Author Archives: Peggy Jaeger

Weird title right? But so very true.

Saturday, 12.13.25, I attended the premier A VERY MERRY BOOKMAS FAIRE in Manchester, NH. When I say premier, it was because this was the first time this event has been put on. Billed as a holiday book fair, it was meant to draw romance readers and encourage a little book holiday shopping. As a first time event, I had some hopes it would go well, but my expectations weren’t too high because it was, after all, a first time event.

I lovelovelove when I am wrong. And I was…SO WRONG!

Not only was this the most organized event I have been at in years ( YEARS!) it was also unbelievably well attended by the romance book reading community. I spoke with two women who drove 4 hours to attend that morning. Several had stayed over in hotels the night before, having traveled from up to six and seven hours away!!

MINDBOGGLING, I tell you. And so very heart-warming.

Lila Gray and her incredibly well-trained crew of volunteers, were what made this event the absolute success it was. I have never been to an event where the authors and readers were so well taken care of and seen to. This is what a reader event should be. I even told Lila at the end that I think she should do this full time – be an event organizer, because she is brilliant at it!! She is also a brilliant writer, so I don’t think she’s going to take me up on my suggestion, lol!

I met so many wonderful readers and influencers that I actually follow on Instagram and TIktok! And guess what? They follow me, too! Again…mindboggling.

I am a horrible picture taker when I am at these events because I am always so busy talking to people, selling my books, and generally having a great time that I forget to use my phone and snap away. These are the only ones I took before the event started of my table:

Whenever I go to one of these events I am hopeful I will sell a few books to new readers. This event? I sold out of 4 titles ( a first for me!) and did some serious sell-damage to the rest. Everyone was in the mood for holiday romance books, and these are the titles I brought with me.

I came home exhausted because the drive was 1.5 hours for me, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but my sciatica says it’s too much, lol, but so elated emotionally, spiritually, and career-wise that I had trouble sleeping Saturday night because my excitement level was still so high.

I saw old, treasured author friends and readers, and made some new reader friends as well.

In all, it was day I am not going to soon forget. I can’t do the event in 2026 ( and yes, it’s already booked solid with authors) but I am hopeful Lila Gray, the organizer, will let me know when the 2027 sign up form comes out because I am definitely going to move hell and high water to be at that one!
Thank you to all the organizers and volunteers. I seriously don’t know how you will surpass this event next year, but you know what? I have a feeling you will.

Happy holidays, everyone. And don’t forget: Books make great gifts!

We made it to day 12!!! LOL

So, today’s book isn’t a romance or holiday love story, but a love story about…food.

The DICKENS HOLIDAY ROMANCE COOKBOOK, titled IT’S A DICKENS OF A COOKIE is chockful of delicious and festive sweet recipes you can serve your guests (and yourself!) during the holiday season- or really any time of the year.

Welcome to the Wonderful World of Dickens … the Dickens kitchens that is!

The authors of the Dickens Holiday Romance Series are baking up a storm to make your holiday perfect.
Look for new recipes this year. Plus, many, many more from previous years.

The series authors wish you and your loved one a joyous holiday season!

No tropes in this one, kids…just fun food to savor and die for!

So this book is in another series, not the Dickens, but the HEAVEN’S MATCHMAKER one. I’m including it because LOVE MATCH takes place during the holiday season. You can tell just from the cover flower arrangement it’s a holiday book!

Running away from a public scandal may be cowardly, but to Layla Warton, it’s her best option.

After her politically connected fiancé is indicted for a laundry list of crimes, Layla wants to put the public ridicule and shame of her guilty-by-association status behind her. Not easy to do when all her supposed friends and supporters lose her number and the taint of scandal-adjacent destroys the successful design business and life she’s built for herself.

Happy childhood memories and the blessing of a local friend push her toward the tiny New England town of Heaven where she spent summers with her loving grandparents. Hiding out in the town until the scandal dies down is the perfect plan.

With the paparazzi hot on her tail, an ancient family home she needs to get livable, and a contractor too hot for her sanity, Layla worries she’ll never be able to get her old life back.

But would that really be such a bad thing?

Tropes: small town, matchmaker, starting over, public scandal, surviving celebrity, later in life, divorce, and second chances at happiness

So the next book on my list isn’t necessarily a Christmas book, but a Thanksgiving one. Since the holidays around this time of year all get lumped together, I figured why not include it. It’s only available if E-copy, so you’ll need an ereader to get it.

HOPE’S DREAM was part of the Deerbourne Inn series from The Wild Rose Press and is a book about surviving life when all seems lost.

Hope Kildaire gave up her dream of becoming a nurse practitioner when a car accident killed her father and left her mother an invalid. Working two jobs and caring for her mother leaves the twenty-seven-year-old with no time for fun or relationships. When a law firm representing her paternal grandparents sends her several letters, Hope ignores them. She despises the family who disowned her father and wants nothing to do with them.

Lawyer Tyler Coleman’s job is simply to obtain Hope’s signature on a legal document. Getting it is harder than planned, though, when an unexpected attraction blossoms between them. If Ty is honest with Hope about why he’s in Willow Springs, he’ll fulfill his assignment but may risk hurting her.

The opportunity to have everything she’s ever desired is at Hope’s fingertips. Will her dream come true at the expense of Tyler’s love?

Tropes for this little gem include: smalltown, holiday vibe, surviving loss, independent woman, inheritance, bettering yourself, family strife and secrets, and past tragedy

end of the year sale….

Just a reminder, kids, I have a bunch of my books for sale on the SMASHWORDS end of 2025 sale – some are half price, some are dropped by 75%!!! this would be a good time to take a stroll over to the site and see for yourself. There are thousands of books on sale this year, so have fun choosing ( and I hope you choose mine! LOL) When you get to my page, scroll all the way down, don’t just stop at the top. Many of the books are listed way down the page. I wouldn’t want you to miss any of the sale prices.

I’m good that way, LOL!!

Happy reading, kids,

~Peg

Back to Dickens for my final addition to the series. A CHEF’S KISS CHRISTMAS. This story was difficult for me to write because the underlying theme was death of a spouse from Covid. But I felt the story needed to be told no matter how upsetting it was to me to write it. I was able to inject some humor into the tale so that helped. And of course the ending didn’t hurt!!!

Successful Chef Anton Saparosa had the perfect life. Great marriage; beautiful and adoring wife; trendy, SoCal restaurant frequented by celebrities – many of them his friends.

Then Covid hit.

Anton’s perfect life dissolved before his eyes. With nothing left to keep him in California he starts an itinerant cross-country journey searching for something to give his life meaning again.

Happenstance lands him in the tiny town of Dickens just as Dorrit’s Diner is thrown into chaos.

Literary Agent Portia Avon needs a rest. A messy divorce has her craving quiet and the company of her friend and client A.B. Cards, nee Abra Bree. She comes from the western heat of California to the eastern cold of Dickens and plans to do nothing but rest, relax, and read during her holiday stay.

When Portia spots a familiar face in Dorrit’s, she’s confused. Why is Anton Saparosa, one of the most recognizable chefs in California, working as a fry cook in Abra’s mom’s diner, and going by the name Tony Smith?

A question Portia wants an answer to, but one Tony isn’t willing to share, especially with a woman he can’t stop thinking about.

Here ya go, you trope peeps:

small town, christmas vibe, celebrity chef, cooking, surviving loss, loss of a spouse, Post-Covid, mental illness, depression, finding oneself after tragedy,

Still in Dickens, kids!

Today’s story is Michael Charles. A terrible, horrific past as a child lead him to be nonverbal and fearful. Amy Charles’ love helped him heal and grown to a successful man. He comes home for Christmas never expecting to find something he didn’t even know was missing in his life. DON”T MESS WITH THE MISTLETOE is a heartwarming sweet romance that will make you believe in miracles – and not just for the holidays!

It’s the holiday season in the tiny town of Dickens and pilot Michael Charles is home for his annual visit. His wanderlust has him itching to get back up in the skies as soon as possible, especially since he’s got a full schedule of rich and famous clients waiting to be transported to warm, exotic locales for the winter.

When his heavily pregnant sisters present him with a plan to give their workaholic mother some time off from managing the family diner, he balks. But one look at how tired the woman who took him into her home and heart is, and Michael agrees to run Dorrit’s Diner for a month so Amy Charles can get some well-deserved rest.

He’ll be back in the skies by the New Year.

The diner staff functions like a well-oiled machine, most of them long-term employees. The exception is new waitress Julia Maryland. The beautiful blonde has a past filled with heartache, a charming six-year-old daughter, and a smile Michael could spend the day getting lost in. But starting a relationship with her wouldn’t be wise because his visit is temporary and Julia seems like a permanent kind of girl.

When a family emergency requires him to rethink and reassess his life, Michael wonders if it’s time he becomes a permanent kind of man.

Tropes abound in this one:

small town, holiday vibe, coming home, divorce, found family, alcoholism, friendship, adoption, losing your way, surviving loss.

For those of you who know, in November I did a book sales fundraiser for one of my favorite local food banks, FEEDING TINY TUMMIES.

For every book I sold in digital or print, I donated 20% of the royalties to the organization. But then I remembered I had a new release in November, YOU’RE MY MATCH, so I decided to donate 100% of all the royalties on sales of that book to the pot.

When all was said and done, I was able to send a check to the organization for $200.00. Not as much as I’d have liked, but here’s the thing most non-writers don’t know. When I sell an ecopy of my book ( kindle, nook, kobo, ) i make .35 cents a sale. When I sell a print copy of the book, I make $2.10. So you can see why most writers have a day job – we’re never going to get rich off our royalties.

The majority of the sales I made in November were kindle, but some readers, knowing about the fundraiser, went all out and ordered print copies either directly from me or from retailers, so that helped me up the donation a bit.

To everyone who took the time to go on the fundraising journey with me I say a profound and heartfelt THANKYOU! As someone who dealt with food insecurity and working-class poverty as a child, organizations such as TINY TUMMIES do so much good for so many families.

But the need for funds to help them isn’t only relegated to the holiday season. These types of organization need funds all year long, so if you can find it in your heart to donate to the ones of your preference throughout the year, and not just during the Christmas donation-ask rush, you’d be doing a great service to others.

I’m not usually big on Bible verses or quotes, but these two speak to me all the time:

Isaiah 58:7 says “Share your food with the hungry and give shelter to the homeless.”

Matthew 25.35 says,” For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”

~Thanks, kids.

~Peg

We’re a week into it already and today’s book is one of my favorites because it’s about a nurse.

SASHA’S SECRET SANTA tells the story of Amy Dorrit Charles’ second adopted daughter, Sasha. Her love interest is one of my favorite guys because he’s caring and works hard. Plus, there’s a whole secret santa game in the book that has a nice twist at the end!! ( At least, I think it’s a nice twist, lol.)

After a terrifying incident derails Sasha Charles’ career and confidence, she moves back to her hometown of Dickens to heal, reorganize, and start over.

The only problem? The paralyzing panic attacks that plague her whenever she thinks about going back to nursing. Sasha is mentally, and emotionally stuck, and has no idea how to move forward.

Steve Caldwell is the new Director of Services at Dickens Memorial Hospital. After witnessing her save the life of a local resident in Dorrit’s Diner, he knows Sasha would be perfect for the new trauma center he’s planning. When she refuses his job offer outright, he sets out to change her mind.

But Sasha has thick, protective walls erected around her so Steve must first break through them. With patience and kindness, he does. As the two grow closer, each begin to have second thoughts on what their futures should look like, until idle, small town gossip threatens to derail their budding relationship.

With the imminent arrival of Christmas, will Steve be able to convince Sasha he has her best interests at heart?

For the trope lovers: small town, holiday vibe, PTSD, coming home, surviving tragedy, secrets, moving on, divorce, adoption, found family.

Friday you read the origin story for Amy Dorrit and her discovery of an abandoned baby on Christmas eve. Today’s book, FIXING CHRISTMAS, tells the story of that grown up baby, Abracadabra Charles.

FIXING CHRISTMAS

Christmas has never filled writer Abra Charles with undiluted pleasure.

If you’d been left on a doorstep on Christmas Eve morning, you might have a few issues with the holiday as well.

Abra’s avoided her hometown of Dickens for the past twenty Christmas seasons, but now she’s returned in an attempt to get her writing mojo back. Twice-divorced and with her third engagement ending in heartbreak, anger, and blackmail, Abra is now six months behind on submitting her current book. She hopes renting Copperfield House and immersing herself in solitude will cure her writer’s block and get her life back on track. The house she rents isn’t helping her achieve her goal, though, as one thing after another breaks, collapses, or floods.

Colton Bree, Dickens’ very own Mr. FixIt, can’t help but wonder if the new resident of Copperfield House is cursed. After being called to repair a broken window, he’s then needed to fix an exploding coffeepot, an overrunning toilet, and a washing machine that has a mind of its own. Bree doesn’t mind all the unexpected repair jobs, though, because the sexy renter is something to look at despite being a little neurotic and a whole lot of snarky.

Can Abra get her book done with all the distractions and craziness of her life, the biggest distraction being the flannelled hunk with the bedroom eyes and scowling yet oh-so-kissable mouth? Or will Dickens’ Mr FixIt have to step in and save the day and in so doing, fix Christmas for Abra forever?

For you trope girlies, this one has: A grumpy/sunshine theme with the roles reversed; abandonment and trust issues; death of a spouse; adoption issues, and a small town holiday vibe