Peggy Jaeger's Blog, page 17

#wednesdaywisdom 10.16.24

#tuesdaytease 10.15.24

With less than a month until the release of A CHEF’S KISS CHRISTMAS, I’m ramping up the attempts to get to my goal of 1000 preorders before release day, 11.11.24.

So, here’s a little something from Portia’s point of view:

“Why do you all have such a penchant for walking around in freezing cold weather?” Portia asked as she huddled under her scarf, tugging it up over her mouth. “This has to be the coldest day since I got here.”

Colt, Abra’s husband, laughed. While he readjusted three-year-old Stevie on his shoulders, ensuring his little girl was safe and secure, he said, “If you think this is cold, Portia, wait another month. January and February are hibernation months in these parts.”

“I’ll be long gone by then, back to perpetually sunny skies and temperatures above freeze-your-you-know-what-off every day,” she responded.

Abra, who had baby Amelia in a carrier attached to her torso, laughed. Most of Amy’s family, including daughter Sasha, her husband, Steve, and their daughter Mikaela, along with Abra, Colt, their two kids, and Amy’s husband Andy, who was holding Blake’s hand while her mother and father were home with the newborn baby, all ambled down the wide Main Street of Dickens, making their way to the town Common where the annual tree lighting ceremony was due to start in a few minutes.

The town turned out en masse for the yearly event, the crowds shoulder to shoulder as they strolled along the sidewalks and in the streets, which had been cordoned off to traffic for the day. The shops along the main drag were filled with holiday shoppers and tourists alike, all providing a huge influx of cash into the town’s coffers.

The local eateries erected food booths along the streets, Dorrit’s Diner included, and sold everything warm and toasty for the cold day from hot chocolate to fried dough and roasted chestnuts.

As the group made their way closer to Amy’s booth, Portia spied a certain hunky chef cooking something on the portable burner inside the booth. Unlike her, he was without a coat, garbed in a long-sleeved sweatshirt and jeans with a logoed apron covering him and fingerless gloves on his hands.  A black skullcap hid his salt and pepper curls. The closer they came, Portia was able to discern he was cooking hamburgers, a portable hot dog steamer next to the grill. The familiar and taste-bud watering aroma of the steamed franks made her lick her lips when it drifted over the cold air to her senses.

It had been a few days since their impromptu after-hours talk in Amy’s kitchen. Portia purposefully avoided the diner when Abra suggested they stop for a cup of coffee or a quick lunch because she didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable should he know she was there.

For some reason, she wanted him to trust her, trust she wouldn’t reveal his secret. That didn’t negate the desire she had to find out what he’d been doing for the past two years, but she would keep his identity a secret, that was assured.

As a unit, they stopped when Amy called out to them, “Family! Come here.”

She came around the booth door opening and pulled first Blake into a hug, then kissed Stevie, Mikaela and Amelia in that order, before she lifted her cheek to her husband’s kiss. While Amy interacted with her family, Portia took the free moment to observe Tony while he filled orders.

Focused and determined were two words she thought described him perfectly. Eyes trained on the grill and the burgers he was cooking, a spatula in one hand, the other fisted on his hip while he waited until the perfect moment to flip the meat. His gaze was trained on the grill, nothing around him robbing his attention. Not the noise from the hoards moving about the street, not the pounding beat of the high school band playing at the Common, not even the squeals and shouts of kids running up and down the main drag.

For a hot second Portia wondered if he had the same concentration and dedication when he made love.

Startling, her lashes blinking through a rapid-fire series of tattoos at the uncommon thought, Portia felt her cheeks scorch.

“What’s wrong?” Abra asked from next to her.

“What?” Portia shook her head and turned it to her friend. “What?”

Abra’s brows inched together under the small expanse of skin Portia could see from beneath the woman’s woolen hat.  “You gasped. What happened?”

“N-nothing.” She shook her head, digging for something she could say. If Portia was a determined woman, Abra cornered the market. The woman was an amazing researcher in addition to being an award-winning horror writer, and would talk a subject to death if allowed to. Portia knew her friend would question and pester her, ad infinitum.

Predictably, the writer’s eyes narrowed as she stared up at her agent. “You don’t usually gasp at nothing.” Abra looked over her shoulder in one direction and then the other. “Did something happen? Did you see something? Or someone?”

Wanting to nip the interrogation before it spiraled out of control, Portia reached out and laid a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Abra. I’m fine. Nothing is wrong. I’m just…cold.”

The writer didn’t look convinced. Not for a moment.

Amy overheard what she said though, and commanded, “Come here, girl and let me give you something to warm you up.” She tugged on Portia’s arm and guided her to the booth.

“Our hot chocolate is a town favorite at this event. Made with real milk and shaved chocolate, not that powder junk they sell at the supermarket.”

Tony had just turned from handing the customers waiting for their burgers their order when his gaze connected with hers across the booth.

Portia’s breath caught when he lifted an eyebrow and bobbed his head, once, toward her.

She tried for a smile but her teeth were clattering so much she worried it looked more like a grimace than a greeting. And not all of that clattering could be attributed to the frigid air. Most of it, if she was being honest, was because of the man standing in the center of the booth.

“Here, Portia.” Amy handed her a Styrofoam cup of steaming dark liquid. “This’ll get you warm on the inside for sure.”

She had no real memory of taking the cup because her attention was zeroed in on Anton – Tony  -and watching him prepare another order. No wasted movements, every flip of his hands precise and intended for the sole purpose of preparing the food.

Why the heck was that so…so… arousing?

Good grief! I’m getting hot and bothered from watching a man flip cheese onto a slab of meat. What. The. Heck??

And don’t forget all the other DORRIT’S DINER DICKENS HOLIDAY ROMANCE STORIES….

#mondaymusings 10.14.24

yes. Always!!! I have books preordered for the end of 2025, LOL!!!

One month until release day for A CHEF’S KISS CHRISTMAS!!!

So with just one month to go, I figured now would be a good time to really ramp up the preorders on A CHEF’S KISS CHRISTMAS!!! I set a goal for myself of 1000 kindle copies to open release day of 11.11.24. I am nowhere near that right now ( lol!) but I am still going to try and get there or get close, so if you like:

~small town

~holiday romance

~grumpy/sunshine trope

~starting over post -divorce

~later in life romance ( 35+)

~tears on one page, laughter on the next

~Dickens romance books

~surviving loss and tragedy

then…. A CHEF’S KISS CHRISTMAS is right up your alley.

You can preorder the Kindle version for just 99 cents here: A CHKCkindle

or, if you’d like an autographed print copy directly from me, you can order that here: ACKSPRINT

Either way, books make great gifts for yourself and others during the holidays, and, actually, any day of the year.

Happy reading! ~ Peg

#fridayfive 10.11.24

AS promised, here are the final 5 things I think authors should know/do at a book-signing.

Preorders – if you’ve got a bunch of books, it’s physically impossible to bring lots of copies of each. I have 60+ books out in the world now, and even if I just brought 5 of each, that’s 300 books. Believe me, there’s no room at a multi-author book signing for you to be bringing 300 books. The way to avoid this is to have a preorder form available before the book signing. That way, people can get the book they really want, you will have already made some sales prior to the vent (Yay!) and you won’t have to cart every single book you have. Along with that, make sure the attendees know the books you ARE bringing – either in a FB post or blog post.Unless you are taking pictures with your readers, of the event, or with another author STAY OFF YOUR PHONE! You have less than 1 second to catch a new-to-you-reader’s eye at a multiauthor event. If you are staring down at your phone, scrolling thru tiktok or your email, you will miss that opportunity to get a new reader and sell a book.SMILE! I can’t state this enough. No one will approach a grumpy gus. I will approach an author who looks nervous because — I get it!!! But someone scowling, or with resting bitch face? Nope. Hard pass.Engage with the people at the event, the readers who may be walking by your table. Say, “Hi, welcome. What do you read?” Anything that will get them to stop, look at your books, and give you a chance to state your schpiel! And SMILE when you do it, lol!Thank people when you sell a book. I know this sounds like common sense but I’ve been at signings with BIG NAME authors who think it’s such a privilege they are there and that the readers should prostrate themselves at their tables, that they forget their manners. Don’t you do that. Ever.

#tbt #throwbackthursday #Tbthrusday 10.10.24

This one is from February 2017 – that’s a long time ago, lol!

I’m sure this is an easy feat for most writers, but not for me. I agonize over book titles. Are they too long? Too short? Do they convey the correct theme of the book? Do they even convey the theme of the book? Will it be a memorable title, or one that is easily forgotten in the myriad of published books these days?

Titles can, in all truth, make or break a book. Would you have read any of these books if these were the titles?:

The High-Bouncing LoverThe Last man in EuropeThe Dead Un-DeadMistress MaryNothing New in the WestWacking OffThe Don’t Build Statues to BusinessmenThe Kingdon By The SeaAt this point In timePrivate Fleming, His Various Battles

I was a bit surprised at a few of them, and I can in all truthfulness say I wouldn’t have read any one of them except for the Dead Un-Dead, because I think it was a cool, really out-there title. To see the titles these books were actually published as, scroll down when you’re done reading.

You can’t, apparently, trademark a  title. I found this out when I wrote my third book, FIRST IMPRESSIONS ( which, BTW was the original working title of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice) and did a  search to see how many books with the same title there were (423). My second book I called THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME. 366 other authors also called their works of fiction that. SO, how the heck can I can up with a title that (1) hasn’t been used before, and (2) will make the random reader interested in it enough to pick up the book and check it out? Again, no easy feat.

I used to make lists, pages of lists, with book titles. Even then, choosing just one was torture.

I’m so lame at coming up with my book titles I  left the naming of my second book in the Will Cook For Love Series from Lyrical/Shine to the editors. They came up with A SHOT AT LOVE. When you read the book you’ll know it’s the perfect title, but I didn’t have anything even close to that I was working with! Thank God for the people in the know who really really really know what they are doing.

Naming your book is an awful lot like naming your child. You want to give it something with character, essence, personification, and beauty. And your book, to the writer, is your baby, your child, your creation, so you don’t want to let it down by giving it a crummy moniker; one that will inspire ridicule and laughter. Honestly, I pity the poor children of celebrities who have been named after fruits, compass directions, and astrological projections. Sad.

See? You probably thought the title was the easiest thing to come up with.  I bet you didn’t know how hard it really was to name a book? Well…at least it is for me!

Here’s what the above titles were actually published as, and thank goodness they were!!!

The Great Gatsby1984DraculaThe Secret GardenAll Quiet On the Western FrontPortnoy’s ComplaintValley of the DollsLolitaAll the President’s MenThe Red Badge of Courage

When I’m not agonizing over naming books, you can usually find me here:Tweet Me//Read Me// Visit Me//Picture Me//Pin Me//Friend Me//Google+Me//

Since this is a 52 week blog hop challenge, here are some other authors who are also taking about how they name their books today. Stop by and check out their blogs.

1.Tonight you’re mine2.Book Titles: How I Choose3.4.A Book By Any Other Name Still Needs A Title5.Must Have a Title6.Welcome to the World Baby Book–Your Title Is. . .7.titles titles whos got titles8.My Process The Perfect Book Title-MJ McCoy-Dressel9.“Too Hot to Handle” and other titles…10.What’s In A Title?11.Working Title12.How I Hatch My Books From a Sentence & a Title13.Name the blossom – Rose or Tulip Henderson14.How to Select an MPNTLP Title Without HCs15.Choosing a Book Title16.A Rose by Any Other Name (Shari Elder)17.Robin Michaela – How To Choose a Book Title18.Mission Impossible: book titles19.What’s in a title? A lot more than you think. . . . .20.21.Branding that Book Baby22.Titles and Other Paintful Decisions23.24.No, I have to Choose a Book Title?25.26.Struggle to Choose a Book Title – Linda McLaughlin

Gobsmacked! 10.9.24

So, if you’ve been following me on Facebook this past week, you’ve probably seen the announcement that I am a finalist in two categories for two different books in the New Jersey Romance Writers Golden leaf Awards for 2024!

Yup, gobsmacked is the right term for how I feel right now!!!

DON’T MESS WITH THE MISTLETOE – A Dickens holiday romance (Dorrit’s Diner) is a finalist in the Long Contemporary category.

A PRIDE OF BROTHERS: DYLAN is a finalist in the Romantic Suspense Category!

Dylan was also voted a Long and Short Reviews BOOK OF THE MONTH when it was released on 2023! This little bodyguard trope book really resonates with readers, and I LOVE THAT!!!

Both books are finalists with an impressive cast of writers and books: NJRWGOldenLeafFinalists2024

I am honestly so humbled and honored to be a finalist!!! I’ll let you know how it all turns out…

~Happy reading ~ Peg

#wednesdaywisdom 10.9.24

#tuesdaytease 10.8.24

So.

I’m working on book 3 in the Heaven’s Matchmaker series, PERFECT MATCH. Here’s the cover:

As you can tell, this one takes place in the Spring ( spring flowers, see?)

Olivia has been trying to find a wife for Hunter for a few months. None of the matches work into a second date though and she can’t figure out why. Hunter, in her mind and on paper, is charming, rich, successful, compassionate, witty and ridiculously handsome. Any women, she thinks, would be thrilled to be matched with him. But…four women have all said the same thing: boring, reserved, not for me. etc. and Liv can’t understand this.

So, she comes up with a idea to find out why his dates turn out so bad. This snippet explains her plan: ( Hvae fun reading this because I had fun writing it.)

“The women I’ve introduced you to have looked perfectly ideal for you on paper. When you’ve met, though, something hasn’t…clicked…between you. From the feedback you’ve given and that I’ve received from the women, I feel as if I’m missing something.”

“What do you mean ‘missing something?’”

Be tactful, Liv. The guy has a good-sized ego, which, deservedly, he should, considering what he does for a living.

“Compatibility, shared interests, even lifestyle choices all go into creating a match between two people. And when all those things align, you can predict a couple will, too. But sometimes, something’s missing, some special something, some unqualifiable…” she raised her hands and snapped her fingers on both of them, “spark, that makes the match a done deal.”

“And you think, what? I’m not,” he mimicked her finger snap, “Sparking? I’ve got something missing?”

“Not you, no. Not at all. This isn’t a blame game. Well,” she tilted her head and grinned, “maybe for me it is, for not considering that after the second date didn’t…take.  I needed to explore further why it hadn’t and didn’t.”

He stared at her for a moment, and she could practically hear the gears grinding in his brilliant brain. “The second match was Jasmine Green,” he said.

She nodded.

“If I remember, I said that I wanted a second date. She was the one who backed off.”

She flapped her hand in the air. “But that had more to do with her than you. She was still reeling from her divorce and then having to move back home. I should have told her to wait, but she wanted to go out into the dating world again, so.” She shrugged. “I should have followed my first instinct.”

All of which was true, but it had been Jasmine who’d told her the morning after their dinner date that she’d found him stiff, ridiculously reserved, and that there was no chemistry there.

“And yet she’s getting married in two weeks to Donovan Boyd, so it seems she got over her,” he put his fingers up in air quotes and said, “reeling, fairly quick.”

“Which just goes to prove my theory. They had sparks from the moment they met, try though she did to deny them. But back to you.”

His brows lifted again.

“I think I need to find out a little more about you to determine exactly what it will take to ignite that spark in the next woman I think is perfect for you.”

“So, you do see me as the problem.” It wasn’t a question

The male ego was such a fragile ball of fluff. She sighed.

Gently, she laid a hand on his forearm and stared him straight in the eyes. “You are not a problem, nor do you have one,” she said firmly. “When it comes to the heart, it can be a fickle bitch when it wants something.”

“So now I’m fickle.” He blew out a breath and lifted his hands in the air.  “I’ve got unidentifiable relationship problems and I’m fickle. Great. No wonder my wife left me.”

For a hot second Liv worried she’d stepped over a line. But when one corner of his mouth lifted as he shook his head, she knew he wasn’t upset. That, and the real reason his wife had left him wasn’t anything to do with him and everything to do with the affair she was having with a partner in his medical practice.

She pursed her lips, narrowed her eyes, wordlessly telling him she was wise to him. His full, thick mouth split into a teasing smile of its own, making her heart skip a beat or two.

Matinee idol handsome was no misnomer when it came to Hunter Reinhart. The guy could have been a mega-star on looks alone.

 Liv’s thought that he’d be on her list if she was looking to get married again shoved back to the front of her brain.

On the list? Hell, no. He’d be at the top of it. Something, when she thought about it, that gave her a moment’s pause and stopped her in her mental tracks. There was no way she should be thinking of him in any kind of personal terms as marriage material, whether metaphorically or literally. He was a client.

A client.

And there were strict rules about clients. Rules that forbade ever –ever– crossing a line from a professional relationship into a…well, something that wasn’t client-based.

She was pulled from her thoughts when he asked, “So, why am I here, Olivia? You’ve obviously given this situation a great deal of thought, something I’m happy about, but in all honesty, I’m getting a bit unsure about this entire matchmaking thing. I thought by now I’d be settling down again. What do you think it’s going to take to find me a wife?”

A shudder ran down her spine as she snapped back to the reality at hand.

Olivia took a breath, eased it out while holding his gaze and said, “I think we should go on a date.”

Intrigued? Hahah.

I need to finish it, but I’m hoping for an early Spring 2025 release. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

#mondaymusings 10.7.24