Hot Dish

by Connie Brockway

Jenna Lind, transplanted from her posh Raleigh penthouse to frozen Fawn Creek, Minnesota, wants to get herself into a good college and escape. She hopes that winning the Butter Queen crown will do the trick. But she loses. And worse yet, she has to have a sculpture of her head carved in butter displayed at the state fair.

Steve Jaax, a renowned sculptor in New York City, finds himself in Fawn Creek carving heads out of dairy products. But the failed beauty queen he meets there has more going on in her head than he expects, and together they discover each other and what true happiness can be.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Chick Lit, Fiction, Adult

432 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 19, 2006

About the author

New York Times and USAToday best selling author Connie Brockway has twice won the Romance Writers of America's Rita award for best historical romance as well as being an eight time finalist. After receiving a double major in art history and English from Macalester College, Connie entered grad school with an eye to acquiring her MFA in creative writing. Soon enough she jettisoned the idea of writing serious literature for what she considered (and still considers) the best gig in the world, writing romance.

Connie has received numerous starred reviews for her romances in Publisher's Weekly and Library Journal. Library Journal also named her Her 2004 romance, My Seduction, one of the year's top ten romances.

In November of 2011, THE OTHER GUY'S BRIDE (a sequel to the perennially popular AS YOU DESIRE) was Amazon's Montlake Publishing's launch title. Here next book, NO PLACE FOR A DAME will be published September, 2013. A regency set romance, it is also the sequel to ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT.Today Connie lives in Minnesota with her husband David, a family physician, and two spoiled mutts.

Reviews

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have never read anything by C.B. before & I don't think I will be rushing out to buy another.. The underlining story was a cute idea but 1/3 of the book is her telling us what a "typical Minnesotian" does/doesn't say or do (A typical Minnesotian always stands with his hands in his pockets meeting a stranger - really??? every single one does this? not!) If I lived there one of 2 things would happen reading this book 1) I would be really pissed off for the stereotyping or 2) I would laugh through the whole thing knowing the author was not from there (except she is)... And the male lead must be a alien from space, he has traveled the world but he is exited to see snow, chickens and a tractor? He acts as if he has never seen things before at all. I am not really impressed with this book... Like I said the underlying story is funny - everyone is after a 20 y/o butter head & it has been kidnapped - but I think I will wait to get another of hers until I am desperate for a book.

[Robin · Rating 1 out of 5]

After her father makes some bad investments, Jen Lind's family loses their fortune and they move to a trailer in Minnesota. Jenn will do anything to get back to her friends in Raleigh. She begins entering pageants in hopes of winning a scholarship. But her chances of becoming Buttercup Queen go down the drain when it becomes apparent she does not qualify for the pageant. Now its twenty years later and Jenn has made it big on Daytime TV as a Martha Stewart type host. When her network lines her up to be Grand Marshall in a hometown celebration, she finds that she will be sharing the honors with celebrity Steve Jaax, a man who sculpted Jenn's face into immortality on a hundred-pound block of butter.

I tried to like this story, but I just couldn't get into it. There are too many characters, too many points of view, and I just couldn't follow the plot. This is Connie Brockway's first contemporary romance. Based on this story, I hope she goes back to historicals soon. DNF.

[Jo · Rating 1 out of 5]

NOOO! This is not the Connie Brockway I know and love
The book was boring, the title was all wrong, Jenn was sure a cook but it was only said in passing. The book should be titled "Butter Head" instead, although I think I would scream if I ever heard anyone mentioned "butter head" over again
I find it hard to believe that Ms. Brockway who wrote this book is also the same author who wrote "As You Desire", "A Dangerous Man", "Bridal Season" and so on and so on. Maybe, like Lisa Kleypas, she should never dip her toes into contemporary and just stick to Historical. How I rue the day I bought this book and ruin the perfect image of Ms. Brockway
I would still read any upcoming book by Ms. Brockway, but please, PLEASE, not another one like this

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A young teenager has to move to a small Minnesota town because her parents lost all their money. She hates the town and gets out as soon as she can. Years later the fate of this town rests on her. Lots of laughs, some revelations and, oh yeah, a kidnapped butter head that everyone's trying to get. A really good read.

[Marcella · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this at a little free library in Minnesota years ago and have been slowly making my way through it on trips home. I can hardly give it a review at this point because I mainly just opened to a part that seemed about right, but I'm not sure this method of reading significantly changed the experience. The plot is absurd and the MN-isms are plentiful.

[Michele Millsap · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy read, some slow parts, but fun. Perfect for not getting hooked into reading way last my bedtime!

[Tabs · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has a pretty darn misleading cover. It looks like a contemporary romance romp with a young beauty queen. It's not. Both of the protagonists are around 40 years old and they spend most of the book trudging around snowy Minnesota in parkas.

And it's not really a romance, either. The vast majority of the plot has more to do with blackmail, a sculpted head made out of butter a.k.a "the butter head," incredibly incompetent thievery, and the heroine's resentment of her home town than with romance.

I'm actually not sure if the book is as entertaining as I recall or if I'm just biased because it kept going in the opposite direction of where expected up until the very last page and I really liked that. I am certain, however, that the constant use of the phrase "butter head" made me laugh. A lot. Also, having a somewhat goofy and relaxed male lead was really refreshing since the vast majority of romance males tend to be of the suave dude archetype.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Connie Brockway's contemporary romance debut, Hot Dish, we're introduced to Jenn Lind aka Jenn Hallesby. It starts out with a flashback to a small town beauty pageant and outraged by a unbeknown scandal, she vows not to go back there again. Years later, she's a well known New York Martha Stewart type on cooking and crafting. But she's asked to come back to be a grand co-marshal for Fawn Creek's celebratory parade, that's about the same time Steve Jaax returns back to her life, and she lands a new show from a new channel. But it's not all what it seems due to change. Back home, she meets some familiar characters and her parents at their B&B/home. Things change, when there's chemistry between her and Jax, while they're after a butter head of her head from back then. Humor, romance, blackmail and extortion with loads of drama are the perfect ingredients in this romance.

[Georgiann Hennelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Jen was a teenager her parents lost their fortune and moved her to Fawn Creek Minnesota. Jen never did fit in . So she entered beauty pagents as a way to pay for college until some conniving townspeople cheated her out of her crown. Each contestant had a butterhead carved of them . Now 20 years later it has come bk to haunt her when she is asked to be Fawn Creeks grand marshall of the towns sesquicentennial along with the artist who carved the butterhead which her parents had saved all these years. Now the sculpture is stolen a thief and the artist want the sculpture bk because the artist hid something in it. and the other thief looks at it as a way to finance his retirement. a must read if you like romance along with a few laughs.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not quite as good as "Skinny-Dipping," but still a nice read. It took me a lot longer to get into this book, but once it moved past the initial flashback I started caring. Certain plot directions were pretty obvious, but the characters are so much quirky fun that it's easy to overlook this. I love the abundant Minnesota redneck jokes (the t-shirt "Don't kiss me, I'm Swedish" made me laugh). Brockway captures very well the contradictions and love/hate aspects of small-town life, especially when it's forced on a teenager. The romance was definitely off-beat and slow-developing - rare and enjoyable traits. No pages and pages of sex scenes to wade through either. Brockway basically does the fade-to-black love scenes. Fun read, but I'm glad I read "Skinny-Dipping" first.

[Marcie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another light read, this one has a little bit of "thrill" to it as well with danger, but mostly just brain candy. I had no preconceptions with Minnesotans, I must say, but this book paints the stereotype broadly and without much deviation. The small town vs. big city discussion is handled in an interesting way, and rich vs. poor, popular vs. not, ...all these tensions have their place. I really do like the heroine, even though I probably wouldn't have if she wasn't written so candidly. The B&B described herein sounds horrific and yet terrific. I've never been much for snow & ice in the large amounts described here, but I think I could enjoy some of that after reading so much about outdoor sports in a Minnesota town. Feel free to weight in on the stereotypes in the comments!

[penelopewanders]

I think I read somewhere that this was Brockway's first foray into contemporary stories. I recall Skinny Dipping with fond memories - remember finding the setting quite unusual and exotic (for me...)and the characters interestingly quirky and credible. This one seems to take a long time to get off the ground. The credibility is terribly stretched, and some of the situations (a butterhead, really??) remind me a lot of Carl Hiaasen's books (a good thing)... By the second half I was more into this Hiaasen type mood and began enjoying it much more. In the long run, it was good fun, just slow to get going.

[k8inorbit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, in the grand scheme of things. Has a positive secondary character who's a lesbian, the "villain" is a conservative Christian, and the heroine's learning experience involves her choosing to stop her role as a Martha Stuart style television personality because she doesn't want to support his message and because she doesn't enjoy the pressure to be perfect.

Having said that, she's still giving up her career (to some extent) to get her man.

[MB (What she read) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I so enjoy the quirky humor in this book. I wish Brockway would write more contemporaries as she has an amazing voice, real feel for a sense of place, and wonderful humor!

(I've enjoyed her historicals too, but there are so many historical romances out there that they fade into the woodwork for me. I've pretty much reached my saturation point with that genre.)

This book as well as 'Skinny Dipping' are total comfort reads for me.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a funny Christmas gift from Priya. It's about a girl who is an up and coming tv show host (think wannabe Martha) who has to return to the town that ousted her from some sort of state fair beauty pageant. It's pretty amusing and the sex was decent. It's like vegging out in front of the tv in book form.

[Kasey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for something quick and easy to set down so this fit the bill. The story was cute and exactly what I thought it would be. Admittedly though, my favorite part was the pair of shoes on the front cover. If anybody finds a pair of those red shoes----I want them!!

[Jenny Rebecca · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have to admit, I'm not a fan of Connie writing contemporary. This sounds terrible, but all of her characters are old, and not likeable. Especially the 'hero'. I don't even think I finished this book.

[Sue · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was a rather silly story with a weak story line that was carried mostly through conversational scenes. There were too many characters for me to keep track of and the author used way too many run-on sentences.

[WhatShouldIRead]

I read about 100 pages into this one. Not one likable character in the lot. I value my reading time so decided not to whittle away at it while reading about disagreeable people. A did not finish for me.

[Purple Iris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this more than I expected to, once I got past the initial pages about the butter head. Not the way to draw me in! I didn't appreciate the way the heroine's name changed from Jenny to Jenna from time to time. Things like that distract me. It's called copyediting, people!

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book -- The Minnesota State Fair, Dairy Princesses with their heads carved in butter -- fun. It has some sex in it and there is some suggestive language. Fluff.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Easy breezy romance--could have been better. Main character was hard to like and I really wanted more from story.

[Olean Public Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

A funny kidnapping/ransom makes this an enjoyable read.

[Sylvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Modern

[Bekah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave this 65 pages...there was just way too much going on....too many characters and too many details i didnt need.

[Ali · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not too impressed so far- missing a spark.

The plot moved way too slow for me and the "quirky characters" had zero charm.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got halfway through and gave up. I just don't care about the characters or how they get back to the opening scene.

[Meaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

cute and funny. the butter head business started to get a little bit ridiculous towards the end, but it was still humorous.

[Julie Levine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought it would never end.

[Stefanie Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

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