Is your book based on real-life experience or a figment of your imagination?
I wanted to write about adoption because my sister-in-law and brother-in-law adopted 2 children several years ago and had such a wonderful experience, I wanted to give a shout out to others who do the same. Adopting a child isn’t easy – for any number of reasons. The people who decide to bring a child into their homes to love and raise them are truly heroes in my mind.
If you could trade lives with any other writer, living or dead, who would it be and why?
Nora Roberts, hands down. I want to walk in her shoes and in her head for just one day to experience what it’s like to be a multi-published, uber-talented, successful and rich author!
What is the most daring/uncomfortable thing you've ever done in the name of research?
For the second book in my WILL COOK FOR LOVE series, A SHOT AT LOVE, the heroine, Gemma Laine, was proficient with firearms and I wanted to show that in the story so I took handgun lessons for 3 months. How to fire a gun, gun safety, the different types and calibers of guns. A lot of learning that I was able to weave into the story.
Christmas has never filled writer Abra Charles with undiluted pleasure. If you’d been left on a doorstep on Christmas Eve morning, you might have a few issues with the holiday as well.
Colton Bree, Dickens’ very own Mr. FixIt can’t help but wonder if the new resident of Copperfield House is cursed. After being called to repair a broken window, he’s then needed to fix an exploding coffeepot, an overrunning toilet, and a washing machine that has a mind of its own. Bree doesn’t mind all the unexpected repair jobs, though, because the sexy renter is something to look at and dream about, despite being a little neurotic and whole lot of snarky.
Can Abra get her book done with all the distractions and craziness of her life, the biggest distraction being the flannelled hunk with the bedroom eyes and scowling yet oh-so-kissable mouth? Or will Dickens’ Mr FixIt have to step in and save the day and in so doing, fix Christmas for Abra forever?
Get Fixing Christmas at all your Favorite Retailers
Here she was, alone at God only knew what hour, out in the most secluded part of town. The notion she should have paid more attention to those self-defense classes she’d sat in on as research for her last book blew through her head.
Think, Abra, think.
A butcher block of knives rested on the kitchen counter.
Armed is always better than unarmed.
She pulled one out, held it against her thigh.
A man, large and tall—exceptionally so—swept glass from a windowpane with the head of a hammer. The window looked too small for him to have crawled through, so how had he gotten into the house?
Abra took another step down and, in the next second, lost her balance as her foot miscalculated the depth of the step. She flailed out but wasn’t quick enough to grab onto the handrail before she tumbled straight down to the concrete basement floor, her butt bumping on each riser until she landed, once again, flat on her ass at the bottom. Still sore from last night’s tumble on the ice, she couldn’t prevent the ear-piercing scream of pain she let out.
“What the hell?” The man turned, surprise covering his face. He moved toward her.
“Don’t come any closer,” Abra shouted. She shot her free hand up in a halt stance. “I’m armed.” She pointed the knife at him, which by some miracle hadn’t dropped from her hand when she’d fallen.
The man stopped in his tracks, glanced down at it, then fisted his hands on his hips, his brows tugging together across his forehead. “What are you gonna do? Butter me to death?”
Abra took a good look at the knife for the first time. It wasn’t the steel edged stiletto she thought she’d chosen, but had a flat, wide head, perfect for spreading jam and not skewering an intruder. She had to give him praise-points because most men in her experience didn’t know the differences among everyday cutlery. Ask them about a hunting or pocketknife, and you’d get a different response entirely.
Peggy Jaeger is a contemporary romance writer who writes Romantic Comedies about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can’t live without them. If she can make you cry on one page and bring you out of tears rolling with laughter the next, she’s done her job as a writer.
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, she 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’s created the families she wanted as that lonely child.
When she’s not writing Peggy is usually painting, crafting, scrapbooking or decoupaging old steamer trunks she finds at rummage stores and garage sales.
As a lifelong diarist, she caught the blogging bug early on, and you can visit her at peggyjaeger.com where she blogs daily about life, writing, and stuff that makes her go "What??!"
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As always, it’s been an absolute pleasure hosting Peggy and the new book! Please come back again later this week for more authors, more books, and maybe even a giveaway or two.
Nancy
The pleasure, dear lady, is all mine. Thank you so much for the shoutout for FIXING CHRISTMAS to your fans, followers, and readers.
ReplyDeleteSO EXCITED for this book and to head back to the lovely town of Dickens! Happy book birthday!
ReplyDeleteKathy - me, too!! ilove Dickens
DeleteLOVED the excerpt!
ReplyDeleteKara - thanks!!!
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