Friday, April 6, 2012

Sunny Days for Sam Blog Tour



Hey Tasty Readers....Today I am sharing the floor with the fantastic, Jennifer Shirk, who is promoting her new release, Sunny Days for Sam.  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, so make sure to leave a comment below, and follow the rest of the tour for more chances to win.

Without further ado....Jen Shirk.




Hi, all! Jennifer here.
In my upcoming release SUNNY DAYS FOR SAM, my heroine starts off as theme park character princess. But then she’s unexpectedly fired and needs to find a new job fast. Fortunately, she finds one as a nanny to my handsome hero Sam’s two adorable children.
I—personally—was never in the kind of debt my character Sunny is in, but I do remember desperately needing money for clothes as a teenager and my mom abruptly cutting me off. So I did the only thing I could do as a sixteen year old who wanted to buy more clothes. I found a job—fast—as a hostess in a Mexican restaurant. I was so proud of myself. I had a cute little white blouse and long flowing skirt as my uniform. I thought it was the greatest job ever… until I actually began work.
 I lasted three weeks. Maybe.
They didn’t deliver on the salary they promised me. My favorite gold watch was stolen there. I was the one who had to tell people with a smile that the wait would be over an hour. I smelled like grease from going in the kitchen and just clocking in and out. I had to work on my breaks and they gave me the worst hours ever. Oh, and the other girls there treated me awful. In short, it was a nightmare. LOL But a good experience nonetheless. J
Compared to all that, Sunny’s job as theme park princess sounds pretty awesome! And I would have definitely taken Sunny’s job as a nanny, especially since her employer Sam is so extremely hot. Nobody liked that worked at that restaurant. If so, I might have lasted a few more weeks. J
I hope you all have a chance to check out Sunny Days for Sam to see what I mean.
Thanks so much to A Tasty Read for having me today!



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?


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.”



AUTHOR



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.












23 comments:

Goddess Fish Promotions said...

Thank you for hosting Jennifer today.

Jennifer Shirk said...

Good morning!!
It's so nice to be here! Thanks for having me!

Linda G. said...

Sweet! Love the excerpt. Perfect title, too. :)

Liz Mays said...

Your restaurant job sounds absolutely horrendous!

Cheryl Klarich said...

Gotta love those character building jobs! (kind of a double entendre)...

Unknown said...

I wish you had a picture to post of you in your "uniform." :) I worked in the cafeteria and cleaned cabins in a camp when I met my husband. I was the lunch lady!

Linda Kage said...

I was always too afraid to try working at any type of restaurant. No, I found the dirty, hot, grimy factories to work in. Then I slid in the library jobs. I love the library jobs SOO much better. But yeah, being a princess would be sweet!

Jaye Shields said...

First of all, beautiful cover. Second of all, I love that your heroine was a professional character. I was going to try out to be a disney princess, but the line super long! American Idol status. My friend still did though, and she said the tryouts were nuts. I should go freelance ;)

Robyn Campbell said...

Yay Jennifer!!!!!!!!!! What a fantastic snippet. Sunny Days for Sam sounds like a wonderful read. (I was a waitress) And a darn good one too.

I plan on buying this book, woman. If I don't win a copy. :-)

Jennifer Shirk said...

Liz: trust me it was!!

Cheryl: Yes, character building. You need at least one job in your life like that. LOL

Julie: Now I have that "Lunch lady" song in my head! LOL

Jaye: I bet it is a hard job to get!

Robyn: Thanks!! You're so sweet!

Melissa McClone said...

Oh, that job sounds awful. I worked at a friend's restaurant. My feet would hurt so bad even though I bought a pair of really nice shoes. There were no chairs in the kitchen. You literally had to stand the entire shift. Ouch. And dealing with customers was not fun. I did everything from serving to dishwashing, depending on need. Hardest job I ever had.

Tasty Book Tours said...

My first job was at the Candy Store at the mall and believe me, nothing is worse than people having you walk around the whole counter for the EXACT mix of candy they wanted!! Ugh!!

But I definitely feel for all my ladies that have had to waitress! I don't think I'd be able to hack it!

bas1chs said...

I am loving following your virtual book tour: I'm learning something a little more each time and it makes me only want to read this book even more! I worked as a nanny for a family for years and luckily I earned enough to buy my first car. Unfortunately I lost touch with the family a few years back.

Thanks for sharing this with us!
bas1chsemail at gmail dot com

Susan Flett Swiderski said...

I liked all the jobs I had, but in retrospect, doing medical research involved some pretty weird things. I loved it, but some of the things I did would probably register pretty high on other people's ick scales. Oh well. I would've made a lousy princess. Too clumsy.

Jennifer Shirk said...

Ha! Yeah. I really have a new found respect for waitresses. :)

I'm sure people where extra particular about their candy too!

Bas: Thank you! That's so cool you worked as a nanny.

Susan: Ooh medical research...I bet you saw some cool stuff!

Karen Lange said...

Thanks for the sneak peek at Jennifer's book! Wishing her all the best.

Happy weekend! :)

MomJane said...

I am sure I will love this book. She absolutely is great with kids, and she is really funny.

I loved reading about your experience at the Mexican restaurant. I started working at a soda fountain. It was awful.

Carol Kilgore said...

Funny how we learn so much from bad experiences :)

Old Kitty said...

Yay for taking the initiative at 16 despite your awful experience! Oh dear!! I hope you got to keep the cute outfit though!

All the best with your book lovely Jennifer! Take care
x

Jennifer Shirk said...

Hi, Karen! Thanks for stopping by!

Old Kitty: No, I didn't get to keep the cute outfit! :(

Connie Keller said...

The book sounds lovely!! Thanks for sharing the excerpt.

Sue Dellaquilla said...

Was eagerly waiting for this book to come out! Am ordering it as soon as I hit send for this comment! When is the next one, Jennifer?

Name: Holly Bowne said...

Ooooh, awesome teaser for your book! And I loved the story about your first job. Heh, heh!