Love from Scratch | Author Interview | Book Tour

I’m so excited to be a part of the book tour for Love from Scratch that is hosted by TBR and Beyond Tours. I was really excited to also be able to interview the author for this book!

INTERVIEW

Welcome Kaitlyn! Thank you for allowing me to interview you! Can you start off by introducing yourself?

Thanks so much for having me! I’m Kaitlyn Hill, author of young adult romances. I live in Kentucky with my fiancé and too many books (just kidding, there’s no such thing). Aside from writing and romance novels, my favorite things are bad reality dating shows, Formula 1 racing, long naps, sweet tea, and the music of ABBA and Taylor Swift.

How would you describe Love from Scratch in one sentence?

Rival interns at an online cooking channel compete for the same job and find the recipe for love along the way!

Can you introduce us to the main character(s) of Love from Scratch?

Reese Camden is 18 years old, in the summer between high school and college, and has moved from her home in small town Kentucky to Seattle for her internship with Friends of Flavor. She’s had some bad experiences in the past that make her want to start totally fresh in her new city and focus on nothing but herself and her professional future—and falling in love is definitely not part of her plans.

She is a go-getting people-pleaser with a hidden sassy side, though that part of her is harder to hide around the other intern at FoF, Benny. He seems to be so many things she isn’t—charming, skilled at cooking, and an attractive guy, for starters—and it brings out her insecurities about competing for the same full-time job as him while also presenting a temptation that might be too great to resist.  

Do you know from the beginning how your books will end or do you let your characters decide their journey?

As a romance writer, I have the benefit of at least knowing my books will end with an HEA (happily ever after), a.k.a. the couple will be together. But the fun part is figuring out how they get there, and what together will mean for them! Usually, there are plenty of obstacles to get through in order for them to be happy and in love. I usually start with a rough idea of what I want the characters’ obstacles to be and how they might overcome them, but things become a lot clearer as I flesh out their personalities and backstories through drafting. In the case of Love from Scratch, I did write the Grand Gesture scene at the end pretty early on in the process—it just happened to be one of the scenes I thought up first. ☺

Do you have a favorite scene, moment, or quote from the book?

Said Grand Gesture!! You’ll know when you read it. I also really enjoyed writing this intense discussion between Reese and Benny that takes place while they’re in a race car simulator game. It was fun having them say a bunch of serious stuff interrupted by, “oh no, I just hit a pedestrian!” The words “Jesus take the wheel” also come up—sorry, Carrie Underwood.

What are three books you would recommend if someone enjoyed Love from Scratch?

Love this question!

1. A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey
2. Love and Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch
3. Tweet Cute by Emma Lord

What’s next for you? Anything you can share?

My second book, Not Here to Stay Friends, comes out spring 2023! It’s a best-friends-to-lovers YA romance set around a reality dating show, and it was so much fun to write. I can’t wait to share more as it gets closer!

Thank you so much!! ❤ Kaitlyn

ABOUT THE BOOK

Synopsis:

This summer, Reese Camden is trading sweet tea and Southern hospitality for cold brew and crisp coastal air. She’s landed her dream marketing internship at Friends of Flavor, a wildly popular cooking channel in Seattle. The only problem? Benny Beneventi, the relentlessly charming, backwards-baseball-cap-wearing culinary intern–and her main competition for the fall job.

Reese’s plan to keep work a No Feelings Zone crumbles like a day-old muffin when she and Benny are thrown together for a video shoot that goes viral, making them the internet’s newest ship. Audiences are hungry for more, and their bosses at Friends of Flavor are happy to deliver. Soon Reese and Benny are in an all-out food war, churning homemade ice cream, twisting soft pretzels, breaking eggs in an omelet showdown–while hundreds of thousands of viewers watch.

Reese can’t deny the chemistry between her and Benny. But the more their rivalry heats up, the harder it is to keep love on the back burner…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR