Peggy Jaeger's Blog, page 47

#Sundaysnippet 10.22.2023

From the 11.1.2023 release of DON’T MESS WITH THE MISTLETOE

“Any updates on the baby?” she asked, moving to the stove, teakettle in hand.

He told her about the diagnosis and the treatment his niece would need while she filled the kettle and then placed it on the stove to heat. When she turned around to him, her face had gone quite pale and a soft curl of moisture shone in her eyes.

“You saved the baby’s life. You know that, right?”

“What?”

“You got her to a place where they could diagnose her and put a plan together to get her better. If you hadn’t been available to fly her to Concord…” she let the rest of the sentence dangle and shook her head again.

“I can’t begin to imagine what your sister is going through.” She wrapped her arms around herself and shook her head. “Her hormones are gonna be going nuts to begin with and now her tiny baby needs heart surgery.”

A single tear snuck down each cheek and when she swiped at them his heart melted.

“I’m sorry for blubbering, but I keep thinking if this had been Blake I don’t know how I would have survived, how I would have handled it. Or what I would have done. I’m upset for your sister.  As a new mother, she must be terrified.”

“One thing you need to know about Sasha,” he said. “She’s nothing if not a fighter and survivor. I bet she’s gonna sign herself out of the hospital in the morning if they don’t discharge her and head right up to Concord to be with her baby. Hell, she’ll probably order me to fly her to save time.”

“And you will, without any thought not to, because she’s your sister. Your family.” Her sigh pulled at him.

She was right. He’d do anything for his sisters, for his parents. The very fact he’d given up a month of his life so his mom could take a well-earned rest was all the proof anyone needed.

They were silent as the teakettle whistled and she went about preparing her nightly brew.

“So,” he said as she took her fist sip, “Everything good around here while I was gone?”

“RayLynn and Winston kept things moving smoothly.”

“Good. Thank goodness for the old-timers. They’ve been around long enough to know what’s what. I know my mom trusts and relies on them. I do, too.”

She sipped her tea, the steam rising, drifting around, and touching her face. His fingers tingled because they wanted to do the same.

Good Lord. Jealous of a wisp of air that got to touch her.

“Julia—”

“Michael—”

Her blush charmed him.

“Sorry,” he said. “You first.”

She sipped her tea then placed the mug down on the table. “I, well. I just wanted you to know how much I…admire you. Your whole family. You’re always there for one another. My parents,” she lifted a shoulder and cast her eyes downward, “have always been a little distant with me, now more than ever since the Jeff incident. I’d love if I had a family like yours. I’d hoped to have one like that for Blake, but, well, life intervened and my husband got sick. Then I went off the deep end with Jeff.” Another head shake. “Your family is the kind I’ve always aspired to have.”

Michael rose from the table and slid his fork and plate into the sink, ran the water to rinse them, and then let them sit.

“You know we’re all adopted, right? Abra, Sasha, and me?”

She nodded. “Someone mentioned it. I can’t remember who. But I think it’s wonderful Amy and Andy wanted to share their home and their hearts.”

He leaned against the sink ledge and crossed his arms over his chest. “I told you to make a point.”

She lifted her gaze, the mug warming in her hands.

“You can have a biological family and hope it’s the dream family everyone wants. Most of the time, though, it isn’t. The perfect family is almost always a fantasy. Or you can make a family with the people you open your heart to, like you said. The people you choose to be your family. Amy chose us. And I thank whoever’s in charge,” he pointed upward, “every single day she did. I truthfully don’t think I’d be alive today if she hadn’t.”

Immediately he regretted saying it. For the second time, with her, he’d divulged a little bit of what he’d always kept hidden, what he’d always considered too much to share. Why did it feel so easy, though, to say things to her he’d never given breath to with any other woman?

“That’s…awful to even consider.”

He shrugged. “Like I said, the perfect family dream is just that. A dream.”

He pushed off the ledge and turned around to wash the dishes he’d had rinsing. Before he could turn the water on, Julia’s hand wound around his bicep.

His gaze flicked to it. Her fingers didn’t even meet halfway around the muscle. Had he noticed how small her hands were before now? How long and slender her fingers were, the nails naked and buffed to a natural shine? Heat, flaming heat, singed through his shirt at her touch. It was a wonder smoke wasn’t billowing up from his arm from where she gripped it.

A worry line dragged her brows together.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, staying still, fearful if he moved he’d give in to temptation and rub his thumb along that thin line to soothe it away.

“The time before you came to Amy?” A nervous flick of her tongue wet her lips.

Michael swallowed and tried to ignore how much the little move made parts of his anatomy twitch. “What about it?”

“Can you…will you…tell me about it?”

His breath hissed like a steam valve opening.

The line disappeared as her eyes opened wide, her gaze mating with his as she waited for him to speak.

“I don’t talk about that time.” His throat was raw and dry like sandpaper. “It’s too…” He dropped his gazed to the sink, fisted his hands on the ledge. “I don’t even remember all that much.”

An outright lie. If pressed, Michael could recall every minute he’d spent in that closet, every cigarette the mean mad had put out on his flesh, every slap he’d suffered across his face and back.

Disappointment shadowed her gaze. Julia dropped her hand from his arm and nodded.

Backing away from him she said in a shaky voice, “Of course. I understand. I’m…sorry. Never mind. Sorry.”

When she dropped her gaze to the floor, a bullet of regret tore through him. He pulled in another bracing breath before forgetting all about the dishes and turning around to face her.

“I was four when I came to Amy,” he said.

She lifted her head, zeroed in on his face.

“Five when she and Andy petitioned to adopt me.”

“So young,” she mumbled. “Barely more than a baby.”

Had he ever been young? Some days, when he thought about that time, he felt as if he’d been born old and jaded.

Intrigued? LOL. I certainly hope so!

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It’s almost NANOWRIMO time again…

Every November, from the first to the thirtieth, hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, attempt the National Novel Writing Contest ( NANOWRIMO) challenge of penning a 50,000+ word novel in those 30 days.

I have participated in the event for the past 9 years and will again this year.

The goal is to write at least 1700 words daily to reach the minimum 50,000-word count set up by the challenge. The exercise helps build momentum for your writing ( you have to write every single day!), makes writing every day a goal and a challenge, and forces you ( gently) to sit your butt down and get that word count done without distractions.

As a writer, I know that life intervenes on my writing time almost daily. This challenge makes you push everything else to the side and do the work first. Love that.

If you’ve been trying to get your manuscript finished, or attempting to begin a new one, consider this NANOWRIMO challenge. If nothing else, it will help you remember that the only way to get a book written is to…write it!

#fridayfive 10.20.2023

Today’s #fridayfive is all about the 5 reasons you should join me this weekend In Marlborough, MA for the FALL IN LOVE NEW ENGLAND 2023 reader/writer conference.

authors. There are 60+ authors signed up for the event – see the list below.

2. panels/workshops. For two days you can come and visit your fav authors – and find some new favs – at all the panels and workshops they are hosting. Learn about their books, what they write, their writing process and loads more! I’m on 4 of them and I promise they are going to be funny and entertaining! Here’s the schedule and all the deets: FILNE

3. Halloween costume party. Who doesn’t love to dress up?? Halloween costumes aren’t just for kids, ya know.

4. adult trick or treating. I have it on good authority that more than candy will be distributed!

5. books books books. The event ends with a book signing featuring all the present authors. Bring your checkbook, credit cards, and some cash because you’re gonna be spending a bundle!!! And remember – books make great gifts and the holidays are coming fast!

A Reader/Author conference that’s got your name on it!

This weekend I am off to Boxboro, MA for the annual FALL IN LOVE NEW ENGLAND READER/AUTHOR Conference.

Two days of total immersion with romance authors and romance book readers. This is one of the most fun events I go to every year because I get to meet, talk with, and have a blast with romance readers – the most wonderful readers and fans on the planet!

You can click on the above link to get the details, but the panels, workshops, the costume party…they are all perfection.

See you in Boxboro ( I hope!)

2 week countdown! #holidayromance #smalltownboy #ADickensholidayromance

I love me a good book release countdown, don’t you, hee hee?!

Need the preorder link? Let me help you with that: DMWTM

7 months…

On TikTok the other day I saw a video and had to stop and watch it. After I did, I saved it because it spoke to me on so many levels.

The video was the 7 questions you should ask your mother before she…dies. I still have trouble saying, writing, and thinking that word in relation to my mother.

These are the questions:

What is your happiest memory of us ( either you and your mother, or the family as a whole)?What is the nicest thing I have ever done for you?What is the one thing you always want me to remember after you are gone?What was the first year of motherhood like for you?What do you wish most for me?Is there anything in our family that is a secret?What are the best and worst things about getting older?

Here is the saddest part of this entire exercise: I only know the answer to one of these questions. And truthfully? I wish I didn’t.

I can certainly speculate on the rest of them, but I’ll never have a definitive answer, which, for the control freak in me, is just devastating.

7 months…feels like yesterday.

#tuesdayteaser 10.15.2023

In just 2 weeks DON’T MESS WITH MISTLETOE goes live, so, of course, today’s teaser is from that!

(I swear, I’m a marketing genius – LOL Lol LOLOLOLOLO!)

The kitchen light was on as he came through the back door. Since he’d been the last one out the night before with his mother, he knew it had been off.

Had Winston arrived early?

Quietly, he pushed the door open enough to peek beyond it.

Surprise knocked the cautious adrenaline from his body. Even facing away from him, Michael recognized Julia Maryland seated at the table, a cup in one hand, a book on the tabletop in front of her.  Clad in a faded pink, terrycloth robe, her hair spilled around her shoulders in a chaos of untamed waves. He hadn’t seen it down yet, since she’d worn it in a knot on top of her head while she’d waitressed.

Why was she sitting in the diner kitchen at four-thirty in the morning, drinking what he assumed was a cup of coffee, in her robe?

Michael pushed the door open all the way and in a quiet voice, said, “Julia?”

It was as if he’d shouted. She shrieked, jumped up, and dropped the book in her hand all in one jerky motion. Thankfully, she had a better grip on the mug. Swinging around to face him, her free hand flew to her chest.

She hauled in a jagged breath. “You scared the heck out of me.”

“What are you doing here? How did you get in?”

“Amy gave me a key.”

“To the diner? Why?”

Julia placed the mug down on the table, landing it with an audible thud. It was then he noted how fiercely her hands shook.

“Not to the diner,” she managed to say after taking another breath. She lifted her hands to hug them around herself. “To the apartment. You don’t need a key to get in here from there.”

Confusion made him say, “The apartment? Upstairs?” which, he realized as soon as he said it, was a stupid question, because there was no other apartment but the one above the diner. “Why?”

She nodded. “I’m staying there.”

He shook his head. “You’re staying in the apartment?”

Another nod, then a head tick with a question. “You didn’t know?”

“No. I intended to move in tomorrow. I thought it made more sense I be on site if I’m running this place for a few weeks than staying out at the house.”

“Oh, I’m…I didn’t…know. Amy said since it was empty I could…” she flipped her hand in the air.  “I’m sorry.” She bit down on a corner of her lip. “Does your mom know you were planning to stay here?”

“Yeah, she does.” He shoved the keys in his coat pocket then shrugged out of it. He’d told her he was going to be moving in after Thanksgiving. Had she somehow forgotten? With everything going on, it was a distinct possibility. But he didn’t think she had. Amy Charles’ brain was stronger than a computer’s memory board. Once something was input, it was never erased.

The question was, why hadn’t she told him about Julia using the space?  He had a sneaking suspicion and it had nothing to do with it having slipped her mind. With an internal headshake, he chastised his mother for her matchmaking busybody-ness.

“I’m sorry,” Julia said again, twisting her hands together.

With a quick glance at the wall clock, he said, “Don’t be. If she’s letting you use it I’m sure there’s a good reason,” he put his hand up in the air when she opened her mouth again. “One I don’t need to know about.”

Intrigued? I hope so, Hee hee..

Watch the trailer here:

Add it to your Goodreads want to read list here: Goodreads

Preorder your copy here: DMWTM

Enter my Goodreads giveaway here: Giveaway

Just a reminder…what #99cents will get ya!

My addition to the 2023 Dickens Holiday books releases on 11.1.2023. If you haven’t read the books in the Dorrit’s Diner series yet, you can catch up with the Charles family for just 99 cents each until release day. And DON’T MESS WITH THE MISTLETOE is currently available for preorder for just 99 cents. But that price won’t last after 11.1, so get in on the savings now!

FIXING CHRISTMAS: https://www.amazon.com/Fixing-Christmas…/dp/B09DDG9CQM

Christmas has never filled writer Abra Charles with undiluted pleasure. If you’d been left on a doorstep on Christmas Eve morning, you might have a few issues with the holiday as well.
Abra’s avoided her hometown of Dickens for the past twenty Christmas seasons, but now she’s returned in an attempt to get her writing mojo back. Twice-divorced and with her third engagement ending in heartbreak, anger, and blackmail, Abra is now six months behind on submitting her current book. She hopes renting Copperfield House and immersing herself in solitude will cure her writer’s block and get her life back on track. The house she rents isn’t helping her achieve her goal, though, as one thing after another breaks, collapses, or floods.
Colton Bree, Dickens’ very own Mr. FixIt, can’t help but wonder if the new resident of Copperfield House is cursed. After being called to repair a broken window, he’s then needed to fix an exploding coffeepot, an overrunning toilet, and a washing machine that has a mind of its own. Bree doesn’t mind all the unexpected repair jobs, though, because the sexy renter is something to look at despite being a little neurotic and a whole lot of snarky.
Can Abra get her book done with all the distractions and craziness of her life, the biggest distraction being the flannelled hunk with the bedroom eyes and scowling yet oh-so-kissable mouth? Or will Dickens’ Mr FixIt have to step in and save the day and in so doing, fix Christmas for Abra forever?

SASHA’S SECRET SANTA: https://www.amazon.com/Sashas-Secret-Santa…/dp/B0B7ZHMPBP

After a terrifying incident derails Sasha Charles’ career and confidence, she moves back to her hometown of Dickens to heal, reorganize, and start over.

The only problem? The paralyzing panic attacks that plague her whenever she thinks about going back to nursing. Sasha is mentally, and emotionally stuck, and has no idea how to move forward.

Steve Caldwell is the new Director of Services at Dickens Memorial Hospital. After witnessing her save the life of a local resident in Dorrit’s Diner, he knows Sasha would be perfect for the new trauma center he’s planning. When she refuses his job offer outright, he sets out to change her mind.

But Sasha has thick, protective walls erected around her so Steve must first break through them. With patience and kindness, he does. As the two grow closer, each begin to have second thoughts on what their futures should look like, until idle, small-town gossip threatens to derail their budding relationship.

With the imminent arrival of Christmas, will Steve be able to convince Sasha he has her best interests at heart?

DON’T MESS WITH THE MISTLETOE([preorder) https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Mess-Mistletoe…/dp/B0CK55HFGD

It’s the holiday season in the tiny town of Dickens and pilot Michael Charles is home for his annual visit. His wanderlust has him itching to get back up in the skies as soon as possible, especially since he’s got a full schedule of rich and famous clients waiting to be transported to warm, exotic locales for the winter.

When his heavily pregnant sisters present him with a plan to give their workaholic mother some time off from managing the family diner, he balks. But one look at how tired the woman who took him into her home and heart is, and Michael agrees to run Dorrit’s Diner for a month so Amy Charles can get some well-deserved rest.

He’ll be back in the skies by the New Year.

The diner staff functions like a well-oiled machine, most of them long-term employees. The exception is new waitress Julia Maryland. The beautiful blonde has a past filled with heartache, a charming six-year-old daughter, and a smile Michael could spend the day getting lost in. But starting a relationship with her wouldn’t be wise because his visit is temporary and Julia seems like a permanent kind of girl.

When a family emergency requires him to rethink and reassess his life, Michael wonders if it’s time he becomes a permanent kind of man.

Saturday…

Today, I get to do something I haven’t done in quite a while: Attend a New Hampshire Romance Writers of America meeting IN PERSON!! I’ve been zooming the once-monthly meeting since the pandemic forced us all to shelter in place but today I get to go livelivelive!

Added to the wonderful feeling of seeing – in person – all my writer friends again, I am presenting the workshop today to the members.

It’s been a minute ( and then some) since I gave a live talk to a group. Thankfully, this group is so accepting, welcoming, and just plain fun, that I know even if I stumble, I will not fall with them holding me up.

If you’re a writer, I hope you have the blessing of a supportive collection of other writers you can hang out with and learn from, too!

#fridayfive 10.13.2023

Today’s Friday five is about my heroine, Julia Maryland in my upcoming release, Don’t Mess with the Mistletoe.

It’s the holiday season in the tiny town of Dickens and pilot Michael Charles is home for his annual visit. His wanderlust has him itching to get back up in the skies as soon as possible, especially since he’s got a full schedule of rich and famous clients waiting to be transported to warm, exotic locales for the winter.

When his heavily pregnant sisters present him with a plan to give their workaholic mother some time off from managing the family diner, he balks. But one look at how tired the woman who took him into her home and heart is, and Michael agrees to run Dorrit’s Diner for a month so Amy Charles can get some well-deserved rest.

He’ll be back in the skies by the New Year.

The diner staff functions like a well-oiled machine, most of them long-term employees. The exception is new waitress Julia Maryland. The beautiful blonde has a past filled with heartache, a charming six-year-old daughter, and a smile Michael could spend the day getting lost in. But starting a relationship with her wouldn’t be wise because his visit is temporary and Julia seems like a permanent kind of girl.

When a family emergency requires him to rethink and reassess his life, Michael wonders if it’s time he becomes a permanent kind of man.

Watch the trailer:

Add DON’T MESS WITH THE MISTLETOE to your Goodreads WANT TO READ LIST