Nell Newbery has trust issues. It’s hard to trust when you’re the daughter of a fallen financial scion who bilked people out of billions. Nell’s done everything in her power to keep away from men who see her as their ticket to fortune and fame. All she wants to do is run her ultra-successful business, HELPFUL HUNKS, in peace.
But it wouldn’t hurt to find a guy who doesn’t know a thing about her father’s felonious past; one she can give her heart to and trust it won’t come back to her battered, bruised, and broken.
Is Charlie Churchill that guy? On the surface he seems perfect, all polished manners and quiet mirth. Nell’s convinced he knows nothing about her, other than she likes superhero movies and views junk food as a food group.
Can she trust him to be what he appears to be? Or is he just pretending?
For Nell, trust is everything in life…and in love.
Exclusive to Amazon
Also… exclusive, an interview with the author, Peggy Jaeger!
What’s your least favorite part of the writing process?
~ Marketing. I am the world’s most incompetent sales person. I have friends who could sell sand to sandflies. Not me. The thought of self promotion gives me anxiety and I feel like I’m acting and being so conceited when I “talk up” my book. In a perfect publishing world, or if I won Powerball, I’d have a publicist to do all that so I could just write my stories.
And the best part?
~ When a reader comes up to me at a book signing, or sends me an email, telling me how much they related to my book, the heroine, or even the motivation behind the plotline and conflict. I’ve had women of all ages approach me and thank me for writing someone who was “just like them,” or who had gone through a similar situation and my heroine. I’ve had men and women alike thank me for making them laugh while reading one of my RomComs because they were going through a bad personal time and needed a good laugh! I think that’s my favorite part of this – the ability to make someone’s day better, even for a few hours, because they are reading my words.
Promoting is something ALL authors struggle with. How are you managing yours?
~ Poorly, if I’m being truthful. Like I’ve said, I’m the world’s worst salesperson. One thing that has helped me get my name in front of new readers, though, is that I not only write my own daily blog (https://peggyjaeger.com/ ) but I now write a blog a month for two separate writing websites, The ROMANCE GEMS ( https://romancegems.blogspot.com/ ) and ROMANCING THE GENRES (https://romancingthegenres.blogspot.com/ ) Writing for them has helped up my visibility and introduced me to many new romance readers. And, it’s lessened the emotional burden of getting out there and selling my books!
What are the common traps for aspiring writers/or tips for a newbie writer?
~ This is a great question. I actually help judge many writing contests because I got my start in romance publishing through winning a contest! I see so many unpublished writers – and even some who have been doing this for a long time – ruin their story by either info dumping in the first five pages, not using consistent tense throughout the story, or not using dialogue effectively. What I mean by that is that they make every single person in the story “sound” and “Speak” the same on the page, so that the reader doesn’t know who is speaking without a character attribution attached to the sentence.
I’ve got a great ear for dialogue. That’s not hubris. Every contest I’ve ever entered, plus readers who have reached out to me, have told me they know exactly who is speaking on a page and that each character has their own distinctive voice. We don’t all sound the same in real life. We shouldn’t make our characters sound the same on a page. I think I’m good at this because I am one of the nosiest people on the planet and I love to people watch – and people listen. It’s amazing how you can pick people out, with your eyes closed, just by listening to how they form sentences, turn a phrase, or even the cadences they use. In a previous life I think I was Henry Higgins.
How about sharing your best one-liner from your book? Why have you chosen that particular sentence?
(Nell) “Maybe next time we can get through an evening without me needing first aid or being mugged.”
Agreeing to a second date with a guy is a major milestone for Nell. During her first date with Charlie, she falls up a flight of stairs due to her clumsiness, then later foils an attempted mugging/robbery but gets injured in the attempt. Think THE PERILS OF PAULINE and you’ve got Nell’s life down pat.
Charlie’s response to this line is “Where would the fun be in that?”
Why did you write this particular book? (What was the spark that made you put pen to paper?)
~This is the second book in my DotComGirls series, and Nell was introduced in the first book, DIRTY DAMSELS, as Ella’s best friend and business partner. I knew when I wrote her in the first book, Nell needed her own story and a chance at her own HEA. She was a spoiled society girl once upon a time, whose life came crashing down when her father was indicted and sent to prison for Bernie Madoff-like crimes. She had to learn to make her way in life and because of her father’s betrayal she has a hard time trusting people – men or women. I knew she’d need to have a hero who could break down those non-trusting walls she’d erected around herself, but it couldn’t be in a hard, domineering way. No, Nell’s hero had to be the sort of guy you may not recognize as a hero at first, but through his actions, he becomes one. Charlie was my first real Beta hero and I think he’s one of my favorites.
What is your book about? Genre, tone, POV, etc?
Told in the first person POV by the heroine, Nell Newbery, IT’S A TRUST THING is a contemporary RomCom with heart and angst set in New York City.
Nell has severe trust issues. It’s hard to trust when you’re the daughter of a fallen financial scion who bilked people out of billions. Nell’s done everything in her power to keep away from men who see her as their ticket to fortune and fame. All she wants to do is run her ultra-successful business, HELPFUL HUNKS, in peace.
But it wouldn’t hurt to find a guy who doesn’t know a thing about her father’s felonious past; one she can give her heart to and trust it won’t come back to her battered, bruised, and broken.
Is Charlie Churchill that guy?
On the surface he seems perfect, all polished manners and quiet mirth. Nell’s convinced he knows nothing about her, other than she likes superhero movies and views junk food as a food group.
Can she trust him to be what he appears to be? Or is he just pretending?
For Nell, trust is everything in life…and in love.
IS there an underlying theme to this book?
~ Actually, there are two: forgiveness and trust.
Nell has to forgive her father for destroying their family and way of life in order to move on with her own life. She also needs to stop being so untrusting of everyone and especially men. Most of the guys she’s managed to date since her father was incarcerated have used her in some way. Charlie is very different – he doesn’t know about her father’s past and is tolerant of all her quirks and ways.
How did you come up with the title/slogan?
~Originally the book was called HELPING HUNKS, because that’s the title of Nell’s business, like book one, DIRTY DAMSELS is the title of Ella’s business. But using Helpful Hunks made the book seem as if it were more about Nell’s business than her life. When I realized the underlying theme in her life was trust, and trust issues, I played around with a few takes on the TRUST line and came up with her explanation for never finding the perfect mate: It’s A TRUST THING. I could have called it A MATTER OF TRUST, but that’s a Billy Joel song and I didn’t want to steal his thunder, heehee ( Like I could! Insert ***eye roll!***)
Can you share a few lines from you best review of this book?
~ From a Goodreads reviewer:
“Ms Jaeger once again shows why she is a must-read author. She paints a picture and makes it impossible for you to look away (put down the book) until you see the whole thing. She draws in you from the start and keeps you on the edge of your seat through the laughter and the tears. This is the second book of the series and does not disappoint.”
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.
A lifelong and avid romance reader and writer, Peggy is a member of RWA and her local New Hampshire RWA Chapter.
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: 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
Click below for an excerpt!
He opened the passenger door for me and I got in.
“You never answered me,” he said when I was seated. “Would you like to do this again?”
I’d lived my entire adult life taking chances in my professional life but shying away from them in my personal one. The reasons to avoid becoming involved were valid ones, in my mind, and they’d served me well.
But there was something so different about this man, something that wanted me to finally give in and take a chance that he wouldn’t be like all the other men I’d gotten close to. He wouldn’t use me to his own end; he wouldn’t betray me; he wouldn’t lie to me about who and what he was.
And dammit, I deserved to have some fun.
All this ran through my head as he stood, patiently waiting for my answer.
It really didn’t take much effort on my part to make a decision. With a half grin and my gaze staying zeroed in on his, I reached into my briefcase and pulled out one of my business cards. While the driver waited, I wrote my private cell number on the back of it. There were only five people on the planet who had this number.
Now, Charlie did as well.
As I handed it to him, I cocked my head and said, “Maybe next time we can get through an evening without me needing first aid or being mugged.”
His jaw wide smile made my stomach muscles flutter. He leaned in, gave me a quick peck on the cheek and said, “Where would the fun be in that?”
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@louise_wise and T. E Kessler 
Thank you, and happy Easter, too (a what a strange Easter it is!). Thanks for taking part.
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Louise, first Happy Easter!! Second ,thank you so much for this interview. It was fun to do and I think I even learned a few things about myself. Please you for being so supportive.
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