First Impressions by Peggy Jaeger ♥ Fun Facts, Book Tour & GIVEAWAY ♥ (Contemporary Romance)

Family Practice Doctor Clarissa Rogers’ first impression of Padric Cleary is biased and based on gossip. The handsome, charming veterinarian is considered a serial dater and commitment-phobic by his family and most of the town. Relationship shy, Clarissa refuses to lose her heart to a man who can’t pledge himself to her forever.

Pat Cleary, despite his reputation, is actually looking for "The One." When he does give his heart away, he wants it to be for life. With his parent’s marriage as his guidebook, he wants a woman who will be his equal and soul mate in every way.

Can Pat convince everyone – including Clarissa – she’s the only woman for him?

I’ve always been a pet person. I was raised with cats and when I got married our first “baby” was an eight-week-old black Labrador retriever who grew into a 120 pound bundle of joy and love. But not everyone is cut out to be a pet owner. One of the best ways to determine if you have what it takes to care for and welcome an animal into your home is to volunteer to be an Animal Foster Parent first. Most local veterinarian clinics and ASPCA organizations now foster animals out who need more care, socialization, and just plain love than can be given in a clinical setting. A quick Google surf will give you hundreds of options to begin your search.

When I was writing FIRST IMPRESSIONS I knew I wanted to include a foster pet into the mix. My heroine, Clarissa Rogers, undergoes a terrible, personal loss and local Veterinarian (and hero) Padric Cleary knows she needs something to help her through it. When he suggests she become a foster “mom” to an eight-week-old kitten who has been abandoned and brought to his clinic, she leaps at the chance. The love Clarissa feels for her new little charge sparks a change in her attitude toward the man everyone calls a player, and Pat and Clarissa’s romantic journey begins. When their relationship is threatened, it is the kitten who helps bring them back together during an extremely emotional event, and helps strengthens their bond. When the cover art for FIRST IMPRESSIONS was under consideration, one of the sticking points for me was the inclusion of a picture of the foster kitten, and the artist complied – which makes me forever thankful to her.

Pets are one of the most welcomed additions to any household. They bring unconditional love and acceptance with them wherever they go and they fill the hearts of their human companions with joy. If you think you want to include a pet into your loving household, but you’re just not sure, become a foster pet-parent first. The rewards are many and the fun never ends.

She sent a quick text, thinking he would read it when he woke in the morning.

Home. Long day. Sorry I couldn’t text before now.

When she plugged her phone into the charger, it pinged.

Patient okay? She typed back: Thankfully, yes.  Are you? he immediately replied.

“I would be, if I could get you out of my head,” she muttered. Tired. She typed.

I missed you after you left. Everyone did, but me most of all.

“What are you doing to me?” she asked the phone.

Crawling into bed now. ’Night.

Get some sleep. Talk 2morrow.

Clarissa snuggled under the comforter, and as she was about to close her eyes, the phone pinged again. She reached for it and laughed out loud.

What are you wearing? 

Pat. Go. To. Sleep. 

I can’t. I keep seeing you whenever I close my eyes.

“Oh, dear Lord.” A seeping warmth dropped through her system.

I am not sexting you. I’m too tired right now.

Does that mean you’ll sext me some other time? He added two emoticon faces with smiles, their eyebrows rising up and down suggestively.

Stop. Please. I need sleep and you’re making me laugh.

My intent was to make you as frustrated as me, not laugh. My ego is bruising again, Clarissa. Want to come over here and kiss it better?

“The man is too much,” she told the empty room.

I’m powering down now. Go to sleep. Friend.

She waited a minute to see if he’d reply. When he didn’t she put the phone back into the charger. Exhaustion took over, and she was asleep almost instantly.

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, books 1 and 2 in her 6-book The MacQuire Women Series, published by The Wild Rose Press.  Tying into her love of families, her children's book, THE KINDNESS TALES, was illustrated by her artist mother-in-law.  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.
In 2013, she placed first in two categories in the Dixie Kane Memorial Contest: Single Title Contemporary Romance and Short/Long Contemporary Romance.  A lifelong and avid romance reader and writer, she is a member of RWA and her local New Hampshire RWA Chapter.