Monday Book Review: Balance, by Peggy Jaeger

 

About the Book:

She’s a wealthy socialite who survived an abusive marriage.
He’s a hardworking guy raising his son and caring for his widowed father.
They come from different worlds, but it’s said…opposites attract.
Can they find the balance between their two lifestyles to make their love work?
Or will their differences tear them apart?

Life and love are a balancing act

 

MY TAKE:

Peggy Jaeger's emotional and descriptive writing make her an auto-buy author for me, and with Balance she has another winner. This story of opposites attracting is not a fast, breezy read as some of the subject matter is heavier than your average romance - our heroine Phillipa recently got out of a 15-year abusive marriage, and now volunteers at a battered women's shelter. Phil was also the rich, spoiled, and highly unlikeable secondary character in a previous book (Woke, a reimagined tale of Sleeping Beauty), so I wasn't sure I wanted to even like her, despite her tragic story.

And yet... Jaeger has a way of peeling back the layers to reveal the goodness in her characters. When Phil meets Decker on call in the ER, he seems just as prickly, pompous, and unlikeable as she is, despite his handsome good looks and surprisingly caring bedside manner. Yet... as more of his character is revealed, we find he's a hardworking single father, struggling to care for his son and aging father while making ends meet.Each has opposite problems to overcome, and yet the whole opposites attract thing seems to flow so naturally and un-forced. The problems the pair face also flow naturally from circumstances.

The story is told all in Phillipa's first person POV, and although I would have loved to know what exactly was running through Decker's mind, the one POV helped to keep the tension running throughout the story. Peggy Jaeger is a master of description and emotion, tugging you by the heartstrings through the story until you reach the satisfying happily ever after.

5 stars for this emotional roller coaster of a romance. Highly recommend.

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Monday Book Review: Mistletoe, Mobsters & Mozzarella by Peggy Jaeger

About the Book:

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?

 

MY TAKE:

I know, I know, it's a bit too early for Christmas stories - my own personal rule is to keep the holidays in order, so Christmas stuff shouldn't ever come before Thanksgiving, including Christmas-themed romance. 

I made an exception.

This was a little bit of a departure for the author, with a dead body in the first chapter heightening the suspense factor, but she handled it with her usual wit and finesse. Or rather, her characters handled it. Ms. Jaeger has given us a few books starring the San Valentino family, a large but close-knit Italian famiglia in New York City who may or may not have shadowy whispers of mob connections. With this book, those whispers aren't necessarily confirmed, but the connection lines are penciled in a bit darker.

Donna and her father work at the family deli. She's the oldest and the only one of the siblings who does, although no one really defines what any of the other brothers do for a living, except the youngest who's in college. It's not like they couldn't use the help at the busy deli, but Donna's first person viewpoint tells us there is no hope that any of her lazy brothers would ever step up to join this family business. 

With the busy Christmas season approaching the last thing she needs is to find her delivery guy stuffed into the walk-in freezer. Make that second to last. The Absolute last thing she needs is for her high school crush - the one who left without saying goodbye - to be the detective in charge of solving the mystery and finding the killer. Tony Roma is tall, dark, and handsome, and doesn't seem to remember the kisses they shared long ago. Donna working together with the hot hunk of detective leaves no doubt that a fuse has been set and something is going to explode.

I can't get into much more without giving away plot points, and it's a whole lot more fun to unravel the mystery - both the dead body and what's up with Tony -  alongside Donna and her crazy family.

Peggy Jaeger writes with such heart and feeling, pulling the reader right into the story and taking us for a rollercoaster of a ride. She continues with the strong themes that run through so many of her stories - the importance of family, trust, and forgiveness. It's such fun to revisit with these characters for the holidays again (A Kiss Under the Christmas Lights is one of my favorite holiday feel-good romances, also by Peggy Jaeger) If you're looking for a fun read to kick off your holiday book spree, give this one a shot. You won't be disappointed. 5 sparkling stars for this Christmas romance!

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