I wanted to make sure you all know that if you purchase a print, autographed copy of LOVE MATCH from me ( my website) you will be getting a free swag bag with the purchase. These are the promotional bags I give out at book signings and they are chock-full of items related to my brand.
This offer is only open to residents in the US because of prohibitive shipping costs to other countries.
I ship the books the day the order comes in!
Happy reading, kids.
Filed under Author Branding, branding
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.”
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Filed under #tuesdaytease
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.
Here are the blurbs for each:
MIX & MATCH (JASMINE & DONOVAN)
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.
But would that really be such a bad thing?
Good luck if you enter!! ~ Peg
Filed under Heaven's Matchmaker
Because we’re all in the holiday mood, here’s a snippet from this year’s Dickens Holiday Romance addition, DON’T MESS WITH THE MISTLETOE, out now in print and e-copy. Books make great gifts, kids – for the romance reader on your list and you!
I love when siblings tease one another because there is such a wealth of history behind it. In this snippet, Michael’s sister Abra goes all out in the tease-department.
When his sisters walked into the diner five minutes later, he had his answer.
“I need your help,” he said without preamble as he sidled up to their table, two glasses of ice water and menus in his hands. He plopped them all down on the countertop.
“Shove in,” he commanded Sasha.
His sisters looked up at him, eyes questioning, then at one another. Abra’s left eyebrow rose to kiss her hairline, while Sasha stifled a laugh as she moved so he could sit next to her.
With the privilege of birth rank and the dry sarcasm her book fans adored, Abra spoke first. “Good morning to you, too, little brother. We’re good, thanks for asking. Both a little tired, but that’s to be expected in our ready-to-pop-states. And how are you on this fine, cold day?” She took a sip of her water.
Exasperation drilled through him. While Sasha ultimately let the laugh go, Michael’s jaw clamped down so hard his back molars whacked against one another. He’d for sure be using the bottle of Ibuprofen Amy kept in her desk sometime today.
He fisted his hands on the table then opened and flexed them a few times as he told himself to keep calm. “Listen. I’m in a bind.”
Both their teasing smiles dissolved.
“What’s wrong?” Sasha asked, at the same time Abra said, “What happened?”
“Nothing happened.” He explained about the late hours and the way things were looking back at the house. Dragging a hand through his hair the knowledge it was a month or so behind a cut just added to the list of things needing tending in his life.
“I don’t know how mom manages to run this place and keep the house looking so good. In addition to the baking she does for here, which I haven’t done, just FYI, because –hello! – I have no idea what to do and no time to do it even if I did.”
“I can help with that,” Sasha said. “I’ve got mom’s pie recipes at home. I’ll bake a few today and have Steve bring them by in the morning when he heads to the hospital.”
“Thanks, Sash.” He looked across the table at Abra.
“What?”
“Think you can stop by the house and run a load or two of laundry for me? I’m not asking you to clean the place up. I don’t want you lifting anything, but I need,” he glanced furtively around them, “stuff. I haven’t done laundry since I’ve been here and I’ve run out of everything.”
“And by everything you mean underwear?” she asked.
“Jesus, Abs. Keep your voice down, will ya?”
“You wearing repeats?” she asked, having difficulty keeping the laugh from ringing in her voice, “Or are you commando underneath those pants?”
Embarrassing him had been her full-time job when he was a teenager. Six years older, Sasha always felt she needed to look out for him as a kid. When he grew seven inches between his twelfth and thirteenth birthdays and had started towering over her, she’d decided taking him down a peg or two was her lot in life as a big sis. As adults, she still felt the need to exert her birth order status.
Heat rose up his neck at her question. The fact Julia happened to arrive at their table, her order book poised in her hand, at the same moment made him want to dissipate into a plume of mortified smoke and dissolve away. No way she hadn’t heard Abra’s question.
Intrigued? LOL I hope so.
Filed under Dickens Holiday Romance
So today’s little tease is actually a pictorial.
Let me explain…
I’m doing NANOWRIMO and the book I’m currently penning for it is book 2 in my HEAVEN’S MATCHMAKER series, LOVE MATCH ( Layla and Cody).
I want to show you the Pinterest board I have for this book because it explains so much about the work in progress. Click here to see the images I’ve got in there now: LAYLA AND CODY
Here’s the blurb-in-progress, too, so you can get a feel for the plot line. (Remember – work in progress!!! LOL)
Running away from a public scandal may be considered cowardly, but to Layla Warton it’s the perfect plan.
After her politically connected fiancé is indicted for embezzlement, bribery, and taking kickbacks from less-than-savory businessmen, Layla wants to put the public ridicule and shame of her guilty-by-association status behind her and move forward with her life. Not easy to do when all her supposed friends and supporters abandoned her and the taint of scandal-adjacent destroys the successful business and life she’s fostered 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 grandmother.
With the paparazzi on her tale, an ancient family home she needs to get livable, and a contractor too handsome for her sanity, Layla worries she’ll never be able to get her old life back again.
But would that really be such a bad thing?
Intrigued? LOL. I know I am.
And before this one’s ready, I invite you to read the first in the series: MIX AND MATCH ( Jasmine and Donovan) The ebook is on sale until Christmas for just 99 cents.
Happy reading and Happy Tuesday, kids!
Filed under Heaven's Matchmaker
Peggy Jaeger, Author 