Happy Read an Ebook Week! To help you find a book to celebrate, you can find my entire collection at a promotional price at @Smashwords from March 5-11. Find my books on sale ( a ridiculous sale!!!!! Now is the time to stock up or gift a book to a friend) here: PEGGY JAEGER SMASHWORDS
and many more at https://www.smashwords.com/ebookweek
Reading is fun – especially when it’s on sale!!! Heehee
happy reading, kids!
Filed under Writing
I am so proud to announce the upcoming publication of an anthology I was asked to be part of.
THE GHOSTS OF NEW ENGLAND; LAST LIGHT POINT is a multi-century telling of tales revolving around a haunted New England tavern, the CROWE’S NEST.
4 books; 4 different authors; 4 centuries.
The very first tale and the one that starts us all off on our journey, is THE PIRATE’S PROMISE by Rita-Nominated author ( and freind!) Lisa Olech.
The Crowe’s Nest Tavern was located in a very fortuitous place. If you were condemned to hang in Execution Square, they were your last stop!
Everly Crowe along with her father and two sisters ran The Crowe’s Nest Tavern that was rumored to be slightly haunted, although Everly never believed in such foolishness….until she did.
John Beckett was a pirate, or not. Forced upon the account, he’d lost his belief in a lot of things before he caught the eye of a bonny serving lass who was fierce enough to go toe to boot with his captor and captain, Bartholomew Jacques.
Jacques held a note on the tavern and tormented Everly and her family as he terrorized all the small towns up and down the coast. But even his threats and deceit couldn’t keep Everly and John from promising themselves to each other, ‘till death they do part. After Jacques and his crew are captured and sent to the gallows, Everly learns that those fateful words have little meaning when love is forever.
Hours later Beckett was back at The Crowe’s Nest Tavern. The sun was setting behind rain-filled clouds as he kept to the shadows. He didn’t have much time. Crew was due back for last call by eight bells.
Lights from inside the tavern spilled out into the growing darkness. He’d chosen his prey earlier yet waited to come back. The back garden was surrounded by a low fence cobbled together with mismatched boards and twists of driftwood. A small gate leaned unsteadily on one hinge. It squeaked as he eased it open. Raising the flame on his lantern he spread a square of burlap on the ground by his feet and began to gather up a bounty.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
Beckett whipped around. He’d been so focused on his task, he’d not heard her. “Everly…I mean, Mistress…” Beckett raised his hands in surrender.
Lifting her lantern, Everly indicated the evidence at his feet. “You’re stealing from me?”
“Well, yes and no.” He swept the scene with his hand.
“You’re a pirate. A thief by trade. You, better than anyone, should know stealing when you’re stealing.”
“True, you ken call me a pirate, but I’m more of a misplaced carpenter. And is it really stealing if it’s from your scrap heap?” he reasoned.
“You’re a carpenter?” She shook her head as if she didn’t believe him. “And why would a carpenter, misplaced or not, steal from a scrap heap when the kitchen gardens are right over there?” She pointed to two large plots maybe ten feet by twenty. Each bursting with vegetables and vines with a line of fruit trees banking one side, all heavy with fruit.
He gave her a shrug and a smile. “That would be stealing.”
“I think my pigs would disagree. You’re taking their breakfast.”
“They’ll understand, being pigs and all. Kindred scavengers that they be.”
“And what exactly will my pigs understand?” The defiant hand to her hip and saucy tip to her chin made him grin. No timid lass, this one.
“Do you remember the young lad at my table earlier today?” Beckett began.
“I do.”
“He’s feeling a might poorly. Been on half rations for near a month now, and if he doesn’t get some decent food in him soon, the scurvy will get a hold of him for sure. He’s got no coin…so I figured if the pigs didn’t mind sharing, mayhap you’d be willing, as well.”
“You don’t know my pigs.”
You can PREORDER the anthology here: THE GHOSTS OF NEW ENGLAND:
is the author of both the contemporary and historical romance. She uses witty dialog with a side order of sexy to bring to life multi-faceted, adventurous, smoldering characters you’ll not soon forget.
A former member of RWA and NHRWA, Lisa is a 2018 RITA Award nominee for her book, Within A Captain’s Soul, the final book in her Captains of the Scarlet Night series. She’s won a variety of writing contests and achieved the ranks of Amazon Best Seller with her debut book in 2014.
As an author, artist, Justice of the Peace, and aspiring beekeeper, Lisa finds true inspiration in the beauty and love that surround her. And, she takes full credit that three homes on her quiet New England street now proudly fly a Jolly Roger from their flagpoles. Find links to her books, social media, and much much more at www.lisaolech.com
Filed under Writing
I am so stoked to announce that I’m included in a wonderful new ghost anthology releasing on march 27, 2023, THE GHOSTS OF NEW ENGLAND:LAST LIGHT POINT.
Award-winning authors Lisa Olech, Kathryn Hills, Nancy Fraser, and moi have each written a story about the Crowe’s Nest Tavern, located in the fictional New England town of Last Light Point.
Don’t look at the gibbet… Legend has it that disaster will strike all those who do. The townspeople of Last Light Point have come to respect the centuries-old advice. Those that didn’t, paid the price. 4 stories – 4 time periods – 1 haunted tavern…
The Pirate’s Promise by Lisa A. Olech
Autumn 1728
The Crowe’s Nest Tavern was located in a fortuitous place. If you were condemned to hang in Execution Square, they were your last stop.
Everly Crowe along with her father and two sisters ran The Crowe’s Nest that was rumored to be slightly haunted, although Everly never believed in such foolishness….until she did.
John Beckett was a pirate, or not. Forced upon the account, he’d lost his belief in many things before he caught the eye of a bonny serving lass who was fierce enough to go toe to boot with his captor and captain, Bartholomew Jacques.
Jacques held a note on the tavern and tormented Everly and her family as he terrorized all the small towns up and down the coast. But even his threats couldn’t keep Everly and John from promising themselves to each other, “‘till death do us part.” After Jacques and his crew are captured and sent to the gallows, Everly learns those fateful words have little meaning when love is forever.
Smoke and Mirrors by Kathryn Hills
Autumn 1867
Sometimes when you knock on heaven’s door. . .the dead answer back.
Willow Pinch lives life on a razor’s edge in world of deception and disguise. By day she hides in plain sight as Will, a servant boy. Nights are spent as a table knocker, aiding so-called spiritualists in duping townsfolk into believing loved ones speak from the grave.
That is until the ghosts of Last Light Point unmask her before the only man she’s ever cared for. Dare she trust Morgan Blackwell with her secrets?
Morgan invests every hard-earned penny in The Crowe’s Nest. He doesn’t trust strangers. Yet the last thing he expects are charlatans hell-bent on destroying his reputation with so-called séances. Not to mention there are ghosts in his tavern now! Be damned, must he turn his back on the infuriating woman he longs to protect?
Will the dead of Last Light Point guide Willow and Morgan to lasting love? Or will the dark forces they’ve unleashed lead to ruin?
For the Love of Grace by Nancy Fraser
Fall, 1941
Grace O’Hearn has lived in Last Light Point since long before the ’29 stock market crash took so much from so many. Ten years later, things are looking up. When Grace’s father is murdered, Grace becomes the sole owner of the Crowe’s Nest Tavern–an establishment that dates back centuries, and comes with its own resident ghosts.
FBI agent, Max Stewart, is sent to Last Light Point to investigate racketeering and police corruption. Could it be connected to man’s murder? When he first meets Grace, he’s convinced she’s hiding something. Yet, her keen insight about the town, and everyone in it, may be the best lead he has.
Can they work together to bring down the guilty? Or, will an attraction neither of them wants keep getting in the way?
A Promise Fulfilled by Peggy Jaeger
Late October, Present Day
After winning millions in a national lottery, local librarian Daisy Morgan sets out to revitalize the infamous Crowe’s Nest Tavern. After saving the historic inn from the auction block, Daisy begins a major renovation only to discover some hidden secrets – and a few unearthly spirits – tied to the tavern’s history.
Writer Keegan Warren arrives to do a story on the tavern weeks before the grand re-opening. Keegan’s got a few secrets of his own about why he wanted the assignment – secrets that unfold no matter how diligently he tries to keep them hidden. With Daisy’s help, he unearths a centuries-old murder tied to his family’s past.
As they investigate, their mutual attraction grows. But will their budding relationship suffer when the truth is discovered?
From A PROMISE FULFILLED…
The door blew open a moment later, pulling her out of her musings of swashbuckling pirates, bar wenches, and spectral messengers.
The wind whipped the door backward and for the thousandth time, she cursed the fact she hadn’t made Cooper change it to a push open instead of a pull open door. Her obsession with historical accuracy sometimes made things more difficult than they had to be.
A man, backlit by the partly sunny day, stood, holding the door ajar with both hands. She couldn’t make out his features, just the fact he was tall.
Impressively tall.
With both hands, he yanked the door closed as he stepped inside and shook his head like a dog shucking rainwater from its coat.
“Lord. It’s windy here,” he muttered. Standing inside the doorway now, she had a full view of him. Hair the color of warm chestnuts flirted with the collar of his jacket in a chaos of waves. With a flick of his head, he flung them back from his face as he turned and lit on her.
“Miss Morgan?”
Daisy didn’t recognize this workman from the too many she’d already met since the renovation project started. One face and name inevitably bled into another as the number of Cooper’s guys grew almost weekly.
But this face? This one she would have remembered.
She wouldn’t have been able to forget it if she tried.
Eyes the color of a savage sea peered across the room at her, the corners tilting upward. The brows over them mimicked the warm deer-tones of his hair. The line of his jaw was sharp and hard as steel forged in fire, the cheekbones slashed across his face, chiseled from marble. All those granite lines and steely angles were a total contradiction to his mouth, though. Full, thick lips made her suddenly think of poets and love sonnets and promises whispered in the dark.
She bobbed her head a few times to clear it of the strange thoughts and moved toward him, hand outstretched. “Yes. Yes, that’s me. Daisy Morgan.”
He took her hand, those storm cloud eyes widening when a spark shot between them.
“Sorry,” she said, tugging her hand back and fisting it into her jacket pocket like a naughty child clutching something it didn’t want to be caught with. “It’s wicked dry in here, still. Old wooden floors and walls, you know? No moisture. The new heating unit’s supposed to have a built-in humidifier, but I don’t know if it’s working or not. Maybe you can tell.”
A babbling brook’s got nothing on you, girl. Get a grip. The guy’s gonna think you’re cuckoo for coco puffs.
His forehead grooved like a Venetian blind as he stared down at her.
“You want me to tell you if your new humidifier is working?” he asked.
“Yeah. Cooper said the system is top of the line, and after doing all the research I agreed, but I don’t want people getting shocked every single moment they’re in here because the air is dry.” She started walking toward the back of the bar to the utility room Coop had set up. “Maybe the moisture valve needs to be turned up higher. Who knows? Come on, I’ll show you where it is. You can look at it before you deal with the switches and see if it’s an easy fix.”
The man followed behind as she walked into what had originally been the tavern’s storage area. Over the decades, needed architectural changes were made to the building, including during the time the place had been a speakeasy in the 1920s.
“An easy fix?”
Jeez, this guy’s like a parrot. Why is it the gorgeous ones are always either a little slow on the upbeat or know-it-alls?
“With the opening in two weeks, I want this place locked down and ready to go way before that. I want nothing to ruin it.”
“Yes, about the opening, that’s why I’m—”
“The schedule was tight to begin with, then with these nuisance things popping up, like the switches, I’m worried we won’t be ready. Did you bring new ones?”
She moved into the room, devised originally as a tiny storage chamber. The modernization of the tavern to 21st-century standards had been one of the most expensive issues when Daisy bought the place. New lighting, plumbing, and some structural updates she’d expected and budgeted for. Having to install a new heating and cooling system with all the necessary state and federal codes to bring it up to date, had added considerably to the cost.
“Here’s the system,” she said, pointing to a behemoth four-foot rectangular unit. She glanced down at his empty hands. “You didn’t bring tools with you?”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t have any tools. If you’d give me—”
She sighed. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a repairman or contractor who doesn’t cart his own toolbox around like a bad habit he can’t break. Oh well, I’m sure Cooper’s got something around here you—”
“Miss Morgan, please. Stop.”
He stretched out a hand to prevent her from leaving the room and Daisy swore she felt her arm singe under the layers of her jacket and sweater. She stood, rooted to the ancient wooden floor as the most delicious warmth she’d ever felt oozed deep, deep into her very core. Like freshly poured champagne bubbles bursting over her lips, her entire body…tingled.
Those storm-colored eyes peered down at her, their brows tugged low, a question blazing across them. His gorgeous mouth pulled into an upside-down U as his fingers pressed into her arm.
“There seems to be some confusion here,” he said, after taking a sizable breath, his attention never wavering from her face. “I’m not—”
“Hey, Daisy? You in here? Oh, good. You are. Cooper sent me over to have a look at the switches.”
They both turned to see a burly, middle-aged man sporting a toolbox in one hand and a to-go coffee cup in the other, looming in the doorway.
This guy she recognized. Brad? Ben? Bill? Something with a B, at least. His gaze ping-ponged from her to the man at her side, then back to her. “Everything okay, Daisy?”
No. No, it definitely wasn’t. If Ben/Brad/Bill was here to work on the switches, then just who the heck had she been speaking to for the past ten minutes?
“Like I told you,” the man said when she glared at him. “There’s been some confusion.”
“Who are you, and why are you in my tavern?” Daisy asked, pulling out of his hold. He let her go then shoved his hands into his jacket pockets.
“Keegan Warren. I’m a writer and I’m here to do a story on the renovation of The Crowe’s Nest Tavern,” he told her, adding, “and you.”
Starting on March 1st, I’ll be highlighting each individual story – one a day! Come back for more entertaining snippets of ghosts and romance!!! Until then, preorder the book here: GHOSTS OF NEW ENGLAND: LAST LIGHT POINT
And add it to your TO BE READ list on Goodreads, here: GHOSTS
Filed under Uncategorized, Writing
One of my favorite authors ( and humans!) CLAIR BRETT has a new release today and I’m tickled she’s allowing me to share the deets with you all. THE ART OF SEDUCING A HUSBAND, book 5 in the Improper Wives for Proper Lords series is out today.
Anthony Colcord, Earl of Wolverton, is determined to rise above the legacy his parents left him and the rumors of his legitimacy. Losing his mother to suicide at nine left him fearing his own future. He will not become a monster like his father and to make sure of it, he must keep his new bride at a distance. If he does not let his emotions engage, he will remain level-headed. However, finding the perfect English bride untainted by the Ton and assuming he would not be attracted to her was his first mistake. His second mistake was thinking his friends would let him live in a loveless marriage.
Lady Jemma Colcord, Countess of Wolverton, was twelve when her parents perished in a barn fire. Her brother, the new Baron Pontefract, at sixteen and allowed his solicitors to convince him to send his sister to the New Hall school, run by nuns. Now grown, Jemma is determined to belong and have what she remembers her parents shared. However, her new husband seems content to leave her to rot in the country while he escapes to London without consummating their union. Undeterred, Jemma must rely on her new-found friends, including Lord Wolverton’s former courtesan, to teach her that which the nuns did not.
After an encounter at a function, Anthony decides he can have the best of both worlds. In the darkened closets and alcoves of the wealthiest homes, he plans on enjoying all his new wife offers. But, during the light of day away from a potential scandal, he must keep his distance and save his sanity.
The more Jemma tastes of her new husband only fuels her determination to not only win him for a tryst in a closet, but for her days as well.
In the ballrooms and hallways of London drawing rooms, a battle will wage for the most valiant of causes—Love.
Buy Links:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Seducing-Husband-Improper-Wives-Proper-ebook/dp/B0BRBQ61C8
Ibooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-art-of-seducing-a-husband/id6445258870
Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-art-of-seducing-a-husband-clair-brett/1142897093
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-art-of-seducing-a-husband
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75403203-the-art-of-seducing-a-husband
Books2Read, universal link: https://books2read.com/Art-of-Seducing-a-Husband:
“Is it her intent to annul?” Anthony asked, almost inaudible to his own ears.
“I don’t think so. But what I think is that you need to come up to snuff quickly, because when my wife is involved, whatever it is will be diabolical. And you will be brought to your knees.”
Max continued drinking, but never took his eyes off Anthony, clearly waiting for him to have an epiphany. What he did instead was bristle.
“Might I suggest you demand your wife return to the country and stop meddling in others’ lives?” There, Anthony felt marginally better being able to blame his friend for poor control of his own wife as the result of Anthony’s current issues.
All Max did was chuckle while swirling his whiskey in his glass. “You are correct. I am well within my legal right to make such demands on my wife. She would be legally bound to obey my demands or suffer my wrath. However, I have plans to be blissfully happy for the next thirty-odd years and to do that, I must have my wife blissfully in love with me. So, at the expense of sounding like I repeat myself as I have told you many times already, now that you are married, you must throw out whatever mixed up, deranged ideas about women and weddings that your father filled your head with and just love your wife.”
Anthony sat in the middle of the club he had been a patron of from the time he was old enough to order a port, and watched as the room shrunk around him as the noise rose to the level of an orchestral crescendo.
“So, you will not aid your truest of friends by holding your wife to task in this matter?” The anger he’d earlier put on himself found a home, settling its sights on the man he trusted most in life. He was being abandoned.
Not flinching in the least, Max raised his glass to Anthony. “What is it you always say? Bet on the horse you think will win, not the one who prances the most?”
Fur baby wrangler and historical romance author of 7 published novels, Clair Brett lives in NH with her hard-working husband of 23 years.
Her office staff during the day consists of Cinta, a black cat and the matriarch of the fur babies, Mojo, a yellow kitten who spends his day holding Clair down in her seat to get her word count in, a boxer/beagle mix puppy named Willow, who sleeps next to her chair to make it hard to do an Oreo run without doing a pee run as well, Sanibel, a lab mix, who is the HR dept. keeping morale up, and sometimes her “grand dog”, Bailey, an 80 pound shepherd mix who is always up for a good time. When not writing, she tries to keep tabs on her newly minted adult daughters who are working on figuring it all out.
A former middle and high school English teacher, Clair has had a lifetime love affair with reading. Once she read Pride and Prejudice as an extra read in high school, she was hooked. Clair began her pursuit of publication when she was a new mother in need of a hobby. Her oldest daughter graduated high school in 2017, so you do the math. Clair is a firm believer that a reader finds a piece of who they are or learns something about the world with every book they read. She wants her readers to be empowered and to have a refreshed belief in the goodness of people and the power of love after reading her work.
Visit Clair on the web at: http://www.clairbrett.com or hang out with her on Facebook: @authorclairbrett or Twitter at: @clairbrett.
I’ll be attending this fabulous event as an attending/signing author on Saturday, July 8, 2023. Tickets to the event for readers are now available at Eventbrite, here: TICKETS
This is an amazing day of door prizes, raffle prizes, author giveaways. Plus you get to meet your fav authors, their cover models, and even the narrators of their books.
It’s my second time attending and it will not be my last!!! Hope to see you there. ~ Peg
Filed under Writing
Well, it’s finally here. The very first Kindlevella book I’ve put into actual publishing print!
DEATH BETWEEN THE PAGES is exclusively on Amazon and in KU, if you are a subscriber. The cost is #99cents in ecopy.
I wrote these stories many moons ago when I was obsessed with serial killers, murder, and death. That makes me sound cray-cray, but I came of range during the real Dahmer, Gacy, Bundy years and it’s practically all we ever watched on the nightly news.
These stories all involved death in some way, be it from cancer, murder, natural causes, or…something else.
Hope you enjoy them. ~ Peg
Hey kids- just wanted to let you know that I’ve got a GOODREADS GIVEAWAY going on for my upcoming short story collection DEATH BETWEEN THE PAGES.
I’m giving away 50 KINDLE copies of the book.
You can enter the giveaway here: GOODREADS GIVEAWAY
and don’t forget to go to the book listing and mark it as WANT TO READ.
thanks, oodles, and good luck!
Filed under Writing
Peggy Jaeger, Author 