Bet you thought this day would never come, huh, since I’ve been talking about it FOREVEH!!! LOL
I am so happy SASHA’S SECRET SANTA is finally available. Did you preorder it? If so, thank you from the bottom of my writer’s heart!!! Hopefully, it’s on your Kindle right now! I’ve also made is available in Kindle Unlimited, so if you’re a subscriber…enjoy!
The early reviews on the story have been amazing and OH MY GOSH i want to cry happy tears at them!
InD’Tale Magazine says SASHA’S SECRET SANTA is a …”delectable holiday-themed book wrapped with emotions and finished with a big red bow on top!” And it was awarded a CROWNED HEART!
Mistress of Reviews says that …”this installment of a Dickens Holiday romance delivers all you could want in a love story.”
An Amazon reviewer said: “Sasha’s Secret Santa truly delivered all the feels. This was a captivating read that had me running the gamut of emotions but left me feeling warm and fuzzy at the end!”
Can I just say….wow!!! I am truly humbled. I hope you enjoy the book, too, and if you do, please let me know! My little ego needs recharging every now and again and the best way is when a great review gets posted.
Enjoy!
And then there’s this review from NN LIght’s Bookhaven that just about did me in, emotionally!!! These tears are such happy ones!
The character of Amy Dorrit (Charles) is fascinating for so many reasons, but the main one for me is how she loves her 3 adoptive kids and how strongly she protects them. She also doesn’t suffer fools and calls it like she sees it, evident in this scene. She’s found a distraught Sasha crying in her apartment and after listening to the reason why, she…well, she acts like a mom who lays it on the line.
Enjoy.
After several minutes of Amy rocking and cooing to her, Sasha shifted, her tears finally starting to abate.
“I won’t ask if you feel better,” Amy said as she cupped her daughter’s chin and rubbed her thumbs across her cheeks. “A cry like that one serves the purpose of emotionally cleansing and physically exhausting a body.”
“I think I’m more exhausted than cleansed,” Sasha said, swiping her sleeve under her nose. “And now I’ve got a headache to add to it, to boot.”
With a shake of her head, Amy leaned forward and kissed Sasha’s forehead.
“Why are you home so early? I thought you were going to take the entire day to shop.”
“Took most of it.” Amy lifted a shoulder and added, “When we were done, we were done.”
“Most of the day? What time is it?” Sasha asked.
“Half-past three.”
“Oh, God. I told everyone I was only taking a few minutes and it’s been three hours. I need to get downstairs.” She tried to stand but Amy held her back.
“The diner’s fine, baby girl. The girls and Chet have been taking care of things just fine. You sit back down and tell me what got you to blubbering.”
“I need a glass of water, first.” Once Amy let her stand, Sasha filled a glass and downed it in one long draught. After that she ran cold water over her face, knowing she must look like a swollen, red-splotched mess.
Done, she plopped down next to her mother, dragged in several deep, weary breaths, and told her all about her relationship with Steve Caldwell, ending with the conversation she’d had with Kane.
“I should have trusted my instincts,” she said once she was done, the tears spent, and her voice tired. “They told me from the get-go he was only interested in me because he wanted me for the hospital.”
“I’m not sure that’s true,” Amy said.
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve seen the way he looks at you every time he comes into the diner. The man is smitten.”
Sasha rubbed her nose, then shook her head. “If he’s smitten it’s with my skills as a nurse, not as,” she blushed, “a woman or anything else.”
“I don’t like repeating myself, but I’m really not sure that’s true, baby girl.”
On the end of a sigh sewn together with exhaustion and a strangled ache, Sasha said, “It’s true enough, mom. He didn’t deny it when I confronted him.”
“Did you give him a chance to? Or did you steamroll right over him like you always do when you want to make a point?
Surprised, Sasha said, “I don’t do that.”
Amy’s brows took a steady climb toward her hairline. When they arrived and settled, her eyes opened wide and she regarded her daughter with an expression Sasha had seen dozens of times during her childhood. A don’t even think about bullshitting me glower that made the person – or child – being glared at confess any and all infractions they’d committed
That the look could still make her crumble at the age of thirty-four like an unbalanced house of cards was worrisome.
And annoying.
“I don’t.”
“Really? I can give you chapter, book, and verse on any number of times you’ve done it in your life. You’ve always been like that, baby girl. Always need to have the last word in an argument; always need to get your point across before anyone else can make theirs.”
Amy’s words stung. So much so, tears started to swell in Sasha’s eyes again. Angrily, she batted them away with her lashes.
Her mother’s expression softened. “Look, sweetie. I’m not saying it to make you upset, just to point out that you have a…tendency we’ll say, not to listen to the other person during an argument when you think you’re in the right.”
“I am in the right about this, mom. Steve was just buttering me up before asking me to work for the hospital. Kane all but proved it.”
Amy’s thin-lipped glare told her daughter exactly what she thought about Kane Barclay and his declaration.
“I know you’ve never liked him,” Sasha said. Before she could continue, though, her mother cut her off.
“I don’t dislike him,” she said. “But he has a habit of embellishing any story he’s telling to garner more attention for himself. He was always that way as a kid and hasn’t changed much as an adult.”
Sasha waved a hand in the air with a careless flitter. “History aside, this time he didn’t embellish, just told me straight out what he’d overheard.”
“You should know better than to believe any info given to you second-hand like that, Sasha Charles.”
A sudden stab of unease speared through her. Was her mother right? Should she have regarded Kane’s declaration warily?
Intrigued? I hope so, LOL
You can preorder the book here and have it delivered to your Kindle on 11.7.2022 on release day. Or, the paperback version is available right now!
Are ya ready to see the lovely book cover for my 2022 Holiday Romance SASHA’S SECRET SANTA? I’ve been holding on to this cover for MONTHS!!!!! and I’m so excited to finally show you. I almost revealed it last week on National Kissing Day, hahaha
Here’s a little about the book, first:
After a terrifying incident derails Sasha Charles’ career and her 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?
Okay, ready?
Drumroll, please…. TA-DA…..
When you read the book you’ll know EXACTLY why this cover is perfect for the story. And I can’t wait for you all to read it!!!
Release day is 11.7.2022 and I’ll have preorder links soon. For now I’m just gonna bask in the loveliness of this cover!
Visit me over at NNLIghts Bookheaven where Mr and Mrs N are hosting a cover reveal party for me: NNLIGHT
Santa Baby releases into the novella-reading world today via all digital markets.
This little story was a joy to write and it sets up the full length FIXING CHRISTMAS that comes out on 11.9.2021.
As part of the Dickens Holiday world, SANTA BABY is set 38 years in the past on a snowy Christmas Eve in the tiny town of Dickens – somewhere in New England. Amy Dorrit, owner of Dorrit’s Diner, discovers an abandoned baby -literally – on her doorstep before opening her eatery for the day. What happens next sets up the rest of Amy’s life – and the future Dorrit’s Diner books.
It’s Christmas Eve morning in the tiny New England town of Dickens.
Santa’s arrival is imminent, and a hint of snow is in the air.
Amy Dorrit is just about to open her popular diner for the breakfast rush when she discovers an abandoned baby on her back doorstep.
Amy knows she should call the authorities and turn the infant over to them, but she just can’t. Thoughts of her own abandonment as a baby flood through her and she wants to keep the little one out of the hands of the authorities until the mother – hopefully –returns.
But will the mom come back? And if she doesn’t, what is Amy prepared to do about the baby who has, already, claimed her heart?
Here’s a little peek inside the covers….
“What in the name of all that’s holy are you holding, Amy Dorrit?”
Willie Jackson stood at her office door, a lit cigarette dangling from a corner of his mouth, his leather jacket hanging open and his eyes as big and round as his county-famous blueberry pancakes.
“What does it look like?” Amy dug around in the carrier searching for a bottle, pacifier, something, to soothe the baby’s cries. “Lose the cigarette. It’s a baby and I’m pretty sure it’s hungry.”
He lifted those shocked eyes to Amy’s face. “Girl, you been keeping secrets from ol’ Willie?”
“Oh for Pete’s sake. Are you nuts, William Jefferson Jackson? It’s not my baby. I found it at the back door when I came downstairs.”
“Whose is it?”
“No idea.”
“What is it?” Holding the small bundle like a football in one arm, she shoved the piece of paper she’d found at him. “Same answer. I haven’t looked yet. Here, read this. I found it tucked inside the blanket.” Once he had it, Amy placed her pinky finger over the baby’s lips. It immediately rooted, then latched on to suck.
“I knew it. It’s starving.”
“ ‘I’m sorry,” he read aloud, ‘but I can’t take care of her—’ well, we know it’s a girl –‘I have no job and no way to hold on to one with a baby. Please forgive me for leaving her like this, but I saw how kind you were yesterday and I know you’ll take care of her like I can’t.’” Willie scratched his head. “Well, shit. We got us a real abandoned baby, here, Ames ol’ girl.”
“Don’t curse in front of her.” She shot him an annoyed glare, her left eyebrow inching up her forehead to her hairline.
“It ain’t like she can understand me. She’s a baby, fer Chri-” Her other eyebrow followed its twin. “Er, pity’s sake.”
“I need something to feed her with.” She glanced around her office. “Can you get me one of the cake decorating bottles? The ones with the plastic tip? I think that’ll work.”
“What’a’ya gonna feed her? Frosting? You ain’t got no mother’s milk and you can’t feed her coffee creamer.”
“Dam-I mean, drat. You’re right. I can give her a little water to hold her over until I can run out and get her some formula.”
“Shouldn’t you call the police? I mean, she’s been abandoned, ain’t she? You can’t just keep her.”
Fellow Sistah-Dickens author Nancy Fraser has a Dickens prequel releasing, too, on June 14th – Making Christmas, that’s available for preorder now.
Peggy Jaeger, Author 