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.
Website: http://www.jennifershirk.com
