New interview with novelist Peggy Jaeger

Novelist Peggy Jaeger is here today and we’re talking about her new contemporary romance, A Shot at Love.

During her virtual book tour, Peggy will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:

Peggy Jaeger is a contemporary romance writer who writes about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can’t live without them.
 Family and food play huge roles in Peggy’s stories because she believes there is nothing that holds a family structure together like sharing a meal…or two…or ten. Dotted with humor and characters that are as real as they are loving, Peggy brings all topics of daily life into her stories: life, death, sibling rivalry, illness and the desire for everyone to find their own happily ever after. Growing up the only child of divorced parents she longed for sisters, brothers and a family that vowed to stick together no matter what came their way. Through her books, she has created the families she wanted as that lonely child.
 Tying into her love of families, her children's book, The Kindness Tales, was illustrated by her artist mother-in-law.

Peggy holds a master's degree in Nursing Administration and first found publication with several articles she authored on Alzheimer's Disease during her time running an Alzheimer's in-patient care unit during the 1990s.

In 2013, she placed first in two categories in the Dixie Kane Memorial Contest: Single Title Contemporary Romance and Short/Long Contemporary Romance.

In 2017, she came in 3rd in the New England Reader's Choice contest for A Kiss Under the Christmas Lights and is a finalist in the 2017 STILETTO contest for the same title. A lifelong and avid romance reader and writer, she is a member of RWA and her local New Hampshire RWA Chapter.

Welcome, Peggy. Please share a little bit about your current release.

Photographer Gemma Laine is looking for arresting faces on the streets of Manhattan when her camera captures something shocking—a triple murder. In that moment, she becomes a target for the mob—and a top priority for a very determined, breathtakingly handsome, FBI special agent. With deadlines to meet and photo shoots on her calendar, Gemma chafes at the idea of protection, but every moment she spends under his watchful eye is a temptation to lose herself in his muscular arms . . .

With two of his men and one crucial witness dead, Special Agent Kyros Pappandreos can’t afford to be distracted. But Gemma is dazzling—and her connection to Kandy Laine’s high-profile cooking empire makes her an especially easy mark for some very bad people. Keeping her safe is much more pleasure than business, but as the heat between them starts to sizzle, Ky is set to investigate whether they have a shot at love…..

What inspired you to write this book? After I finished book 1 in the WILL COOK FOR LOVE SERIES, I knew I had to give Gemma her own love story. She comes across as flirty at times, hard as stone at others, and there were so many past factors that lead to her mercurial personality, I wanted to explore them and give her a man who would calm her fears about commitment and allow her to see her lifelong belief that all men leave just isn’t true. Plus, Gemma was the Laine sister I tagged as the Warrior and wanted to show her in all her bad-assery!


Excerpt from A Shot at Love:

            “That’s her.” The officer pointed to a police vehicle in the middle of the barricaded street a moment later. “Name’s Gemma Laine.”

            A woman stood next to the vehicle, a cell phone at her ear, her back to him. Tall, maybe as tall as him, and slender, her back tapered down to a miniscule waist, her legs clad in tight, faded jeans. When she turned Ky almost stopped midstride, the questions he intended to grill her with jumping out of his head. His breath caught as he simply stared at the loveliest woman he’d ever seen.

            Hair the color of midnight, straight as a board, fell to just below her shoulders, blowing back from her face in the gentle afternoon breeze. Blunt, chopped bangs, fringed a pair of large, bright blue eyes. Plump, coral colored lips moved as she spoke into the phone and for a brief, hot second, Ky wondered if they’d taste as delicious as they looked.

            Her gaze stayed on him as she spoke.

            “I’ve gotta go,” she said into the phone. “Yeah. I’ll call when I’m done. Love you, too.”

            “Miss Laine?”

            She tucked the phone into her back pocket.

            “I’m Special Agent Pappandreos. I need to speak with you about what you saw.”

            “Special Agent?” Those delicate brows furrowed under her bangs. “Like, FBI?”

            Jesus, where does a woman get a voice like that? Whiskey laced with honey and rolled into one smooth pitch.

            “Yes. I understand you witnessed the shooting? You photographed it?”

            She nodded. “I was working when it all started. I took a series of shots while it was happening.”         

            His gaze flicked to the camera she held in one hand.

            “I need to see those pictures.”

            His first impression of her height had been correct. She was maybe three or four inches shorter than his six foot one frame. As she moved closer, the hairs on the back of his neck stood straight at attention. She smelled as good as she looked and his nostrils flared from the scent of sweet cherries blended with some hot exotic spice.

            “It all went down so fast,” she said. “But I got some good shots.” Handing him the camera, she added, “Press this button to advance.”

What exciting story are you working on next?

Book 3 in the series CAN’T STAND THE HEAT comes next. That’s cousin Stacy’s story and she’s in for a heck-uv-a-ride in Montana as the executive producer of a network Food Competition Reality show. Nikko Stamp is a take-no-prisoners director and has made it known more than once, and loudly, that he doesn’t want an executive producer underfoot. The two are polar opposites in everything and in every way and boy has that made for some fun writing!

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

In all honesty, I’ve always been a writer, even from a young age. I was given one of those old-fashioned key-and-lock diaries when I was 6. I considered my life very boring at that time, so I started writing little vignettes about an only child of divorced parents and all the adventures she’d have while waiting for her parents to get home from work every evening. What’s that saying: art imitates life? Yeah, well at the time I was the only child – and a latch key kid at that – of divorced parents. Even though I was writing fiction, it was based on fact – the fact of my life. So, from being a life long diarist, it made sense I’d grow up with writing as my best friend.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I do write full-time. In 2015, I retired from my life in health care when I got my first publishing contract. I always told my husband that if I ever got a contract in publishing I was going to leave my job and retire for good. I don’t know who was more surprised when I did just that and never looked back!

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I hate sounding conceited, but I’m really good at dialogue. I think it’s because I’m so nosy. I lovelovelove to sit in a restaurant, or at an event (like a movie theater) and listen to the people around me talk. You can learn so much about a person, their relationships, and the way they interact with the world just by eavesdropping. Because of that habit, I can hear how my characters speak, say words, even the idioms they use as part of their everyday talking life when I’m writing. I’ve changed dialogue so many times because the characters will actually tell me that it’s wrong for them. I’ve used a word they would never use; said a phrase they would never say.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A nurse and a writer. I scored 100% on both!

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

Read to your children and grandchildren. Every day. No matter what it is – the newspaper, a funny article, even if they don’t understand it. Read to them. I read aloud to my daughter when I was pregnant with her and I swear she came out being able to read! I’m not exaggerating but she did actually start reading on her own at a little over 2 years old. My husband and I knew she could do it when we took her to a restaurant for dinner, she pointed at a sign and said, “Exit, Mommy.” And it was the exit sign! We were both a little floored and whole lotta excited. Reading opens so many doors for people of all ages. It’s the one thing you can do no matter how old, infirm, or incapacitated you are – because you can always listen to audio books if you can’t hold a book in your hand. Give your children and all the children in your realm the gift of reading.

Links:

Website/Blog | Twitter | Amazon author | Facebook | Pinterest | Goodreads | Instagram

Thank you for being a guest on my blog!
It was completely my pleasure!! Thanks so much for having me. I always love to “talk” to new people – and now you know why!! Hee hee

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