Guest Blog and Spotlight: 3 Wishes by Peggy Jaeger #ContemporaryRomance #Chocolate

One of my favorite foods in the world is chocolate. I thought it would be fun to have Ms. Jaeger write a little something about it since the delicacy is featured in her book.

By the way she'll be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. 

Ever since Christopher Columbus first brought a powdered form of chocolate back to Queen Isabella as a New World discovery and a token of his devotion, the little confection has become a much loved and craved treat by most people of the world.  From the Spanish monks who devised a hot concoction to drink during particularly cold weather, to the aristocracy who used it as an aphrodisiac, chocolate has gained a modern day, world wide reputation as one of the most perfect gifts to give…and receive.

Books, such as Charlie and the Chocolate factory, have been written about it; films, like 2000’s Chocolat, have been made with it woven into its plot-line. Industries have been built and devoted to its manufacture and distribution, like Nestles and Cadbury and Whitman’s. Even holidays like Easter and Christmas incorporate chocolate into their celebrations. And let’s face it: Valentine’s Day wouldn’t be the same without a heart shaped box filled with chocolate morsels and confections. How many mothers in the world have kept that little red, heart-shaped box which housed the delicious 4-piece chocolate choices given to them for mother’s day as a memento?

Chocolate isn’t just one special, sweet little taste or color. It can be white, mocha colored, or dark; it can be sweet, semi-sweet, bitter-sweet, or raw (unsweetened.), milk flavored or not.  You can cook with it, bake with it, and decorate with it. Many master chocolatiers devise and build elaborate structures using it as a base or a decorative addition. You can melt chocolate, grind it into a powder, freeze it, mold it, and use it as a covering for a hidden piece of candy heaven housed within it.

Chocolate, in my extremely humble opinion, may just be the perfect food. It isn’t any wonder when the Wild Rose Press put out a call for their new Valentine’s series, the Candy Hearts Romances, I came up with a heroine who is a master chocolatier and owns her own chocolate shoppe, Caramelle de Chloe.

In another life, I believe I  was such a chocolatier.

GENRE: Contemporary Romance

BLURB:

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.

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Excerpt:

At about five minutes of ten I was almost ready to turn the Closed sign on the door when it opened. I heard Janie’s breath hitch and turned from where I was sweeping up. Staying open late is always a risk, with the thought thieves will invade at the end of the day.

If the guy standing at the door glancing around the shop was a thief, then Dio mio, I wanted to be robbed.

About six foot, his hair was the color of a deer’s pelt, with autumnal golds and browns shot together in a glorious patchwork that grazed the collar of his jacket and curled a little at the ends. He wore a faded brown bomber jacket over a shirt I couldn’t see, but he had shoulders almost as wide as my doorway. A pair of well-worn jeans covered his mile long legs, and the fabric on the stress points at his knees was practically white.

“We’re about to close,” I heard myself say. “Can I help you?”

           

It was at that moment he looked over at me.

His face could have been sculpted by Da Vinci or Michelangelo. A broad, smooth, forehead housed naturally arched eyebrows I knew some of my gay guy friends would have paid a fortune to have on their own faces. His cheeks were carved from marble, high, smooth and deep. And his mouth, mother-of-God, his mouth. Full, thick beautiful lips sat perfectly over a chin with a dent you could shove a button into and have it stay put.

“Sorry,” he said, those fabulous lips pulling up a little shyly at the corners. “I got stuck at work and couldn’t get here until now. I’ll be quick. Promise.”

So here’s the thing: the guy was gorgeous. But even if he’d looked like a frog with raw antipasto smothering his face, I would have dropped to my knees when he opened his mouth. Warm honey, a shot of raw whiskey, and a little hot puff of smoke wafted from his mouth like a fine and rare brandy being decanted.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Peggy Jaeger is a contemporary romance author who writes about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can't live without them.

Her current titles, available now, include SKATER'S WALTZ and THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME, and FIRST IMPRESSIONS books 1 through 3 in her 6-book The MacQuire Women Series, published by The Wild Rose Press.


Peggy holds a master's degree in Nursing Administration and first found publication with several articles she authored on Alzheimer's Disease during her time running an Alzheimer's in-patient care unit during the 1990s.

A lifelong and avid romance reader and writer, she is a member of RWA and her local New Hampshire RWA Chapter.

Website/Blog: http://peggyjaeger.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/peggy_jaeger

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

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

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

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

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