Today I'm turning my blog over to
Jennifer Shirk, who I interviewed about her latest novel "
Sunny Days for Sam!!"
ALSO --
Be sure to comment on this post to be able to sign up for this tour's GIVEAWAYs (listed below)!!
[Blog Tour will run from April 2 - 13, 2012]
My Q&A with Jennifer Shirk :Jess : What books did you enjoy reading while growing up?
Jennifer : I loved humorous books—especially
Judy Blume. And now I write a lot of humor in my own books too.
Jess : What appeals to you when writing a romance novel?
Jennifer : I love the special little chemistry you can create between such different people. It’s fun to put two people together and watch what happens.
Jess : Which of your characters would you most & least to invite to dinner, from which book and why?
Jennifer : That’s tough! But I would probably invite Ben Capshaw from my romantic comedy "
The Role Of A Lifetime." Why? He’s a handsome movie star, and he happens to be a very funny guy. :)
Jess : What sparked the idea for your "
Sunny Days for Sam?"
Jennifer : We were in Disney World on a family trip and when I saw all those women walking around dressed as Disney Princesses, I thought it would be so fun to have my character start off with a similar job. The book kind of has a Cinderella theme running through it too.
Jess : What is the most romantic thing one of your characters, from "
Sunny Days for Sam," said or did?
Jennifer : Well, I can’t give away the ending, but I just so happen to ADORE the way Sam proposes to Sunny at the end of the book. It’s very romantic. :)
Jess : If "
Sunny Days for Sam" were to be made into a film, who do you see playing the main characters and why?
Jennifer : Well, that’s funny you ask, because I actually did do a search of famous faces before I started writing the book in order to get a clear picture of my characters. I chose Sam as Patrick Dempsey and Sunny as Kate Bosworth.
Jess : Which usually comes first for you, the character(s) story or the idea for the novel?
Jennifer : Usually, I get an idea for a scene, and then the plot comes from that and then the characters.
Jess : In regards to your most recent novel, if you could write it all over again, would you change anything about it?
Jennifer : I think I might have made Sunny’s friend single instead of married. It would be nice to do a sequel of sorts for this book. Not that it couldn’t still happen...
Jess : How many books have you written?
Jennifer : Five. Three are published. One is under consideration now and one will never see the light of day.
Jess : Which is your favorite and why?
Jennifer : Oh, tough question! I can’t answer. A mother doesn’t say which one of her babies is her favorite—even though she may think it. LOL
Jess : Do you have any other projects in the works? If so, can you share a little of your current work with us?
Jennifer : I have a new book called "
Kissing Kendall" under consideration with my editor. It’s a continuation of my last book called "
Georgie on His Mind." Only this time it’s Georgie’s brother Brad’s book.
Jess : What book are you reading now? How do you like it so far?
Jennifer : Right now I’m reading a YA novel by
Amanda Hocking called "
Switched." I’m completely gobbling it up!!
Thanks so much for having me!!
About the 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.
"Sunny Days for Sam" by Jennifer ShirkAuthor's Book Description :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?
Book 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.”
Giveaways!! :
- 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
To Enter : Please leave a comment on this post, with a
valid email address included at the end of it.
Soo .... COMMENT, COMMENT, COMMENT on this post!! And you could WIN!! =0)
ALSO -- Be sure to follow the tour around the other blog sites! Commenting on the other stops on the tour will also increase your chance of winning!
Find Jennifer Shirk :
I learned about this organization when a coworker of mine emailed me this link wanting me to check out the video that the article has on the page because her son sent it to her and she said it just had a wonderful message and I really should listen to it. Well that was about a month ago (in March) and today I finally got around to going to the link and looking into it. As you can see (unless it's changed since I've been to the link) the video has been taken down so I went to the Invisible Children's website to see if the video was there and to learn what I could and WOW I am SOOO glad that I did. They have an even better video posted (view below) and now I am so informed that I wish I could do more than just make a blog post about it but I HAD to tell you about what was going on encase (like me) you didn't know but feel you should help out. So, please view the below video it talks about what Invisible Children is, how they are trying to make a difference, and how you can too. It's only 20 minutes of your time. Thank you in advance.
