Tuesday, July 6, 2021

The Return of Romance Gem Author Nancy Fraser and her RETURN OF THE RUNAWAY BRIDE!

Ladies and gents, please help me welcome back the lovely and prolific, Nancy Fraser! It's been forever since her last release. Like, four whole weeks! And, if you're thinking she's must not put out quality work at that rate, you're wrong. Her work is fun, smart, and well-edited. This month's release is a Last Chance Beach romance, RETURN OF THE RUNAWAY BRIDE. Not only is she a fantastic writer, look at the visual images she creates. This is her kick-butt cover!




Nancy brought along Jared Wilson, considered by some to be the second hero of RETURN OF THE RUNAWAY BRIDE.


Jared, to start off with, tell me about yourself? What is your occupation? Why? What are your strengths & weaknesses?

I have the honor of being best friends with Chase and Emily. I was supposed to be the best man at their wedding. At least until Emily ran away and left my good buddy at the rehearsal altar.

Now, five years later, Chase and I have gone into business together and own Sink and Swim Scuba and Land or Leap Parasailing. With Emily back as well, things are sure to be exciting.

As for strengths ... Basically, I’m a really good person. I care for my friends and all of Last Chance Beach. While both Chase and Emily left, I stayed behind and held down the fort, always expecting they’d return.

As for weakness ... I’m hiding a secret from my best friend. One that could end our friendship if he ever found out. Hint: I might have had a part in why Emily bolted on the eve of her wedding.


Whoa! Do tell! What is your earliest childhood memory?

My earliest and fondest childhood memory was my first day of kindergarten. It was also the day I met both Chase and Emily. I remember Emily fell off the monkey bars and Chase and I both rushed to help her. It was magic ... that first meeting morphed into all these years of friendship and togetherness.

What do you like about the heroine?

Emily? She’s the best. Not just a good friend, but a confidant. Despite running out on her wedding, she’s really a kind person. I'm confident that with her return to Last Chance Beach, she’ll realize coming home is exactly what she needs.

What is it that you want out of life?

Happiness. A great relationship, like Chase and Emily once had. Success. I want our businesses to thrive so that we can expand and never have to leave Last Chance Beach.

Has life handed you any major disappointments?

A few. Estrangement from my parents really hurt. Yet, as much as I want to fix that, it may not be possible. Having both Em and Chase leave me behind hurt for a while as well, but we’re working on it now that they’re back.

If you had an unexpected free day, what would you do with it?

That’s easy. I’d go cave diving. We dive nearly every day with customers, but that’s business and we only go as deep as the caverns – where you can still see the surface of the ocean. The real excitement is diving down into the underground caves. There’s nothing more relaxing, or reviving.

What is on your iPod right now?

I’m a mid-90s baby, but love music from the late 60s and onward. On my iPod at the moment ... a mixed tape of songs from the two Guardians of Galaxy movies. I get the best music of four decades all on one stream.

Hmm...interesting. Well, let's tell folks a little more about RETURN OF THE RUNAWAY BRIDE...


Blurb ~


Five years earlier, Emily Bennett ran out on Chase Michaels on the eve of their wedding. At twenty-two, she wanted more than the island of Last Chance Beach could offer. Intent on making a name for herself as a world-class journalist, she left to take a job with a big city newspaper.

Heartbroken, Chase left Last Chance Beach and joined the Coast Guard in an effort to rebuild his life. Returning four years later for a family emergency, he decided to stay and go into business with his best friend.

Emily’s returning as well. Not as the journalist she’d hoped to be but as a bestselling romance author. One of her books is about to be made into a movie, and filming will take place on Last Chance Beach and in the nearby town of Summerville.

Will Emily’s return give them a second chance at the love they once shared? Or, will her ‘other’ reason for leaving put a wedge between three best friends that can’t be healed by time or intention?




Excerpt ~


Last Chance Beach Wedding Chapel
Five Years Earlier


Chase Michaels stood at the front of the non-denominational chapel, in muted conversation with the justice of the peace. He turned slowly, surveying the half-dozen guests who’d been invited to the wedding rehearsal.

The only persons missing were his best friend Jared, Mr. and Mrs. Bennett and Emily, his bride-to-be.

Carly and Becca, Emily’s bridesmaids, hovered nearby.

“I’ve heard of a bride being late for the wedding before,” Carly whispered, “but the rehearsal?”

“You know Emily,” Becca responded, shaking her head in teasing resignation. “She does like to make an entrance.”

When the back door of the chapel opened, everyone raised their gazes in anticipation. Rather than the blushing bride, it was Jared Wilson, Chase’s best man, who entered the sanctuary and made his way down the narrow aisle.

Stopping just short of the flower-covered altar, he pulled Chase aside.

“She’s gone,” Jared said, his words falling like a lead brick on Chase ’s ears.

“What do you mean ‘gone’? Gone where?”

“Mrs. Bennett said Emily packed her suitcase, gassed up her car, and left. She’s on her way to Boston for a job interview.” Jared stuck his hand in the pocket of his jeans and withdrew a velvet pouch. “She left this for you.”

Chase didn’t need to look to know what was in the bag. After all, he’d been the one to give the modest ring to Emily in the first place. Drawing a deep breath, he spun around and faced his friends and family.

“Thank you all for being here for the wedding rehearsal.” Blinking back the threat of tears, he met his mother’s worried gaze. “However, there will be no need to practice. The wedding’s been called off.”

“Called off?” Carly asked. She and Becca exchanged glances and then closed the distance between themselves and where he stood. “If Emily’s got cold feet, we’ll straighten her out.”

Chase gave a quick shake of his head and bit back the string of curses welling up from within. “Emily’s gone. She sent back the ring and, as we speak, she’s on her way to Boston, eager it seems to put both me and Last Chance Beach in her rearview mirror.”

One-by-one, the guests slowly filtered out of the chapel, Carly and Becca giving Chase a hug of support. His mom wrapped her arms around his middle and squeezed, nearly drawing the tears he was fighting so hard to contain. Within minutes, he was left standing at the altar alone, but for the best friend he’d known since kindergarten.

“Are you okay, Chase?” Jared asked.

“No, but I will be. Just not anytime soon.”

Whoo! I don't know about you, but I'm already invested in this story! It may need to be bumped up on the to-be-read pile! 




Here's where you can get RETURN OF THE RUNAWAY BRIDE:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094TQVB28

Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1567305673

B&N (Nook): https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/return-of-the-runaway-bride-nancy-fraser/1139455089

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/return-of-the-runaway-bride-2

Universal Custom: https://books2read.com/RunBride


Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58049814-return-of-the-runaway-bride


BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/return-of-the-runaway-bride-last-chance-beach-romance-by-nancy-fraser


 

Thank you so much for joining us, Nancy, and for bringing along Jared! I can't wait to dip my toes in the waters of Last Chance Beach!

Thursday, July 1, 2021

Oh, Baby, Have I Got a Book For You! SANTA BABY, from Romance Gem Author Peggy Jaeger!

We've made it to Friday which means we get a little treat, a peek at my friend and fellow Romance Gem author Peggy Jaeger's Christmas in July release, SANTA BABY!




Blurb ~


It’s Christmas Eve morning in the tiny New England town of Dickens.

Santa’s arrival is imminent, and a hint of snow is in the air.

Amy Dorrit is just about to open her popular diner for the breakfast rush when she discovers an abandoned baby on her back doorstep.

Amy knows she should call the authorities and turn the infant over to them, but she just can’t. Thoughts of her own abandonment as a baby flood through her and she wants to keep the little one out of the hands of the authorities until the mother – hopefully –returns.

But will the mom come back? And if she doesn’t, what is Amy prepared to do about the baby who has, already, claimed her heart?


 

Excerpt ~


“What in the name of all that’s holy are you holding, Amy Dorrit?”

Willie Jackson stood at her office door, a lit cigarette dangling from a corner of his mouth, his leather jacket hanging open and his eyes as big and round as his county-famous blueberry pancakes.

“What does it look like?” Amy dug around in the carrier searching for a bottle, pacifier, something, to soothe the baby’s cries. “Lose the cigarette. It’s a baby and I’m pretty sure it’s hungry.”

He lifted those shocked eyes to Amy’s face. “Girl, you been keeping secrets from ol’ Willie?”

“Oh for Pete’s sake. Are you nuts, William Jefferson Jackson? It’s not my baby. I found it at the back door when I came downstairs.”

“Whose is it?”

“No idea.”

“What is it?” Holding the small bundle like a football in one arm, she shoved the piece of paper she’d found at him. “Same answer. I haven’t looked yet. Here, read this. I found it tucked inside the blanket.” Once he had it, Amy placed her pinky finger over the baby’s lips. It immediately rooted, then latched on to suck.

“I knew it. It’s starving.”

“ ‘I’m sorry,” he read aloud, ‘but I can’t take care of her—’ well, we know it’s a girl –‘I have no job and no way to hold on to one with a baby. Please forgive me for leaving her like this, but I saw how kind you were yesterday and I know you’ll take care of her like I can’t.’” Willie scratched his head. “Well, shit. We got us a real abandoned baby, here, Ames ol’ girl.”

“Don’t curse in front of her.” She shot him an annoyed glare, her left eyebrow inching up her forehead to her hairline.

“It ain’t like she can understand me. She’s a baby, fer Chri-” Her other eyebrow followed its twin. “Er, pity’s sake.”

“I need something to feed her with.” She glanced around her office. “Can you get me one of the cake decorating bottles? The ones with the plastic tip? I think that’ll work.”

“What’a’ya gonna feed her? Frosting? You ain’t got no mother’s milk and you can’t feed her coffee creamer.”

“Dam-I mean, drat. You’re right. I can give her a little water to hold her over until I can run out and get her some formula.”

“Shouldn’t you call the police? I mean, she’s been abandoned, ain’t she? You can’t just keep her.”




You can buy SANTA BABY here:

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/3R8lVG


Add it to your Goodreads WANT TO READ list:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57957986-santa-baby


RECOMMEND IT TO OTHER READERS on Bookbub page:

https://www.bookbub.com/books/santa-baby-a-dickens-holiday-prequel-dorrit-s-diner-by-peggy-jaeger




Bio ~

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??!"


You can find Peggy here:

Website: http://peggyjaeger.com/

Blog: http://peggyjaeger.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Peggy-Jaeger-Author/825914814095072?ref=bookmarks

Twitter: https://twitter.com/peggy_jaeger

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13478796.Peggy_Jaeger

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/peggy-jaeger

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDR8RRIlssIyS0FYZWeGqsg/videos?view_as=subscriber


Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peggyjaeger_author/

Pintrest: https://www.pinterest.com/peggyjaeger/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peggy-jaeger-296ab878/


Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00T8E5LN0

Authors database: https://authorsdb.com/community/15814-peggy-jaeger

Triberr: https://triberr.com/tribe/strong-women--loving-men



Thank you for joining us today, Peggy and for bringing along your baby, SANTA BABY!