I’m so excited! MIX AND MATCH has only 7 more days in the waiting room before it releases into the romance reading world!
Have you preordered your copy yet? No? Well, let me help you with that: MIX AND MATCH
And here’s a little tease to whet your reading appetite:
Intrigued? I certainly hope so!!
I can’t for you to meet Jasmine and Donovan! This series has been a labor of love to pen and all the books will be released within the next 16 months, but this first one sets the stage for the others and I couldn’t be happier.
MIX and MATCH releases on 3.1.2022 and if you haven’t heard me talking about it for the past 2 months – where have you been??? hee hee This sweet romance, about two friends who become lovers is set in the small town of Heaven, NH where my Match Match In Heaven series took place. Revisiting this tiny town was so soothing for my soul.
Seriously, though, here’s the blurb, the book trailer, and the Goodreads Giveaway widget where you can enter for a chance to win a print copy of the book.
Divorced and lonely, nurse Jasmine Green retains the services of Heaven, NH’s very own successful matchmaker, Olivia Joyner. The bar scene and dating apps give Jasmine hives and Liv’s reputation is stellar. If anyone can help guide her through the quagmire that dating has become, Olivia can.
Architect Donovan Boyd is ready to settle down. He wants the kind of marriage his parents have; long-lasting, filled with love, children, and joy. But even after a year of living and working in Heaven he’s still considered an outsider by many. Meeting the type of woman he’s looking for is hard in the tight-knit community. Retaining Olivia Joyner to help him find his forever love is one of the smartest things he’s done, especially after she sets him up with Jasmine Green.
But the red-haired, green-eyed beauty wants a different kind of marriage from the one Donovan considers ideal. Can these two strong-willed people learn to compromise so they can both find their happily ever after? Or will their relationship forever be relegated to the friend zone?
Watch the book trailer here: MIX & MATCH
Enter the GOODREADS GIVEAWAY
Request to read and review it on NetGalley here: https://www.netgalley.com/catalog/book/249436
Good luck and please, if you do enjoy the story, consider writing a review on amazon or GoodReads. Every review gets an author’s work more into the public eye and the hands of new readers. Bless you all ~ Peg
Filed under Heaven's Matchmaker
From MIX AND MATCH –
Will their friendship always be relegated to the friend zone?
They arrived at the diner in tandem. Always hearing his mother’s voice in his head, he held the door for her, then guided her to a booth along the back wall.
“Well, now, there’s two people I haven’t seen in a month of Sundays,” Ruthie Tewksberry, the owner, said when she spotted them. “I’ll be right over, kids.”
Jasmine slid into the booth, Donovan opposite her. Before they could settle, Ruthie made a beeline for them, two coffee mugs clasped in one had, a pot of coffee in the other.
Before he could even protest, she glanced down at him and said, “Don’t worry, I brought you a teabag and the water’s coming up.” She plopped the bag down next to him.
“Ah, Ruthie, darlin’, when are you gonna say yes and marry me?”
“When I get in a time machine and go back thirty years,” she quipped, making him laugh. “Don’t mind being called a cougar but I sure ain’t robbing any cradles. Jazz, how’s your mother doing?”
“Good. Working. What else?” She shrugged.
“Woman has more ambition than anyone I’ve ever seen.” She shook her head as she filled one of the mugs and placed it in front of Jasmine. “So, you two want to hear the specials, or do you know what you want already?”
Jasmine ordered her craving grilled cheese, while he went with a simple chicken burger.”
“Give me ten and I’ll have everything on the table. Here’s your water, Van.”
He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “You’re a living saint among us mortals, Ruthie darlin’.”
“Oh, you.” A flush ran up her cheeks as she swiped a hand in the air at him, a huge grin on her face.
“I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen her blush before,” Jasmine told him once the woman had gone to place their order. “Do you do that intentionally or does it just come naturally to you?”
“Do what?”
“You know.” She waved a hand at him. “All that charming, flirting, full-on-accent stuff. Darlin’ this and love that.“
His grin started slowly at her attempt to mimic his accent. It was actually pretty good, he thought. Then it spread when the import of her words filtered through. “Ya think I’m charmin’, do ya?”
She tossed him an eye roll that should have looked comical but on her was as sexy as hell. “I said what you did was charming, not that you are.”
“Ah, Jasmine my love, you wound me to the quick, you do.” He made a show of placing both hands over his heart and attempting a pout. His reward for the ridiculous theatrics was her laugh, which came quick, free, and naturally.
“Now there’s a lovely sound,” he said gazing at her face.
She shook her head. Still smiling, she told him, “I truly don’t think you can help yourself.”
He shrugged. “It’s not a question of helping m’self or not. It’s just as easy to pay a compliment or give a kind word as it is an unkind one. And it makes me feel good to know I’ve been able to put a smile on someone’s face from something I’ve said.”
He couldn’t decipher the expression on hers as she regarded him across the table. Before he could ask about it she said, “Did Olivia call you after”—she lowered her voice—“our date?”
“Aye, she did. First thing the next morning. Did she call you?”
“No, which is weird. She usually checks in right away.” Her brows knit together. “What did you tell her?”
He was prevented from answering right away as Ruthie delivered their food.
“You need anything else, give a holler,” she told them.
Once they were alone again he said, “The truth. The evening was pleasant, you were a lovely woman and I enjoyed getting to know you a bit, but you didn’t think we were well matched.”
“You agreed,” she said, a tad defensively.
He took a bite of his sandwich. He hadn’t. Not really. And he hadn’t related everything Olivia and he discussed. He didn’t share, for instance, the matchmaker had said to go slowly with Jasmine. The fact she wanted to be friends was encouraging because it was the first time she’d ever said that about one of the men she’d been introduced to.
“Because you were so adamant about it,” he said.
Now Jasmine pulled a pout and hers wasn’t meant to make him laugh.
“What did she say after you told her I didn’t think we were,” she lifted her hand, “suited?”
“That she had a few more women who looked promising—her word—that she’d introduce me to.”
“Oh. Okay, then.” She sat back in the booth. “Well…okay.”
He wasn’t sure but she seemed…put off by that.
Promising.
“No more talk of that now,” he said. She visibly relaxed at his words. “Tell me what you’re thinking I should be bidding on the house.”
Preorder here: Mix & Match
Watch the book trailer here: Mix & Match
Filed under sunday snippet
One of my favorite people – and authors – Bonnie Edwards has a new addition to her RETURN TO WELCOME Series, CLAIMING SHANDY and she graciously allowed me to help her get the word out. Check out the wonderful cover:
She thought her divorce was final…
Welcome WA, where rumor, gossip, and old grudges endure long past their best before date.
Justin Camden wants his life back. His wife back. His son back. And he’s returned to Welcome to get them. Justin has a plan for the Christmas season and moving in with his ex and his boy is just the beginning.
Shandy Camden is stuck. Her big oaf of an ex-husband has finagled his way into her home for the entire month of December. He claims to want an old-fashioned family Christmas with their son. She’s forced to let Justin stay because refusing will break her son’s heart.
Slowly, Shandy sees that her ex may have another agenda. But she doesn’t believe in the magic of Christmas the way their son does. Helpless and forced to live with her ex, Shandy struggles to overcome her growing attraction to the only man who’s ever left her. The only man she’s ever loved. But Justin left once and if he leaves again, she’ll never recover, and neither will their son…
When the truth comes out, Shandy and Justin may well have discovered that more than anything, Christmas is about love.
Warning: This book has lots of groveling in it. If you don’t want to read about a divorced man making things right, then this romance isn’t for you.
December 1 Welcome WA
Justin Camden was no quitter. Never had been and he wasn’t about to give up now. But first he had to do battle against the dragons breathing fire in his gut. He’d never been this scared. Not even at fourteen when his dad caught him out driving his mom’s car at midnight.
He parked outside the Welcome Bar & Grill and called his buddy, Jake Morrow who was inside with a group of friends. Friends who included Justin’s wife, Shandy.
Everything he wanted to accomplish tonight hinged on whatever BS line Jake had come up with. “It’s me. I’m here. What did you tell her?”
In the background, Justin heard happy people greeting each other over the distant sound of a Christmas song. The season had begun. He climbed out of his car while he heard Jake excuse himself to take the call.
“Bedbugs.”
The background noise had receded, but Justin couldn’t have heard right. “What?”
“Every hotel in the area’s infested. Didn’t you know?” Jake said with a smirk in his voice.
“She’ll never believe that.” He had his hand on the brass door pull. Yanked it toward him.
“I believe she does believe me.”
He shook his head. No way. Shandy was the smartest woman he’d ever met and for the past three years, she’d been made of stone. He had to make her crack, but nonsense about bedbugs wouldn’t do it. The flame-thrower in his belly belched. Maybe he should turn around and leave.
“Plus, I told Shandy how much Brianna and I are enjoying our honeymoon period,” Jake was saying. “She can’t force you to stay with us. She has to let you stay at her place. She’ll have no choice.”
“Our place.” The home they’d bought together, to raise their family in. “You ass. Bedbugs?” He was inside the vestibule now, looking through the stained-glass partition, searching the restaurant side of the building. “I see the table.”
Jake stood a few feet away from the group. “Don’t worry, you got this,” he said, looking right at him through the multi-colored pane.
“My best and only shot.” He ended the call, plastered a smile on his face and made his way through the tables to where Shandy sat beside an empty chair. If this crazy bedbug story worked, he’d have a chance to get her angry. He needed her angry.
If she were angry with him, it was a sign that she still cared. That he could still make her feel something for him.
An angry Shandy was honest, and open. Angry Shandy was not a stone angel, cold and remote, the way she’d been for too long. He needed honest and open or his plan to return to Welcome and be the husband and father he wanted to be would fail.
Justin Camden was no quitter. He doused the flames in his gut.
Bonnie Edwards has been writing all her life, starting with a poem about Santa suffering with gout. She was seven, Santa was a thousandteen years old. Delighted with writing, she went on to write family sagas, humorous contemporary romance, romantic suspense, erotic paranormal ghost romances and more.
She may jump around within romance, but all her stories come with a tear, a laugh, and a happy ending. Published by Kensington Books, Harlequin Books, Carina Press, and Robinson (UK) Bonnie’s stories stretch from short stories to novellas and novels. Now, she’s happy to be publishing her work herself.
With 40 titles to her credit, she has been translated into several languages and sold books worldwide. Aside from standalone romances, she has 6 romance series that include Christmas romances and beach reads. Contemporary family sagas find a home in Return to Welcome. Learn about more exciting releases and get a free romance by subscribing to her newsletter, Bonnie’s Newsy Bits
Cheers and happy reading!
Bonnie Edwards
From the upcoming MIX & MATCH, dropping on 3.1.2022
“What’s wrong with this one?” Donovan asked when she shook her head. “Seems fine to me.”
“It’s too hard.” Jasmine pressed down on the mattress with both hands and met resistance.
“Aye, and you said the other was too soft. I feel like we’re starring in a Grimm’s tale instead of shopping for a guest bedroom mattress.”
“You don’t want your parents or anyone else who comes to visit to be uncomfortable, do you?”
“No. But we’ve been to three stores already and found nothing to your liking.”
“That’s why they call it shopping.” She rolled her eyes. “You can’t pick the very first one you see. You’ve got to shop around. You’ve got to try them out. You don’t buy a car without taking it for a test drive to see how it handles, do you? A bed is the same way.”
“What do you propose we do to take it for a drive? Sleep on it?”
“Don’t be snide. Here.” She led him to one labeled comfort sleeper. After pressing down on it with her hands and noting how firm, yet supple it was, she said, “This one looks promising. Lie down.”
“What? Here? On that?”
“How else are you going to know how it feels?” She sat on the bed, bounced a few times, then assumed a supine position, her feet pointed toward the bottom. Patting the mattress, she said, “Come on. Hop on. Take it for a spin.”
With his hands fisted on his hips and his brows glued together over his eyes, he shook his head. Then he shrugged and settled down next to her.
They were on a bare, king-sized mattress in the middle of a commercial bed store, surrounded by other shoppers and salespeople. It never occurred to Jasmine there was anything remotely sexual about reclining on the bed with him. They were merely shopping for an item he needed.
The moment his back hit the mattress and he turned his head to look at her, that notion flew out the proverbial window and her pulse started racing.
The bed was big enough they could stretch out their arms and only barely touch fingers, but to Jasmine it suddenly felt small and intimate.
Too intimate.
She bolted upright then threw her legs over the side so she could sit on the edge. For some reason sitting on the bed seemed less… carnal.
“Aye, this feels brilliant,” he said. “More comfortable and cushy than me own bed, for sure.” Donovan was oblivious to her discomfort as he rolled side to side, testing the coils and springs.
Jasmine stood, her face feeling as if she’d stayed out in the sun for days.
“Can I help you two?” A salesman with an I-hope-to-make-a-sale cheek-wide smile approached them.
Donovan pulled off the bed to stand. The salesman stuck out his hand, which Donovan took.
“If you two are looking for a bed that’s gonna last a lifetime, you’ve found it,” he said. “I’ve gotten letters from dozens of couples who’ve told me how pleased they are with this mattress brand. Everyone from the kids who come in on cold mornings to cuddle to the pets who find their way at the bottom of the bed during the night love the comfort of this brand.”
For some reason Jasmine felt the urge to clarify the situation.
“Oh, we’re not together.”
“I thought—”
“I mean, we’re together, here and now, just not together like a couple. The bed’s not for us. It’s for him.” She pointed at Donovan. “For his guest bedroom. His parents are coming for an extended visit and he wants them to be comfortable. We’re not a couple. Just friends,” she added.
Donovan’s brows were kissing again by the time she finished babbling. The salesman’s smile dimmed, when he turned his attention to Donovan.
With a nod, Van explained what he was looking for in the way of cost and availability.
Me thinks the lady doth protest too much, hee hee!
here’s the preorder link if you’re intrigued: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09P48WPZC
Filed under Writing
Another of my favorite Dickens’s authors, MADDIE JAMES, has just released her newest addition to the second season of the DICKENS HOLIDAY ROMANCE BOOKS, THE LAST CHRISTMAS AT HOLLY HILL INN. This is actually the third book in the HOLLY HILL INN stories.
The newest story, THE LAST CHRISTMAS AT HOLLY HILL INN is available now.
“I can’t do this, Will. I can’t fake my way through the holidays just to make our families happy. We both know our happily-ever-after is a farce.”
“You could if you tried, Ava. It’s not that difficult to be nice to each other. We used to do it all the time.”
“We used to be in love, Will.”
“We still could be.”
Ava stared at him. “What are you saying? You want to call off the divorce?”
“I’m saying that I don’t think we are through, Ava. Not yet.”
Will and Ava Cohen were wildly in love—five years ago. Today, they are ships passing in the night, two professionals driven to reach the pinnacle of their professions. When Will steps in the door of their restored brownstone in Brooklyn each evening, Ava is already on stage at the Gershwin, playing the role of Glinda in Wicked.
They are calling their marriage quits—but not until they spend one more Christmas holiday together with their families at Holly Hill Inn. Traditionally, the family arrives in New York, and they all take the Christmas train to Dickens together. Will and Ava plan to share their news on the train ride back home.
That was the plan, anyway.
As the Christmas spirit of Dickens and Holly Hill Inn spins around them, Ava and Will begin to look at each other differently, and both wonder if they’ve been too hasty in deciding to divorce. Have they really thought this separation through? But the train is about to leave the station, and they are unsure if they can halt it—or if they should.
Will this really be their last Christmas at Holly Hill Inn?
Available here: LCAHHI
Maddie James writes to silence the people in her head. If only they wouldn’t all talk at once….
From flirty contemporary romance to darker erotic titles—often mixed with a dash of suspense or a hint of paranormal—James pens stories that frequently blend a variety of romantic sub-genres. The happily-ever-after, of course, is non-negotiable.
Affaire de Coeur says, “James shows a special talent for traditional romance,” and RT Book Reviews claims, “James deftly combines romance and suspense.” Maddie is the award-winning author of over fifty titles of fiction—from short stories to novels.
Learn more at http://www.maddiejames.org.
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Peggy Jaeger, Author 