A Warm Welcome to Jennifer Shirk

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 Shirk
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? 

Before treating us to an excerpt, Jennifer Reveals:
From where do you get inspiration and what inspired you to write Sunny Days for Sam ?
You never know when or where inspiration is going to strike. Sometimes it’s a conversation or what I happen to be doing at the time. For my recent book SUNNY DAYS FOR SAM, I was inspired by all the Disney Princesses walking around in Disney World!

In a couple of sentences, describe the hero’s character.  What do you like best/least about him?
I like to tell people Sam Calloway is one of those brooding Mr. Rochester-from-Jane-Eyre kind of guys—minus the wife in the attic part. LOL  I like that fact that although he’s cautious and a bit withdrawn, he still has a dry sense of humour. I also like that he loves his kids. But he’s a bit of a workaholic and doesn’t smile as much as he should.

And the heroine? How do you relate to her?

Sunny is...different. She’s one of those sweet Mary Poppins kind of women. In fact, sometimes she’s a little too good to be true. But I like the fact that she has such a sensitive side. She can sense Sam’s hurting and look past his gruff demeanour.

Who controls the story – you or your characters?

Mostly me. But my characters’ personalities can sometimes get away from me. I always need to tone that down when editing my first draft.

What do you hope your readers come away with after reading your book?

Well, I hope they chuckle—or at least smile—at a few of my scenes. And when they close the book, I hope they really believe my characters will live a happily-ever-after.

What can we look forward to from you in the near future?

Hopefully, a lot more books! I just submitted a sequel (KISSING KENDALL) of my previous book, GEORGIE ON HIS MIND and I hope to hear a publication date for that soon.

Do you have a favourite author/book? What was your favourite book as a child/teen? Are you currently reading anything?

I just love anything Susan Elizabeth Phillips writes. All her books make me laugh, cry and sigh. J

My favourite book as a child was Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Charlotte’s Web.

Right now, I’m reading a YA book by Amanda Hocking called Switched. It’s very good so far!

How do you like to spend your free time?  Reading and looking for new recipes to try. I’m also very busy with the Women’s Ministry in my church.

What is your culinary speciality?  I’m a vegetarian now, but I still get a lot of requests for my grilled flank steak, and my Italian mother-in-law told me I make the best lasagne she’s ever had. J
And Now a Taste of Jennifer:

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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     Website: http://www.jennifershirk.com  

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

A final word from Jennifer:
Thanks so much for having me! It was a lot of fun to be here!
 It was our pleasure. We really enjoyed meeting you.