Love celebrating a release day with an introduction to some fabulous characters! Bethany Turner’s rom-com, Hadley Beckett’s Next Dish released today and Hadley and Max are well worth the meet and greet below! I’ll be posting Necee’s fabulous review of this fun story later this week, but wanted to share Bethany’s character spotlight with you today. She’s done such a great job sharing about her two famous chefs in this post AND we get to give away a copy of this entertaining story to one reader, so be sure to enter the giveaway below. Many thanks to Revell for the giveaway.

Enjoy meeting Hadley and Max!

Celebrity chef Maxwell Cavanagh is known for many things: his multiple Michelin stars, his top-rated Culinary Channel show To the Max, and most of all his horrible temper. Hadley Beckett, host of the Culinary Channel’s other top-rated show, At Home with Hadley, is beloved for her Southern charm and for making her viewers feel like family.

When Max experiences a very public temper tantrum, he’s sent packing to get his life in order. When he returns, career in shambles, his only chance to get back on TV and in the public’s good graces is to work alongside Hadley.

As these polar-opposite celeb chefs begin to peel away the layers of public persona and reputation, they will not only discover the key ingredients for getting along, but also learn the secret recipe for unexpected forgiveness . . . and maybe even love. In the meantime, hide the knives.

Fan-favorite Bethany Turner serves up a heaping helping of humor and romance with this thoroughly modern story centered on cooking, enemies, and second chances.

Hadley & Max

Physical Stats

Height:

Hadley – 5’8”

Max – 6’

Hair colour & style:

Hadley – She’s a natural blonde who has always kept her hair basically the same—long full-bodied layers, simple, low-maintenance. Later as we see her come into her own and grow more confident in her own skin, she tries something new and cuts it shorter, into more of a choppy bob.

Max – He also goes through a hair transformation. As Hadley describes Max’s hair, “It had been a little too floppy in the past, but now he had more of a side-swept Ivy League style, with a bit of deliberately tousled personality. Less Hugh Grant in Four Weddings and a Funeral, more David Beckham on a Tuesday.” And once he starts growing his beard…watch out!

Eye colour:

Hadley – I actually don’t think I ever say in the book! I’m just realizing that now. But she definitely has hazel eyes, with a vivid burst of gold around the pupil.

Max – Max has incredible blue eyes. Hadley describes the color as “three separate shades that came together to look like the color of the sky as a thunderstorm rolls in.”

Dress sense:

Hadley — I’d describe her style as classy casual. She always looks very put together, but she’s not necessarily stylish. At least not cutting edge stylish. She’s very much a southern girl who loves a good pair of jeans and a comfy flannel shirt.

Max — Black jeans, black V-neck T-shirt. Pretty much all day every day.

Resembles… 

Hadley – Apart from the eye color, she is totally Jessica Capshaw in my mind.

Max – Max looks like Dan Stevens…but only very specific pictures of Dan Stevens. Not Downton Abbey Dan Stevens, but more recent Dan Stevens. Dan is a lot thinner than Max. Max is pretty built and buff.

Can’t live without…

Hadley – A kitchen. It sounds cliché, since she is a chef. But for Hadley, cooking is so much more than a job. It’s her safe place and where she is the most comfortable.

Max – His trusty backpack that has travelled around the globe with him more times than he can count. Quite often he feels like the only time he has any control of his own life is when he can throw some necessities in his backpack and hit the open road.

Strengths

Hadley – She is genuinely good and kind and has a capacity for forgiveness that I really admire. She is so compassionate, and it takes a whole lot to really get her to dislike someone. (Max makes it pretty easy for her!)

Max – Max is a genius in the kitchen, and who he is in the kitchen reflects all of his greatest strengths outside of the kitchen. He’s passionate, innovative, daring, adventurous, dedicated, and hard-working.

Vulnerabilities

Hadley – Hadley is a sometimes-heartbreaking mix of completely sure of and comfortable with who she is, but also completely sure that who she is will never be enough. Or at least never be anything special, in her mind.

Max – Max’s biggest vulnerability is, without a doubt, his anger. And the anger comes from so many past hurts that have resulted in him being cold, abrasive, and mistrusting. He’s also got an ego the size of Manhattan.

Passions

Hadley – Baking. She’s a brilliant chef, but when she bakes, it’s a total art form. She’s a world-class Michelin-starred chef, but she probably would have been just as happy running a little corner bakery somewhere in Nashville.

Max – For Max, the true passion is found in the pursuit of excellence in his cooking. How can he top himself? How can he top his competitors? What can he create that no one else has ever thought of creating?

Their dish of choice – to create or to eat!

Hadley – She has an original dessert creation she calls Bouille Hadley. It’s a tarte à la bouille, a traditional Cajun custard pie, but in angel food cake form. It’s the dessert she’s most well known for.

Max – His signature dishes to make are beef Wellington and wild mushroom risotto, and he’s usually not much of a dessert guy. The exception to that is Bouille Hadley!

What book or movie would they recommend?

Hadley – Probably Fried Green Tomatoes or Steel Magnolias. She would love the southern aspects of them both and is also someone who can appreciate a good cry now and then.

Max – When it comes to movies, he would probably recommend Ocean’s 11. But not the George Clooney version. The original with Frank Sinatra. Max has an affection for that rat pack type of cool.

Your inspiration for the character

Hadley – From the beginning, Hadley’s personality was vaguely based on the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. I wanted her to be from the South, and known for her sweet personality and values, almost as much as her cooking.

Max – Gordon Ramsay, all the way. Gordon Ramsay is widely considered one of the greatest chefs in the world, but his personality can be pretty polarizing. He can come across as a total jerk (and has a potty mouth) but then he has these moments when you feel like you’re seeing who he truly is. Especially in his interactions with children.

Background to the story 

It really started with the idea of the two characters. The thought of these two polar opposites being forced to work together…that was what I really wanted to write. It didn’t take too long, once I got to know them, to see the layers and potential that existed once these two diverse characters got together.

Thank you, Bethany! Always a delight to have you visit 🙂

Bethany Turner is the award-winning author of The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck and the director of administration for Rock Springs Church in southwest Colorado. A former bank executive and a three-time cancer survivor (all before she turned 35), Bethany knows that when God has plans for your life, it doesn’t matter what anyone else has to say. Because of that, she’s chosen to follow his call to write. She lives with her husband and their two sons in Colorado, where she writes for a new generation of readers who crave fiction that tackles the thorny issues of life with humor and insight.

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Buy from Amazon: Hadley Beckett’s Next Dish or Koorong

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