Agents of Romance

{Guest Post & Giveaway} Rocking Around The Holidays With Kate Canterbary (@KCanterbary @RockStarPRLC)

12/11/2014

Some lines are meant to be crossed.

Patrick
That hair. That fucking hair. It was everywhere, always, and I wanted to tangle my fingers in those dark curls and pull. And that would be fine if she wasn't my apprentice.

Andy Asani was nothing like I expected. She was exotic and scary-brilliant, and the slightest murmur from those lips sent hot, hungry lust swirling through my veins. Outside my siblings, she was the only person I could name who shared my obsession with preserving Boston's crumbling buildings.

Andy
My wants were few: good eats, tall boots, hot yoga, interesting work. One incredibly hot architect with the most expressive hazel eyes I ever encountered and entirely too much talent in and out of the bedroom wasn't part of the original plan. Apparently he was part of the package.

Wine was my rabbi and vodka was my therapist, and I needed plenty of both to survive my apprenticeship. Especially with Patrick Walsh leaving love notes in the form of bite marks all over my body.

Guest Post - Kate Canterbary

Behind the Scenes with Kate Canterbary

Less cave, more guest bedroom. In my past life as a reporter, I learned to work anywhere: coffee shops, airports, church confession booths (true story). I'm able to tune most things out and don't require much routine. The one thing I require is headspace. The implements don't matter—paper, laptop, phone app—and neither does the location. I just need the right headspace. I need to hear the story, hear my characters, and from there I'm good to go. There's usually water or green tea, but that's it (and after spilling 32 ounces of water on my laptop a few months ago, I keep the water on the other side of the room).

Favorite Holiday memory as an adult?

Cozumel. Tequila. Husband. Doesn't get much better than that.

Favorite Holiday memory as a child?

I wanted to listen to Christmas music all year, but my parents wouldn't let me be quite that dorky. It was a big deal when I was finally allowed to have my Christmas tunes again after Thanksgiving.

Do you have a silly holiday tradition?

We've never done typical traditions. Ours are rather unintentional and a wee bit dysfunctional.

Somehow, my sister and I always end up on a crazy midnight obstacle course. Without fail, we realize around 11 p.m. on Christmas Eve that neither of us picked up a random-yet-highly-important gift. We find ourselves begging weary store clerks to stay open a little longer or tearing through the aisles of whichever 24-hour drugstore is still available, the whole time muttering about how we always forget Mom's perfume (essential to her Christmas morning happiness) or our brother's giant box of condoms (the gag gift turned very practical stocking stuffer) or the can of Spotted Dick (someone gets dick every year).

Then we buy four varieties of ice cream and vodka, mix up some boozy milkshakes, and stuff stockings in the middle of the night.

Favorite holiday food?

I consider champagne a food. Toss a raspberry in the glass if you feel the need to chew something.

Favorite holiday movie?

Love, Actually. I can't get enough of Hugh Grant singing Christmas caroles on demand. It's objectively adorable.

Favorite holiday dessert?

I consider champagne a dessert.

Favorite holiday drink? (Drink of choice at a holiday cocktail party?)

Champagne. There is literally no way to go wrong with champagne, ever.

If you could change one holiday what would it be? (This could be like, you’d add an extra day to thanksgiving or add a holiday in between Thanksgiving and New Years as a day to rest from the holidays, or where holiday music is banned.)

The consumerism slays me. I wish it was less about stuff and more about people.

Do you decorate for the holidays? (When do you start decorating?)

My husband loves decorating. He's all about the lights and wreaths and trees, and he's ready to start unpacking the decorations before the Thanksgiving table is even cleared.

Do you prefer a snowy or vacationing (tropical island) holiday?

For me, the 'where' is irrelevant. It's the 'who.'

I have a big, noisy family and whether our holiday gatherings are snowy or tropical, it's the people that make it special.

And the champagne.

About The Author -

Kate doesn't have it all figured out, but this is what she knows for sure: spicy-ass salsa and tequila solve most problems, living on the ocean--Pacific or Atlantic--is the closest place to perfection, and writing smart, smutty stories is a better than any amount of chocolate. She started out reporting for an indie arts and entertainment newspaper back when people still read newspapers, and she has been writing and surreptitiously interviewing people—be careful sitting down next to her on an airplane—ever since. Kate lives on the water in Rhode Island with Mr. Canterbary and the Little Baby Canterbary, and when she isn't writing sexy architects, she's scheduling her days around the region's best food trucks.