I love to share this recipe every year for the December holidays. We have my Grandma Eddie to thank for this classic treat. Enjoy!
Celia’s Holiday Caramel Candy
Ingredients:
1 can Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 cups white sugar
2 cups white Karo Syrup
1 stick of butter (1/4 lb.)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Mix together the first three ingredients (milk, sugar, syrup) in a large bowl.
Melt the butter in a large heavy kettle, pour in the mixture and bring to a boil.
Stir continuously while mixture boils until it reaches the temperature of 245 degrees Fahrenheit on a candy thermometer (can take up to 25 minutes).
Note: If mixture overcooks, candy gets too hard.
Once the 245 degree temperature is reached, remove kettle from stove.
Stir in 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract, then pour mixture onto a large buttered cookie sheet or flat pan.
Allow to cool.
When cool, cut candy into squares and wrap in plastic wrap or waxed paper.
And try not to eat them all before you do! Makes a delicious holiday gift!
Tranquilli Bloodline
Book One
Celia Breslin
Genre: urban fantasy, paranormal romance
Publisher: Champagne Book Group
Date of Publication: July 2, 2013
ISBN: 9781927454862
ASIN: B07XTDGHRZ
Number of pages: 372
Word Count: 174K
Cover Artist: Melody Pond
Tagline: Chosen by destiny. Bonded by blood.
Book Description:
San Francisco nightclub owner Carina Tranquilli works hard, plays hard, and never allows the death of her parents and her twelve-year memory gap to get her down. But her life takes a left turn when a witch attacks her on her twenty-fifth birthday.
Three hauntingly familiar vampires emerge to reveal she possesses a latent power. To protect her from their enemies, they admit to wiping her memories clean and abandoning her as a child, but now they need her help. As she struggles to evade her new protectors and even newer enemies, she meets Alexander, an enigmatic, undead musician. Insta-attraction flares, leaving her wanting more.
With evil’s minions hounding her every move, and everything she thought she knew turned on its head, Carina must harness her burgeoning power, unravel her vampire family’s web of deceit, and fight to keep the love of her life…without getting killed in the process.
Amazon US – Amazon UK – Amazon CA
B & N – Apple Books – Kobo – Champagne
Excerpt Haven
Alexander plastered me against the side of his car and slanted his lips over mine. Time stopped. My fucking heart stopped, then thundered so loud in my ears I thought the world exploded around us. This is what I’d missed, what I craved. This man, these lips. I groaned. His tongue swept over my lips demanding entrance and I caved, allowing him in. He growled, a hungry, sexy as sin growl as his tongue plundered my mouth, taking, tasting, demanding ownership all over again. I let him, taking all he had to give.
Tranquilli Bloodline
Book Two
Celia Breslin
Genre: urban fantasy, paranormal romance
Publisher: Champagne Book Group
Date of Publication: November 3, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-77155-164-9
ASIN: B00O6A77FG
Number of pages: 234
Word Count: 74K
Cover Artist: Melody Pond
Tagline: Blackmailed. Betrayed. Sometimes destiny sucks.
Book Description:
In HAVEN, San Francisco nightclub owner Carina Tranquilli survives a vicious attack by her vampire family’s longtime archenemies. Several weeks later, as she struggles with PTSD and survivor’s guilt, supervillain Dixon resurfaces and kidnaps two of her best friends. To save them, Carina must comply with the evil bastard’s unusual demands. The kicker? She must tell no one what she is up to.
Meanwhile, she has a new dance club to open for the preternatural community, a fated soul mate acting secretive and distant, and a sexy, new, undead friend who’d love to take Alexander’s place in her heart and bed.
Blackmailed, betrayed, tempted…sometimes destiny has a wicked sense of humor.
Excerpt Destiny
Alexander plastered me against the side of his car and slanted his lips over mine. Time stopped. My fucking heart stopped, then thundered so loud in my ears I thought the world exploded around us. This is what I’d missed, what I craved. This man, these lips. I groaned. His tongue swept over my lips demanding entrance and I caved, allowing him in. He growled, a hungry, sexy as sin growl as his tongue plundered my mouth, taking, tasting, demanding ownership all over again. I let him, taking all he had to give.
Tranquilli Bloodline
Book 3
Celia Breslin
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Champagne Book Group
Date of Publication: September 22, 2019
Number of pages: 250
Word Count: 94,000
ASIN: B07Y8R94Z5
Cover Artist: Melody Pond
Tagline: The Chosen One is home. Bad little vampires beware…
Book Description:
In HAVEN & DESTINY, San Francisco nightclub owner Carina Tranquilli finds love and fights her vampire family’s enemies. Now, in ORIGINS…
En route to reunite with her estranged father in Italy, Carina is kidnapped by a human organization intent on vampire genocide. Beaten, starved, and forced to fight fellow captives, she finally manages to escape. Along the way, she encounters the group’s leaders—their identities shock her to the core.
Once home, Carina warns her family of this new threat, but dear old dad is missing. In his absence, the Tribunal, the governing body for all vampirekind, lies in disarray, with an old enemy making a bid for her father’s throne. What’s worse? The usurper wants her for his queen…and slave.
With a human-vampire war looming on one side and a vampire-vampire battle brewing on the other, Carina will have to rally her troops, take back the throne, and fulfill her destiny as the Chosen One. If not, her whole world will fall, taking everyone she loves with it.
Excerpt Origins
The car stopped. I couldn’t convince myself to step out. What if this was a freaking, injection-induced hallucination? What if I was still back in the damn prison?
Besnik helped me out.
The mansion’s mammoth double doors eased open. The man illuminated in the doorway chased away the numbness, pumped my heart so hard it might pound right out of my chest. He opened his arms wide, calling me. My lips curled upward in the first true smile I’d cracked since the last time he’d held me in his arms. That man, my man, loved me more than any other on this whole damn planet.
“Alexander.”
I ran to him.
Alexander’s arms closed around me, his hold so tight I could barely catch a breath. Tremors ran through his hard body, again and again.
“Carina,” he croaked, voice sandpaper rough. “Carina.”
Nuzzling his neck, I planted fevered kisses along his tan, heated skin. He’d fed recently to be this warm under my lips. Temptation had me licking his pounding pulse, nipping at the vein. Couldn’t resist it. My fangs slid home.
Energy exploded between us, our mate bond bursting to life and tearing away whatever magical wall had separated us for far too long. My bite, the catalyst, his blood the cure. Awash in the force of our reunion, Alexander staggered then clutched me closer while I pulled out of his neck and laved the rapidly healing holes.
As our power continued to bubble and stitch us back together, he whisked us into the grand entryway, planted my ass on an ornate, antique cabinet, and devoured my mouth like a
starving man. His hands roamed everywhere, searching, cataloguing, as if to reassure himself this wasn’t a hallucination, that I was really here, in his arms, relatively unharmed.
The more he kissed me, the more those wonderful, golden threads of our connection resurrected inside me, around me, between us, and I felt like freaking Sleeping Beauty awakened from her magical slumber by a kiss from her fated handsome prince. The silly thought made me giggle against Alexander’s seeking mouth, and then I was crying while my love cupped my face between his hands, wiped away my tears with his thumbs, and pressed tender kisses to my forehead, my cheeks, the tip of my nose…
“Alexander.” I fisted his shirt tight. Please, God, let him be real. “I… I don’t want to wake up.” Please, don’t let this end.
His smoky blue eyes bored into mine, his brown hair spiked in every direction, a bit longer than in my memory. It’s not a dream, baby. You’re here. You’re home.
Oh my God, I can hear you. I swiped some willful bits of hair away from his forehead, touched his full lips, ran my fingers along his strong jaw, taking in the whole handsome, bad-boy package. You’re back in my head. I’d never been happier to have someone inside my mind. Silence was seriously overrated.
And back in your arms.
When not writing, you’ll find Celia exercising, reading a good book, hanging with her family, or indulging her addiction to Joss Whedon’s TV shows and movies, as well as everything in the Marvel Universe franchise. Of course!
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Tour Giveaway
1 – $20 Amazon.com US e-gift card
Dianna
December 22, 2019 at 7:04 pm
I love homemade caramel. Haven’t made it in years!
Piroska
December 20, 2019 at 5:56 pm
The book sounds very intriguing!
BookLady
December 18, 2019 at 6:43 pm
What a fascinating series! Great excerpts. Thanks for sharing.
Ken Ohl
December 18, 2019 at 4:20 pm
What was your inspiration for this book
Angelica Dimeo
December 18, 2019 at 8:10 am
the cover looks cool
Celia Breslin
December 18, 2019 at 2:32 pm
Thanks!
Celia Breslin
December 17, 2019 at 1:08 pm
Hi Angela, Thanks for having my vampires back on your blog with their shiny new covers, and the third new release (ORIGINS) in the series. Happy holidays! 🙂
shelly peterson
December 17, 2019 at 12:41 pm
Nice cover, sounds like a good read.
Celia Breslin
December 17, 2019 at 1:09 pm
Hi Shelly, I’m so happy with the new covers for Haven and Destiny, and, of course, for the new release, too, Origins. The model actually resembles the heroine, Carina.
Mary Kirkland
December 17, 2019 at 12:07 pm
I haven’t read this author but the books sound good and I love the covers.
Celia Breslin
December 17, 2019 at 1:11 pm
Hi Mary, Thanks for visiting. So glad everyone likes the covers. They really capture the Urban Fantasy city vibe I was going for. Melody did a fab job. 🙂
sherry fundin
December 17, 2019 at 8:09 am
i have shared some of her books and read a couple too. this looks great
sherry @ fundinmental
Celia Breslin
December 17, 2019 at 1:12 pm
Hi Sherry, Nice to see you here! 🙂
Maria Malaveci
December 17, 2019 at 4:32 am
Love the cover! Sounds like a wonderful read!
Celia Breslin
December 17, 2019 at 1:13 pm
Hi Maria, Thank you for your kind words. Glad you like the sound of my series. It was loads of fun to write.
Maria Malaveci
December 18, 2019 at 4:00 am
Have a great holiday!
Celia Breslin
December 18, 2019 at 2:32 pm
You, too. Happy holidays! 🙂