First Impressions
by Peggy Jaeger
GENRE: Contemporary Romance
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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?
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?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GIVEAWAY:
Peggy Jaeger will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and
Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
I can't tell you how much I enjoyed doing this interview! Thanks so much for hosting me.
ReplyDeleteYou are so very welcome!
DeleteThanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteWhat was the last book you read without skipping through anything?
ReplyDeleteMai 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!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a terrific book, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteEva thanks for stopping by!
DeleteI really enjoyed your comments about him cooking breakfast, and the excerpt was wonderful.
ReplyDeleteMomJane - thanks! if you read the book you understand why she was crying!! thanks for stoppingby.
DeleteHi Peggy, Excellent interview! Enjoyed reading First Impressions. Good luck with sales!
ReplyDeleteJoanne - alway a pleasure to "see" you!
DeleteGreat interview!
ReplyDeleteBecky - thanks. The questions were fab! Thanks for stopping by
ReplyDeleteI liked the interview.
ReplyDeleteRita - i did too. Great questions. Thanks for stopping by
DeleteA great talk thank you.
ReplyDeleteMary - thanks. I had fun doing it
DeleteGreat interview!
ReplyDeleteBetty - thanks. I t was fun to do!
DeleteGreat post, thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteVictoria - you're welcome and thanks for stopping by.
DeleteI have enjoyed learning about the book. Thanks for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteyou're welcome! Thanks for stopping by.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteEnjoyed reading your interview. Liked that little excerpt too.
ReplyDeleteKaren - thanks so much for the kind words, and for stopping by!
ReplyDeleteI love the blurb. Sounds like a great book
ReplyDeleteTeresa _- I'm a little prejudiced, but I think it is!! Thanks for stopping by.
ReplyDeleteI 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!
ReplyDeleteJudy 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!
DeleteI really enjoyed your interview and your favorite scene too. Thank you so much for the post and the giveaway!
ReplyDelete