FOODFIC: Please Welcome Lorena Bathey, Author of Beatrice Munson

In my first novel, Beatrice Munson, food has a big part in the book. It's a novel about women, friendship, love, laughter, change, chocolate cupcakes, and even Bunco.

That's just the tip of the iceberg really. Beatrice Munson, as a character is loved by all who read the book. She's a big personality whose defining moment in life was to either travel to Egypt or get a boob job...she chose Egypt.

When she moves into the neighborhood where Marissa, Deidre, Lily, and Andrea live she brings color, flavor, and transformation to their world. Beatrice is a person that knows what she wants and how to get it.

Marissa's character went to high school with Beatrice. To Marissa, Beatrice was the nemesis that stole the boy she loved and lived the life she wished she had. We all knew girls like this in high school, the ones that seem to have it all. Now with Beatrice living across the street from Marissa, she feels the old insecurities visiting which are exacerbated by the fact that her husband left her for another woman.

But through the senses, Beatrice opens these women up to change and they begin to discover their passions, loves, and joys again. The simplicity of a chocolate cupcake can explain the new excitement Beatrice brings to the women of Vista Heights.

     I felt the warm cupcake in my hand and inhaled the sweet scent of the cake. There was something more to the fragrance. It did not smell just like chocolate. There was a bitter undercurrent that I couldn't put my finger on.

    Beatrice noticed my confusion and said, "Taste it."

    I took a bite of the cupcake and felt the explosion that the smell awakened. There was more to this cupcake than meets the eye. I looked at Beatrice and she could see the surprise in my eyes.

    "It's Mexican chocolate. It has cinnamon and chili peppers in it. What do you think?"

    What did I think? It was phenomenal. Beatrice took my mother's ordinary cupcake and created an even bigger taste explosion in my mouth.    (Beatrice Munson, LorenaBBooks.com)

This book was my first novel and filled with not only wonderful women characters, but the influences that I was going through as I struggled to become the woman I wanted to be. It's the story of women who have lost their way to duty of being wives, mothers, and who they think they should be. But when Beatrice arrives, all that changes and these women discover that who they always wanted to be when they grew up is exactly who they should be now. 

Thanks for stopping by to share your food for thought, Lorena!

Find her at www.LorenaBBooks.com

Lorena Bathey attended St. Mary’s College in Moraga graduating with a degree in English.

She started writing her first book, Happy Beginnings: How I Became My Own Fairy Godmother when her world fell apart and she needed to process changes in her life.

Lorena found characters Marissa, Andrea, Lily, Deidre and Beatrice were visiting her and wouldn’t leave and that’s how her first novel, Beatrice Munson, came to life.

After finishing that book she was inspired to write more novels and she knew that pursuing her passion was the best way to live her life. So a writer she became. She is also a wife, mother, grandmother, grilled cheese aficionado, and avid photographer.

Today Lorena has written several novels, Beatrice Munson, House on Plunkett Street, The X, Coaster, and Meeting Ms. Monroe. She is currently working on four novels, three of which are historical fiction.