Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Author Interview, Excerpt & Giveaway - First Impresions by Peggy Jaeger

 
First Impressions

by Peggy Jaeger 

 
GENRE:  Contemporary Romance 

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BLURB: 

Family Practice Doctor Clarissa Rogers’ first impression of Padric Cleary is biased and based on gossip. The handsome, charming veterinarian is considered a serial dater and commitment-phobic by his family and most of the town. Relationship shy, Clarissa refuses to lose her heart to a man who can’t pledge himself to her forever.

Pat Cleary, despite his reputation, is actually looking for "The One." When he does give his heart away, he wants it to be for life. With his parent’s marriage as his guidebook, he wants a woman who will be his equal and soul mate in every way.

Can Pat convince everyone – including Clarissa – she’s the only woman for him? 

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EXCERPT: 

Have you ever been friends with a girl before?” she finally asked. “Friends?”

“Yes. Friends.” 

“Have a beer and shoot some pool friends? Or the kind with benefits?” 

She laughed out loud, shook her head and grinned. “Have you ever been friends with a girl without having sex mixed into the equation?” 

“Not since I was sixteen,” he admitted and then felt his neck heat. “Why?”
 

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Talking with author Peggy Jaeger!


What is your writing environment?

            I live in a three story colonial house set in the woods of New England. The fourth floor is a finished attic that houses my writing loft. I sit at a large desk that abuts a window looking out into my wooded property. From here, I watch the seasons change, the birds comes and go and the forest wildlife play. The room has a door that when closed allows no entry barring imminent death, dismemberment, or bloodshed sprouting from below.


Who is your perfect hero/heroine and why?

            My tagline states that I write about strong women…and the men who can’t live without them so that pretty much nails it for me. My perfect heroine would be a gal who has seen something of life, has worked hard to get where she is and for what she has, doesn’t need a man to complete her, but wants an everlasting love to grow old with just the same. My hero is always smart, witty, sexy as hell, full of contradictions emotionally and just a little bit more in love with the heroine than she is with him. I typically like the h/h to have similar values and morals because I feel it makes it more realistic that they will spend forever together. If they were diametrically opposed on everything, it would be a hard fought and long road to keep their happily ever after intact.


What authors have caught your interest lately and why?
  
 
I recently met Catherine Bybee at a romance writer’s conference and fell in love with her “weekday bride” series. I bought all seven of them and read them in a week, then moved on to her other books. She writes about successful – or trying to be – women who are strong and smart, but vulnerable in ways they don’t want to be. The men who come to love them are all alphas who never realized how much they needed the women in their lives until it was almost too late. Love that kind of story!


What type of book have you always wanted to write?
 
I adore romantic suspense and have always wanted to write something worthy of the genre. I am still trying to get it right!


Top 3 things on your bucket list?
 
Make the NYTimes Bestseller list at least once; Hawaiian vacation with no time frame – stay as long as I want; tour the Roman Coliseum.


How did you get the idea for this particular novel?
 
FIRST IMPRESSIONS is book 3 in my MacQuire Women Series. In Book 2, There’s No Place Like Home, my heroine Moira Cleary has a twin brother named Padric. Pat is such a misunderstood guy that I fell in love with him and wanted to give him his own happily ever after story, so First Impressions is about him. I knew the woman I created for him had to be the kind who didn’t immediately worship at the Pat-alter-of-devotion he was so used to. She would have to be very different from all the other girls he’s dated, and in family medicine doctor Clarissa Rogers, I built Pat’s perfect foil.


What is your favorite scene in your new release?
 
Clarissa wakes up in Pat’s bed, alone. When she smells bacon frying and hears Pat speaking, she ambles out to his kitchen and finds him. He’s turning bacon with a fork with one hand, and cradled in the other is Clarissa’s new foster kitten. The sight of this big, strapping, built-like-a-fortress guy holding this tiny kitten so tenderly and lovingly turns Clarissa’s heart over, big time. I actually sighed when I read the scene back to myself. Sighed. That’s never happened with my writing before, so I knew I got it right! Here’s the beginning of the scene: 

She donned the shirt he’d pulled off the night before in his haste to get as naked as she and padded out to the kitchen.
 
He stood at the stove, shirtless, low-slung sweatpants covering a butt her fingertips itched to squeeze. The muscles in his back rippled while one hand turned the bacon in a frying pan with a fork, the other held the kitten close, her little body perched up on one of his massive, naked shoulders. The sight of this big, brawny, hard as steel-bodied man holding the tiny kitten so lovingly, stopped her heart.
 
“Your mommy should be waking up soon,” Pat told the kitten, rubbing his chin along its back. He pushed the frying pan to a back, unlit burner. “Let’s get you fed.”
 
He turned and spotted her.
 
“Hey.” His wide smile disappeared almost instantly. Placing the kitten down on the floor, he moved to her lightning quick. “Clarissa, what’s wrong?”
 
He pulled her into his arms.
 
“Nothing’s wrong.” With a sniff, she wrapped her arms around his waist.
 
“Then why are you crying?” His hands smoothed up and down her back, the natural heat from his body warming her inside and out.
 
She pushed away and swiped at the tears. The eyes peering back at her were filled with worry. She touched his cheeks, the feel of the scratchy stubble across them igniting something deep and sensual inside her, and said, “Because I’ve never woken up happier in my life as I did two minutes ago.”
 
His brow cleared and his grip tightened.
 
  Me again: Sigh!


What are you working on now and when can we expect it to be available?
 
Well, I just sent book 4 in the series to my editor, so the turnover time frame involved from submission to finally galleys and print is usually about six months. That means it’ll probably be published in spring 2016, which is perfect because it’s a spring setting and themed book. This book, THE VOICES OF ANGELS, is a prequal to my first book, Skater’s Waltz and tells the story of Cole and Tiffany’s parents, Carly Lennox and Mike Woodard. We get to see how Tiffany and Cole met as children and watch their parents fall in love. Like all my stories, it’s a family centered book, rife with diverse personalities and set-ups.


What do you like to do when you are not writing?
 
I have over 100 cookbooks, so when I tell you I like to cook, believe it! I also paint. For several years I sold painted craft items such as notecards, and decorated wooden boxes. Cooking, writing, and painting all live in the creative section of the brain, and I think my section is a little overdeveloped!


What is one interesting fact about you that readers don’t know?
 
I was an only child and latch-key kid from a young age who lived in an apartment building without any other kids my age, so to pass the time I watched a lot of television. A lot. Because of that I’m an old black and white movie buff. Savant, really. 1939 was the best year ever in my mind for movies, and I’ve never been beat in a trivia contest when asked a movie question from this era.

 
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AUTHOR Bio and Links: 

Peggy Jaeger is a contemporary romance author who writes about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can't live without them.

Her current titles, available now, include SKATER'S WALTZ and THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME, books 1 and 2 in her 6-book The MacQuire Women Series, published by The Wild Rose Press.

Tying into her love of families, her children's book, THE KINDNESS TALES, was illustrated by her artist mother-in-law.

Peggy holds a master's degree in Nursing Administration and first found publication with several articles she authored on Alzheimer's Disease during her time running an Alzheimer's in-patient care unit during the 1990s.

In 2013, she placed first in two categories in the Dixie Kane Memorial Contest: Single Title Contemporary Romance and Short/Long Contemporary Romance.

A lifelong and avid romance reader and writer, she is a member of RWA and her local New Hampshire RWA Chapter.
 

Website/Blog: http://peggyjaeger.com/ 




 

 
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GIVEAWAY: 

Peggy Jaeger will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

31 comments:

  1. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed doing this interview! Thanks so much for hosting me.

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  2. What was the last book you read without skipping through anything?

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  3. Mai T. Here's the thing - I never skip or skim. If a book doesn't have all my attention, I just stop reading it. I know that sounds snotty, but there aren't enough hours in a day for me to devote to reading something that doesn't captivate me. And since I do all my pleasure reading at night, I really need to be invested in the work. Thanks for stopping by!

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  4. Sounds like a terrific book, thanks for sharing!

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  5. I really enjoyed your comments about him cooking breakfast, and the excerpt was wonderful.

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    1. MomJane - thanks! if you read the book you understand why she was crying!! thanks for stoppingby.

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  6. Hi Peggy, Excellent interview! Enjoyed reading First Impressions. Good luck with sales!

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  7. Becky - thanks. The questions were fab! Thanks for stopping by

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    1. Rita - i did too. Great questions. Thanks for stopping by

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    1. Victoria - you're welcome and thanks for stopping by.

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  10. I have enjoyed learning about the book. Thanks for sharing it.

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  11. Enjoyed reading your interview. Liked that little excerpt too.

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  12. Karen - thanks so much for the kind words, and for stopping by!

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  13. I love the blurb. Sounds like a great book

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  14. Teresa _- I'm a little prejudiced, but I think it is!! Thanks for stopping by.

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  15. I can picture Pat holding the kitten and it puts a big smile on my face! Sounds like a great book and I can't wait to read it! And thanks for the awesome giveaway!

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    1. Judy that's the ultimate author compliment - when a reader can see the character doing something, so thank you formaking my day and for stopping by!

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  16. I really enjoyed your interview and your favorite scene too. Thank you so much for the post and the giveaway!

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