If you know, you know…that today’s tease is going to be about (what else??!! LOL) my upcoming Dickens release A CHEF’S KISS CHRISTMAS.
But….maybe not.
Today I’d like to tease the other books in the series – the one’s I’ve written – just in case you haven’t read them yet or been exposed to the Dickens universe.
All my stories center around Dorrit’s Diner and Amy Charles’ adopted kids.
The first book in my part of the series, ANGELS KISSES AND HOLIDAY WISHES, introduced Amy as a secondary walk-on, walk-off character. I loved her so much that I wanted to write an entire series about her.
Then, FIXING CHRISTMAS details Amy’s first daughter, ABRACADABRA CHARLES, life. She’s back in Dickens and living in a house that is literally falling down around her ears. Enter hunky ex-military town Mr. Fixit, Colton Bree. Shenanigans and love ensues.
In SASHA’S SECRET SANTA, Amy’s middle child, SASHA CHARLES, an emergency room nurse, comes home to Dickens after a life-altering event. She leaves the nursing profession behind her and wants to start anew. Enter Steve Caldwell, the new administrator for Dickens Memorial Hospital. He wants Sasha on his staff.
And after getting to know her, his life.
DON’T MESS WITH THE MISTLETOE details the life of Amy’s “baby”, six-foot-four Michael Charles, a pilot. He’s back in Dickens for a rest from his hectic life and gets wrangled into working at his Mom’s diner for a bit while she takes a rest. Waitress Julia Maryland and her six-year-old daughter Blake don’t fit into Michael’s version of a carefree, globe-trotting life. But, he’s beginning to wonder if his wanderlust has burned itself out…and if being a homebody is what will bring him happiness. Of course, is Julia is added into the mix, then…
ANd then there’s this year’s book, A CHEF’S KISS CHRISTMAS, which I have been promoting, ad nauseum, for weeks.
I usually do a throwback Thursday on this day, but I’ve got something more important to talk about so it’s getting shelved for this week.
This is just a reminder ( again!) that I’ll be at BOOKSBOOKSBOOKS2024 this weekend in Lancaster, PA at the Wyndham Expo Barn.
I attended this event for the first time last year and had such a remarkable time I wanted to do it again, so I was lucky enough to get in for 2024.
If you’re attending YAY!. I’ve got 2 tables this year because I am a sponsor, so come and visit me at tables 15 and 16. I will have all my Christmas books – Dickens and San Valentino family – all my NYC Socialite series books ( 1-5), A Pride of Brothers ( 1-3) and my award-winning 2024 suspense Retribution all for sale.
Plus lots of swag and stuff!
I hope you can make it and if you can, don’t be shy about stopping by and saying hello. This is such a wonderful event. You’ll find me next to my big, pepto bismol colored logoed banner:
The third book in the San Valentino family is today’s First line Friday – CHRISTMAS & CANNOLIS
Regina’s tips for surviving in a big Italian family: #1: Ignore behavior that will never change.
With Christmas season in full swing, baker Regina San Valentino is up to her elbows in cake batter and cookie dough. Between running her own business, filling her bursting holiday order book, and managing her crazy Italian family, she’s got no time to relax, no room for more custom cake orders, and no desire to find love. A failed marriage and a personal tragedy have convinced her she’s better off alone. Then a handsome stranger enters her bakery begging for help. Regina can’t find it in her heart to refuse him.
Connor Gilhooly is in a bind. He needs a specialty cake for an upcoming fundraiser and puts himself—and his company’s reputation—in Regina’s capable hands. What he doesn’t plan on is falling for a woman with heartbreak in her eyes or dealing with a wise-guy father and a disapproving family.
Can Regina lay her past to rest and trust the man who’s awoken her heart?
Yesterday I extolled some of the wisdom Jane Friedman imparted last weekend at Fiction Fest 2017 in her master class. One of the biggest takeaways from the workshop, for me, was how powerful Facebook can be for an author.
When I first began my journey as a published author in 2015 I had the typical Facebook page where I trolled the news feed for posted info on family and friends. It was my then-editor who suggested I make myself a professional FB page for my author career. The thought of now having to manage and keep track of 2 things on FB, not to mention Twitter,Pinterest, my website, my Amazon page,yada yada yada was a little daunting and a whole lot of nauseating.
But I heeded her advice and did it. The one thing I was adamant about though, was that the professional author page was going to be for anybody who wanted to follow me as an author. I was going to keep my personal page just that – private. The reason was an easy one for me because I have small children in my family and friends circle and their parents post pictures of them frequently. I didn’t want some wackjob creepy person to see those pictures. There are a lot of undesirables on the Internet, hunting for innocent prey. And I know that sounds dramatic, but have you read the news lately??? Not dramatic at all.. simply proactive.
So. Two pages. Two separate entities. Double the work. More to keep track of. But you know what? it was a good thing. I have waaaaaaay more “friends” on my professional page than my personal one. I don’t post anything on the professional page I wouldn’t want everyone in the cyber world to see, but I’m able to keep private what needs to be kept private on the personal page. One of the good things about Facebook is that you can set up protection and privacy settings on posts.
Jane is a big proponent of reader and follower engagement on her FB page. She uses her page as a tool to interact with readers, answer questions, make announcements, show her blog postings. She feels authors should use the Professional page as their number one tool for marketing and acquiring new followers who then become readers. I always felt that Twitter gave me my biggest bang for engagement, and in reality, I have more twitter followers than I do FB followers (not many more, but a few). One of the drawbacks, Jane says about Twitter, is that it is very much a right here- right now thing. In other words, once you post something you have about 17 minutes or so for people to see it. After that, it gets lost in the quagmire of a hundred billion other tweets and the scroll shoves you waaaaaaay down low. Makes sense. On Facebook, your postings get added to the newsfeed, your followers get notified you’ve posted something, and if you come back to the post a few hours later and simply “like” it, it brings it back up in the current scroll. That’s genius in my mind. Plus, everytime someone likes or comments on your post you get a notification and respond in kind.
Facebook parties are a fabulous marketing tool for new readers and engagement as well. Facebook ads can be a tool to drive people to your page, but be careful. Don’t go crazy and spend more than you think you really need on an ad.
So. Facebook. I will now be using it a great deal more than Twitter. Still love to tweet though!
I am currently editing the final galley copy of the above book for Wild Rose Press. It’s the first in a three book series called A PRIDE OF BROTHERS. For those of you who read my WILL COOK FOR LOVE SERIES, this is the story of Abigail Laine and Rick Bannerman. These two are both alphas and boy do they annoy each other. And by annoy I mean – YOWZA!
As soon as I have a release date and a cover, you’ll see it. Promise!
Until then, only 6 more sleeps until IT’S A TRUST THING releases exclusively in Kindle and KU. Have you reordered your copy yet???
Nell Newbery has trust issues. It’s hard to trust when you’re the daughter of a fallen financial scion who bilked people out of billions. Nell’s done everything in her power to keep away from men who see her as their ticket to fortune and fame. All she wants to do is run her ultra-successful business, HELPFUL HUNKS, in peace. But it wouldn’t hurt to find a guy who doesn’t know a thing about her father’s felonious past; one she can give her heart to and trust it won’t come back to her battered, bruised, and broken. Is Charlie Churchill that guy? On the surface he seems perfect, all polished manners and quiet mirth. Nell’s convinced he knows nothing about her, other than she likes superhero movies and views junk food as a food group. Can she trust him to be what he appears to be? Or is he just pretending? For Nell, trust is everything in life…and in love.
Love Match has been out for a week now and the reviews are so wonderful I thought I’d give you another insight into the storyline.
Cody’s divorce hit him hard because he thought, erroneously, everything was fine with his marriage. He had no idea what was really going on with his wife, Cassidy. Once she left him, his entire life changed and with it, he lost some of his confidence and became a bit of a cynic. In this scene, he is talking with his mom and you can tell she is the person he can reveal his true self to without fear or worry.
“Shit. I knew something happened. Layla pulled a complete one-eighty by the time she came home.”
Sally’s eyebrow lifted. “And Cass was, obviously, the cause. Layla believes what she said.”
“How could she?” he cried. “It’s not true. I never sle—” he stopped short. It was one thing for your mother to suspect you had sex, quite another to talk about it, openly.
Sally sat next to him at the table and slid a hand on top of his fisted one. “I know you, Cody Angus Fonda. You’d never sleep with a woman just to gain an advantage. It’s not you. It’s simply not. Your head, not to mention your heart, would never let you do something so wrong.”
The tips of his ears felt like they were on fire.
“Apparently Layla doesn’t share your high opinion of me.”
Jane laid her head down on his lap, her eyes tracking his face. Absently, he petted her.
“Did you ever tell her you were interested in buying the house?” Sally asked.
After another gulp of coffee, Cody shook his head. “I kept meaning to. I should have from the very beginning. I know that.” He dragged a hand through his hair. “But after working on the house, spending time with her and then, well.” His mother didn’t need details about their sleeping together. “I was more focused on getting her to stay. I thought she was going to, I really did. But yesterday,” he shook his head, “she told me she’s considering leaving. That the house is too big for one person. Too much upkeep.”
“Did you tell her you wanted to buy it, then?”
“No.”
Sally tilted her head and regarded him for a long while with that all-knowing look inherent in every mother he’d ever known. She was so focused on him, in fact, he started to fidget.
“What?”
“You are one of the smartest men I have ever known, and every day I’m thankful you’re my son.”
“Okay, there’s a but screaming in that sentence, loud, clear, and terrifying.”
Sally reached over and ticked him on the head.
“Hey! OW!”
“Respect your mother, Cody.”
He shook his head, closed his eyes and mumbled something that he knew she couldn’t hear. Then, “What were you going to say?”
She took a breath. “For someone so smart you can be dense at times. Did it ever occur to you that Layla was hurt by what Cassidy said not because of the words but because of the truth that you didn’t tell her, up front, you wanted the house? I’ve got a feeling trust is hard for Layla, with her mother being the way she is, and everything that happened with the loser fiancé. How do you think she must have felt when Cassidy screamed the only reason you were with Layla was because you wanted her house when you never mentioned a thing to her.”
“I would have hoped she’d ask me directly, not just assume Cass was right. I thought she knew me better than that.”
Sally’s phone chimed just then and she tugged it out of her purse.
“Grandma,” she told him. “Hey, Ma. What’s up?”
Cody tuned her out, considering what she’d told him, instead. How many times had he berated himself for not telling Layla his feelings about the house? How many excuses had he given himself why he hadn’t shared his desire to buy it, fix it, flip it? And now look; his silence on the subject had caused her to pull away from him just when things were heating up between them. And now she was considering leaving town.
What a mess.
He had to figure out a way to get her to understand what he’d done, why he’d been silent, and get her to forgive him.
He needed to come clean, but how? She wasn’t exactly speaking to him and the texts had been so chilly his hand had gotten cold holding his phone when he read them. He supposed he could drive over to her house, take the chance she’d be home and – even more of a chance – she’d let him in.
Cody closed his eyes after finishing his coffee.
“Okay, well, wait until you hear this.” Sally disconnected the call. “It wasn’t only Cassidy who told Layla about you wanting the house. Gran did, too.”
“When?”
“She must have driven over to the Arms right after seeing Cass yesterday. Effie and mom were together, and she asked Effie if you’d ever approached her about selling the house.”
“I never have.”
Nodding, Sally said, “That’s what she told Layla. But then Gran told her about the times you mentioned how much you’d like the house and wished you could buy it so you could fix it and resell it for a profit.”
“Oh, Jesus.” He swiped his hands through his hair again. “No wonder she thinks I’m such a douchebag—”
“Language, young man.”
Cody’s face heated like he’d placed it in a hot oven. At forty years old he shouldn’t feel chastised like a toddler when his mother scolded him.
“This is a nightmare.”
He crossed his arms over his chest, shook his head, and cast his eyes downward.
After a few moments, Sally cleared her throat. “Can I ask you a question?”
He shrugged.
“Promise you won’t brush me off, but really answer it? Truthfully?”
“Okay, now I’m getting scared.”
Sally shifted and ran her hand across his forearm. “I know you better than you think I do, son. I gave birth to you, wiped your tears when you skinned your knees, watched you with pride when your sisters came along and you vowed to be their protectors. It’s been a pleasure and an honor to witness you grow into the amazing man you are today.”
“Still hearing that but.”
She squeezed his arm, then patted it, a small smile tugging at the corner so of her mouth. “I remember the day you told me and your dad you were gonna marry Cassidy. Even though we knew you were too young and had reservations about her, we never said anything, just supported you, loved you, and welcomed her into our family.”
Touched, Cody placed his own hand over the one she still had across his arm.
“I know, mom. And I love you both for it.”
“That’s what family is for.”
“So what’s your question?”
Her eyes, twins to his own in color and shape, ping-ponged between his. She tugged her lips inward and pressed down on them, then, after releasing them again, asked, “You’re in love with Layla, aren’t you?”
The full weight of emotions seeped through his voice when he responded, “More than I ever thought I could love a woman again.”
“Oh, baby.” Sally shifted and pulled him into a hug.
All the sadness, rejection, even the feelings of loss and disappointment he’d been holding in for over three years, pretending didn’t exist, leached from deep down in his soul. He buried his face in her neck as she simply held and rocked him like she had when he was a boy.
“I didn’t think I’d ever feel this way again,” he said against her shoulder. “But somehow, somewhere along the way, she kinda…snuck in.”
“That’s how love works,” Sally said. “When you least expect to find it, wham, there it is.”
To celebrate my upcoming 10 years in the biz, I give you… my life in a timeline. My writing life, that is, lol.
It’s been a heck of a ride so far. 4 publishers; indie publishing; professional speaking gigs on writing.
Sometimes my head whirls. Sometimes I pinch myself. Sometimes I’m tired ( who am I kidding? I’m tired all the time!)
Would I do things differently? A few Would I change one moment of the feeling I get when a new book is in my hands after publication? Not even a little bit.
I chose this life and I embrace it wholeheartedly.
here’s to the next 10 years…20…(gulp) 30.
And thank you for all the love and support and words of encouragement along the way… ~Peg
Are you a romance reader? Or did you just stumble upon this blog because you were scrolling Google and liked the name? Hee hee.
I ask that question because for today’s Friday Five, I’m going to list the 5 books I recommend a novice romance reader read in order to discover what the genre is all about. Ready? Here ya go. My recs…
SHANNA “From New York Times bestselling author Kathleen E. Woodiwiss comes one of her most iconic and beloved romances of all time…A pact is sealed in secret behind the foreboding walls of Newgate Prison. In return for one night of unparalleled pleasure, a dashing condemned criminal consents to wed a beautiful heiress, thereby rescuing her from an impending and abhorred arranged union. But in the fading echoes of hollow wedding vows, a solemn promise is broken, as a sensuous free spirit takes flight to a lush Caribbean paradise, abandoning the stranger she married to face the gallows unfulfilled. Ruark Beauchamp’s destiny is now eternally intertwined with that of the tempestuous, intoxicating Shanna. He will be free . . . and he will find her. For no iron ever forged can imprison his resolute passion. And no hangman’s noose will keep Ruark from the bride— and ecstasy—that he craves.” This was the first real adult romance ( read: SEX!) I ever read. To this day I think I’ve reread it 25 times! Perfection from a master writer.
FRENCH SILK “When she becomes a murder suspect, a New Orleans beauty and lingerie tycoon must share her most deeply buried secrets with a disturbingly handsome district attorney in order to clear her name.
Like the city of New Orleans itself, Claire Laurent is a vibrant beauty laced with mystery. As the founder of French Silk, a fabulous lingerie company, she has fought hard to achieve worldwide success. Then a TV evangelist attacks French Silk’s erotic sleepwear as sinful. And when he is killed, Claire becomes the prime suspect.
District Attorney Robert Cassidy knows Claire is damning herself with lie after lie about the murder, even as he feels her drawing him into her world and her very soul. But neither Cassidy nor her protests of innocence can save Claire unless she reveals a shocking truth — one she has sworn to take to the grave . . .” Sandra Brown has been a one-click author for me since I read this book. Mystery, sex, romance, and a great story are the definition of an SB book!
THE NOTEBOOK “At thirty-one, Noah Calhoun, back in coastal North Carolina after World War II, is haunted by images of the girl he lost more than a decade earlier. At twenty-nine, socialite Allie Nelson is about to marry a wealthy lawyer, but she cannot stop thinking about the boy who long ago stole her heart. Thus begins the story of a love so enduring and deep it can turn tragedy into triumph, and may even have the power to create a miracle…” He’s called schmaltzy and vanilla-y in his writing, but this story is a love story for the ages!
THE THORN BIRDS “The Thorn Birds is a chronicle of three generations of Clearys—an indomitable clan of ranchers carving lives from a beautiful, hard land while contending with the bitterness, frailty, and secrets that penetrate their family. It is a poignant love story, a powerful epic of struggle and sacrifice, a celebration of individuality and spirit. Most of all, it is the story of the Clearys’ only daughter, Meggie, and the haunted priest, Father Ralph de Bricassart—and the intense joining of two hearts and souls over a lifetime, a relationship that dangerously oversteps sacred boundaries of ethics and dogma.” Hands down one of the best books every penned. A love story for the ages – forbidden love, family intrigue, secrets, and heartbreak, This book has it all!
DEVIL IN WINTER“I’m Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent. I can’t be celibate. Everyone knows that.” Desperate to escape her scheming relatives, Evangeline Jenner has sought the help of the most infamous scoundrel in London. A marriage of convenience is the only solution. No one would have ever paired the shy, stammering wallflower with the sinfully handsome viscount. It quickly becomes clear, however, that Evie is a woman of hidden strength—and Sebastian desires her more than any woman he’s ever known. Determined to win her husband’s elusive heart, Evie dares to strike a bargain with the devil: If Sebastian can stay celibate for three months, she will allow him into her bed. When Evie is threatened by a vengeful enemy from the past, Sebastian vows to do whatever it takes to protect his wife . . . even at the expense of his own life. Together they will defy their perilous fate, for the sake of all-consuming love.” So no one writes a steamy, LONG, love scene like Kleypas. The hottest scene in this book takes place with the h/h standing upright and against a door. I’ll leave it to you to go read it!!! Kleypas is another of my one-click authors. I don’t write historical romance, but I read it because of her!
So, it took me almost 24hours to get home from #RWA2023 from California because of issues with planes. But…as I am finally back in my office I want to reflect a bit on the past week.
First, kudos galore to the entire @RomanceWritersofAmerica team who put on this conference. It was a scaled down version of years past and sosos much better and more intimate. I so enjoyed getting to converse with first timer’s and interacting with new-to-me-authors in a setting that was smaller and fostered this kind of interaction.
Second, this was my first time speaking at a national/international conference. to say I was nervous would be an understatement. But the #RWA staff made it effortless for me.
I was on a panel with three other authors for a discussion titled HOW MANY NOs BEFORE YOU GOT A YES? Every time I look at this picture I hear the theme to MOULAN ROUGE: Four badass chicks from the Moulan Rouge! Here are: Mia P. ManansalaMoi!Thien-Kim Lam and Naima Simone
Third, there were so many first timers at the conference that I couldn’t help but remember my own first time, long ago in 2015 at San Antonio. I met Nora Roberts, cried like a baby when I did,
and spoke at length to one of my all time fav authors, Jill Shalvis. I was wide eyed and trying to drink in every bit of knowledge I could. I saw that same expression in the eyes of all the first timers at the 2023 conference. As romance writers, or writers in general, we live solitary lives. Getting together at a big conference like this one helps us reconnect with one another, remember we are not alone in this publishing endeavor, and helps us come out of our writing caves and remember how to “people.”
Then, there was Susanna Hoffs. Yes, that Susanna Hoffs from my favorite 80s girl band THE BANGLES. She’s written her first romance book and graciously spent two hours with the conference attendees, talking about her process to publication, and singing.
So cool, I can’t describe it adequately!
All in all, a fabulous conference. I am already looking forward to #RWA2024
Peggy Jaeger, Author 