VANILLA WITH A TWIST by Peggy Jaeger

14 Thursday May 2020

Posted by Judith Sterling in Uncategorized

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Judith Sterling, novella, One Scoop or Two, Peggy Jaeger, romance series, summer reading, sweet romance, The Wild Rose Press, Vanilla with a Twist, writing

Sister Rose Peggy Jaeger is back! She’s here to talk about her upcoming release, Vanilla with a Twist. Ice cream and romance: not a bad combo, if you ask me, and it sounds like a fun summer read. Take it away, Peggy!

My new novella, VANILLA WITH A TWIST, is part of the new summer series from Wild Rose Press titled ONE SCOOP OR TWO. All the stories revolve around ice cream in some form and all must be set in summer. Since they are also novellas, the word count is set at 35,000 or less.

I typically write long tomes that range from 85,000 to 100,00 words, include a lot of story elements, and that typically feature some kind of intimacy (read: sex!) for the hero and heroine. I like a slow buildup with a lot of emotional and physical tension, so my folks don’t just jump in the sac in chapter 1. Sometimes, not even by chapter 10!

Because I like to write this way, penning a romance novella where I am restricted in the word count, and therefore the slow buildup, has made me a side-writer of sweet romance.

Of the three – now 4 – novellas I’ve penned for WRP, all have been sweet romances. No physical intimacy aside from a few kisses and hugs for the H/H.

Can I just tell you what an exercise in writing restraint that’s been?! Hee hee.

It’s actually been a good exercise, because it’s made me figure out alternative ways to show the physical tension and buildup of emotion through action and dialogue. A simple brush of the hero’s hand against the heroine’s can show a shiver of longing run up her spine, or have him hiss in a breath at the simple content. Just having them be aware of one another across a crowded room, or thinking about the other throughout the day without actually being in the same room denotes a type of intimacy and affection that can occur without sex accompanying it.

I have to admit, I love that.

But I also have to admit, I like writing my sex scenes, too. Hee hee.

The story:

Tandy Blakemore spends her days running her New England ice cream parlor, single-parenting her teenage son, and trying to keep her head above financial water. No easy feat when the shop’s machinery is aging and her son is thinking about college. Tandy hasn’t had a day off in a decade and wonders if she’ll ever be able to live a worry-free life.

Engineer Deacon Withers is on an enforced vacation in the tiny seaside town of Beacher’s Cove. Overworked, stressed, and lonely, he walks into Tandy’s shop for a midday ice cream cone and gets embroiled in helping her fix a broken piece of equipment.

Can the budding friendship that follows lead to something everlasting?

A peek between the pages:

For a few moments, she regarded him with a look his mother would have called insightful. The corners of her eyes narrowed, she dipped her chin a hair, and she pulled her mouth into another appealing pout he was tempted to kiss.

“I bet,” she said after a long, drawn-out sigh, “you were the kind of kid who took apart clocks and fans and vacuum cleaners to see how they worked.”

“It was more washing machines and lawn mowers and anything with a motor, but yeah. I was.”

She shook her head, her own lips forming a lopsided grin. “Your poor mother.”

“She survived.”

Tandy rolled her eyes and shot her hands to her hips. “So it’s working again?” She thrust her chin at the ice cream machine.

“For now.”

“Okay, well, I can live with for now. And you think you know the real reason it’s been acting up?”

“I definitely do. But like I said, the water to the machine needs to be shut off to fix it.”

“Okay. Well, we close at nine.”

“I’ll come back a little before then. Get things ready. Is that okay with you?”

“I guess it’ll have to be.” She bit down on the inside of her cheek as her brows pulled together. “And you’re sure you want to do this?”

“If I weren’t, I wouldn’t offer, Tandy.”

Why her reluctance to have him help was such a turn-on was something he considered while he waited for his ice cream.

Buy the book:

Amazon | Nook | Apple Books

More about Peggy:

Peggy Jaeger is a contemporary romance writer who writes Romantic Comedies about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can’t live without them. If she can make you cry on one page and bring you out of tears rolling with laughter the next, she’s done her job as a writer!

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, she 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’s created the families she wanted as that lonely child.

When she’s not writing Peggy is usually painting, crafting, scrapbooking or decoupaging old steamer trunks she finds at rummage stores and garage sales.

A lifelong and avid romance reader and writer, Peggy is a member of RWA and her local New Hampshire RWA Chapter.

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: http://peggyjaeger.com/

Blog: http://peggyjaeger.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Peggy-Jaeger-Author/825914814095072?ref=bookmarks

Twitter: https://twitter.com/peggy_jaeger

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13478796.Peggy_Jaeger

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/peggy-jaeger

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDR8RRIlssIyS0FYZWeGqsg/videos?view_as=subscriber

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peggyjaeger_author/

Pintrest: https://www.pinterest.com/peggyjaeger/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peggy-jaeger-296ab878/

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00T8E5LN0

Authors database: https://authorsdb.com/community/15814-peggy-jaeger

Triberr: https://triberr.com/tribe/strong-women–loving-men

Thanks for joining us today, Peggy. Wishing you all the best with the book!

Cover Reveal ~ ROOT BREW FLOAT by Sydney Winward

20 Friday Mar 2020

Posted by Judith Sterling in Uncategorized

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cover reveal, Judith Sterling, One Scoop or Two, Peggy Jaeger, romance series, Root Brew Float, summer reading, Sydney Winward, The Wild Rose Press, Vanilla with a Twist

Here’s the cover for another sister Rose’s (published by The Wild Rose Press) upcoming release, Root Brew Float. I love it!

Like Peggy Jaeger’s next book, Vanilla with a Twist, Root Brew Float is part of our publisher’s summer series, One Scoop or Two. I don’t know about you, but these covers are making me hungry for ice cream. And I’m partial to root beer floats! Here’s the story:

Josephine Brevil has lived hundreds of years haunted by the horrors she experienced during the Salem Witch Trials. She takes great care to hide her powers, though serving a Root Brew Float laced with a magic potion now and again never hurt anybody. The Order sends her to Massachusetts to deal with a paranormal threat, and she meets the young and handsome widower, Clarence Watts. However, being with him comes with a choice. How can she choose between the man she loves and the magic she holds dear?

Connect with Sydney Winward:

Website ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Instagram ~ Amazon Page ~ Goodreads ~ Bookbub

The book is set to release on May 18, 2020. Best of luck with it, Sydney! 🙂

Cover Reveal ~ VANILLA WITH A TWIST by Peggy Jaeger

10 Tuesday Mar 2020

Posted by Judith Sterling in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

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award winning author, cover reveal, Judith Sterling, One Scoop or Two, Peggy Jaeger, romance series, The Wild Rose Press, Vanilla with a Twist

Today, one of my sister Roses (published by The Wild Rose Press) is revealing the cover of her upcoming release, Vanilla with a Twist. It’ll be part of our publisher’s summer series, One Scoop or Two. Isn’t it cute? Here’s the scoop (pun intended!):

Can the budding friendship that follows lead to something everlasting?

Sounds like a great summer read! Visit Peggy’s blog here for more info.

NIGHT OF THE OWL on sale and part of the WINTER GAMES READER CHALLENGE

01 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by Judith Sterling in Uncategorized

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Amazon gift card, Barbara Bettis, booklovers, books on sale, Casi McLean, free books, Judith Sterling, Laura Strickland, multi-genre book event, Night of the Owl, Peggy Jaeger, reading challenge, The Novels of Ravenwood, Winter Games Reader Challenge

Night of the Owl is now on sale for only 99 cents! Grab your copy today:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple

But you could also read the book FOR FREE if you participate in the Winter Games Reader Challenge. If you love to read, this event is for you!

It’s a month-long reader challenge with games, a chance to make new friends and meet new authors, and prizes galore, including a chance to win a $200 Amazon gift card! And guess what? If you take part in the Winter Games, all of the books included will be free to you. Even if they’re listed as 99 cents (as Night of the Owl currently is), they’ll be gifted to you on Amazon. So what are you waiting for? Sign up today, and let the games begin!

Peggy Jaeger’s New Release ~ A PRIDE OF BROTHERS: RICK

07 Tuesday Jan 2020

Posted by Judith Sterling in Uncategorized

≈ 18 Comments

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A Pride of Brothers: Rick, contemporary romance, Cooking with Kandy, guest post, Judith Sterling, New England authors, Peggy Jaeger, The Wild Rose Press, Will Cook for Love

I’m thrilled to welcome sister Rose (published by the Wild Rose Press) Peggy Jaeger back to my blog! She’s written a lovely guest post about Abigail Lane, the heroine in her upcoming release, A Pride of Brothers: Rick. Take it away, Peggy!

Lawyer Abby Laine made an appearance in my first WILL COOK FOR LOVE series book COOKING WITH KANDY. Abby is the second oldest of the Laine girls (right behind Kandy) and when we meet her in the first book she is working as a paralegal in a law firm and attending law school at night.

Abby’s backstory is a deep one. Her father left the family after multiple affairs when Abby was a child. His defection impacted her greatly because she saw what it did to her mother emotionally and to the family financially. Left with no means of support and with nothing but a high school education, Abby’s mother, Hannah, had to work 3 jobs to support herself and her 7 girls, and the family was forced to live with Hannah’s parents. Abby saw the way her mother was treated by her father – dumped and discarded – and by society – an uneducated, unskilled woman – and vowed to never allow herself to be treated so horribly by anyone. She was determined to be self sufficient and financially sound, get a good education and be successful.

Since she was the second oldest, she and Kandy were tasked with taking care of the younger girls while Hannah worked, and it instilled a great sense of family obligation in her. She loves her sisters, there is no doubt of that, but she never really got to be a kid. Assuming adult responsibilities at such a tender age left no room for friends, outside the home activates, or anything fun related.

When we meet Abby in A PRIDE OF BROTHERS: RICK she is confronted by the angry abusive husband of one of her clients in her office while Kandy is visiting. Abby stands up to him and when he threatens her, has him arrested. The fact that her sister deals with such violent people in her practice scares Kandy, and she asks her Private Investigator/Bodyguard husband to place someone in Abby’s office as protection. Abby, of course, refuses the help.

When Rick Bannerman, Josh’s partner, hears about what happened, he wants to help protect Abby. The two of them have a subtle history that ended when he walked away from her after they shared a hot kiss 4 years ago. Abby has always had a thing for Rick, but his dismissal hurt, so she has kept her distance from him, despite the fact that their families are together a great deal.

Abby has a three-legged cat, adopted from a shelter, and whom no one wanted because she wasn’t deemed “perfect.” In her cat, Abby saw a kindred spirit and it was love at first sight. Despite the hardened, take no prisoners personality Abby shows the world, she is truly a softie at heart and wants nothing more than to be loved for the person she is.

A peek between the pages:

“Right there.” She aimed her fork at him as if it were a spear. “Perfect example. You know I hate being called Abigail. I’ve lost count of the hundreds of times I’ve told you and you still do it, knowing it pisses me off. And”—she cut him off before he could speak— “your usual response is to lift your hands and say ‘and still’ when you’re called on it. Who does that? What kind of person persistently and purposefully annoys people?”

“So you’re saying I’m intentionally annoying?”

“Persistently, so. Yes. Makes the lawyer in me wonder why.”

Just the lawyer? “Any answers come to mind?”

“Plenty.”

“Care to share?”

She placed her fork down next to her plate and regarded him across the table. “You really want to hear this? Because if you know anything about me, you know I’m truthful. I don’t hold back.”

Oh, he was sure she didn’t. And wouldn’t. Her tenacity was one of the things he’d first been drawn to.

That and her fabulous ass.

“I’m a big boy,” he said with a grin. “I can take it.

She took a sip of water first, her eyes trained on him the entire time. “Okay. If you really want to hear this.”

He waved his hand for her to continue.

“I think you use your cocky, aren’t-I-simply-too-witty attitude to keep people at a distance.”

Buy the book:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple Books | Books-a-Million

More about Peggy:

When she’s not writing Peggy is usually painting, crafting, scrapbooking or decoupaging old steamer trunks she finds at rummage stores and garage sales.

A lifelong and avid romance reader and writer, Peggy is a member of RWA and her local New Hampshire RWA Chapter.

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/Blog: http://peggyjaeger.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/peggy_jaeger

Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00T8E5LN0

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Peggy-Jaeger-Author/825914814095072?ref=bookmarks

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/peggyjaeger/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13478796.Peggy_Jaeger

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peggyjaeger_author/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/peggy-jaeger

You-Tube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDR8RRIlssIyS0FYZWeGqsg/videos?view_as=subscriber

Thanks so much for being my guest, Peggy. Best of luck with the new book!

TODAY, TOMORROW, ALWAYS by Peggy Jaeger

10 Tuesday Dec 2019

Posted by Judith Sterling in Uncategorized

≈ 19 Comments

Tags

A Match Made in Heaven, contemporary romance, excerpt, guest post, Judith Sterling, new release, Peggy Jaeger, romantic comedy, secondary characters, The Wild Rose Press

I’m thrilled to have a sister Rose (published by The Wild Rose Press) here with me today. We’re celebrating her new release, Today, Tomorrow, Always, and she’s written a lovely guest post about secondary characters who move the story along. Let’s see what she has to say:

When I decided to write my first romance series, I knew I needed to have engaging primary characters the reader could root for. I also knew I needed great secondary characters who’d pop up from book to book and who, also, the reader would want to connect with.

In my Match Made in Heaven series, the second book of which – TODAY, TOMORROW, ALWAYS – is out now, that secondary character is 93-year-old O’Dowd grandmother, Nanny Fee.

Her real, full name is Fiona Bridget Mary Darcy Sullivan O’Dowd Heaven Scallopini because she’s been married 4 times and widowed 4 times, each husband’s passing more difficult emotionally than the one before it. Fiona hasn’t only let her romantic heart be guided to the matrimonial bed. In her younger years she was a classical pianist and traveled with a world famous symphony all through Europe where she had affairs (between hubbies, of course) with a Duke, a Baron, an Earl and one or two other, lesser royals. With her flaming and natural red, waist length hair, sparkling periwinkle colored eyes, a quick wit and a naughty mind, Fee can charm the pants off any man – and has! But she’s also fiercely loyal and protective of her granddaughters.

One of her many quirks is calling her granddaughters by the numerical number of their birth. Cathy is referred to as “Number One,” Maureen, “Number Four.” Her twin, Eileen was three, but she died. Colleen is the one scarred the most by the use of the numerical naming system because as the second child, she’s called “Number Two,” a name she can’t stomach and really hated as a child. Especially since Nanny taught communion classes. Colleen was referred to one too many times as Number two in front of a classroom of her peers, and has been emotionally traumatized because of it.

The reason behind the numerical names is that Fiona and her daughter-in-law despise one another. When the girls’ mother named them all with the same sounding names (Cathleen, Colleen, Eileen & Maureen) Nanny thought it sounded obnoxious and voiced her opinion on the topic loud and long. To get back at her DIL, the number names were born. But Nanny didn’t figure in how the numbers would affect her granddaughters into adulthood.

I adore Nanny Fee and she plays a prominent role in TODAY, TOMORROW, ALWAYS, so when you read it, I hope you love her as much as I do.

The story in a nutshell:

Lawyer Cathleen O’Dowd wants to break free from her boring image. Widowed young, she’s toed the good-girl line but now wants a little fun and laughter in her days…and nights. Living in a small town, though, she can’t do anything that would tarnish her professional reputation.

Mac Frayne’s tragic past has turned him into a sullen loner. In town to write a book on the city’s founder, his plan is to get it done, then head home to his solitary existence.

When circumstances force them to work together, their opposing personalities clash, but the sexual attraction between them is palpable.

Can a simple affair with an end date be just the thing to brighten up their lives?

A peek between the pages:

His expression changed from wide-eyed with excitement to something entirely different. Something deep and dark and—gulp—wild.

He repeated my name, and before I could blink, a pair of strong arms wrapped around my waist and a torso I knew was as solid and defined as a redwood tree flattened against the front of me.

He dipped his head, those dreamy eyes dark now with desire, and zeroed in on my own like a laser pointer. Hypnotized by the naked need facing me, I took a breath—a physical and a mental one—and pushed up on my unshod toes until my lips pressed against his.

For a nanosecond, Frayne stilled. The notion that he didn’t want this blew across my mind. A beat later and the thought died as his arms tightened and he pulled me fully against his body.

And then kissed me back.

Where to buy the book:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple Books

More about Peggy:

When she’s not writing Peggy is usually painting, crafting, scrapbooking or decoupaging old steamer trunks she finds at rummage stores and garage sales.

A lifelong and avid romance reader and writer, Peggy is a member of RWA and her local New Hampshire RWA Chapter.

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:

Best of luck with the book, Peggy! 🙂

Guest Author Peggy Jaeger ~ DEARLY BELOVED on sale!

06 Thursday Jun 2019

Posted by Judith Sterling in Uncategorized

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

A Match Made in Heaven, books on sale, contemporary romance, Dearly Beloved, guest author, Judith Sterling, Peggy Jaeger, The Wild Rose Press, weddings

I’m thrilled to have a sister Rose (published by The Wild Rose Press) as my guest today. Welcome, Peggy Jaeger! Dearly Beloved, Book One of her contemporary romance series A Match Made in Heaven, is currently on sale for 99 cents, and she’s here to tell us what inspired the series in the first place. Take it away, Peggy…

Three years ago my daughter was in the wedding party of one of her sorority sisters from college. The bride hailed from one side of the country, the groom, the other. Where to have their ceremony so that all could participate proved quite the question for them.

They decided to have a “destination” wedding, but the destination was in the continental US so that both families could attend without breaking their bankbooks on air fares, exorbitant hotel fees and the thousand other little wedding costs that pop up. They chose a venue where they could have the marriage ceremony, the reception, the afterparty, and also, where the guests could stay, all in the same place. My daughter jokingly called it “a one-stop wedding.”

It’s amazing how something like that simple statement can spark an idea.

The moment she uttered those words a new book series jumped into my mind and A Match Made in Heaven was born. Book 1, DEARLY BELOVED, was released in November 2018, and the ecopy is currently on sale for just 99cents until 6.21.19.

I love a good wedding and I adore a good wedding romance. Luckily for me, I get to write about them, too!

And your lucky readers get to read about them! Thanks so much for joining me today, Peggy. Now, here’s the scoop on the story itself:

Colleen O’Dowd manages a thriving bridal business with her sisters in Heaven, New Hampshire. After fleeing Manhattan and her cheating ex-fiancé, Colleen still believes in happily ever afters. But with a demanding business to run, her sisters to look after, and their 93-year-old grandmother to keep out of trouble, she’s worried she’ll never find Mr. Right.

Playboy Slade Harrington doesn’t believe in marriage. His father’s six weddings have taught him life is better as an unencumbered single guy. But Slade loves his little sister. He’ll do anything for her, including footing the bill for her dream wedding. He doesn’t plan on losing his heart to a smart-mouthed, gorgeous wedding planner, though.

When her ex-fiancé comes back into the picture, Colleen must choose between Mr. Right and Mr. Right Now.

A peek inside the pages:

I stared at him for a moment, mulling over how I wanted to ask him what I’d been dying to ask since we’d been in my office.

Finally, because there was no other way to get around it but bluntly, I said, “I feel like we need to discuss your father. Come to a decision about where he fits in the wedding.”

When the warmth in his expression shifted to ice, a weaker-willed person might have stopped there. Since I’m not weak and my parents have always told me I have a real problem with knowing when to quit, I pushed on. “It seems to me as if Isabella wants him to be included. Whether in a father-of-the-bride role, or simply as a guest, I really do think she’d like him to attend, but, for whatever reason, she’s reluctant to press you on it.”

Did I say ice? What’s colder than ice? Because whatever it is, that was the expression floating in Slade’s eyes right then as he glared at me.

Warning bells blared in my head, but that thing about me not knowing when to quit? Yeah, it’s real.

“I think Isabella’s afraid of upsetting you if she tells you how she feels or asks your permission. She loves you so much and respects your opinion.”

“You don’t know anything about my sister. Or me.” He lowered his hands from his hips, kept them fisted at his sides. “Or our relationship with our father.”

“True, but I get the sense—”

He barreled over me as if I hadn’t said a word.

“You’ve been hired to do a job, Miss O’Dowd. I suggest you do it and keep your thoughts about my family to yourself. You’re a wedding planner, not a family counselor.” His voice dropped a level, deepening as it became softer. The cadence became clipped, the tone more…lethal.

If this was the way he acted in business, it was a wonder he hadn’t been convicted of corporate homicide yet.

“Look, I’m not asking simply to be nosy,” I said, my voice rising in opposition to his. “I really do have to plan all this out. There’s still the rehearsal and the dinner after it left to deal with. Then there’s the reception seating. Plus, if he is included, I’ll need to make sure he has a room, a tuxedo, and find out if he’s bringing a guest.”

“What aren’t you understanding about this, Miss O’Dowd?” Slade asked, taking a step toward me. If he’d thought to intimidate me with his height, he’d miscalculated. Retreat wasn’t a word in my lexicon. I simply lifted my chin and stared right back at him.

“I understand a lot more than you think, Mr. Harrington. About all sorts of things. Arrogant and pigheaded men included.”

When he continued to stand like a plank of wood in front of me, his mouth turning down and creasing the sides of his jaw, I knew—knew—I should stop.

But…

Where to buy the book:

More about Peggy:

When she’s not writing Peggy is usually painting, crafting, scrapbooking or decoupaging old steamer trunks she finds at rummage stores and garage sales.

A lifelong and avid romance reader and writer, Peggy is a member of RWA and her local New Hampshire RWA Chapter.

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:

Celebrate Audiobook Month ~ N. N. Light’s Book Heaven

03 Monday Jun 2019

Posted by Judith Sterling in Uncategorized

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audiobooks, Flight of the Raven, Judith Sterling, medieval romance, N. N. Light's Book Heaven, Peggy Jaeger, Rebecca McKernan, romance audiobooks, The Novels of Ravenwood, The Wild Rose Press

N. N. Light’s Book Heaven is celebrating audiobooks all month long! Today, the spotlight is on one of my audiobooks–Flight of the Raven, the first of The Novels of Ravenwood–and one of sister Rose (The Wild Rose Press) Peggy Jaeger’s audiobooks.

Narrator Rebecca McKernan did a great job of bringing the medieval world of Flight of the Raven to life. See the spotlight here! And if you love audiobooks, check out N. N. Light’s Book Heaven every day in June. Lots of authors, writing a variety of genres, are participating.

Happy Monday! Have a great week! 🙂

The GUARDIANS OF ERIN series ~ An award and a new release!

19 Wednesday Dec 2018

Posted by Judith Sterling in Uncategorized

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award-winning book, Best Books of 2018, Best Paranormal of 2018, free eBook, Guardians of Erin, Judith Sterling, literary giveaway, N. N. Light Book Awards, N. N. Light's Book Heaven, Peggy Jaeger, The Cauldron Stirred, The Stone Awakened, worldwide release

My Guardians of Erin young adult series is flourishing. I’m thrilled to announce that The Cauldron Stirred (Book One) was awarded the prize of Best Paranormal of 2018 in the N. N. Light Book Awards! I’m so grateful for the honor. Check out the other winners here.

In related news, today is the worldwide release of the sequel, The Stone Awakened! I’m excited to share the continuing story of the Donoghue family, and if you love Ireland and/or the paranormal, you might want to check it out. For buy links and blurbs for both books, click here.

Author Peggy Jaeger is helping me celebrate my new release on her blog today, and we’re giving away free e-copies of The Cauldron Stirred to a handful of lucky commenters. Come join us, and you just might win: http://peggyjaeger.com/2018/12/19/a-visit-with-author-judith-sterling/

An Interview with Peggy Jaeger, Author of CAN’T STAND THE HEAT

04 Wednesday Apr 2018

Posted by Judith Sterling in Uncategorized

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Baked With Love, Can't Stand the Heat, contemporary romance, JD Robb, Judith Sterling, Macquire Women, Peggy Jaeger, Will Cook for Love

I’m thrilled to have Peggy Jaeger, one of my sister authors at The Wild Rose Press, here today. Welcome, Peggy, and congrats on your new release, Can’t Stand the Heat! I wish you great success with it. I have lots of questions for you, so let’s get started.

At what age did you write your first story? If I’m remembering right, I was 6. It was about a lonely, neglected girl who made a wish for a family and got that wish granted!

Sounds like a wonderful story! Which genre was the first to hook you? Mystery. I devoured every Nancy Drew and Trixie Beldon book in my local library when I discovered them. Then I moved on to Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie. At one point in my 20’s I had a copy of every Agatha Christie book in print. This was waaaaaaaaaaaay before ebooks!

Wow! I love all of those, and my childhood wouldn’t have been the same without Nancy Drew! I think those books inspired many future authors. What was your first published book? THE KINDNESS TALES, published in 1994. It was a children’s book from a very small press that has since gone the way of the dinosaur.

What’s your favorite part of the writing process? Brainstorming? Research? Outlining? Writing? Editing? Actually, my favorite part is coming up with my characters. I’m a huge and unabashed eavesdropper and people watcher. I watch and listen to people all the time when I am in public. On the line at the grocery store. In Panera. At the drugstore. Even when I go out to dinner with my hubby. I am always thinking of scenarios and backstories for interesting people I see. It gets kinda hard in the small town I live in, since I know so many of the people already! But outside of that town and when I travel, my creative juices really start to flow.

What are you working on now? I am currently in edits for my third San Valentino book which will be coming out Christmas-time 2018 from the Wild Rose Press, titled BAKED WITH LOVE (A San Valentine Christmas Romance). This book tells the love story of baker Regina, and the handsome stranger who comes into her bakery looking for a custom cake and winds up leaving with her heart!

I loved reading about the San Valentino family in A KISS UNDER THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS. They remind me a lot of a large Italian family I knew when I was growing up. I’m sure BAKED WITH LOVE will be a fun read, too! Of all the settings you’ve used (or created!) for your books, which is your favorite? My fictional town of Heaven, NH for my book series (as of yet unpublished) A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN. Why? It’s about a tiny town in New Hampshire. I live in a tiny town in New Hampshire. The setting of the book plays a pivotal role in each of the 4 books. There’s something about a small community of people, esp. New Englanders, that just warms my heart. So many backstories, so much history. Secrets everyone knows but never speak about. Love that!

Have you ever dreamed about a character you created? Actually, yes. In Book 3 of my Macquire Women series, the character (hero) Pat Cleary, came to me fully formed in a dream. I saw him, knew him, heard him speak all in one dream. That entire book was written for him.

Very cool! If you could have a conversation with anyone—dead or alive—who would it be? Love this question. Jane Austen’s Elizabeth Bennett. I’d like to ask her, for once and for all, to settle a dispute in my head: Did she marry Darcy because she truly loved him, or because she loved Pemberton and wanted to be its lady and the only way to do that was to marry the onwer?

Great answer! I love Elizabeth Bennett, and I’m guessing she truly came to love him. If you could travel to any time and place, when and where would that be? You know, I’m kinda happy where I am right now!

If you could step inside any book or series and live there for a week, which would you choose? Hands down JD Robb’s IN DEATH series. I would love to work with Eve Dallas and Delia Peabody and just sit around and stare at Roarke!

If a fairy godmother appeared and offered you one thing—anything at all—what would you request? Oh boy, what a question! Well, I could take the moral high road and ask for world peace. Or the fiscally sound one and say a billion dollars so I could make sure my family is secure for the rest of my life. Or I could be selfish and ask for the body I had at 20 back (HeeHee). But I think the thing I would ask for is the power to end world hunger. To make sure everyone, everywhere has enough to eat for the rest of their lives. I don’t want anyone ever to know what it’s like to go hungry. Ever again!

A wonderful wish! Now, it’s time to learn some of your favorites.

Sound: babies giggling

Eye color: Green

Foreign language (whether or not you speak it!): Italian (lovelovelove the way it sounds on someone’s lips)

Song: “Secret Agent Man” by Johnny Rivers

Book: New York to Dallas by JD Robb (the last 3 pages make me cry every single time I read it!)

Movie: Gone with The Wind

TV show: Hawaii 5-0 (the original one with Jack Lord and James MacArthur)

Cuisine: cake (Trust me, it’s a cuisine!)

Cookie: Plain sugar cookies. Yummo

US location: Hawaii

Foreign location: Tuscany

And finally, list your preference from the following choices:

Tea or coffee? Neither. I drink DIET MOUNTAIN DEW by the gallon!

Cake or pie? Cake. Always and forever

Halloween or Christmas? Christmas

Nancy Drew or Sherlock Holmes? Nancy

Jane Austen or the Brontë sisters? Jane, always!

A mortal, vampire, ghost, or fae for a lover? Don’t know what a fae is, but I do know that I love the fact that vampires got it right when they discovered that the neck is a supreme erogenous zone, so I’d have to say, Dracula.

English gent, Scottish highlander, European count, or all-American guy? All American guy, every single time!!!

Thanks so much for being here, Peggy. And now, here’s a little about Can’t Stand the Heat, Book 3 in the Will Cook for Love series:

In Peggy Jaeger’s delectable series, delicious food is just an appetizer for life’s main course: the kind of love that feeds your soul.

With three successful TV series under her belt, including her cousin Kandy’s, executive producer Stacy Peters is ready to helm her own show. But to make that happen, she has to do her network boss one favor first—spend two months on a ranch in Montana wrangling the notoriously difficult director of Beef Battles. Apparently, he eats producers for breakfast. Yet all Stacy can think when she meets the lean, rugged man is how hungry he makes her . . .

Dominic Stamp—Nikko to his very few friends—has had enough interference from TV newbies. And when Stacy climbs out of the car in Montana, he’s not convinced she’s even old enough to drive, much less produce his show. But he can’t deny that the long-legged blonde with the stubborn will and the dazzling smile whets his appetite. And as Stacy proves her talent with the crew and the budget alike, Nikko vows to prove to her that love is on the menu for both of them . . .

Look for exclusive recipes in each book!

Excerpt:

This couldn’t be the new executive producer.

She looked like an intern, barely out of college, not the seasoned television producer Teddy Davis had emailed him about.

The one he’d emailed back saying he neither wanted nor needed.

Hair the color of freshly uncorked champagne fell just below her shoulders in a soft cascade of waves and ripples. Even in the heat and humidity engulfing them it looked fresh. Her face was a perfect heart, a tiny dip in the center of the hairline bifurcating her brow into two perfectly aligned sections, her flawless chin falling into a delicate point. She had one hand out to shake his, the other shading her eyes from the strong and harsh afternoon sun, but underneath her fingers he was able to make out a pair of sloe-shaped eyes in a deep, forest green.

Taller than average but small boned, her legs took up most of the lissome body. With her lips held together in a tight line, she reached him.

“I’m Stacy Peters, Mr. Stamp.”

He stopped and planted his feet, his gaze shifting to her outstretched hand and then back up to her face without taking it. Her eyes narrowed into a determined glare and it looked as if she wasn’t going to back down until he shook it. With reluctance, he did.

Like the rest of her, her fingers were narrow and thin as they coiled around his.

A blast of heat instantly warmed and calmed his entire body like a few shots of his favorite Irish whiskey did after a rough and painful day. The subtle aroma of vanilla floated to him, filling his senses with the sweet fragrance. The persistent, throbbing ache in his left leg the liquor helped chase away, was momentarily forgotten with his hand rooted in hers.

As soon as she pressed her fingers firmly against his palm once, she pulled her hand back.

For a split second, Nikko missed the touch.

In the next, he found his anger again.

Buy Links:

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/s/?field-keywords=9781516101092
Nook https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/cant-stand-the-heat-peggy-jaeger/1126718088?ean=9781516101092&st=AFF&2sid=Kensington%20Publishing%20Corp._8067221_NA&sourceId=AFFKensington%20Publishing%20Corp.
Kobo https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/can-t-stand-the-heat-8

A bit more about Peggy:

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.

A lifelong and avid romance reader and writer, she is a member of RWA and her local New Hampshire RWA Chapter.

Where to find her:

Website/Blog: http://peggyjaeger.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/peggy_jaeger

Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00T8E5LN0

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Peggy-Jaeger-Author/825914814095072?ref=bookmarks

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/peggyjaeger/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13478796.Peggy_Jaeger

Instagram: https://instagram.com/mmj122687/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/peggy-jaeger