Do you love a matchmaker romance book? I do. Simply lovelovelove!!! And August 31st has been designated as MATCHMAKER DAY!
To celebrate this wonderful day devoted to finding love, I’ve got a sale going on for my HEAVEN’S MATCHMAKER series – both books MIX & MATCH and LOVE MATCHare ON SALE for just #99cents in Kindle copy! You can’t beat that price! 2 books for less than $2.00!
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. Finding 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.
Running away from a public scandal may be cowardly, but to Layla Warton, it’s her best option.
After her politically connected fiancé is indicted for a laundry list of crimes, Layla wants to put the public ridicule and shame of her guilty-by-association status behind her. Not easy to do when all her supposed friends and supporters lose her number and the taint of scandal-adjacent destroys the successful design business and life she’s built for herself.
Happy childhood memories and the blessing of a local friend push her toward the tiny New England town of Heaven where she spent summers with her loving grandparents. Hiding out in the town until the scandal dies down is the perfect plan.
With the paparazzi hot on her tail, an ancient family home she needs to get livable, and a contractor too hot for her sanity, Layla worries she’ll never be able to get her old life back.
But would that really be such a bad thing?
….and look for book 3, PERFECT MATCH, coming in 2025
So LOVE MATCH releases 5.21 and today seems like a good way to kick off a few teasers to whet your preordering appetites, LOL. You can preorder it through Amazon, or get a print copy, autographed, directly from me, here: DIRECT ORDER
Before she could answer him the overpowering aroma of a familiar cloying perfume hit him square in the face as a pair of hands slid around and covered his eyes. Incredibly close to his ear, so close the lobe got wet from the breath expressed next to it, a sultry voice, the product of too many nights drinking and too many morning hangover cures said, “Guess who, handsome?”
He didn’t need to guess. He’d know that perfume and voice anywhere. In all honesty, he’d tried to forget it as much as possible. He didn’t get a chance to reply, though, as the hands flew from his eyes and the smacking sound of wet kiss hit his jaw. He knew without the need for a mirror, his chin was covered in Cherries in the Snow red, the wearer’s favorite lipstick shade.
“Boo!” the woman said, wrapping her arms around his neck and laughing.
“Hey, Rachel.” He cast a furtive glance at a still wide-eyed Layla, then tried to extract the hands of the woman he’d dated briefly from around his neck. It was like trying to uncoil a hungry boa constrictor from a meal. “Didn’t know you were back in town.”
Ignoring Layla, the woman shifted so she was facing his side of the table and leaned an ample hip across it. “Got back yesterday.”
He nodded then said, “Meet Layla Warton. She’s Effie Mason’s granddaughter. This is Rachel Carmody. We were in school together.”
With the fakest smile he’d ever seen she barely flicked her theatrically made-up eyes toward Layla and said, “Hey.” Turning a real smile to him she asked, “I’m only in town for three days then back on the road again for another four months. Sweet running into you here. I was gonna text to see if you wanted to hook up later. Maybe grab a few drinks at the Love Shack and…whatever.”
He could tell the implications of the whatever weren’t lost on Layla. Her cheeks went beet-red and her lips blanched.
Ignoring the question, he said to Layla, “Rachel’s a backup singer in a country band.”
“Oh, how exciting,” Layla said, the tone in her voice telling him it was nothing of the kind. “What’s the band’s name?”
Rachel gave it and Layla shook her head. “Sorry. Don’t know it.”
For the first time, Rachel looked squarely at Layla. Cody thought she must have been a bit threatened by what she saw, because she stood up from her leaning position and pushed her shoulders back, forcing her more than pronounced breasts to jut forward, perfectly level with his eyes.
“Well, they’re very well known on the country circuit,” Rachel declared. With a flip of her honey-blonde hair – not her natural color, a fact he knew personally – she once again turned to him. “I’ve gotta run. I just stopped in to pick up my mother’s order. Call me later.”
It wasn’t a request.
He didn’t respond since he had no intention of meeting up with her. Rachel had been a mistake from the get-go. They were too different, had nothing of substance in common, not even to talk about, she drank too much and was much too loud for his taste.
With another brazen kiss, this time aimed for his mouth which he avoided by turning a bit to the side, she graced him with a cheeky smile and sauntered to the counter to pick up her to-go bag.
Silence covered the space between him and Layla.
He knew he should say something, but what?
Hey, sorry about that. She’s just a girl I hooked up with during a low point in my life?
Yeah, that wasn’t gonna happen.
He cleared his throat and said, instead, “So. We were talking about—”
What the hell had they been talking about? Rachel’s arrival threw the conversation out of his mind.
Just hopping in today to make sure you all know that I’ve got a GOODREADS GIVEAWAY running for book 1 in the HEAVEN’S MATCHMAKER series,MIX & MATCH (Jasmine & Donovan). It’s live right now and goes until April 15.
The reason I’m doing a giveaway on a book that released a while ago is in anticipation of book 2’s release on May 21. LOVE MATCH (Layla & Cody) is currently up for preorder, but I wanted to give everyone a chance who hadn’t read book 1 to do so now so that they’d be caught up when book 2 releases.
Just as an FYI – you don’t have to read the books in order. They are standalone books with similar characters in each. If you’re anything like me, though, you like to start a series at the beginning! That’s the Taurus in me, I guess.
I lovelovelove my tiny New England town of Heaven, and Olivia Joyner, the local matchmaker, is the featured “star” of each 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. Finding 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?
Running away from a public scandal may be cowardly, but to Layla Warton, it’s her best option.
After her politically connected fiancé is indicted for a laundry list of crimes, Layla wants to put the public ridicule and shame of her guilty-by-association status behind her. Not easy to do when all her supposed friends and supporters lose her number and the taint of scandal-adjacent destroys the successful design business and life she’s built for herself.
Happy childhood memories and the blessing of a local friend push her toward the tiny New England town of Heaven where she spent summers with her loving grandparents. Hiding out in the town until the scandal dies down is the perfect plan.
With the paparazzi hot on her tail, an ancient family home she needs to get livable, and a contractor too hot for her sanity, Layla worries she’ll never be able to get her old life back.
Can you stand another first draft, unedited look at LOVE MATCH ( HEaven’s Matchmaker, book 2)?
Hee hee.
here ya go…
Her skin was warm under his touch and he could sense the slight thrum of her pulse against his fingers. Was it his imagination, or did it speed up a bit while she sat there, just staring at him?
“Hey, you two. This is a surprise.”
Layla’s rapid blinking pulled him out of a vision of taking her hand, bringing it to his lips, and nibbling on her fingers, one by one.
“Liv.” He glanced up at his cousin, gingerly slipped his hand off Layla’s wrist, then nodded. “What brings you out on this cold day.”
Her eyes tracked his motion. “I’m meeting someone for lunch.”
Then she smiled at him and slid her eyes to Layla.
“How are you doing?”
He let the two of them chat for a moment, observing that his cousin’s eyes flicked from him to Layla several times, her expression thoughtful.
Oh, no, cousin, forget whatever your little matchmaking mind is conjuring.
He could hear the gears turning and squeaking in her brain. She wanted so badly to fix him up with one of her eligible and marriage-seeking clients. She couldn’t believe he was actually happy in his divorced/single state, dating as much as he wanted, hooking up when he could. For Liv, everyone had a someone and she thought it was her mission in life to make sure all in her sphere found their person.
Not gonna happen.
He’d already found his person. Unfortunately, after a while, she hadn’t felt the same. End of story.
“What do you think, Cody?”
He pulled out of musings to find two pairs of eyes focused on him.
“Sorry, what? Thinking of fifty things at once up here.” He pointed to himself.
“I asked,” Liv said, drawing out the word, “If you thought you’d have Layla’s place ready by Christmas?”
He turned his attention to the woman across the table. “I don’t know since we haven’t had a chance to talk about what she wants done yet.”
“We were just about to discuss it,” Layla told Olivia.
“Oh, well, don’t let me stop you. I see my client, anyway.” She lifted a hand and waved to someone.
Almost immediately they were joined by a familiar face.
“Hey, doc,” Cody, stood and shook the man’s hand. “How’s the new addition?
“Perfect,” Hunter Reinhart told him. “Having a home office is so much more convenient. Thanks for all your help and the great work.”
“Glad it panned it.”
Hunter zeroed in on Layla.
Liv made the introductions while Cody sat back down. For some reason, he didn’t like the way the man was staring so intently at Layla.
“Nice to meet you,” Hunter said.
“Likewise.”
“Layla and I are old friends,” Liv told him.
“Are you in town visiting?” Hunter asked.
“For a while, at least. I’m seeing to my grandmother’s house.”
“Effie Mason,” Liv offered.
Hunter’s smile grew. “Effie’s one of my favorite patients. Always smiling, always in a good mood. She’s a doll.”
When Layla returned the smile, Cody’s back shot straight. She’d never smiled like that at him. He rolled his eyes internally at how juvenile he sounded.
“Thank you for saying that,” Layla said. “I think so, too.”
“Everyone loves your grandmother,” Cody said.
Hunter nodded, never looking at him, but keeping his eyes focused on Layla. “It was a shame she couldn’t go back to her home after she broke her hip, but it really was just too dangerous for her to live alone.”
“She loves the Arms, so at least she’s happy there.”
He nodded. “Well, I expect I’ll be seeing you when you visit. I make rounds two to three times a week on all my patients there, both in assisted living and higher care.”
“I’ll look forward to it.”
Cody wanted to gag. How many times could the guy insinuate his profession into the conversation?
Okay, you’re a doctor. We all get it.
“Well, enjoy your lunch, you two.” Liv took Hunter’s arm and, thankfully, guided him toward a table on the opposite side of the room.
It didn’t get past Cody the man glanced over his shoulder a few times, his attention on Layla.
“Are Liv and him…?” Layla asked, leaving the question dangling.
“No. He’s one of her clients.”
Her brows shot up. “Clients?” She turned to look at them. “I wouldn’t think someone like him would need a matchmaker.”
The hairs on his neck stood at attention. “Someone like him?”
She shrugged and took another sip of her drink. “He’s a doctor.”
He nodded.
“So. Successful, probably has money, and is good-looking. Seems like he wouldn’t have any trouble finding someone to marry him.”
Cody’s eyes slatted. “You in the market? I’m sure Liv would set you two up if you asked.”
The sarcasm and anger in his tone drifted right over her. Instead, she shuddered, knocking him back a few paces.
“No thanks. I’m not looking to get married. Or even be in a relationship. Not now, anyway. Maybe never.” Her face went crimson again as her gaze dropped to the table.
Peggy Jaeger, Author 