Pride of Brothers: Aiden by Peggy Jaeger
Give a warm welcome to Peggy Jaeger, author of Pride of Brother’s: Aiden, will release September 8, 2021. Reserve your copy today! Pull up a chair, grab a drink of your choice from the cooler, a Chocolate Chip or Peanut Butter cookie from the plate, and let’s find out a little about Peggy and her Pride of Brother: Aiden.
So tell us what’s Pride of Brothers: Aiden all about?
Lexi Buckley wants answers about her younger sister’s death. The police have labeled it a suicide, but Lexi doesn’t believe it. Stymied in her investigation, she doesn’t know where to turn next. After a chance encounter with a private investigator, she thinks her prayers have been answered.
Aiden Keane has never been an answer to a prayer before, but he agrees to help Lexi. A quirky combo of brains and beauty, the pixie blonde makes him feel things no professional ever should for a client.
When their investigation puts Lexi’s life in jeopardy, her safety becomes his number one priority. The hard part is not falling for her.
A sneak peek between the pages of Pride of Brothers: Aiden
Were you close with your sister?” Aiden asked.
Not the way we should have been. Not at the end.
“We had a sizable age difference between us. Almost ten years. I was the big sis. The oldest.” Her lips trembled when she pulled them into a sad line. Rolling her eyes she added, “The bossy one, according to her. She was the baby and took full advantage of her status from the moment she realized it.”
“And rightly so.” The corners of his eyes crinkled. “I’m the youngest of my brothers and I’ll can tell you with one hundred percent honesty, my oldest brother is the bossiest one of us. I think it comes with birth order. Although he takes his so called right uber-seriously. Especially at work.”
This time her grin was steadier. “What kind of business do you all own together?”
“We a run a private security company.”
“Security?”
“Personal bodyguards, if a client needs protection from something. Background checks for employers. Mostly we do investigations.”
“What, like private eyes? Like on television?”
He laughed. “Nothing so glamorous. The fast cars and hot babes are all fantasy. It’s a lot of boring research, computer work, and surveillance, but yeah, you could say I’m a private eye.”
Lexi’s entire mood turned on his words. The sorrow flew, the hurt dissolved. Even her nervous trivia-speak went dormant. She sat bolt upright, her knees bumping against the tabletop when she shifted. Excitement shot from her system as she turned her body, placed a hand across his forearm and declared, “Oh, my God. You’re the answer to my prayers.”
Buy LInk:
Universal link: https://books2read.com/u/braGJZ
Book Trailer for Pride of Brother’s: Aiden
About the Author:
Peggy Jaeger writes contemporary romances and rom coms 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 aspects of 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.
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??!”
Social Media Links:
Website/Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Goodreads, Instagram, BookBub, You-Tube and Amazon Author Page
It’s been great having you with us today. Good luck with Pride of Brothers: Aiden .
Visits: 116
Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged A Pride of Brothers: Aiden, Contemporary Romance, NYCromance, Pegy Jaeger, Women's Fiction by Tena Stetler with 4 comments.
Middle Ageish by Shirley Goldberg
Give a warm welcome to Shirley Goldberg, author of Middle Ageish! Pull up a chair, grab a drink of your choice from the cooler, a Chocolate Chip or Peanut Butter cookie from the plate, and let’s find out a little about Shirley and her Middle Ageish.
Tell us about yourself.
When I was in my teens all I wanted to do was travel. At nineteen, my best friend and I quit university and went to Ireland. We hitchhiked all around the country, me with a suitcase as big as a sheep. (I ended up sending most of the clothes I’d brought back home.) A sweet couple put us up in their barn for the night and served us a four-course breakfast in the morning. They would have given us a room, but my friend, Elise, wanted to sleep in a real barn. We hitchhiked all around Europe and ended up meeting a group of travelers at the Youth Hostel in Rome, continued on to Greece with them. We’re still in touch to this day.
Funny that I ended up marrying a Greek physics professor and living in Crete for eleven years.
Why did you choose the cover concept you did for Middle Ageish?
My novel is romantic women’s fiction. Since the title of the book, Middle Ageish, immediately tells the reader the characters are older, I wanted a cover that conveyed the idea of a rom com for the over-45 reader. A fun, beachy read, but with the real life problems that come with life experience.
Who would you recommend this book to and what should readers be aware of before reading it?
Here’s what a reader said about my book in an ARC review:
“In the beginning I thought, ‘I’m not sure this book is for me. I’ve been married for 50 years.’ I quickly changed my mind. I loved the book.”
My readers are probably in their forties and older, married or divorced and looking for a light read––although there’s some heartbreak and angst in the novel. The heat level is low and the door closes when it ratchets up.
Also, since the book centers around online dating it will appeal to anyone who’s dated online, or is curious about it. If you’d like to read more how-tos about dating, check out my website link below.
And, if you think Sunny’s dating escapades are exaggerated, ask your friends who’ve dated. They’ll give you the real scoop––just as it plays out in the story.
Relationships are what our books are all about, all different kinds of relationships. What interests you about how people find one another?
Everything about relationships fascinates me, from the meeting and greeting aspect to the reasons couples break up. The book grew out of my own dating experiences, but I needed time and perspective before I began writing. I worked my way gradually from taking notes after dates to transferring the notes to the computer in story form.
And I compared my experiences with friends, usually over a glass of wine. Our personal stories had so many similarities, I began to see a pattern. Everyone wants a special someone. No matter what we say to the contrary, the craving for the one person who understands you is universally important to almost everyone on the planet.
What defines you as an author?
I want to make my reader laugh. I want her to recognize a little bit of herself in my characters.
Tell us a little more about Middle Ageish:
Sunny Chanel’s marriage is circling the drain when her husband marks his colonoscopy on the calendar and ignores their anniversary. With divorce papers instead of roses on the horizon, she says “au revoir” Paris and croissants, and “hello” cheap New Haven apartment and ramen noodles.
Encouraged by her friends, Sunny jumps into online dating, twenty-three years and twenty pounds after her last date. To her surprise she discovers dating might require a helmet, and occasionally armor to protect her heart, but after years of being ignored, her adventurous side craves fun and conversation. She’s middle-aged not dead. Then suddenly, on the way to reinventing herself, life takes a left turn when the one man she can’t forget calls with an unexpected request.
Excerpt from Middle Ageish
Of course, my goodbye Paris party was at Chez Lulu in the Latin Quarter, Paris’ most Bohemian arrondissment. Lulu’s has that Fifties diner look—clean, spare and edgy like an Edward Hopper painting minus the feeling of isolation. It’s always packed, and the music is Buddy Holly, early Elvis, Patsy Cline, the Everly Brothers—a mix of rock and roll and country.
“Dinner’s here,” announced Dulcie, waving her beer glass before taking a long pull. “Everyone let them through!”
“Hey, ain’t this a swell party?” said Bertrand, arriving at our noisy table with an armload of gourmet burgers. “Who’s got the Marilyn Monroe with Mickey Mantles?”
Have I mentioned all the waiters are imitation James Deans, white T-shirts and jeans with rolled cuffs? Bertrand and Albert—they both speak perfect, slangy English—are our favorites. Bertrand is flirty in a sweet way and working his way through the Institute d’Etudes Politiques de Paris.
“And the Robert Mitchum with Buddy Holly fries?” Lulu’s boasts seven varieties of American fries, named for baseball players, or French and American pop stars.
“Two Jane Russells with Joe DiMaggio fries?” Albert, at Lulu’s between acting jobs, shouted, and everyone quieted for a moment, shuffling plates and passing them across the table. Movie star burgers with caramelized onions on miniature baguette buns. My mouth was so ready.
My going-away party…and I am not going to cry. Moving to New Haven and…I’m not not not crying.
Next to me, Natalie held out The Middle-Aged Idiot’s Guide to Online Dating. “For when you start dating,” she yelled over the roar that is Lulu’s. “This book really helped––”
“Dating? Seriously?” I grabbed two curly fries, the Joe DiMaggios, and popped them into my mouth. Picked up the burger, took a bite. Camembert oozed around the edges. Orgasmic. “Like dating is on my list of things to do?” I said around the burger. “Right below sticking a rusty fork in my eye?”
Right there, with my mouth around my favorite burger in the world, I lost my appetite.
BUY MIDDLE AGEISH AT YOUR FAVORITE BOOKSTORE:
Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/yxcqystg Middle Ageish
APPLE https://tinyurl.com/y37cbc5u
Nook/Barnes and Noble: https://tinyurl.com/yyuwpq6o
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54758920-middle-ageish
https://www.bookbub.com/profile/3531427862?list=following
About the Author
Shirley Goldberg is a writer, novelist, and former ESL and French teacher who’s lived in Paris, Crete, and Casablanca. She writes about men and women of a certain age starting over. Her website http://midagedating.com offers a humorous look into dating in mid life, and her friends like to guess which stories are true. Middle Ageish is her first book in the series Starting Over. Her character believes you should never leave home without your sense of humor and Shirley agrees.
Visit my website for another excerpt from the book. Sign up and grab a copy of Happy Hour, a short story about an online meet and a tiny misunderstanding.
Find Shirley on Social Media:
https://www.facebook.com/midagedating
https://twitter.com/mylifeasadate
https://www.instagram.com/shirleygoldbergauthor/
It’s been great having you with us today. Good luck with Middle Ageish!
Visits: 226
Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged Middle Ageish, Shirley Goldberg, Women's Divorce Fiction, Women's Fiction, Women's Romantic Fiction by Tena Stetler with 4 comments.
Interview Mona Sedrak Author of Gravity
Give a warm welcome to Mona Sedrak, author of Gravity. Pull up a chair, grab a drink of your choice from the cooler, a Chocolate Chip or Peanut Butter cookie from the plate, and let’s find out a little about Mona and Gravity.
Gravity is an interesting title. Give us some insight into this story.
Gravity is a heart-warming story of two individuals from remarkably differing backgrounds that are inexplicably drawn to one another, forming a strong friendship and falling in love–– despite the odds against them. The story depicts the beautiful Middle Eastern culture I was raised in and its many traditions as well as some of its challenges. Readers will identify with this story, no matter their background because it speaks to and awakens the human heart.
Gravity is about tolerance, acceptance, understanding, and forgiveness. Finally, it is a story of love and hope. When I started writing Gravity several years ago, I couldn’t have predicted how relevant it would be today. At the end of the day, I want readers to understand that although we may be different, as members of the human race, our similarities out-weigh our differences and love is the universal language that binds us.
What inspired this story?
I was born in Cairo, Egypt and immigrated to the US as a child. Still, I was brought up in a very traditional home. I had a strong family unit and a loving family, but I always felt torn. I was neither fully Egyptian nor American. There are many misconceptions about the Middle Eastern culture, and I wanted to write a story that shed light on many aspects of that beautiful culture from a fictional point of view. I am a romantic at heart, and thus, I couched what I wanted readers to know in a beautiful, heart-warming story with many twists and turns.
Why should we read this book and what sets this book apart from the rest?
This book is very special to me because it depicts the beautiful Middle Eastern culture I was raised in and its many traditions as well as some of its challenges. The story is one many people will identify with, no matter their background. It is a story of loss and love and a story of forgiveness and understanding. For readers who enjoy learning about other cultures and reading women’s fiction with romantic elements, this books for you.
What inspired you to write?
I have loved to write since I was a child. It has always been my outlet and my preferred method of communication. Writing fiction is especially rewarding because I enjoy getting lost in building characters and a world that may or may not be like mine. I can create a story that others will lose themselves in and forget their own worries for a while. I enjoy writing realistic stories with satisfying endings that make readers hungry for more and more.
What do you want your readers to take away from your book?
This book is very contemporary and timely. I want readers to understand that all people are valuable and should be treated with love, dignity, and respect. No matter your race or culture, our similarities out-weigh our differences. With acceptance and understanding, love can triumph and always should.
What’s your favorite thing about being an author?
I live in two worlds. By day, I am a college administrator, but by night I lose myself in my writing. Like my readers, I too need a break from the real world and by writing, I can do just that. Writing allows me a creative outlet I do not always experience in my day job and it is remarkably rewarding.
Tell us a little about Gravity:
After being shunned by her Middle Eastern family, medical assistant Leila Solomon struggles to build a life for herself and her child. Landscape photographer Aiden Stone built a career seeing what others miss, and the second he meets Leila, he is drawn to her unassuming beauty and fragile strength.
Leila cannot defy the gravitational forces pulling her toward Aiden and to the family who cast her out. To build a future with Aiden, she must face the past but is she strong enough to resist being pulled back into the family fold?
How about a sneak peak between the pages of Gravity?
Aiden stopped pacing. His brain once conjured an image of the perfect family––his family. He first pictured them as he sat on the beach with Leila, asking for her forgiveness after he stood her up. He searched his memory banks, recalling the image. His breath hitched as his brain hiccupped and the picture focused with such clarity his hands shook, and the crystal tumbler slipped from his fingers, shattering on the deck and spraying scotch across the wood.
Leila stood on the beach laughing with her gorgeous midnight curls flowing down her back, holding their boy’s hand. AJ’s green eyes danced as he grinned. With his free hand he grasped his little sister’s tiny palm––her wispy blonde hair tousled by the wind. Aiden closed the circle, holding Leila’s hand in one of his and Mia’s in the other. Each member of his family was unique. They didn’t resemble each other, but that fact didn’t matter because their hearts were in sync. The ties that bind were invisible yet strong as steel.
“Aiden? Are you there? Are you okay?”
As the image receded, Aiden blinked. But before the photo completely dissipated, a strong wind battered their circle, and the smile slid off Leila’s face. Their hands were torn apart, breaking their circle and fissuring their foundation. Blinking again, Aiden focused on the shards of glass surrounding him. He gasped for air.
No matter what either of them did, or how hard they resisted, gravity drew them together. But could the awesome force of gravity be defied?
Buy Links:
About the Author:
Mona Sedrak lives in Cincinnati, Ohio and works as a university administrator and professor. Although she has co-published two academic books, she is now writing mainstream fiction and women’s fiction. She is an avid reader and is probably Audible’s best customer.
Writing and reading fiction is her escape from reality.
Mona lives with her husband of 30+ years, a geriatric maltipoo, and an Amazon Parrot named Pretzel. She binge watches too many shows to count and she loves fine brandy.
Website: https://www.monasedrak.com/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Mona-Sedrak/e/B003VGUOZQ
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorMSedrak
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/MonaSedrakAuthor/
Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4563964.Mona_Sedrak
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authormonasedrak/
It was wonderful having you with us today. Please feel free to stop by anytime. Good Luck with Gravity!
Visits: 1995
Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged Gravity, Interview, Mona Sedrak, Sweet Romance, Women's Fiction by Tena Stetler with 8 comments.
Ground Work for Murder by Marilyn Baron & Sharon Goldman
Give a warm welcome to Marilyn Baron & Sharon Goldman authors of Ground Work for Murder!
This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The authors will be awarding a 16X20 Signed Matted Print “Flora Blanca” by author, Florida artist Sharon Goldman, to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
Tell us a little about Ground Work for Murder!
Landscape artist Alexandra Newborn dreams of a one-woman show at the Diamond Gallery. But the gallery owner dismisses her paintings as “old, tired, and dull. Lacking excitement.” Those words also describe Alex’s unhappy marriage.
Alex’s shocking reunion with her college art professor, Dominick “Nick” Anselmo—once a world-celebrated Italian artist, now a homeless lawn man—reignites their passion and fuels a creative spark for both, helping Nick recover from his wife’s death.
With Nick’s provocative sketches, art imitates life, but Alex doesn’t realize they reveal a dangerous liaison between her husband and the gallery owner. Without Nick’s knowledge, Alex arranges an art opening that includes his drawings.
When the torrid affair between Alex’s husband and his mistress is exposed, the seeds are sown for murder, mystery, and romance.
Read an Excerpt from Ground Work for Murder:
The man grabbed her hand.
“Let go!” Alex shrieked.
“Alexandra, wait.”
Startled, Alex twisted painfully in the man’s solid grip as she gave him a closer look.
“Do I know you?”
Alex focused on his face, which was vaguely familiar, and tried hard to bury the image of the rest of the man’s body, which, although she’d only been exposed to a flash of flesh, was oddly disturbing. And when she did, she got another shock.
“P-Professore Anselmo?”
The man released her hand and came out from behind the shelter of the bushes, smiled shyly, and nodded. Although she hadn’t recognized his accent earlier, there was no mistaking his identity. But the last time she’d seen him, his smile had been almost smug and his mouth had been busy doing more than smiling. She’d buried the recollection of their last encounter so deep even she wasn’t clear about the details of just how far they’d gone and how far she had been prepared to go.
It was hard to reconcile the man of her dreams with this nasty-looking person standing in front of her. Professore Dominick Anselmo had been her college art teacher, her inspiration, her secret crush, until he’d been exposed for improper behavior with his graduate assistant and expelled from the university. The scandal had rocked the Art and Architecture Department and blasted a rift in Alex’s personal world.
“Professore?” she repeated, her jittery voice rising a level. “What are you doing here?”
About the Author: Marilyn Baron and Sharon Goldman are sisters. Groundwork for Murder won first place in the Suspense Romance category of the Ignite the Flame Contest, sponsored by the Central Ohio Fiction Writers Chapter of RWA.
Marilyn Baron
Marilyn Baron writes in a variety of genres, from women’s fiction to historical romantic thrillers and romantic suspense to paranormal/fantasy. She and her sister even wrote a musical called Memory Lane.
She’s received writing awards in Single Title, Suspense Romance, Novel with Strong Romantic Elements, and Paranormal/Fantasy Romance. She was also The Finalist in the 2017 Georgia Author of the Year Awards (GAYA) in the Romance Category for her novel Stumble Stones, and The Finalist for the 2018 GAYA Awards in the Romance category for her novel The Alibi. Her novel The Siege was nominated for the 2019 GAYA Awards in the Romance Category.
Groundwork for Murder is her 24th work of fiction. A public relations consultant in Atlanta, she is chair of the Roswell Reads Steering Committee.
A native of Miami, Florida, Marilyn graduated from the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, with a B.S. in Journalism—a major in Public Relations and a minor in English (Creative Writing). She met her husband at UF and both of her daughters graduated from UF. Marilyn now lives in Roswell, Georgia, with her husband.
Find out more about Marilyn on her website: http://www.marilynbaron.com/
Visit her on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Marilyn-Baron/286807714666748
Follow her on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MarilynBaron
Sharon Goldman
Sharon Goldman is an award-winning artist whose paintings are in private collections and who has exhibited in numerous galleries throughout northeast Florida, including the Haskell Gallery in the Jacksonville International Airport.
As a native Floridian, Sharon strives to create work that captures the spirit of Florida. Her colorful palette, unique cropping, and background as a designer and art director help her envision her novel compositions, which she describes as painterly realism.
Sharon has taught art school in her home studio to more than 200 students in her community. Sharon has also written and illustrated a children’s book.
Sharon is on the Dean’s Leadership Council at the University of North Florida’s Thomas G. Carpenter Library, where she gives monthly tours of one of the largest permanent art collections of regional artists in the state.
A graduate of the University of Florida in Fine Arts, Sharon had a long career in the advertising business. After having three children (now college graduates), she has more time to bring her ideas to light.
Website: http://www.sharongoldmanart.com
https://www.amazon.com/Groundwork-Murder-Marilyn-Baron-ebook/dp/B07SS5LMLN/ref=sr_1_1
It was wonderful having you with us today. Please feel free to stop by anytime. Good Luck with Ground Work for Murder!
Visits: 309
Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged Marilyn Baron, romantic suspense, Sharon Goldman, Women's Fiction by Tena Stetler with 4 comments.
