Peggy Jaeger's Blog, page 25

#fridayfive 6.28.24

So today’s #fridayfive is 5 things about my newest Dickens Holiday Romance book, A CHEF’S KISS CHRISTMAS which will be released on 11.11.24

smalltown romance ( Dickens!)holiday romanceDorrit’s Dinerfinding love again after a lossCover reveal next week!

Here’s the blurb:

Successful Chef Anton Saparosa had the perfect life. Great marriage; beautiful and adoring wife; trendy, SoCal restaurant frequented by celebrities – many of them his friends.

Then Covid hit.

Anton’s perfect life dissolved before his eyes. With nothing left to keep him in California, he starts an itinerant cross-country journey searching for something to give his life meaning again.

Happenstance lands him in the tiny town of Dickens just as Dorrit’s Diner is thrown into chaos.

Literary Agent Portia Avon needs a rest. A messy divorce has her craving quiet and the company of her friend and client A.B. Cards, nee Abra Bree. She comes from the western heat of California to the eastern cold of Dickens and plans to do nothing but rest, relax, and read during her holiday stay.

When Portia spots a familiar face in Dorrit’s, she’s confused. Why is Anton Saparosa, one of the most recognizable chefs in California, working as a fry cook in Abra’s mom’s diner, and going by the name Tony Smith?

A question Portia wants an answer to, but one Tony isn’t willing to share, especially with a woman he can’t stop thinking about.

#tbt #tbThursday

This one is from 2017 and still holds true for me to this day…

Title: WORDS THAT MAKE ME SAY “ICK”

I could write a dictionary here, folks. Truly.

Okay. Words have power.

Anyone who’s ever been bullied or taunted as a child ( or even as an adult) knows this in their soul. Words can spear you straight through the heart, cut you off at the knees, and slice into your gut.

Late comic George Carlin made a million bucks doing a routine called the 7 Dirty Words. In 1972, he said these 7 words in a comedy club, forever immortalizing them:

Shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits.

It is now 2017.  45 years later than when Carlin first spoke those words in public. Since that time, society has shifted in what it deems inappropriate language use. Even just a few years ago you wouldn’t hear commercial television characters uttering anything worse than an occasional “Crap!” as an invective or a curse. In a recent show on NBC, I heard two characters say the second and last words above before the first commercial break.  Cable television has no such restrictions on language and I can tell you truthfully, I have heard every one of the above words – and a few more I hate – said without a flinch by the actors.

In America, we live by the law of freedom of speech. It’s a good freedom. We can share opinions that differ, dialogues that intrigue us, and books that elevate and entertain us. And while that basic freedom is challenged every single day, it still stands strong.

But…

There are some words, expressions, and phrases that shouldn’t be said aloud. Remember, words have power to hurt, maim, and incite.  As a writer of romantic fiction, there are some words I would never use in a book. You probably think those words are slang ones for things related to the sex act. You would be wrong. I have no problem using words – slang or otherwise – to describe anatomy. What I do have is trouble using words that are mainly pejoratives. Words that do not belong in public speech or on the pages of books.

So…words that make me go “ick.” In no particular order, here they are:

twat, cunt, retard,  any variation of the “N” word ( I can’t even write it, it’s so hateful). Any word that is derogatory to an ethnic group ( kike, wop, etc. You know the words I mean) I truly hatehatehate the word MOIST. I shudder when I write it.

Every word mentioned above ( except for moist, because that’s just my own particular hatefest word) is a pejorative. A word that makes me quiver and quake with anger, because tit is used in a totally negative way. I see no positive translations in any of those words.

Words that DON’T make me go ick? Any word that falls into this category:

‘Nuff said.

#wednesdaywisdom 6.26.24

Think about this statement then remember all the lessons you’ve learned in your life when something didn’t go right for you, or exactly the way you wanted it to go. If you’ve learned something from that experience you are way ahead of the game from everyone else.

#tuesdaytease 6.25.25

I’ll be teasing the cover reveal for my newest Dicken’s book in July,but for now, here’s a little something about my 2024 Dickens book, A CHEF’S KISS CHRISTMAS. In this scene, Portia and Tony go Christmas Tree shopping for the diner’s tree. He has no idea it’s a ruse Portia is using to get him out and about…

“I knew this tree would look perfect on this table,” Portia said two hours later while she affixed the last ornament.

Tony lifted his head from his position at the stove, stared across the room at her, then shook his head.

Three times.

Three times now she’d all but bamboozled him into doing something he thought he’d never do or sworn not to.

By the time they arrived at the office to give the clerk the tag for the diner tree, he’d forgotten all about her prompt that he get his own holiday tree, instead, his thoughts turned to food. He’d been playing with the idea of deconstructing an alfredo sauce and using it on poached eggs. Maybe he could take a few hours tonight and whip up a few samples. The idea had come to him earlier in the week when a customer had praised the new tangy Alfredo he’d been using in the diner. Amy had relayed the customer’s compliment and he’d begun thinking of alternate ways to use the sauce.

While Portia had paid, he’d gone to bring the car around from the packed lot. When she emerged from the office ten minutes later, she had a wrapped bundle in her arms and was wearing a smile that more than hinted at a Cheshire cat vibe.

“What’s that?” he thrust his chin toward the bundle when she got in the car.

She turned to him and with her eyes wide, chin dropped a hair so she could zero in on him, she said, “A freshly cut tabletop tree. It’s barely thirty-six inches.”

Glaring at her, his own eyes narrowing, he said, “For Abra?”

“Nope.”

She popped the P with a flare.

“Portia.” She’d have to have a hearing loss to mistake the warning in his voice.

“Anton,” she said back, using the same tone.

“Don’t call me that.” For some reason, he rolled his head right and left.

“We’re in your car, silly. No one can hear us. And before you have a conniption,” she held up one hand, effectively silencing him, “It’s a gift.”

“A gift?”

She nodded and said, “There you go repeating everything again, but yes. It’s a thank you for helping me today.”

“I didn’t help you at all,” he countered. “When you called me and then we wound up at the tree farm, I thought it meant you needed help with cutting one down.”

“Initially, that was my thought. But it seemed easier, once we got here, to have the farm hands to it. They’ll do a great job and deliver it, too. But you came with me, gave up your one free afternoon, and because of that I wanted to say thank you, and getting you this tree is my way of doing it.”

He could argue, but he’d look like a real loser if he refused the offer of the gift.

But… “I don’t have anything to decorate it with and like I said, I’m not investing in a bunch of things that I won’t be taking with me when I leave.”

“No worries.” She pulled out her phone and gave him the directions to the town’s secondhand store, Curious Curios.

“And we’re going there, why?” he asked, pulling onto the county road.

“Because they have a package waiting for me that I need to pick up. They don’t deliver. And before you say a package, in that deep, smokey, sexy voice,” he clamped his mouth shut because he’d been about to do just that, “Yes, a package. It’s filled with used ornaments and tree trimmings the owner picked out for me.”

“When?” was all he could think to ask.

“What?”

“Not what. When?”

“When, what?”

The force and breadth of the sigh he expelled fogged up the front windshield. “I feel like I’m in a bad Yogi Berra movie and it’s déjà vu all over again.” Another exhale, this one followed by a cleansing inhale meant to calm him. “When did you arrange for a box of ornaments to be filled for you?”

For the first time in all their interactions, awkwardness descended upon her face and body. Shoulders slumped under her coat; mouth pinched in one corner as if lost in thought; brows flirting with one another, a delicate crease bifurcating them; even her color heightened a bit as her cheeks pinked.

“Portia?”

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then opened them again. “I spoke with her on the phone this morning. Told her what I needed and then trusted her to get everything ready for pick up.”

He digested that for the time it took to wait for the traffic light they were stopped at to turn back to green. As he pushed down on the gas pedal he said, “You planned this whole thing, didn’t you? This outing to the tree farm. Me going with you. Getting me that tree. Heck, you were probably even the one who convinced Amy to get a real tree for the diner.” He tossed her a quick glance before concentrating back on the road. “I’m right, aren’t I?”

She stayed silent for an entire block. Then, slowly, she began to nod, until a weak, “Yes,” escaped from between her lips.

“Why? Why did you go to all that trouble? Just for me to have a…holiday tree?” He shook his head. “That makes no sense.”

She turned to him then, and from the corner of his eye he could tell she was nervous.

About what? Him figuring out what she’d done? Her doing it? This was all just crazy.

You’ll have to read the book to find out why she’s so invested in getting him out of the house…

Release day is 11.11.24

Cover reveal starting July !

#mondaymusings 6.24.24

MIRANDA IN RETROGRADE from one of my one-click authors, Lauren Layne. It releases in August and I am very much looking forward to it!

After getting passed over for tenure and having her life upended in the process, a physics professor decides to throw caution to the wind and live by her horoscope predictions for a year in this effervescent rom-com from the New York Times bestselling author of Made in Manhattan.

As the youngest physics professor at her university, practical-minded Miranda Reed plans her life with minute precision. But that’s before she’s denied tenure and the promotion she thought was guaranteed. Suddenly, her tidy life is anything but constant.

Overdue for a sabbatical, Miranda takes some time to look towards the stars—only this time, she’s not looking for black holes. With her faith in science shaken, Miranda turns to a practice she’s long dismissed as preposterous: astrology.

Determined to figure out why her life has suddenly gone sideways, Miranda commits to a year of letting her horoscope guide her. Soon she’s taking on new home improvement projects, adopting a new pet, and studying what the stars have to say about her ideal love match. The intriguingly aloof artist living next door? Never. His Aries energy is all wrong. On the other hand, the charming father of her new tutoring pupil is Sagittarian perfection. Made for her…right?

As Miranda navigates life with new a perspective, she slowly discovers neither science nor the stars have all the answers. And that, when it comes to love, you sometimes just have to trust your heart.

#FridayFive 6.21.24

It’s been a while since I did one of these, but I actually have a topic for today, lol.

Here are 5 things I think you should know about my upcoming Dickens Holiday book A CHEF’S KISS CHRISTMAS ( Cover reveal coming in July 2024, so stick around, kids.)

hero is a chef ( Duh!)heroine is a literary agent ( First time I’ve used that profession!)Abracadabra has 2 kids nowthe Covid pandemic and its aftermath is a major factor in the plotdeals with loss and grieving and depression and still manages to be funny and heartwarming – hey! It’s a Dickens book!

More to come with the cover reveal starting on July 1!

#TBT #TBthursday

This little gem is from 2017 – wow! 7 years ago already. So much has changed in my life in those 7 years, kids.

#Sisters….the gift that keeps on giving

I’ve mentioned many times that I’m an only child. And that I hated being one. Still do. I think the reason I write about big families with multiple siblings is because that’s what I wanted when I was younger….still do! I love writing about sisters, especially. Older and younger sisters. I haven’t written twin sisters yet, but I intend to. I just need to do some research first.

Anyway…

Sisters. In my WILL COOK FOR LOVE series, there are 7 Laine sisters. Kandy is the oldest, Eleanor the youngest. Their parent’s volatile divorce left each of them scarred in different ways, and, like with anyone, some of the sisters are closer to one another than others. It’s that way for Kandy and Gemma, who is 3 years younger than Kandy. In the first book COOKING WITH KANDY, Gemma is her older sisters’ principal photographer. She does all of Kandy’s publicity shots and has photographed all her best-selling award-winning cookbooks. Gemma is a true visionary in her own right, and in book 2  A SHOT AT LOVE, we see her evolution since Kandy’s show ended.

Today I want to give you a little glimpse at their dynamic. From COOKING WITH KANDY, here’s a snippet of how the sisters react to one another.

“What’s going on with you and the hunk?” Gemma asked as she helped Kandy carry the leftover cake back into the kitchen.

“What are you talking about?”

“The two of you have been walking around each other on eggshells all day. I noticed it the second I got here. What happened?”

“Why do you think anything’s happened?”

“Stop answering me with questions, Kandace Sophia, and tell me what’s going on. I know you like I know the lighting stops on my camera. Have the two of you slept together?”

“No.” The explosion echoed in the kitchen. “For goodness’ sake, Gem, what do you take me for?”

She shot her sister a cool, smug smirk. “A fool if you haven’t. I’d fall into bed with him in a heartbeat if he asked me.” When her sister’s mouth fell open, Gemma added, “Don’t be mad at me for the truth.”

She took Kandy’s hand in hers and rubbed it. The sisterly show of affection made Kandy sigh. “I’m not mad at you.”

“Then tell me. What’s going on with you two?”

Kandy sat on a breakfast barstool and rested her hands on the counter. “I don’t know.” A second later she added, “No, that’s not true. I think I know, but I’m not sure.”

When she sighed again, Gemma took a seat next to her. “Tell me.”

Kandy looked into her sister’s eyes, identical in every way to her own and saw concern wash through them.

With a great deal of reluctance, she related the scene in the kitchen the night before. Supreme embarrassment prevented her from telling Gemma what had transpired in the garage earlier.

“I’ve never acted like that before,” she said, dropping her head into her hands. “So needy, so totally off the wall sexually. It was scary.”

“It sounds exciting as all get out.”

Kandy shook her head and gave her sister a small smile. “Beyond exciting. I can’t describe how good it felt to be kissed like that. I can’t believe it was me.” She threw her head down into her hands again.

“It’s about damn time,” Gemma said, yanking her sister up by her hair, her gaze slicing into her. “All you do is work. You never have any fun, Kan.”

“Cooking is fun for me.”

“Yeah, well, we all know you’re not normal.”

“That’s mean.”

“No, it’s the truth. I can’t imagine a better diversion for you than having a hot, torrid, sexfest with this guy. It’s absolutely perfect. Go for it.”

“Gemma, I can’t have an affair with him.”

“Why not?”

“Well, for one thing, he doesn’t want me.”

Gemma’s eyes widened, making her brow groove in disbelief. “I don’t believe it for a second. I saw the way he looked at you in your office the other day. There was enough longing in his eyes to comfort a small, underdeveloped nation.”

“Then why is he the one who keeps pulling the plug every time we get in a clutch?”

Gemma shrugged. “Some weird sense of duty, maybe?”

“Right.” She shot a finger at her. “He keeps telling me I’m a client. That’s all I am to him, Gem. A job.”

Kandy’s heart ached when she said the words out loud. Admitting them to herself was one thing. Telling them to her sister, giving a real voice to them, was quite another. And it hurt.

It hurt like hell.

“Did he kiss you back?” Gemma asked.

Oh, baby, did he ever! “Yes.”

“Peck-on-the-cheek kiss, or I’ll-die-if-I don’t-wrap-myself-around-your-tonsils kiss?”

Kandy snorted. “The latter.”

“There you go.” She sat back, a smug smile wiggling across her mouth. “What more proof do you need? The guy wants you, Kan. I say go for it with all you’ve got. Enjoy the heck out of him.”

“And then what?”

“What do you mean?”

“What happens next? When this whole thing is over and he leaves? What am I supposed to do then, Gemma? Just go on as if it never happened?”

Gemma shrugged and rose. She opened the refrigerator and took out a pitcher of ice tea. “I don’t know. Why think about it now?”

“Because I think I may be falling in love with him.”

Gemma stopped pouring midstream and leveled a frown at her sister. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am. I’ve never felt like this about a guy before. It’s more than just the physical attraction. I like being with him, having him around. When we went out to dinner last night, for the first time in a really long time I was relaxed and comfortable. I can talk about anything with him. He listens. He hears and understands. I get a safe and warm feeling in the pit of my stomach every time I think about him. I can see the two of us together, sitting in the kitchen, drinking coffee, discussing the kids. I’ve never let myself think about children and carpools and starring in my own happily-ever-after before. Never. It’s never been an option for me.”

Gemma cocked her head. “Because of Daddy and what he did?”

Kandy nodded. “I don’t want to love someone as much as Mom did and then have it all turn to crap. I’ve done everything I could to protect myself from ever being that vulnerable.”

Gemma’s sigh was forceful. “And you all say I’m the one who’s screwed up the most in this family.”

“Gem, no one says that. Truthfully.”

“But you all think it. I know you do.”

The sisters stared at each other for a moment.

“Look.” Kandy finally broke the silence. “I don’t know what do to about this, how to handle it. Whenever we’re in the same room, all I want to do is have him hold me. When he’s not around, I’m thinking about him.” She told Gemma how he’d left her for an hour after the rat incident. “All my mind could focus on was how long it was taking him to get back.”

Gemma sat next to her sister and took her hand. “You sound like you’re in love with him already, no maybes about it.”

Kandy swallowed.

“Can’t you ever do anything halfhearted?” Gemma said, a lopsided grin tripping over her face.

“What?”

“Why’d you go and fall in love with the guy?”

“It’s not like I could help it. Don’t you remember what Grandpa used to tell us?”

Brow furrowing, she answered, “The thing about lightning?”

“Yeah. One day you’re walking along without a care in the world, and then bang, like lightning, you get struck through the heart for good.”

Gemma’s grin grew. “Grandma used to get all teary-eyed when he’d say that.”

“Because it’s what happened to him the day he met her.”

“And you feel this way about Josh?”

Her head moved up and down, slowly, a few times. “Believe me, if I could have prevented it, I would have. I don’t need this right now in my life, you know I don’t.”

On a sigh she said, “Yeah. I do.” Gemma took a sip of her tea. “So, what are you going to do? Pursue it and get your heart potentially stomped on, or let it go and wonder what could have been?”

“Oh, don’t be so melodramatic,” Kandy said. “This isn’t some Jane Austen novel. I have more choices than just those two.”

“Like what? Aside from using him for sex or marrying the guy, I don’t see a lot of options looming on the horizon.”

Kandy shook her head and hugged her sister. “You’re an idiot. I love you dearly, but you’re an idiot.”

BUY LINKS: Amazon // B&N // Kobo // Apple i-books // Google 

I just lovelovelove sister interaction!! Tomorrow I’ll be giving you a little glimpse of book 2, A SHOT AT LOVE, and how Kandy helps Gemma out when our fearless and opinionated photographer’s life is turned upside down.

When I’m not writing, you can usually find me here:

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#wednesdaywisdom 6.19.24

I always try to compliment someone, be it a waitress, a checkout person ( although those are few and far between these days!), someone in line at the grocery store. I know what it feels like to never be told you are looking good, or your hair is nice, or even something cool about your shoes. Saying something nice to someone does several things, first and foremost, it lets the person know they are seen.

We never know what is going on in a stranger’s life ( and sometimes not even in those closest to us). Saying something kind, acknowledging them as a person, may be the one thing in their day that makes it brighter.

I don’t know about you, but my mission in life is to bring a little sunshine into everyone’s cloudy days. Lofty goal? Perhaps. But, I think, necessary.

#mondaymusings 6.17.24

I have two and they couldn’t be more different. I have reread them both numerous times because they are so freaking good!

The first is UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN by Jon Krakour

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • From the author of Into the Wild and Into Thin Air, this extraordinary work of investigative journalism takes readers inside America’s isolated Mormon Fundamentalist communities. • Now an acclaimed FX limited series streaming on HULU.

“Fantastic…. Right up there with In Cold Blood and The Executioner’s Song.” —San Francisco Chronicle

Defying both civil authorities and the Mormon establishment in Salt Lake City, the renegade leaders of these Taliban-like theocracies are zealots who answer only to God; some 40,000 people still practice polygamy in these communities. 

At the core of Krakauer’s book are brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they received a commandment from God to kill a blameless woman and her baby girl. Beginning with a meticulously researched account of this appalling double murder, Krakauer constructs a multi-layered, bone-chilling narrative of messianic delusion, polygamy, savage violence, and unyielding faith. Along the way he uncovers a shadowy offshoot of America’s fastest growing religion, and raises provocative questions about the nature of religious belief.

The second is MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL by John Brendt

THE LANDMARK NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An enormously engaging portrait of a most beguiling Southern city: “Elegant and wicked…. [This] might be the first true-crime book that makes the reader want to book a bed and breakfast for an extended weekend at the scene of the crime.” —The New York Times Book Review • 30th Anniversary Edition with a New Afterword by the Author.

Shots rang out in Savannah’s grandest mansion in the misty,early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defense? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks and shaded squares. John Berendt’s sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative reads like a thoroughly engrossing novel, and yet it is a work of nonfiction. Berendt skillfully interweaves a hugely entertaining first-person account of life in this isolated remnant of the Old South with the unpredictable twists and turns of a landmark murder case.

It is a spellbinding story peopled by a gallery of remarkable characters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married Woman’s Card Club; the turbulent young redneck gigolo; the hapless recluse who owns a bottle of poison so powerful it could kill every man, woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern belle who is the “soul of pampered self-absorption”; the uproariously funny black drag queen; the acerbic and arrogant antiques dealer; the sweet-talking, piano-playing con artist; young blacks dancing the minuet at the black debutante ball; and Minerva, the voodoo priestess who works her magic in the graveyard at midnight. These and other Savannahians act as a Greek chorus, with Berendt revealing the alliances, hostilities, and intrigues that thrive in a town where everyone knows everyone else.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a sublime and seductive reading experience. Brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, this true-crime book has become a modern classic.

Do you have a favorite Non-fiction book? Tell me…

Special Announcement…

I wanted to make sure you all know that if you purchase a print, autographed copy of LOVE MATCH from me ( my website) you will be getting a free swag bag with the purchase. These are the promotional bags I give out at book signings and they are chock-full of items related to my brand.

This offer is only open to residents in the US because of prohibitive shipping costs to other countries.

I ship the books the day the order comes in!

Happy reading, kids.