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Why do you write in your genre? What draws you to it?
I write romance because I truly believe everyone deserves their own Happily Ever After. There is so much sadness and negativity in the world today, reading about two ordinary people who, through some quirk of the universe and the author’s imagination, find themselves and fall in love is uplifting and empowering to me.
What research is required?
In every book I write, I have a strong heroine. Emotionally, physically, spiritually strong. They are all successful in what they do, professionally, as well. I’ve written a master chef, an artist, a professional ice skater, a photographer, a doctor, a chocolatier, a CPA. Except for the chef and the ice skater, I knew nothing about the other professions. So, in order to make the characters’ actions and knowledge believable to the readers – because if it’s wrong on any count they will let you know! – I had to research these occupations. My mother in law is an artist, so that one was easy. A very good friend of mine is a doctor – again, easy. The photographer one was the easiest and the hardest because my best friend’s daughter is a professional photographer. So when I needed new head shots for publicity (the hard part, because I hate having my picture taken!) I contracted with her and then went about picking her brain while we were shooting. For the other professions, I contacted friends of friends and then set up meetings to ask questions. I think in one week I was at Panera five days in a row, basically interviewing people!
Name one thing you learned from your heroine.
Gemma Laine is the warrior sister in the Laine family. She’s the one the others went to when they were bullied, growing up, because even at a young age Gemma had a take-no-prisoners personality and would always defend her sisters in whatever battle they found themselves in – be it verbal or physical. What I learned from her while writing her was that past bad experiences can either break you or make you as a person. Without giving away any spoilers, something happened to Gemma when she was a teenager that promoted her to learn marital arts, where she found she had an innate talent. She uses that talent in her life to keep her grounded emotionally and to feel strong, physically.
Do you have any odd or interesting writing quirks, habits or superstitions?
I have one habit that absolutely annoys everyone in my realm. I always carry a notebook wherever I go – whether out to lunch with my friends, to the grocery store, even to Mass. When an idea hits me, or a snippet of dialogue that I’ve been struggling over finally breaks through, I whip out my notebook and write it down. Even in Church! I’ve been using the notebook more and more these past few years since I hit menopause because, you know….menopause brain! Which translates to wicked forgetfulness!
Are you a plotter or pantser?
Plotter. First, last, always. I’m that person who never just sets out for a casual stroll, or a car trip just to drive around. I need to know where we are going, when we are getting there, and who we’ll see or what we’ll do when we get there. It really is obnoxious, but it’s the only way I know how to be. Before I ever type a word on the page of a new book I know where I’m going, what my people are going to say and do, and the twists and turns they’ll encounter on their road to HEA. Yes, I do make detours along the way, but for the majority of the book detailed plotline gets me where I want to go.
Look to your right – what’s sitting there?
My vision board for the next romance series I’m writing! I’m a little schizoid about works in progress, so I won’t tell you much about it, but it involved weddings, small towns, and crazy family members.
Anything new coming up from you? What?
Book 3 in the WILL COOK FOR LOVE series, CAN’T STAND THE HEAT, releases into the book reading world on 4.3.18. Here’s the blurb:
In Peggy Jaeger’s delectable series, delicious food is just an appetizer for life’s main course: the kind of love that feeds your soul.
With three successful TV series under her belt, including her cousin Kandy’s, executive producer Stacy Peters is ready to helm her own show. But to make that happen, she has to do her network boss one favor first—spend two months on a ranch in Montana wrangling the notoriously difficult director of Beef Battles. Apparently, he eats producers for breakfast. Yet all Stacy can think when she meets the lean, rugged man is how hungry he makes her . . .
Dominic Stamp—Nikko to his very few friends—has had enough interference from TV newbies. And when Stacy climbs out of the car in Montana, he’s not convinced she’s even old enough to drive, much less produce his show. But he can’t deny that the long-legged blonde with the stubborn will and the dazzling smile whets his appetite. And as Stacy proves her talent with the crew and the budget alike, Nikko vows to prove to her that love is on the menu for both of them . . .
Do you have a question for our readers?
Actually, I do. How do readers feel about reading romances for people older than the age of 35? Most contemporary romances deal with a younger crowd ( typically 203, 30.s early 40s.) I’ve been knocking around a series of women and men a little older and wiser in their 50s. Is that too old for the book reading audience? With so many divorces, spousal deaths, etc, in this age group, my thought that everyone deserves their own Happliy Ever After extends to them as well. Do you think there’s a market for that type of romance, the kind that caters to a more mature crowd? Let me know. And thanks for any input.
Thank you so much for hosting me today. It’s been a blast!
Nothing’s impossible when love is on the menu. In Peggy Jaeger’s luscious series, the only thing more tempting than a delicious meal is a truly delectable romance . . .
Look for exclusive recipes in each book!
Photographer Gemma Laine is looking for arresting faces on the streets of Manhattan when her camera captures something shocking—a triple murder. In that moment, she becomes a target for the mob—and a top priority for a very determined, breathtakingly handsome, FBI special agent. With deadlines to meet and photo shoots on her calendar, Gemma chafes at the idea of protection, but every moment she spends under his watchful eye is a temptation to lose herself in his muscular arms . . .
With two of his men and one crucial witness dead, Special Agent Kyros Pappandreos can’t afford to be distracted. But Gemma is dazzling—and her connection to Kandy Laine’s high-profile cooking empire makes her an especially easy mark for some very bad people. Keeping her safe is much more pleasure than business, but as the heat between them starts to sizzle, Ky is set to investigate whether they have a shot at love . . .
Read an excerpt:
“How many do I have to hit for you to be satisfied?”
Ky looked over to where she stood to the side of the garage, the Glock in her hand, its barrel aimed at the ground. He’d watched her load the clip, then weigh and balance the gun in her hand like she did it every day of her life.
“All of them. You might never get a second chance if a first bullet misses an attacker, so yes. All of them.”
She moved to the line in the grass he’d drawn for her to shoot from, mumbling something he couldn’t hear, but guessing it wasn’t something complementary.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Yup. Any particular order you want me to hit them in?”
He had to bite back the grin threatening to fly free at her snooty, disgruntled tone.
“Your call.”
Gemma nodded and took a stance. She flexed her shoulders and neck, the motion so subtly erotic, it made his pulse quicken, and she shifted her weight. From his viewing position behind her, he appreciated just how tall and lean she was. Narrow shoulders were relaxed and tapered down into a waist no bigger than a hand span. How many times in the past few days had he thought what it would be like to slip his own hands around that tiny area and pull her in close? Too many for prudence, that was for sure.
The first bottle, the one he’d put the farthest from them, shattered into a thousand fragments. Before he could take a full breath, she’d hit the next two.
The final three closer ones she dispatched with equal ease.
When she turned to him and asked, “Satisfied?” in a tone filled with condescension, Ky had to physically restrain himself from running to her, lifting her up in his arms, and kissing the gorgeous smirk off her mouth.
Because he’d discovered how much he liked sparring with her—go figure that out—he pursed his lips and nodded. “Not bad.”
About the Author:Peggy Jaeger is a contemporary romance writer who writes about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can’t live without them.
Family and food play huge roles in Peggy’s stories because she believes there is nothing that holds a family structure together like sharing a meal…or two…or ten. Dotted with humor and characters that are as real as they are loving, Peggy brings all topics of daily life into her stories: life, death, sibling rivalry, illness and the desire for everyone to find their own happily ever after. Growing up the only child of divorced parents she longed for sisters, brothers and a family that vowed to stick together no matter what came their way. Through her books, she has created the families she wanted as that lonely child.
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.
In 2017 she came in 3rd in the New England Reader's Choice contest for A KISS UNDER THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS and is a finalist in the 2017 STILETTO contest for the same title.
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/
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/peggy_jaeger
Amazon Author page:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00T8E5LN0
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Peggy-Jaeger-Author/825914814095072?ref=bookmarks
Pinterest:
https://www.pinterest.com/peggyjaeger
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13478796.Peggy_Jaeger
Instagram:
https://instagram.com/mmj122687
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