grinned with lazy satisfaction.

Dear sweet heavens I love Kaidan lol! Make sure to check out my complete review check here! And come back next Sunday for Chapters fifteen through twenty-one! Oh and if you haven’t signed up for the read along yet it’s not too late just go the Sweet Evil Read Along Page and sign up!

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