Take a good book to the beach with you by Peggy Jaeger

 "Hot time, summer in the city. Back of my neck getting burnt and pretty."

Any body else remember that old Lovin' Spoonful song?? Hee hee. I'm showing my age, I know.

When I was younger and a sun worshiper, I lived for the summer days I could take a few hours at my local beach, soak up some rays, and read without any interruptions or worries. Back then, my beach reads were mostly comprised of the newest Jackie Collins, Kathleen Woodiwiss, or Nora Roberts book that happened to release in the summer season.

The hours of escapism while sitting in the sun were marvelous and made me truly know the definition of BEACH READ; fabulous heroines meeting hunky heroes and engaging in adult behavior ( read :SEX) while escaping from danger, or trying to solve the world's problems.

Hey, it's not called escapist fiction for nothing.😉

Nowadays I shun the sun like Lestat because...wrinkles.

But I still enjoy a great book that can be classified as a beach read. And hey - I even write them now. LOL.

One of my favorites that I've penned has just gone on sale for only 99cents. 

IT'S A TRUST THING tells the tale of Nell Newbury, one time Park Avenue darling, whose father - a Madoff devotee - bilked people out of billions. The notoriety almost killed Nell's mother and made the young girl grow up fast. Nell runs her own company now, keeps out of the public eye, and isn't looking for love.

And then she meets a handsome economics professor who knows nothing about her and who makes her toes go numb with just a glance.

Do you like to read at the beach? Or on a boat? Or sitting in the park on a lovely summer day?

Take IT'S A TRUST THING with you the next time you go. You'll have a fun time reading it. One of my reviewers called it a "RomCom with angst, a klutzy heroine you can't help rooting for, and redemption."

That about says it all. Hee Hee

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A month of Changes by Peggy Jaeger

 September 2020 has been a month of change for the Jaeger clan.

On September 12, my darling daughter got married in a very Covid-compliant ceremony in New York. The original wedding was planned for over 300 people on the top of Mount Washington in New Hampshire. 2021 will see that celebration come to fruition if we get out of this pandemic, but for now, she married the love of her life, her soul mate and best friend in a small Catholic ceremony with the people they both love best in the world in attendance. He father walked her down the aisle, and yes, he wore a mask, but there was no missing the smile lighting up his face, evidenced in his shining eyes.

God smiled on the happy couple because the weather was glorious.

On September 14, we buried my brother-in-law. After an 11 year battle with cancer, he finally succumbed to its clutches and as a family we gathered to mourn him, celebrate his life, and bury him.

In the same weekend my husband and I gained a new son and lost a beloved brother.

Change, for sure.

On September 17 we welcomed a new member into our small nuclear family. A chocolate lab named Maple Leaf. It's been a long-ass time since we had a dog - much less a puppy - in our house. My first dog baby was born in 1987 and died in 1999. So for the last 21 years we've been without a family dog. It was time.

Meet Maple Leaf Jaeger, 12 pounds of 8 week old puppy love and energy. And just like the change a household goes through when a new (human) baby is brought into it, there's a lot of change in our house right now that concerns feeding times, midnight diaper changes in the form of walks, and teething issues. I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but I'm really feeling my age right now!! I've finally discovered the answer to why you should have a baby ( and a puppy) when you are younger. Your stamina is much greater. Hee hee. Maple Leaf has her own Instagram account where I'm documenting her life with us. My husband says she won "Doggie Lotto" when we brought her home, and he's not wrong!! You can follow her adventures on Instagram, here: MapleLeaftheDog

Another change coming down the pike occurs in October. My newest indie-released holiday RomCom releases on 10.14.2020. I've gone back to the bosom of the San Valentino family for MISTLETOE, MOBSTERS, & MOZZARELLA and visited the Aunt Gracie branch of the family. I have to admit, when I was writing this one, I truly did laugh out loud at times - especially at Uncle Sonny and mama Gracie. I hope you'll find Madonna San Valentino's story a fun and inspiring one of family, faith, and love. So, why a holiday story in October? Because it's never too early for Christmas, RomComs, or love!

Finding a body in the freezer of the family deli isn’t the way Madonna San Valentino planned to start her day.

Adding insult to injury, the investigating detective is the one guy she’s never been able to forget. After seven minutes of heaven in the back seat of his car when they were teenagers, Tony Roma skipped town without so much as a thanks for the memory.

Just when Madonna thinks the present situation can’t get any worse, Tony is ordered to go undercover at the deli to ferret out a killer. Forced to work together, she vows to keep their relationship cool and professional. But with the sexy, longing looks he tosses her at every turn, Madonna’s resolve is weakening.

With Christmas drawing closer and Tony’s investigation taking an unexpected turn, Madonna is at her wit’s end. Can she really be falling for him again? And will he wind up leaving her broken hearted and alone like the last time?

If you're looking for me you can always find me here: Follow me

New covers & Stores! by @BonnieEdwards #RomanceGems

This month's theme is Sizzling Days and Sultry Nights and that's mostly true about August...the heat hangs like a blanket some days and there are nights that never really cool down. A few days we trekked a local park to find some places to help cool us off. The narrow falls are called Lupin Falls and the emerald pool of water is at the base of Myra Falls. These are only two of the four waterfalls we saw in or near Strathcona Park on Vancouver Island. For more images and a couple of videos you can find me on FB.
 https://www.facebook.com/Bonnie.Edwards.Author/

In my writing life, I've signed on with Wildhearts Romance, a boutique publisher in Australia for my steamy romance series The Brantons. Please look for special pricing as these new versions are launched!







Body Work Book 1 Find it here.

Slow Hand Book 2 Find here

Whole Lot o' Love Book 3 Find here


And let's not forget my newest release Rayder's Appeal Book 4 of The Brantons. Rayder Cole is from a darker, more dangerous side of the Branton family and brings an edge to his story. You're never quite sure what he has in mind for Ellie Macklin...the woman who stole his heart when he was too young to realize he had one.

Rayder's Appeal

The Romance Gems are excited to offer Comment to Win again and here's my question: Have you managed to find a way to cool off this hot, steamy August? Remember, you need to include your email address spelled out like this: Bonnie  at  bonnieedwards dot com  to enter. Thanks so much!

Comment to Win Entry

If you'd like to follow me on BookBub where I share reviews, new releases and more. You can find me with just one click: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/bonnie-edwards

Speaking of reviews, it would be wonderful if you could share your thoughts on Hangover Husband, available in the boxset Last Chance Beach: Summer's End. The set contains 14 short stories of new love, second chances and more! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CV3GN3R

Until next time! Enjoy your own "Summer's End" 

Happy reading,

Bonnie Edwards

Spring, Stress, and Salvation by Peggy Jaeger

April's topic prompt here on the RGs is Read and Renew. I'll discuss the read part of that phrase later in the post, but first I want to talk about the renew aspect.

There's a boatload of bad news in the world these days. I don't need to tell you that. You're all sentient beings who watch television, read papers, and follow social media. I want to talk, though, about what all this bad news, these horrible images, feelings of isolation, doubt, and just plain terror are doing to your body.

Yes, I said ARE doing, not CAN do. Unless you're the type of personality who never lets anything outside of your body effect what's on the inside, then you're experiencing some type of physical or mental stress right now. 

As an old nurse who was a devotee of the Florence Nightingale school of health care, I know what stress does to a person and how, if it's not curbed, can lead to a slew of longterm and chronic health disorders.

So, first a primer: What is stress, really? Put bluntly, stress is a physical, mental, or emotional event that causes tension on the mind and/or body. Stress can be caused by external forces (from the environment, psychological, or social situations) or internal ones (illness).

Well, I would say without a doubt that what we're all living through right now is the very definition of stress.

So, what does stress do to you? In essence, it can effect almost every organ and system in your body. Mentally and emotionally, it can leave you with symptoms of irritability, anxiety, depression, headaches.

It can throw your digestive system off kilter and make you produce more gastric acid which could lead to an ulcer, or acid reflex. You can get constipated, or worse, have diarrhea.  

Stress can leave you so emotionally wrung dry you start to sit, stand and move differently because your muscles are tense, tight, and restricted.

And I don't even want to go into the sexual and psycho-sexual aspects of stress. Suffice it to say, you won't be getting any any time soon if you're stressed. You won't be getting any sleep, either, not the restorative kind, anyway.

What can you do to lesson the stress on your little psyches and bodies when you've been ordered to shelter in place, not so much as breath on another human being, and keep back 6 feet or more?

First, you can take a breath. 
And then another. A few seconds or minutes of deep breathing every day in a quiet place without distractions goes a long way in alleviating mental stress.

Second, you can move. No, not to another house or city, but get some exercise. An outdoor walk is preferable, but if you can't get outside ( we are in quarantine kids!) you can walk on a treadmill or ride a stationary bike. There are even video walk programs that fake your body into thinking you've walked a mile. Leslie Sansone has a whole slew of them on youtube.

Third, we are all in this new normal together so we all know what you're feeling like. TALK TO one another about it. It's not complaining ( which is what my husband thinks I do!) but a way to share the stress and maybe even laugh about it.

And speaking of laughing - please do. Often. Find an old I Love Lucy or Seinfield on Netflix or Youtube and watch it. Then watch another. Or watch THE BIRDCAGE with Robin Williams - you're guaranteed to laugh at that one! Laughing raises your endorphin  and oxytocin levels which decrease stress.

Now, as a writer I would be remiss if I didn't mention one other way to alleviate stress - and in my writer's mind, the most important one:
READ!!

Preferably something you like, as in, oh I don't know...books? Romance books? One of MY romance books, maybe? 

Hee hee.

Read something light and airy like chick lit. Or fun and flirty like a good RomCom. Or, if you really want to stimulate those endorphins and get that oxytocin flowing, something dark and sexy and...erotic.

I've got a new Sweet romance coming out next month titled VANILLA WITH A TWIST that might be just the thing you need to rid yourself of that toxic stress.  It's part of my publisher's new summer series called ONE SCOOP OR TWO. VANILLA WITH A TWIST is about a workaholic engineer and an ice cream parlor owner. It's the perfect blend of angst, romance, second chances, and ultimately an HEA.

Tandy Blakemore spends her days running her New England ice cream parlor, single-parenting her teenaged son, and trying to keep her head above financial water. No easy feat when the shop’s machinery is aging and her son is thinking about college. Tandy hasn’t had a day off in a decade and wonders if she’ll ever be able to live a worry-free life.

Engineer Deacon Withers is on an enforced vacation in the tiny seaside town of Beacher’s Cove. Overworked, stressed, and lonely, he walks into Tandy’s shop for a midday ice cream cone and gets embroiled in helping her fix a broken piece of equipment.

Can the budding friendship that follows help fix their broken spirits and lead to love?

And check out the great book trailer our very own Gem, Nancy Fraser, produced for me: 

https://youtu.be/VVaDd7JA5uU

And one last way to alleviate some of your stress is to enter our 

MONTHLY CONTEST AND GIVEWAYS

Until next time, peeps. Get working on lowering those stress levels ~ Peg

Every day should be Valentine's Day if you write and read Romance! by Peggy Jaeger

February 14th 2020  has come and gone but, at least for me, the spirit of Valentine's Day is still going strong!

Hey: I write romance - every day is love day for me! Hee hee

Now, if you're like my dear hubby, you might believe Valentine's day and a whole passel of other days during the year, were invented as celebratory days by Hallmark in order to sell greeting cards. He truly believes this, which is why the man has never bought a greeting card in his life and will probably go through the Pearly Gates someday without ever having done so.

But....

Maybe he's on to something. I mean, why just celebrate love on one day of the year? I don't know the origin of Valentine's day and didn't want to take a deep dive into the annals of history to find out why we as a society celebrate the day, but I do know it's a day devoted to love. And for me, love is everything.

As a romance writer - and avid romance book reader - EVERY DAY is devoted to love in my house. I don't need a card from my husband to tell me he loves me. He shows me he does every single day of our marriage.

I certainly don't need candy to remind me of how sweet I am ( heehee). Those extra calories when I'm trying to get into a Mother of the Bride dress for May are not necessary nor wanted. Well...maybe wanted just a little, but I need to exercise some control here.

While I love flowers, the exorbitant costs of roses is ridiculous - and especially on 2.14. since the price is jacked up by most retailers and florists. Instead of flowers that will wither and die within a week, I would much prefer a plant that lasts longer and which I can look at every day as a reminder of love.

And while going out to a fancy restaurant is nice, I'm the type of girl who much prefers to cook for the man I love, then snuggle down and watch a movie on the couch with him afterward, in our comfy clothes and maybe with the fireplace roaring in the background. That is my definition of a romantic evening, peeps!

As writers, we live by the adage of show don't tell. I don't need one day of the year in which to have my husband show me he loves me by bringing me a present, or taking me out to dinner. He shows me every single day why he is my hero, why I was so thrilled he asked me to marry him 175 years ago, and why every day is a day devoted to love in my house.

Does that sound a little sappy? Okay, if it does. I can live with that. But I truly think the world would be a much lighter, brighter place if people showed one another love every day, in every way they could.

Every day should be Valentines's Day.

My very first Valentine's themed book 3 WISHES, is featured in our February book fair.

 Valentine’s Day is chocolatier Chloe San Valentino’s favorite day of the year. Not only is it the busiest day in her candy shop, Caramelle de Chloe, but it’s also her birthday. Chloe’s got a birthday wish list for the perfect man she pulls out every year: he’d fall in love with her in a heartbeat, he’d be someone who cares about people, and he’d have one blue eye and one green eye, just like her. So far, Chloe’s fantasy man hasn’t materialized, despite the matchmaking efforts of her big, close-knit Italian family. But this year for her big 3-0 birthday, she just might get her three wishes.

3 WISHES is available in ebook and in audiobook.

Since February is the Romance Gems 1st anniversary ( YAY!) and to celebrate our One Year Anniversary, we have a big Valentine Book Fair with sigh-worthy romance novels at great prices. We also have a Rafflecopter with some great Amazon Gift Cards up for grabs.

Watch the February video in the Movie Theater or drop by YouTube to view it.

Then visit our Valentine Book Fair and grab some captivating romance novels, sweet treats without calories!

Remember peeps: love is love is love is love....every day of the year!
Until next time ~ Peg