Title: MISTLETOE, MOBSTERS, & MOZZARELLA
Author: PEGGY JAEGER
Genre: Reunited lovers, family, NYC Romance, first love, Rom Com
Book Blurb:
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?
Excerpt:
I may not scare easily, but the amount of times in my life I’ve encountered a dead—no, make that murdered body—can be counted on the fingers of one hand and still have 5 left over. A loud gasp blew through my cold lips as I sprinted back to the door. I needed to tell the cops what I’d found.
Now.
I flew out of the freezer than yanked the industrial refrigerator door open, shot through it, and barreled, full body, into a solid wall. The wall smelled, strangely, of citrus. I would have bounced back and hit the door if the tangy smelling behemoth hadn’t reached out and, with a grip forged in steel, imprisoned me within hands as large as the ham my mother planned to serve for Christmas dinner in a few weeks.
Trapped and terrified—who wouldn’t be after finding a dead body?—I reacted in the instinctual flight or fight way we’re programed to during danger.
My body chose fight.
One valuable lesson being the sibling routinely charged with breaking up brotherly scuffles has taught me, is how to get out of a death hold.
In a move I’d learned out of necessity I took a step forward instead of retreating like a person being held routinely would, bent my arms at the elbows, lifted them up and then twisted them inward. The front of my forearms collided with my captor’s and when they did I pressed outward with every ounce of force in me.
The hold broke.
Before the giant could draw breath and grab me again, I lifted my arms, gripped him by the ears and hauled his head down to meet the knee I’d raised.
A loud, guttural groan reverberated around us.
And then several things happened at once.
The orange smelling wall of a man sputtered, “Jesus Christ, Donna,” while he held his face in his hands.
My father’s furious “Madonna Violetta,” lifted to the ceiling at the same time.
Angelo Rocconova’s “Holy Shit,” competed with both of them. Another besuited man I didn’t know stood behind the three of them, but he kept his mouth shut and simply stared at the guy I’d kneed.
Confused and breathing like I’d swam the length of the East River twice, my gaze bounced from my wide-eyed and worried father, to a shocked and nervous Ange and then to the bent-at-the-waist colossus in front of me.
My throat bobbed up and down and the moisture in my mouth evaporated when the hulk lifted back to his full height, his piercing and furious gaze mating with mine. As he’d stood tall I took a step backward, intent on running for the hills. The now closed steel refrigerator door barred me from making a quick exit.
Looking up at him, my pounding heart stopped cold in my chest.
I knew those eyes.
Intimately.
When they weren’t filled with anger and pain, like they were right now, I knew how captivating they could be. The palest of blue and heavily lashed, they tilted up a tiny bit at the corners. Jealousy ramped through me. How unfair was it a man was gifted eyes like this when I’d been cursed with the most dull and boring brown color ever blended?
Light hair, a mix of natural honey and wheat husks, straight and clipped short covered his head. Shoulders spanning almost as wide as the doorframe were covered by a dark tan sports jacket, the pants a deeper hue of the same color palette.
“Donna,” Angelo said, his voice thick with fear, “why’d you attack Detective Roma?”
“I didn’t attack…wait? Detective?”
I tried to lick some moisture back into my lips but my salivary glands had gone dormant during the flight or fight response. I glanced at each of the men standing in front me, stopping last on the one Ange had referred to as a detective.
With one hand still cupping his jaw where my knee connected, the man pierced me with his gorgeous gaze and just like I had when I’d been seventeen and climbed into the back seat of his brand new Z8, I lost what little sanity I still had.
“Hey Donna,” Tony Roma said, shaking his head. “Long time and all. I see you’re still as sweet and mild mannered as ever.”
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
Universal link: https://books2read.com/u/31Kkn7
Share a holiday family tradition:
Holiday stockings are usually filled with candy the person loves, and personal care items like perfume, toothpaste, shampoo. This is a way of giving the gift of grooming every year ( LOL) which my daughter simple loves.
Why is your featured book perfect to get readers in the holiday mood?
RomComs about quirky families are my jam and if that’s something you love, too, this book is perfect for your holiday tbr list. The San Valentino’s love hard, and once you’re family, it’s for life. The entire crazy family is on display in this book and since it’s Christmas and all the traditions that follow along with being in a big Italian family exist, you will find yourself laughing page after page.
Giveaway –
Enter to win a $75 Amazon (US or Canada) Gift Card.
You must have an active Amazon US or Amazon Canada account to be eligible. Open internationally.
Runs December 1 – 31
Drawing will be held on January 3, 2023.
Author Biography:
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: http://peggyjaeger.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/peggy_jaeger
Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00T8E5LN0
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/peggyjaeger/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peggyjaeger_author/