Please Welcome Jennifer Shirk author of Sunny Days for Sam

Rogues Angels are pleased to host Sunny Days for Sam by author Jennifer Shirk author of Sunny Days for Sam. We hope all of you who browse enjoy the interview, blurb, and excerpt. Please leave a comment.

PRIZE INFORMATION

Jennifer will be giving away a print copy of "Sunny Days for Sam" (US/Canada only -- an eBook copy of "Role of a Lifetime" will be substituted as prizes for any international winners) to two randomly drawn commenters, and a $10 Visa GC for the blog host with most comments (excluding the author's and the host's).

Sunny Days for Sam

by Jennifer Shirk

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BLURB:

Sunnyva “Sunny” Fletcher is a firm believer in fairy tales. With the recent debt she’s acquired, the hope of something magical happening in her life is the only thing keeping her going. She needs a job fast. So when Sunny learns the sexy new vacationer in town is looking for a nanny, she starts to believe she just may have a fairy godmother after all! 

Internet guru Sam Calloway is only in town for the summer and needs a nanny for his two small children. However, the beautiful and inexperienced Sunny is not exactly the kind of caregiver Sam has in mind. It doesn’t take long for Sunny’s tenderhearted and bubble-blowing ways to soon have the children—and Sam—enamored with her. She’s a dream come true. But after what Sam’s been through, he’s stopped believing in fairy tales long ago. 

Sunny manages to work her way into Sam’s closed-off heart, but at the end of the summer, will the workaholic dad go back to his life in New York City, or will he decide his days are much sunnier here with Sunny? 

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EXCERPT:

Kim kicked her under the table, signaling her to say something about the nanny position before he disappeared.

“Ow!” Sunny scowled at Kim. Rubbing her shin, she turned to Sam. “Uh, look, I was wondering since I need a job now, and you’re, well…”

A dawning of realization sparked in Sam’s eyes, and his expression grew several degrees colder. “Ah, I see what this is all about. Now I know why you were so eager to help me. I’m sorry but my company isn’t hiring at the moment. Of course, you’re welcome to send in your resume for us to have on file.”

Resume? Company? She didn’t even know he had a company to send a resume to. “Um, no, actually, I was more interested in the, uh, nanny position.”

Sam blinked, then threw his head back and laughed. “You want me to hire you as a nanny?”

Emma stopped blowing bubbles in her milk and looked up with wide excited eyes. “Sunny’s going to be our new nanny?”

“Oh, cool!” Cole exclaimed. “You’re not mean like Natasha was and you’re not old like that Mrs. Ferguson. Mrs. Ferguson was always putting things where they didn’t belong and she couldn’t see so good.”

Sam gave him a stern look. “Hey, that’s not nice to say, Cole.” 

“Sorry. But if she was a knight, she would be Mrs. Forgets-a-lot.” 

Sunny banked down a bubble of laughter.

“Well, it doesn’t matter how Mrs. Ferguson was, because Sunny is not going to be your new nanny,” Sam firmly told them.

Any lingering laughter Sunny might have had died on the spot. “Oh, but I do have references!” she cried. “I’ve done a little babysitting on the side for years. I can be at your house at whatever time you want, except Friday and Saturday nights. And… and… I—I can even cook. Sometimes.”

“Sometimes?” he asked.

She shrugged guiltily. “Well, it’s usually hit-or-miss with me. I do make very good peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and last year at the County Fall Festival I took first place for my double chocolate chip brownies.”

Sam let out an audible sigh. If Sunny was a betting woman, she’d wager he didn’t seem too impressed with those credentials. “Look, Miss, I prefer using an agency and going through all the proper channels. No offense. And I need someone willing to put in at least fifty hours a week.”

Sunny almost pinched herself when she heard fifty hours a week. That would pull in a lot of money. She obviously wasn’t doing a great job selling herself, though. Sam was already back to calling her Miss instead of Sunny. She needed this job. But what else could she say? She finally looked to Kim for help.

Kim took the cue and stood, taking Sam by the arm and leading him out of earshot of the children. “Well, just so you know,” she said in a hushed tone, “this is a small town. There’s no agency here, and from what your children said, I’m not so sure you’ve had the greatest luck with that. So you should at least consider Sunny. It’s really simple when you think about it. You need a nanny and she needs a job. Anyone in town will vouch for her. Heck, if you’d use your eyes, you can see for yourself that she’s great with kids.”

Sam rolled his eyes then his gaze fell to his children. Emma had already climbed up onto Sunny’s lap, running her little fingers through her straight blond hair. Cole had his hands in prayer position next to her. Sunny said a silent prayer, too. If Sam didn’t fall for this kind of corny Norman Rockwell pose, then she had no absolutely chance in securing the position. She held her breath and waited.

Sam walked back toward them with a resigned look. His cell phone went off again, but he ignored it this time. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he finally muttered, “Fine.”

“Yay!” the kids shouted, giggling and dancing around the table.

The breath Sunny had been holding rushed out of her lungs. She almost thought she’d misheard him. “You mean it? You’ll really hire me?”

“Yeah, but let’s not get carried away. It’ll just be temporary. Let’s see how the week goes first.”

Sunny high-fived Kim then jumped out of her chair. She was so happy, she almost threw her arms around Sam and kissed him. Fortunately, Sam’s disapproving scowl kept her firmly rooted to the two foot distance between them. He didn’t have much confidence in her, but that was okay. She had more than enough for both of them.

“Oh, you won’t be sorry,” she assured him. “I’ll be the best nanny slash brownie maker slash ex-princess you’ve ever had. I guarantee, after this week, you’ll be so pleased, you won’t ever want to let me go.”

Sam folded his arms and smirked. “Yeah well, we’ll see about that.”

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Jennifer Shirk has a bachelor degree in pharmacy-which has in NO WAY at all helped her with her writing career. But she likes to point it out, since it shows romantic-at-hearts come in all shapes, sizes, and mind-numbing educations.

She writes sweet romantic comedies and won third place in the RWA 2006 NYC's Kathryn Hayes Love and Laughter Contest with her book, The Role of a Lifetime. 

She's also a board member for Straight Ahead Ministries, an organization involved in helping spread the gospel and aiding medical and pharmacy students in Russia. She resides in a beach resort in NJ, and when she's not involved in all the above, she's taking care of her most treasured possessions: her husband, daughter, and four hermit crabs. 

Website:  http://www.jennifershirk.com 

Blog:  http://www.jennifershirk.blogspot.com

Learn More About Jennifer:

What or who inspired you to start writing? 

I didn’t actually start writing until I had my first baby.  I would read a lot during her naptime, and then I found myself mentally rewriting stories to the way I wanted. So I decided to put my pen where my head was and sit down and try my hand at writing my own.  Luckily, there is an enormous amount of helpful information through the Internet. Then three years and two bad manuscripts later, I was offered a contract.

 What elements are necessary components of a sweet contemporary romance novel?

Two likeable, family-oriented main characters, first off. Then when you put them together there has to be enough sexual tension to sustain the romance while keeping the bedroom door firmly closed.

How did you come up with your idea for Sunny Days for Sam?

We were in Disney World on a family trip and when I looked at those women dressed up as Disney Princesses, I immediately had the idea to give my heroine a similar kind of job. Once she I figured out why she was there, the story kind of unfolded from there. ☺

What would you want your readers to know about you that might not be in your bio?

I’m a P90x fitness fanatic and also a vegetarian. I’m also a pretty good cook. 

 If you could be one of the characters from this book, who would it be and why?

Oats, Sunny’s dog. Sunny totally caters to her so that dog really has quite a life. LOL!

Can you give us a sneak peak into this book?

Sure! Here’s the back cover blurb for you:

Sunnyva “Sunny” Fletcher is a firm believer in fairy tales. With the recent debt she’s acquired, the hope of something magical happening in her life is the only thing keeping her going. She needs a job fast. So when Sunny learns the sexy new vacationer in town is looking for a nanny, she starts to believe she just may have a fairy godmother after all!

Internet guru Sam Calloway is only in town for the summer and needs a nanny for his two small children. However, the beautiful and inexperienced Sunny is not exactly the kind of caregiver Sam has in mind. It doesn’t take long for Sunny’s tenderhearted and bubble-blowing ways to soon have the children—and Sam—enamored with her. She’s a dream come true. But after what Sam’s been through, he’s stopped believing in fairy tales long ago.

Sunny manages to work her way into Sam’s closed-off heart, but at the end of the summer, will the workaholic dad go back to his life in New York City, or will he decide his days are much sunnier here with Sunny?

Do you belong to a critique group? If so how does this help or hinder your writing?

I do belong to a critique group! They’re located here: http://www.passionatecritters.org/

They are an awesome group of women. If it hadn’t been for them urging me to finish this book, I don’t think it would have been written.

When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step?

I submitted my first manuscript back in 2006. I didn’t have a critique group yet, but had wonderful encouragement from my husband. 

Do you outline your books or just start writing?

I’m outliner. Usually I begin with characters and names then give them each a GOAL, MOTIVATION, CONFLICT and then decide how those things will change by the end of the story. I always like to start out with a plan even though it might change as I start writing.

Who is your favorite character in the book. Can you tell us why?

My hero, Sam. He’s the first “brooding” guy I’ve ever written. I had to tone him down a lot in the first draft, but overall I really like he came out--sad, tender, yet he has some subtle humorous moments as well.

This is a scene where Sunny shows up for work on her first day…with her dog. I like how Sam plays the straight man against Sunny’s quirky character.

The doorbell rang, breaking him from his thoughts and he rushed over to answer it. When he swung open the door and saw her standing there with a golden retriever at her feet, he should have been surprised. But somehow he wasn’t. Before Sam had hired Sunny, he already had an odd sense there wasn’t anything predictable or mundane about this woman.

“You’ve got to be kidding,” he said in greeting to Sunny. “Who in their right mind brings their dog to work without clearing it with the employer?” He looked down at her large canine sidekick again and folded his arms, blocking their entrance. There was no way he wanted that dog with the kind of tail that looked as though it could take out a small city coming into his home and knocking over any of his computer equipment.

“I can explain,” she said quickly.

“Oh, naturally,” he said, leaning against the door frame. “By all means, please do.” 

Sunny bit her lip, tucking little blonde pieces of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail behind her ears. “Well, uh, under normal circumstances I would never even think about bringing my dog to any job I had—assuming I still have a job after this—but I didn’t want to be late, so I had to make a split-second decision. Oats was acting funny this morning, and I didn’t want to take a chance that she could be sick.”

He threw his hands up in the air. “Oh, great, so you brought a sick dog here?” 

“Well”—she visibly swallowed hard and he fought the urge to smile at the cute little lines of worry etched between her eyebrows—“um, yeah. If it makes you feel better, I think Oatsie here is already on the mend,” she said, giving the dog a few quick pats on its head.

The dog gave a large woof and jumped up, placing her two big front paws on Sam’s chest. Sam examined Oats through narrowed eyes. The dog didn’t look sick to him—but it could sure use a breath mint and maybe a bath.

Are your plotting bunnies angels or demons?

DEMONS. You think plotting would get easier with each book, but it doesn’t.

Thanks so much for hosting me today!!

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PRIZE INFORMATION

Jennifer will be giving away a print copy of "Sunny Days for Sam" (US/Canada only -- an eBook copy of "Role of a Lifetime" will be substituted as prizes for any international winners) to two randomly drawn commenters, and a $10 Visa GC for the blog host with most comments (excluding the author's and the host's).

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