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:
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?
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?
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?
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?
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
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
