So, I’m super excited to tell you that SANTA BABY ( A Dickens Holiday prequel – Dorrit’s Diner) is releasing on June 7, 2021. Get the title of this blog now?
Hee hee.
This is a prequel/novella for my upcoming Dickens Holiday Romance, FIXING CHRISTMAS, which will release on November 9. But SANTA BABY is a stand alone novella with an HEA and NO cliffhangers!
I had such a ball writing Angel Kisses and Holiday Wishes for last year’s Christmas Comes to Dickens Holiday Romance Anthology, that I jumped on board immediately when asked if I wanted to continue the trend. SANTA BABY is an origin story in many ways, but most of all it’s a love story about 2 people and a baby, abandoned on Christmas Eve.
Here’s the blurb:
It’s Christmas Eve morning in the tiny New England town of Dickens.
Santa’s arrival is imminent, and a hint of snow is in the air.
Amy Dorrit is just about to open her popular diner for the breakfast rush when she discovers an abandoned baby on her back doorstep.
Amy knows she should call the authorities and turn the infant over to them, but she just can’t. Thoughts of her own abandonment as a baby flood through her and she wants to keep the little one out of the hands of the authorities until the mother – hopefully –returns.
But will the mom come back? And if she doesn’t, what is Amy prepared to do about the baby who has, already, claimed her heart?
The book is up for preorder now, across all digital media, here: SANTA BABY and, if you’re a Booksprout Subscriber, you can request an ARC and read it for free as long as you review it before May 30, here: BOOKSPROUT. Last time I checked there were still some copies left to grab!
I know some of you are thinking DON’T RUSH TO THE HOLIDAYS!!! LET’S GET THROUGH SUMMER AND FALL FIRST. I hear ya. But…..it’s never too early for a Holiday Romance book! heehee
And Don’t forget to add SANTA BABY to your GOODREADS TBR list and BOOKBUB
And and and….check out the fabulous book trailer Nancy Fraser produced for me:
When I wrote my WILL COOK FOR LOVE series, there was one character who popped into two of the books that I absolutely loved, Private Eye Rick Bannerman. Cocky, self-deprecating, of course handsome, and with a very dark past, I wanted to give him an HEA of his own and a woman who could stand toe to toe with him in every circumstance. A PRIDE OF BROTHERS: RICK, was born from that premise. It was my first ROMANTIC SUSPENSE and the next book in the series, AIDEN, is coming out soon, so I figured today would be a good day to give Rick and Abby Laine some blog time.
Elite bodyguard and P.I. Rick Bannerman’s job is to protect. He doesn’t get emotional with his clients, but when a woman from his past is threatened, his next job becomes personal.
Family lawyer Abigail Laine is the target of a client’s vengeful husband, but refuses Rick’s offer of protection. He walked away from her four years ago, and she swore to forget him.
Now her reluctance to accept his help could cost Abby her life.
Excerpt:
When had her life turned into this stressful jumble?
Abby grabbed the bottle of extra-strength pain reliever she kept in her kitchen junk drawer, shook out three tablets, and swallowed them with a small glass of tap water.
“Head that bad?” Rick asked from behind her.
“I let it go too long.” She rolled her neck, massaged a muscle where it connected with her shoulder. “I should have gotten in front of it right when it started in court. But I don’t like to take anything when I’m working. The pills make me fuzzyheaded.“
Rick reached around her and grabbed the bottle from the counter. “These are plain over-the-counter tablets. I’d think you’d have something stronger, something prescribed, for when the pain gets this bad. I can see the headache all over your face and shoulders. You’re wearing the pain like you’d wear makeup.”
“You can’t know what a boost to my fragile ego having you here is, Bannerman.”
“Your ego is fine,” he said, moving a step closer.
Her kitchen was huge by Manhattan standards. She could have four people stand in it and still have room to cook around them. Not so when Rick was with her. Sure, he was tall, but so were her brothers-in-law. They never made her feel like her personal space was so congested when they were visiting, though.
“Turn around,” he said.
“What?”
“You heard me. Turn around, Abigail.”
“Bossy, much?”
The low, deep rumble of his chuckle sent the tiny hairs on her neck up to attention.
“When I have to be,” he said. “Believe me, for once you’ll be glad you listened.”
“Doubtful,” she murmured. Reluctantly, she presented him with her back.
“Take a breath,” he told her. “A deep one. And hold it for a few seconds.”
She did.
“Now let it out, slowly. Count to five in your head while you do.”
“What is this, Bannerman? Some Vulcan mind- trick cure for a headache? Because if it is, it’s not—oh! Oh…my.” The last word scattered out in one long exhale.
“Told you you’d be glad you listened.”
The pressure of his thumbs on either side of her shoulders, a hair below the collar of her blouse as they kneaded, pressed, and drew little circles around her constricted muscles, shot a wave of intense pleasure straight down the length of her spine.
Abby closed her eyes and sighed. “Oh, good Lord. Whatever you’re doing, don’t stop.”
“Your neck is so tight, I’m surprised your spine doesn’t snap when you walk in those stilts you love so much. It’s a wonder you can move at all with any kind of flexibility.”
“Practice.” She all but purred like her cat when his thumbs sank into her flesh. “And motivation. That feels…amazeballs.”
She swore she could hear his grin. He replaced his thumbs with the pads of his first and second fingers, pressed in deep, released, and then did it again.
“Amazeballs, Abigail? How old are you?”
“Oh! I’ll be any age you want me to be, but don’t stop…please.”
His chuckle turned to a laugh. “I can’t tell you how much I like hearing you beg. Take another deep breath.”
Obediently, since she now knew the benefits of being so, she did. “Oh. My. God.”
He’d wound his long, strong fingers up under her hairline. While he flexed them, massaging every bit of her skull, a thousand jolts of electricity bounded down her back. Her legs turned liquid. She needed to sit down before she fell flat to the floor.
“Stop wiggling. Try to hold still,” he said, dangerously close to her ear. The warmth of his breath as it whispered over her neck delightfully singed her skin. “There’s one pressure point I haven’t gotten to yet.”
“I can’t feel my feet.” Good Lord. Did that moan come from her?
“Good. Then this is working. Give me another minute.”
“You can have all night, Bannerman. As long as you want. Just don’t stop.”
For the briefest of moments, so brief she might have imagined it, he stopped kneading, a swift inhale ringing around her. Then, in a heartbeat, he started his ministrations again. For the first time Abby noticed their bodies were touching, the middle of her back pressed along his torso.
While his fingers skimmed up to her temples, she tilted backward, bumping her head against his chest. He was as solid as a block of concrete.
Rick inhaled a jagged breath when the rest of her body pressed into him.
He had the pads of three fingers against her temples now, the concentric circles he pressed and released over them drawing out little mewing noises from the back of her throat. When his pinkies joined their brothers, all four fingers of each hand now splayed along her skin, feathered into her hairline, Abby rolled her neck back and opened her eyes a fraction. Upside down, she saw the edge of Rick’s jaw, watched— fascinated—as his throat bobbed up and down while he continued attending to her.
“I’m almost done. Hold on for another sec.”
She let her eyes drift closed again. Rick moved his hands so they cupped the back of her neck, then, slowly, he brought her head away from his chest to an upright position, leaving his palms flattened across her shoulder blades.
“Take a breath and lift your shoulders,” he commanded.
Abby did, then rolled her head front to back.
“How’s the headache now?”
She opened her eyes and blinked. “Gone.” She whirled around to face him. “Completely gone.”
He nodded and flexed his fingers as if working out his own kinks. “Good. I’m glad it worked.”
“Where did you learn how to do that?” She slid a hand along one side of her neck, tilted her head, then moved it in the opposite direction. “I don’t think my shoulders have been this loose since, well, fourth grade.”
“You spend a lot of time hunched over.” He opened her fridge and pulled out two bottled waters. “Computer. Legal briefs. It’s no wonder your shoulders are tight and you’re susceptible to migraines.”
“How did you know I had migraines?” She took a swig of the water. “I mean, as opposed to regular bad headaches?”
“You wear the pain on your face. It’s obvious to anyone who knows what to look for.”
“And you do?”
He nodded. “Drink the whole bottle and then you need to eat. You haven’t had anything all day. It’s a wonder you aren’t dropping.”
He bent and peeked into the refrigerator. Sipping her water, she took the opportunity to stare at his butt.
And don’t forget to check back her on June 1, 2021 when I’ll be having my official COVER REVEAL for A PRIDE OF BROTHER: AIDEN. You won’t want to miss this cover because it is perfection!!!
Enjoy your day, kids. Until next time ~ Peg
And remember, if you’re looking for me, I’m always here:
I’m so excited to be a part of @NNP_W_Light’s Celebrate Mothers Bookish Event. Check out all books just in time for Mother’s Day and enter the giveaway to win a $30 Amazon gift card: https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/92db7750109
My book, THE VOICES OF ANGELS is one of the featured romance books, just perfect for a gift for Mom.
Love is the last thing Carly Lennox is looking for when she sets out on her new book tour. The independent, widowed author is content with a life spent writing and in raising her daughter. When newscaster Mike Woodard suggests they work on a television magazine profile based on her book, Carly’s thrilled, but guarded. His obvious desire to turn their relationship into something other than just a working one is more than she bargained for.
Mike Woodard is ambitious, and not only in his chosen profession. He wants Carly, maybe more than he’s ever wanted anything or anyone else. As he tells her, he’s a patient man. But the more they’re together, Mike realizes it isn’t simply desire beating within him. Carly Lennox is the missing piece in his life. Getting her to accept it-and him-may just be the toughest assignment he’s ever taken on.
Enter to win a copy Of the VOICES OF ANGELS and all the participating books featured in this wonderful event.
SO my Good News this week is that my daughter rec’d her second covid vaccine shot so she is all protected now!!! You can’t know how wonderful this news is to me!!!!
So, what’s something good that happened to you this week?
Happy Tuesday, peeps ~ Peg
And remember, if you’re looking for me, I’m always here:
I won’t go into details, but every day there was a new issue or problem either with my family or my career. I wondered if things could get worse. But then, yesterday, they got immeasurably better!
Last night I was informed that my sweet romance VANILLA WITH A TWIST won the Sweet category in the Oklahoma Romance Writers Guild Awards!
Gobsmacked is too tame a word for how I felt when I watched the You0tube virtual event and heard my name called!
So, it really was the perfect ending to a week I want to forget!
If you haven’t read the book, here’s a little something about it:
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?
Intrigued? I hope so.
I’m off to do Sunday chores. Hope your day is as happy as mine.
So excited to announce that my Sleeping Beauty retold story, WOKE, will go into wide distribution on 5.3.2021. What that means is before now it’s only been available in Kindle and KU, but starting next Monday it will be digitally be available in Kobo, Nook, Apple, and a few other digital venues, here: WOKE
The price will be 99cents everywhere to kick off the wide distribution, so this is a great time to buy it for your ereader or gift it for a Mother’s day gift to your romance reading mom!
Waking up each day is a gift….
On her 21st birthday, someone slipped a potent drug combination into socialite Aurora Brightwell’s champagne, putting her in a coma for the next ten years. It’s been a long road back, and it’s time to reclaim the life she lost and find out exactly what happened on that fateful night.
Financier Kincade Enright has his own reason for helping Aurora discover who poisoned her, but for the time being he’s keeping that – and his true identity – to himself. What he can’t keep hidden though, are his growing feelings for the one-time paparazzi darling and party-girl.
When this prince of finance joins forces with the former sleeping beauty, nothing can stop them from finding the answers they seek…or prevent the powerful emotions developing between them as they search for the truth.
It’s not often I can brag ( and I hate that word, but…) about more than 1 good thing at a time, but this week, I’ve got three!
A PRIDE OF BROTHERS: RICK is a RONE NOMINEE this week and voting is open right now. If you’d like to vote for it ( pretty please!!!) here’s the link: RONE AWARDS.
My second good thing is that WOKE is going into wide digital distribution next week. This will be the second book I’ve managed to get into all outlets online and I’m super excited. Here’s the PREORDER link if you don’t have a kindle and haven’t read it yet: UNIVERSAL LINK
Operation Code Name: Desert Love by Constance Bretes
Her best hope for survival is the one man she never wants to see again.
Clarissa Maasen is a humanitarian relief worker who’s stationed in Afghanistan. When she and two of her coworkers are kidnapped by insurgents and held hostage, she can only hope that her father, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will send his best men to rescue them—more specifically, Len Roberts of the Delta Force.
The last time Len saw Clarissa, it did not end on good terms. But he will risk his life to rescue this woman who is never far from his thoughts.
Can he rescue her in time? And will they be able to control the passion erupting between them?
Constance started writing contemporary romance and romantic suspense fifteen years ago. She was born and raised in Michigan. After working for the State of Michigan for 38 years, she retired. She and her husband moved to Montana and lived in the mountainside of a small town. There, locked in her office overlooking the mountains, was where this story, Operation Code Name: Desert Love, was written. After living in Montana for three years, they moved to Alabama with her cat, Sunny, who owns both her and her husband. Her hobbies include basket weaving, reading mafia romance books, diamond painting, and fiddling at the piano.
Peggy Jaeger, Author 