Starting today, I’ll be taking over the CHRISTMAS COMES TO DICKENS Facebook page for my turn at CHRISTMAS IN JULY.
All weekend long, I’ll be posting about my books in the Dickens series, the new 2024 arrival just in time for the holiday season, and giving away prizes to new members of the group.
Come and join me for a fun-filled weekend of all things Dickens, Christmas, and romance!
Filed under Dickens Holiday Romance
Because we’re all in the holiday mood, here’s a snippet from this year’s Dickens Holiday Romance addition, DON’T MESS WITH THE MISTLETOE, out now in print and e-copy. Books make great gifts, kids – for the romance reader on your list and you!
I love when siblings tease one another because there is such a wealth of history behind it. In this snippet, Michael’s sister Abra goes all out in the tease-department.
When his sisters walked into the diner five minutes later, he had his answer.
“I need your help,” he said without preamble as he sidled up to their table, two glasses of ice water and menus in his hands. He plopped them all down on the countertop.
“Shove in,” he commanded Sasha.
His sisters looked up at him, eyes questioning, then at one another. Abra’s left eyebrow rose to kiss her hairline, while Sasha stifled a laugh as she moved so he could sit next to her.
With the privilege of birth rank and the dry sarcasm her book fans adored, Abra spoke first. “Good morning to you, too, little brother. We’re good, thanks for asking. Both a little tired, but that’s to be expected in our ready-to-pop-states. And how are you on this fine, cold day?” She took a sip of her water.
Exasperation drilled through him. While Sasha ultimately let the laugh go, Michael’s jaw clamped down so hard his back molars whacked against one another. He’d for sure be using the bottle of Ibuprofen Amy kept in her desk sometime today.
He fisted his hands on the table then opened and flexed them a few times as he told himself to keep calm. “Listen. I’m in a bind.”
Both their teasing smiles dissolved.
“What’s wrong?” Sasha asked, at the same time Abra said, “What happened?”
“Nothing happened.” He explained about the late hours and the way things were looking back at the house. Dragging a hand through his hair the knowledge it was a month or so behind a cut just added to the list of things needing tending in his life.
“I don’t know how mom manages to run this place and keep the house looking so good. In addition to the baking she does for here, which I haven’t done, just FYI, because –hello! – I have no idea what to do and no time to do it even if I did.”
“I can help with that,” Sasha said. “I’ve got mom’s pie recipes at home. I’ll bake a few today and have Steve bring them by in the morning when he heads to the hospital.”
“Thanks, Sash.” He looked across the table at Abra.
“What?”
“Think you can stop by the house and run a load or two of laundry for me? I’m not asking you to clean the place up. I don’t want you lifting anything, but I need,” he glanced furtively around them, “stuff. I haven’t done laundry since I’ve been here and I’ve run out of everything.”
“And by everything you mean underwear?” she asked.
“Jesus, Abs. Keep your voice down, will ya?”
“You wearing repeats?” she asked, having difficulty keeping the laugh from ringing in her voice, “Or are you commando underneath those pants?”
Embarrassing him had been her full-time job when he was a teenager. Six years older, Sasha always felt she needed to look out for him as a kid. When he grew seven inches between his twelfth and thirteenth birthdays and had started towering over her, she’d decided taking him down a peg or two was her lot in life as a big sis. As adults, she still felt the need to exert her birth order status.
Heat rose up his neck at her question. The fact Julia happened to arrive at their table, her order book poised in her hand, at the same moment made him want to dissipate into a plume of mortified smoke and dissolve away. No way she hadn’t heard Abra’s question.
Intrigued? LOL I hope so.
Filed under Dickens Holiday Romance
So, DON’T MESS WITH THE MISTLETOE will officially be available for purchase for 1 week this coming Wednesday. By the rules of Dickens authors, the preorder and first-week price of 99 cents will end on 11.8 and go to its regular price of $2.99 per Kindle copy, in time for the next book to be released on 11.8. It’s still available in KU, though, so if you subscribe there, you can read it as part of your subscription.
For everyone else, the price will be $2.99.
So….
Why not get your copy now if you haven’t already done so? I love a book bargain and if it’s for a holiday romance, so much the better! You have 48 more hours to take advantage of the #99cent price, so download your copy now before the time runs out. Here, I’ll make it super easy for you: DMWTM
Happy holiday reading, peeps. ~ Peg
Filed under Dickens Holiday Romance
I’ve said this so many times I’m even annoying myself, but to an author, book reviews are the joy of your life and the bane of your professional existence. Luckily, I haven’t received too many egregious and soul-sucking ones ( although, I have received them!)
My newest book, DON’T MESS WITH THE MISTLETOE, has been receiving overwhelming 5-star reviews from readers. I am beyond thrilled with the response to Michael Charles’ story. Across the board reviewers and readers are thrilled with the HEA I gave this deserving man.
From Goodreads, “This is the perfect small town holiday romance.”
From Amazon: “Loved the characters and the vivid locales. Entertaining situations and banter kept the pages turning. Terrific ending.”
From Bookbub: “What a beautiful Christmas story about family, hope, love, together, happiness, taking a chance of forever along with a little bit of Christmas Magic thrown in for good measure. I loved this book so much and I can’t wait to read more books in the future.”
All 5-star reviews!
If you love a holiday romance as much as I do – and my readers do, grab this one. Right now it’s only 99 cents on Kindle, but in 11.8 it goes to full price. So, save some cash and enjoy a fabulous, heartwarming Holiday romance story, too. And enjoy all the other Dorrit’s Diner Dickens books, as well!
Filed under Dickens Holiday Romance
Less than 24 hours and this little gem will be released into the Holiday book-reading world! I’m excited Really excited!
Still time to preorder and lock in at the 99cents release price. Here ya go: DMWTM
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.
Filed under Dickens Holiday Romance
I know I’ve kinda been obnoxious with posting about the release date for this one, but I just love this book so so so much and I want as many people as possible to get to enjoy it, too!
This is the first book I’ve ever written that’s entirely from the hero’s Point of View. Yup. All you hear are the thoughts from Michael’s mind. His interpretations, his feelings, and the way he thinks things through.
Writing this book was a heavy exercise in thinking and doing outside my comfortable box and level, and I am so happy with the way Michael’s story unfolded. While I may not write solely from the male perspective again – or at least for a while – I think being in his head for the entire book gave me a good indication on male thought patterns and how they process information.
Or at least I hope it did!! The readers will be the judge of that, I guess.
If you haven’t preordered yet, now’s your chance: DMWTM
And add it to your Goodreads want-to-read list here: WantToRead
Oh, and did you know I’m having A GoodReads Giveaway as well? Enter here: Goodreads
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.
Filed under Dickens Holiday Romance
From the 11.1.2023 release of DON’T MESS WITH THE MISTLETOE
“Any updates on the baby?” she asked, moving to the stove, teakettle in hand.
He told her about the diagnosis and the treatment his niece would need while she filled the kettle and then placed it on the stove to heat. When she turned around to him, her face had gone quite pale and a soft curl of moisture shone in her eyes.
“You saved the baby’s life. You know that, right?”
“What?”
“You got her to a place where they could diagnose her and put a plan together to get her better. If you hadn’t been available to fly her to Concord…” she let the rest of the sentence dangle and shook her head again.
“I can’t begin to imagine what your sister is going through.” She wrapped her arms around herself and shook her head. “Her hormones are gonna be going nuts to begin with and now her tiny baby needs heart surgery.”
A single tear snuck down each cheek and when she swiped at them his heart melted.
“I’m sorry for blubbering, but I keep thinking if this had been Blake I don’t know how I would have survived, how I would have handled it. Or what I would have done. I’m upset for your sister. As a new mother, she must be terrified.”
“One thing you need to know about Sasha,” he said. “She’s nothing if not a fighter and survivor. I bet she’s gonna sign herself out of the hospital in the morning if they don’t discharge her and head right up to Concord to be with her baby. Hell, she’ll probably order me to fly her to save time.”
“And you will, without any thought not to, because she’s your sister. Your family.” Her sigh pulled at him.
She was right. He’d do anything for his sisters, for his parents. The very fact he’d given up a month of his life so his mom could take a well-earned rest was all the proof anyone needed.
They were silent as the teakettle whistled and she went about preparing her nightly brew.
“So,” he said as she took her fist sip, “Everything good around here while I was gone?”
“RayLynn and Winston kept things moving smoothly.”
“Good. Thank goodness for the old-timers. They’ve been around long enough to know what’s what. I know my mom trusts and relies on them. I do, too.”
She sipped her tea, the steam rising, drifting around, and touching her face. His fingers tingled because they wanted to do the same.
Good Lord. Jealous of a wisp of air that got to touch her.
“Julia—”
“Michael—”
Her blush charmed him.
“Sorry,” he said. “You first.”
She sipped her tea then placed the mug down on the table. “I, well. I just wanted you to know how much I…admire you. Your whole family. You’re always there for one another. My parents,” she lifted a shoulder and cast her eyes downward, “have always been a little distant with me, now more than ever since the Jeff incident. I’d love if I had a family like yours. I’d hoped to have one like that for Blake, but, well, life intervened and my husband got sick. Then I went off the deep end with Jeff.” Another head shake. “Your family is the kind I’ve always aspired to have.”
Michael rose from the table and slid his fork and plate into the sink, ran the water to rinse them, and then let them sit.
“You know we’re all adopted, right? Abra, Sasha, and me?”
She nodded. “Someone mentioned it. I can’t remember who. But I think it’s wonderful Amy and Andy wanted to share their home and their hearts.”
He leaned against the sink ledge and crossed his arms over his chest. “I told you to make a point.”
She lifted her gaze, the mug warming in her hands.
“You can have a biological family and hope it’s the dream family everyone wants. Most of the time, though, it isn’t. The perfect family is almost always a fantasy. Or you can make a family with the people you open your heart to, like you said. The people you choose to be your family. Amy chose us. And I thank whoever’s in charge,” he pointed upward, “every single day she did. I truthfully don’t think I’d be alive today if she hadn’t.”
Immediately he regretted saying it. For the second time, with her, he’d divulged a little bit of what he’d always kept hidden, what he’d always considered too much to share. Why did it feel so easy, though, to say things to her he’d never given breath to with any other woman?
“That’s…awful to even consider.”
He shrugged. “Like I said, the perfect family dream is just that. A dream.”
He pushed off the ledge and turned around to wash the dishes he’d had rinsing. Before he could turn the water on, Julia’s hand wound around his bicep.
His gaze flicked to it. Her fingers didn’t even meet halfway around the muscle. Had he noticed how small her hands were before now? How long and slender her fingers were, the nails naked and buffed to a natural shine? Heat, flaming heat, singed through his shirt at her touch. It was a wonder smoke wasn’t billowing up from his arm from where she gripped it.
A worry line dragged her brows together.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, staying still, fearful if he moved he’d give in to temptation and rub his thumb along that thin line to soothe it away.
“The time before you came to Amy?” A nervous flick of her tongue wet her lips.
Michael swallowed and tried to ignore how much the little move made parts of his anatomy twitch. “What about it?”
“Can you…will you…tell me about it?”
His breath hissed like a steam valve opening.
The line disappeared as her eyes opened wide, her gaze mating with his as she waited for him to speak.
“I don’t talk about that time.” His throat was raw and dry like sandpaper. “It’s too…” He dropped his gazed to the sink, fisted his hands on the ledge. “I don’t even remember all that much.”
An outright lie. If pressed, Michael could recall every minute he’d spent in that closet, every cigarette the mean mad had put out on his flesh, every slap he’d suffered across his face and back.
Disappointment shadowed her gaze. Julia dropped her hand from his arm and nodded.
Backing away from him she said in a shaky voice, “Of course. I understand. I’m…sorry. Never mind. Sorry.”
When she dropped her gaze to the floor, a bullet of regret tore through him. He pulled in another bracing breath before forgetting all about the dishes and turning around to face her.
“I was four when I came to Amy,” he said.
She lifted her head, zeroed in on his face.
“Five when she and Andy petitioned to adopt me.”
“So young,” she mumbled. “Barely more than a baby.”
Had he ever been young? Some days, when he thought about that time, he felt as if he’d been born old and jaded.
Intrigued? LOL. I certainly hope so!
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Filed under Dickens Holiday Romance, sunday snippet
I love me a good book release countdown, don’t you, hee hee?!
Filed under Dickens Holiday Romance
In just 2 weeks DON’T MESS WITH MISTLETOE goes live, so, of course, today’s teaser is from that!
(I swear, I’m a marketing genius – LOL Lol LOLOLOLOLO!)
The kitchen light was on as he came through the back door. Since he’d been the last one out the night before with his mother, he knew it had been off.
Had Winston arrived early?
Quietly, he pushed the door open enough to peek beyond it.
Surprise knocked the cautious adrenaline from his body. Even facing away from him, Michael recognized Julia Maryland seated at the table, a cup in one hand, a book on the tabletop in front of her. Clad in a faded pink, terrycloth robe, her hair spilled around her shoulders in a chaos of untamed waves. He hadn’t seen it down yet, since she’d worn it in a knot on top of her head while she’d waitressed.
Why was she sitting in the diner kitchen at four-thirty in the morning, drinking what he assumed was a cup of coffee, in her robe?
Michael pushed the door open all the way and in a quiet voice, said, “Julia?”
It was as if he’d shouted. She shrieked, jumped up, and dropped the book in her hand all in one jerky motion. Thankfully, she had a better grip on the mug. Swinging around to face him, her free hand flew to her chest.
She hauled in a jagged breath. “You scared the heck out of me.”
“What are you doing here? How did you get in?”
“Amy gave me a key.”
“To the diner? Why?”
Julia placed the mug down on the table, landing it with an audible thud. It was then he noted how fiercely her hands shook.
“Not to the diner,” she managed to say after taking another breath. She lifted her hands to hug them around herself. “To the apartment. You don’t need a key to get in here from there.”
Confusion made him say, “The apartment? Upstairs?” which, he realized as soon as he said it, was a stupid question, because there was no other apartment but the one above the diner. “Why?”
She nodded. “I’m staying there.”
He shook his head. “You’re staying in the apartment?”
Another nod, then a head tick with a question. “You didn’t know?”
“No. I intended to move in tomorrow. I thought it made more sense I be on site if I’m running this place for a few weeks than staying out at the house.”
“Oh, I’m…I didn’t…know. Amy said since it was empty I could…” she flipped her hand in the air. “I’m sorry.” She bit down on a corner of her lip. “Does your mom know you were planning to stay here?”
“Yeah, she does.” He shoved the keys in his coat pocket then shrugged out of it. He’d told her he was going to be moving in after Thanksgiving. Had she somehow forgotten? With everything going on, it was a distinct possibility. But he didn’t think she had. Amy Charles’ brain was stronger than a computer’s memory board. Once something was input, it was never erased.
The question was, why hadn’t she told him about Julia using the space? He had a sneaking suspicion and it had nothing to do with it having slipped her mind. With an internal headshake, he chastised his mother for her matchmaking busybody-ness.
“I’m sorry,” Julia said again, twisting her hands together.
With a quick glance at the wall clock, he said, “Don’t be. If she’s letting you use it I’m sure there’s a good reason,” he put his hand up in the air when she opened her mouth again. “One I don’t need to know about.”
Intrigued? I hope so, Hee hee..
Watch the trailer here:
Add it to your Goodreads want to read list here: Goodreads
Preorder your copy here: DMWTM
Enter my Goodreads giveaway here: Giveaway
Filed under Dickens Holiday Romance
Peggy Jaeger, Author 