In just 7 more days, book 3 in the Heaven’s Matchmaker series, PERFECT MATCH, releases into the romance reading world and I can not wait.
I’m interested to see what you all think of Olivia and Hunter’s story. They were both a joy to write, Hunter especially. There’s just something so heartwarming and wonderful about a man who’s devoted himself to caring for the elderly population. He is compassionate, kind, smart, and empathetic – everything you’d want in a physician no matter what the age of the patient!
When I was working as a nurse I met many doctors who were candidates for asshole of the year. Luckily, I met an equal number who were devoted clinicians who believed in the practice of medicine and the healing arts. Those are the characteristics I gave to Hunter Reinhart, my male main character in Perfect Match.
Divorced, he still believes in the institution of marriage and wants to find his forever partner and love. He’s hired Olivia Joyner to help him find that person. Little did he know, his soulmate was as close as she was.
Have you preordered your copy? You can do so, here on ‘Zon. PM
Or, if you want a signed print copy, you can order it directly from me and I’ve got copies available right now – so you’d have it before it actually releases, lol! PM
In a little over 1 week (10 days to be exact but I’m the only one counting, lol!) PERFECT MATCH, book 3 in the HEAVEN’S MATCHMAKER series releases into the book reading world.
You don’t have to have read books 1 and 2 to understand what is going on in book 3. The same people roam in and out of the books, but this one centers on the actual town matchmaker, OLIVIA JOYNER.
But….if you’d like to know about the people in the town before reading Liv’s love story, books 1 and 2 are available now. MIX AND MATCH is only 99 cents on Kindle, so it’s an inexpensive way to start the series. Then LOVE MATCH follows. Both are slow burn, sweet with heat, small town, and later in life ( 35+) romance stories about people who are looking for that everlasting love and the bumps, starts, and stops that occur along the way to their HEA.
PERFECT MATCH releases in under 2 weeks so I’m introducing you to the main characters. Today, it’s Hunter Reinhart’s turn. This is how I’ve pictured him since I began the series…
If you are a certain age, the acronym IFYKYK will hit you hard. For those of you who don’t know, this is Richard Chamberlain, a mega-heartthrob in the 1960’s for his role as Dr. Kildaire, then as Fr. Ralph de Bricassart in the THORN BIRDS series. I have always adored this man for soso many reasons, the most obvious? That face. He just looks like a kindhearted doctor! Hence, he’s my Hunter.
About Hunter…
he’s a geriatrician
he’s divorced, no kids
he comes from “old” money
he’s naturally shy and reserved
he has a real love and adoration of older people
Hunter’s been on a lot of dates before he finds his Perfect Match. You can guess who that is! But it’s better to read the book, lol.
PERFECT MATCH releases 2 weeks from today, so I thought you might want to know a few things about the main characters.
Today, it’s OLIVIA JOYNER, Heaven’s Matchmaker. This is how I’ve pictured her since day 1, book 1 MIX and MATCH:
she’s been a widow for 21 years
She’s 40 years old
she has a 23 year old daughter
she got married at 17
she has a 99% success rate for matches/marriages
Tomorrow, you’ll meet Hunter Reinhart – the main male character.
Third-generation matchmaker, Olivia Joyner, enjoys a 99% success rate when it comes to helping people find their happily ever afters. But her newest client is proving to be part of the 0.1 percent.
All the women Olivia have matched geriatrician Hunter Reinhart with have been perfect on paper. None of them, though, have resulted in a second request for a date, and all the women say the same thing: Hunter, although handsome and successful is just…dull. And boring. And too reserved.
Olivia can’t understand it, because to her? Hunter is none of those things. In fact, he’s the exact opposite of dull, boring, and reserved. He’s a man she would consider worthy of marrying herself – if she was in the market for a spouse.
Which she isn’t.
Olivia needs to figure out why she can’t find Hunter Reinhart the perfect match, and it just may require her to do something she’s never done before: go on a “date” with a client.
Purely for research and educational purposes, that is.
This is the part of being a writer I hate – all the marketing. I swear, if I ever hit Powerball, I’m hiring a PR and marketing firm to do all this for me!
Anyhoo…
So, Perfect Match is book 3 in the series, and it’s the story of matchmaker Olivia Joyner and Hunter Reinhardt, one of the .01% of clients she can’t find a match for. Since she has 99% success rate, she figures finding him a wife should be easy peasy. After all, he’s handsome, successful, rich, and actually wants to get married again. Shouldn’t be a problem, right?
Yeah…no. So far, none of the dates she’s set him on have worked out and for the life of her, she can’t understand why the women think he’s boring and reserved and no fun, since she finds him none of those things.
Liv devises a plan to find out just what’s happening on those get-to-know-you-dates. What ensues, is a story filled with acceptance, caring, and a slow burn love awareness of one another. I loved writing this book and was so happy I could give Liv her HEA.
Here’s a little sumthin; sumthin‘ from the book to ( hopefully) whet your appetite to preorder it.
“You are the most capable woman I’ve ever met,” he said, simply, because it was the truth. Without knowing why, he rose and crossed to her side of the table. Squatting in front of her, he was fascinated when her eyes went wide as he took her hands and squeezed them. “But even the most capable people need someone they can just,” he shook his head, once, “let loose with. Unburden to. Discuss and digest everything with.”
“I-I’m…okay,” she managed, her gaze never leaving his. Her eyes were huge, wet pools of emotions. His insides quaked when he found her eyelashes spikey with unshed tears. The urge to kiss her, yank her into his arms, and calm away all those fears he knew she carried about inside her, hidden from everyone, was so strong, he physically had to pull his head from leaning down and sliding his lips across her beautiful mouth. He’d give anything to just spend the day with her. Just her. No fake date attached to it all.
He swallowed.
“I know you are Olivia, but please know, please realize, it’s okay not to be okay at times.”
Wonder crossed her gaze as one wet, fat tear cascaded down her cheek. Hunter released one of her hands and swiped at it with his index finger.
“And,” he added his voice hushed, “there’s no shame in asking for help. Especially from people who care about you. Please believe and know that.”
“I- I…do.” She managed to say. Her voice was raw and raspy, like she’d given fifty public speeches that day and now her vocal cords were revolting.
He squeezed her hands again, the rest of what he wanted to say going unspoken as his pager blared from his belt buckle.
With an unsaid oath, he stood and pulled the device from its holder, simultaneously taking his phone from his pocket.
“Excuse me,” he said, seeing fear jump to her face. Gentling his voice, he said, “It’s the Arms, not the hospital.”
As you can see by the above graphic, I’ve been busy. I’ve got 10 releases coming this year – 7 full length novels and 3 novellas. The first drops on Monday.
Love is the last thing Carly Lennox is looking for when she sets out on her new book tour. The independent, widowed author is content with a life spent writing and raising her daughter. When newscaster Mike Woodard suggests they work on a television profile based on her book, Carly’s thrilled, but guarded. His obvious desire to turn their relationship into something other than just a working one is more than she bargained for.
Mike Woodard is ambitious, and not only in his chosen profession. He wants Carly, maybe more than he’s ever wanted anything or anyone else. And, as he tells her, he’s a patient man and can wait until she’s ready to be involved with a man again.
But the more they’re together, Mike realizes it isn’t simply desire beating within him. Carly Lennox is the missing piece in his life. Getting her to accept it-and him-may just be the toughest assignment he’s ever taken on.
Preorders are up for the entire series and I’m releasing one new book per month from January to May, so go ahead and check them out. They’ll be available in print, Kindle, and KU ( for the first time!)
The final little teaser od 2024 is from my very last DICKENS HOLIDAY ROMANCE, A CHEF’S KISS CHRISTMAS, to get your holiday celebration underway…
Amy overheard what she said, though, and commanded, “Come here, girl, and let me give you something to warm you up.” She tugged on Portia’s arm and guided her to the booth.
“Our hot chocolate is a town favorite at this event. Made with real milk and shaved chocolate, not that powder junk they sell at the supermarket.”
Tony had just turned from handing the customers waiting for their burgers their order when his gaze connected with hers across the booth.
Portia’s breath caught when he lifted an eyebrow and bobbed his head, once, toward her.
She tried for a smile but her teeth were clattering so much she worried it looked more like a grimace than a greeting. And not all of that clattering could be attributed to the frigid air. Most of it, if she was being honest, was because of the man standing in the center of the booth.
“Here, Portia.” Amy handed her a Styrofoam cup of steaming dark liquid. “This’ll get you warm on the inside for sure.”
She had no real memory of taking the cup because her attention was zeroed in on Anton – Tony -and watching him prepare another order. No wasted movements, every flip of his hands precise and intended for the sole purpose of preparing the food.
Why the heck was that so…so… arousing?
Good grief! I’m getting hot and bothered from watching a man flip cheese onto a slab of meat. What. The. Heck??
Without thinking about what she was doing, she lifted the cup to her lips, took a sip of the piping hot liquid, and let it roll over her tastebuds. When the eruption of heat and sweet, rich chocolate exploded in her mouth, she moaned.
Loud.
Loud enough that everyone in the vicinity heard her, including the man her eyes were trained on.
While Amy and Abra laughed, the rest of her family chiming in with their own chuckles, Tony’s head lifted, brows tugging together, hands motionless as he stared over at her, worry slicing across the downturn of his mouth.
Portia stopped breathing. She couldn’t look away from him, as if hypnotized not to. She didn’t think she’d want to if compelled by forces unseen to do so.
“You okay, over there?” he asked, the rasp in his voice deep and filled with concern.
Her head bobbed, spastically, up and down. “F-Fine. This is just,” she held the cup up, “really good. And really hot.”
Amy grinned from ear to ear. “Best in the whole state. Who wants a cup?” she asked her family.
While she poured several cups and handed them out, Portia tried to get a hold of herself, all the while Tony sneaking surreptitious glances her way while he cooked.
With the rest of the group now armed with their own drinks, Colton began leading the march up to the Common again, after first kissing his mother-in-law on the cheek and thanking her.
“What’s going on with you?” Abra said, sidling next to her on the walk.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re jumpy, something I’ve never seen you be before. You’re usually the calm in any storm, the one who keeps her head when all around her are nervous or angsty. But today you’re acting like something is bothering you. Or someone,” she added, her brows lifting with the meaning.
“I told you, Abracadabra. I’m cold. I’m not used to these temps and my nerves are flayed because of it”
“Most people don’t usually get nervous because they’re cold,” her friend shot back.
“Yeah, well I’m not most people, as you well know.” She tried to instill some haughtiness into her tone.
A quick side eye toward her friend and she could tell Abra was in hyperalert mode. She suspected something was up with her agent. That determined eye glare and squint Abra was known for was full-on across her face.
Luckily, Amelia began fussing, diverting Abra’s attention.
Portia took a jagged breath in.
Saved.
For the moment, at least. If there was one thing she knew without a doubt, Abra would get back to the questions she had.
Portia needed a distraction for when that happened.
Next up in my 2025 publishing calendar is PERFECT MATCH, book 3 in the HEAVEN’S MATCHMAKER series.
Third-generation matchmaker, Olivia Joyner, enjoys a 99% success rate when it comes to helping people find their happily ever afters. But her newest client is proving to be part of the 0.1 percent.
All the women Olivia have matched geriatrician Hunter Reinhart with have been perfect on paper. None of them, though, have resulted in a second request for a date, and all the women say the same thing: Hunter, although handsome and successful, is just…dull. And boring. And too reserved.
Olivia can’t understand it, because to her? Hunter is none of those things. In fact, he’s the exact opposite of dull, boring, and reserved. He’s a man she would consider worthy of marrying herself – if she was in the market for a spouse.
Which she isn’t.
Olivia needs to figure out why she can’t find Hunter Reinhart the perfect match, and it just may require her to do something she’s never done before: go on a “date” with a client.
Purely for research and educational purposes, that is.
“So, tell me, Olivia, why matchmaking?”
Okay, not the question she would have led with, but he was making an effort.
She answered honestly. “Because I’m good at it. Always have been, even when I was in school. Plus, it’s the family business. I’m the third generation of Crally women to be a matchmaker.”
His eyes widened and he stopped cutting the roll in half to stare across at her. “Your grandmother is a matchmaker?”
“Mom, too. You didn’t know?”
“About your grandmother? No. She never mentioned it or even gave any indication she was in all the interactions we’ve had.”
“Well, in all fairness, the mantle was passed a while ago. First to my mom, and then from my mom to me.” She sighed. “It dies with me, too, because my daughter has no desire to take over for me.”
“You have a daughter.” Surprise lit his eyes. “I had no idea.”
She nodded. “Freya. She’s twenty-three and just got her Master’s Degree in physical therapy.”
“You have a twenty-three-year-old daughter. How is that possible?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re what? Thirty-two? Thirty-three, tops?”
She laughed. “Okay, I know I shouldn’t have to say this, but you should never ask a woman her age on a first date. Or ever! Whether it’s a real date or fake,” she added when he began to protest. “But thank you for the compliment, and for the record, I just turned forty a few months ago.”
“Impossible. That means you had her at,” he thought for a moment, “Seventeen?”
She nodded.
“You were a child, Olivia.”
Not the first time she’d heard this from someone who didn’t know her past. “A little more than a child, I think.”
“How?”
She cocked her head, her lips twisting into a grin. “The usual way.”
He shook his head. “No, I mean…” His face pulled into a confused mask. There was no judgment in his tone or his expression, just bewilderment.
She took pity on him. “My boyfriend and I had been together since third grade and had always planned to get married after college.” She shrugged. “Freya just upped the timeline a bit.”
“You were married at seventeen?”
“Sixteen, actually. And before you say I was a child again, my mother was married at seventeen, my grandmother at fifteen. Early marriages are another thing we’ve passed down through the generations in my family.” She rolled her eyes. “And Freya broke the mold on that one too, since she’s twenty-three and single.”
He sat back in his chair, the roll and his hunger forgotten, and simply stared at her.
“Why are you looking at me that way?”
“Because I have a million other questions and I’m trying to discern if I should ask them.”
She waved her hand in the air. “Go for it.”
“Did you finish school? Go to college?”
“Yes and yes. I graduated high school as did Jon, my husband, and we both went to college in Concord. I majored in communications before you ask.”
“Where did you live?”
“With my parents.”
“They were…okay? With your…situation?”
“I told you, young marriages aren’t uncommon in my family. My grandparents and parents helped out, all of them thrilled to have a new baby to care for. My grandfather was the town pediatrician at the time and Freya couldn’t have had better care than from him and my grandmother and my parents. My grandparents said helping raise her made them feel young again.”
“I didn’t know your grandfather was a physician.”
She shrugged. “You didn’t grow up here, so why would you? He practiced for almost forty years and was still in practice when he…died.”
“I’m sorry,” he said automatically.
“You don’t need to be. He had a fabulous, fulfilling life, a thriving, rewarding practice, married his childhood sweetheart – see a pattern here?- and lived every day of his life with joy. That’s more than most people get in a fraction of their life.”
Again, the way he was staring at her, peering at her as though trying to see inside her head and body was a little disconcerting…but…alluring, as well.
“You are a surprise, Olivia Joyner,” he said as their waitress brought out their entrees.
Preorders are up here: PERFECT MATCH. Release date is 4.9.25! I can’t wait.
I just want to step in on a Sunday and remind everyone who still hasn’t purchased their Kindle copy of A CHEF’S KISS CHRISTMASthat the 99 cents price goes away at midnight tonight, and the regular price of 2.99 goes into effect. So…..save a few bucks and buy it before the price change.
I lovedlovedloved writing Anton and Portia’s rocky road to love and I hope you enjoy reading it, too!
Successful Chef Anton Saparosa had the perfect life. Great marriage; beautiful and adoring wife; trendy SoCal restaurant frequented by celebrities – many of them his friends.
Then Covid hit.
Anton’s perfect life dissolved before his eyes. With nothing left to keep him in California, he starts an itinerant cross-country journey, searching for something to give his life meaning again.
Happenstance lands him in the tiny town of Dickens just as Dorrit’s Diner is thrown into chaos.
Literary Agent Portia Avon needs a rest. A messy divorce has her craving quiet and the company of her friend and client A.B. Cards, nee Abra Bree. She comes from the western heat of California to the eastern cold of Dickens and plans to do nothing but rest, relax, and read during her holiday stay.
When Portia spots a familiar face in Dorrit’s, she’s confused. Why is Anton Saparosa, one of the most recognizable chefs in California, working as a fry cook in Abra’s mom’s diner, and going by the name Tony Smith?
A question Portia wants an answer to, but one Tony isn’t willing to share, especially with a woman he can’t stop thinking about.
Welcome to the Wonderful World of Dickens … the Dickens kitchens that is!
The authors of the Dickens Holiday Romance Series are baking up a storm to make your holiday perfect. Look for some very special recipes this year, including: French Martina Cookies, Insomnia Sugar Cookies, Krinkle Cut Outs and Chocolate Crinkles. Also, Hanukkah Latkes, Jennie’s Friendship Tarts, Peanut Butter Magic (for you and your four-legged friends), and Aunt Sharon’s Cherry Blossoms. Plus, many, many more.
The series authors wish you and your loved one a joyous holiday season!
My Insomnia cookies are included in the book. Here’s what they look like ( to whet your appetite!!)
A CHEF’S KISS CHRISTMAS is available in Kindlecopy or Print. The kindle copy is FREE!!!!
If you’re looking for a feel-good, redemption, finding love again story about 2 people who needed to feel loved and wanted again, set in the small town of DICKENS. This book is for you. If you’re looking for a freinds2lovers, over40 h/h, grumpy sunshine book, This book is for you.
And if you simply love a good holiday romance, well, THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU, LOL!!!
Happy reading, kids. Can you tell I’m giddy it’s release day??!!
Peggy Jaeger, Author 