Louisa Edwards's "Can’t Stand the Heat"

Former editor Louisa Edwards unites her love of cooking and romance in the Recipe for Love series. Can’t Stand the Heat, Edwards's debut, will hit bookshelves on September 1, 2009. On the Steamy Side, the second Recipe for Love novel, will be out in March of 2010.

Here Edwards shares her ideas for casting the big screen adaptation of Can’t Stand the Heat:

Can’t Stand the Heat might be my first book, but I’ve already refined my casting technique! My all-time favorite procrastination game when starting a new Recipe for Love novel is to cast the entire thing. I do it for every book; I have extensive files full of links to headshots and publicity stills. Clearly, this blog and I were made for each other!

I’d need someone charismatic, energetic, and irrepressible to play my hotshot chef hero, Adam Temple. With his wavy dark hair and mischievous grin that only hints at the intensity lurking in his brown eyes, I think Dominic West would work very well. I can see him daring a restaurant reviewer to spend a day in his kitchen doing real work, can’t you?

For pretty redhead, Miranda Wake, my snarky food critic who needs to learn to unwind, I’d cast the ever-adorable Amy Adams. Amy has a softness to her that rounds out Miranda’s edges. She also has a core of strength that is essential for a young woman who had to grow up overnight when her parents were killed, leaving Miranda to care for her heartbroken younger brother, Jess.

Jess, who drops out of college and onto Miranda’s doorstep with his camera and a whole lot of baggage, is a tough one. But I think Aaron Ashmore, of Smallville fame, could definitely pull off Jess’s blend of innocence and insight. By contrast, the easiest character to cast is Frankie Boyd, Adam’s punk-rock sous chef and best friend. Without a doubt, Justin Theroux is the man for the job; he embodies wild, soulful, tough-as-nails and loyal-to-a-fault Frankie to perfection.

Believe me, I could give you the complete cast list from Adam’s Southern gentleman restaurant manager who hires Jess as a waiter to the burnt out celebrity chef who hates Miranda’s guts, but maybe they can wait until the next book comes out…

For excerpts and deleted scenes from the Recipe for Love novels, as well as a tantalizing free original prequel, recipes, and more, visit Louisa Edwards's website.

--Marshal Zeringue