In a scene from the movie version of Sex and the City, Carrie reads the Cinderella fairy tale story to Charlotte’s daughter Lily. At the end of the telling, Lily wants to hear it again and looks completely enraptured with the tale. Carrie gives her a wary look and asks, “You know this isn’t true, right? It doesn’t happen in real life?”
Lily just looks up at her and says, “Again,” meaning she wants to hear the story, not Carrie’s negative take on it.
Like Lily, I was enamored with the Cinderella fairy tale when I was a kid. I watched the Leslie Ann Warren version of the Rogers and Hammerstein musical on tv about 100 times. As an adult, one who writes romantic fiction for a living, Cinderella still does it for me as far as the whole Happily Ever after theme goes, and I’ve dreamed of writing my own version of the tale for years.
But….
This is 2019 and my Cynderella ain’t no broken down stepchild sittin’ in the corner covered in dirt and used as unpaid labor for a biatchof a menopausal step-monster.
My Cynderella Jones is the CEO of a company she founded called DIRTY DAMSELS, which caters to New York’s rich and elite who pay her company to keep their condos, mansions, and pied-a-terres spotless. Cynderella manages a stable of 20 and 30-something out of work actresses and between jobs models as her cleaning crew and she treats them with respect and kindness.
No more rags for this Cynderella, either. She wears designer labels and red power suits now. And she isn’t sitting at home by the dirty fireplace waiting for a prince to come and snatch her from penury. She made her success happen all by herself with an MBA from Columbia and a sound business plan.
And although Ella doesn’t need a man in her life she sure would like one, not to support her financially, but emotionally.
Like the fairy tale of yore, my version of Cynderella sports a handsome, rich, Prince, who is smitten with Ella. But each of them has a secret they’re keeping from the other, and when it’s discovered, their fairy tale HEA is in some serious jeopardy.
Blurb:
When I first saw Cynderella all covered in soot in that sexy maid uniform, I knew I wanted to be her Prince.
She’s a small and savvy businesswoman who’s built her cleaning company from the ground up. But now that Dirty Damsels is booming, I’ve been hired to arrange a hostile takeover.
But the temptation of having her was too much to ignore… We ended up spending one night together—a night neither of will forget. Now, I want more. I need more. I want to spend every night, skin-on-skin, with my beautiful Ella.
Problem is, when she finds out who I really am, she’ll never forgive me.
Excerpt:
“You feel it too, don’t you?” he asked softly, the pressure on my hand tightening a little. “I’m not wrong, am I?”
I shook my head and sighed. “No.” I admitted, stunned at myself. Disclosure is not my strong point in relationships. I tend not to be a great trust-er and don’t like revealing my thoughts and feelings. It goes way back to when my dad married my stepmother. She didn’t like me, and her two daughters didn’t, either. Any time I tried to be friends with them, or get them to like me, I got shot down, ridiculed, and treated like dirt. When my dad died, it got worse.
Way worse.
“From the moment you turned around from the fireplace I haven’t been able to think much of anything else but you.” He leaned in closer across the table. “When I saw you in the club, for a moment I thought jet lag had gotten to me and I was hallucinating. Happily hallucinating,” he added with a grin. “I couldn’t stop myself from going over to see if it really wasyou. I’m not usually the kind of guy who does that.”
I couldn’t take my eyes off of his face. If he was handing me a line, it was the best one I’d heard in a while, and boy, did I want to believe it.
“Even minus the kerchief I recognized you. Your face…well…it’s unforgettable, even without ashes across your cheek.”
His fingers started doing the knuckle swirling thing again and all my nerve endings jumped.
“I hope I’m not embarrassing you,” he said.
“No. Embarrassed isn’t what I’m feeling.” I lifted the coffee mug with my free hand and, miraculously, got it up to my mouth without spilling it all over myself.
I watched his striking eyes widen over the rim of the mug. “A statement like that gives a guy a huge amount of hope.”
Buy lInks:
Amazon:
Kindle version: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TBBPHM8
Print Version: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1640348409
Bio
Peggy Jaeger is a contemporary romance writer who writes Romantic Comedies about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can’t live without them. If she can make you cry on one page and bring you out of tears rolling with laughter the next, she’s done her job as a writer!
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, she brings all topics of daily 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’s created the families she wanted as that lonely child.
When she’s not writing Peggy is usually painting, crafting, scrapbooking or decoupaging old steamer trunks she finds at rummage stores and garage sales.
A lifelong and avid romance reader and writer, Peggy is a member of RWA and her local New Hampshire RWA Chapter.
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??!"
Peggy Jaeger is a contemporary romance writer who writes Romantic Comedies about strong women, the families who support them, and the men who can’t live without them. If she can make you cry on one page and bring you out of tears rolling with laughter the next, she’s done her job as a writer!
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, she brings all topics of daily 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’s created the families she wanted as that lonely child.
When she’s not writing Peggy is usually painting, crafting, scrapbooking or decoupaging old steamer trunks she finds at rummage stores and garage sales.
A lifelong and avid romance reader and writer, Peggy is a member of RWA and her local New Hampshire RWA Chapter.
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:
Amazon Author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00T8E5LN0
Jennifer - once again thanks so much for the support and for giving a shoutout about DIRTY DAMSELS to you readers and fans! I lovelovelove my writing sistahs so much.
ReplyDeleteWelcome again to the blog and good luck with the book. Sounds great!
DeleteEnjoyed this book Peggy!
ReplyDeleteBless you, dear girl for giving it a read!
DeleteGreat premise for a fun read. Thanks for sharing, Peggy.
ReplyDeletethanks, darlin'!
DeleteAh! Secrets are made to be told! And you always tell them with such style--and smiles :)
ReplyDeleteBarbara- I love a good secret! Esp. if it's a juicy one! hee hee
Delete