I’m excited to welcome back Peggy Jaeger! Her upcoming release is the second book in the series A Pride of Brothers, and this time, Aiden Keane is the hero. His service dog also has a leading role in the story, and Peggy’s here to tell us all about her. Take it away, Peggy!

One of the main characters in A PRIDE OF BROTHERS: AIDEN is Bronte, Aiden’s service dog, a female chocolate Labrador who is more his best friend than anything else.

I wrote APOB:A in late 2019, early 2020 and did a great deal of research on training dogs, especially dogs trained as service animals and as military dogs. I knew that with Aiden’s issues, there may be some times he was too weak to speak, so when I read that the US Army requires their dogs to learn commands with a verbal cue, as well as a visual cue, such as a hand signal, I knew I needed Bronte and Aiden to communicate this way as well. It just makes sense.

The training that dogs go through when they serve in the military is intense. They train with their handles daily, for a minimum of 30 minutes at a time. This not only fosters obedience and recognition, but bonding as well. These dogs would – and do – give their lives over for their partners, just like any soldier would to a fellow comrade in arms.

Now, as serendipity would have it, in September of 2020, my husband and I adopted an 8-week-old chocolate lab we named Maple, since we live in New Hampshire. I trained Maple using verbal and nonverbal cues just like those military dogs. She’s up to about 30 commands now and I think it’s easier for her to remember the nonverbal hand gestures than it is for me!

More about Aiden’s story:

Lexi Buckley wants answers about her younger sister’s death. The police have labeled it a suicide, but Lexi doesn’t believe it. Stymied in her investigation, she doesn’t know where to turn next. After a chance encounter with a private investigator, she thinks her prayers have been answered.

Aiden Keane has never been an answer to a prayer before, but he agrees to help Lexi. A quirky combo of brains and beauty, the pixie blonde makes him feel things no professional ever should for a client.

When their investigation puts Lexi’s life in jeopardy, her safety becomes his number one priority. The hard part is not falling for her.

A peek between the pages:

Were you close with your sister?” Aiden asked.

Not the way we should have been. Not at the end.

“We had a sizable age difference between us. Almost ten years. I was the big sis. The oldest.” Her lips trembled when she pulled them into a sad line. Rolling her eyes she added, “The bossy one, according to her. She was the baby and took full advantage of her status from the moment she realized it.”

“And rightly so.” The corners of his eyes crinkled. “I’m the youngest of my brothers and I can tell you with one hundred percent honesty, my oldest brother is the bossiest one of us. I think it comes with birth order. Although he takes his so called right uber-seriously. Especially at work.”

This time her grin was steadier.  “What kind of business do you all own together?”

“We run a private security company.”

“Security?”

“Personal bodyguards, if a client needs protection from something. Background checks for employers. Mostly we do investigations.”

“What, like private eyes? Like on television?”

He laughed. “Nothing so glamorous. The fast cars and hot babes are all fantasy. It’s a lot of boring research, computer work, and surveillance, but yeah, you could say I’m a private eye.”

Lexi’s entire mood turned on his words. The sorrow flew, the hurt dissolved. Even her nervous trivia-speak went dormant. She sat bolt upright, her knees bumping against the tabletop when she shifted. Excitement shot from her system as she turned her body, placed a hand across his forearm and declared, “Oh, my God. You’re the answer to my prayers.”

Buy the book!

More about Peggy:

Peggy Jaeger writes contemporary romances and rom coms 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 aspects of 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.

As a lifelong diarist, she caught the blogging bug early on, and you can visit her at peggyjaeger.com where she blogs daily about life, writing, and stuff that makes her go “What??!”

Where to find her:

Website | Twitter | Amazon | Facebook | Pinterest | Goodreads | Instagram | BookBub | YouTube

Thanks so much for joining us today, Peggy. Wishing you great success with the new book!