Please welcome Valerie Comer to the blog this week. She’s sharing with us a little bit about her story Garden Grown Romance in the collection Romance Grows in Arcadia Valley. Here’s a little more about the series:
Romance Grows in Arcadia Valley is the gateway to a shared world where you will find:
Spring’s Blessing (Seasons of Faith series) by Mary Jane Hathaway
A librarian’s desire for a simple garden is complicated when a large white rabbit, a motherless child, and a mysterious neighbor encroach on her carefully laid plans.
Loaves and Wishes (A Baxter Family Bakery Romance series) by Elizabeth Maddrey
Inheriting her friend’s Bed and Breakfast in Idaho is a second chance to succeed, but falling for the farmer next door wasn’t in the plan.
Sheltered Hearts (Romance from the Heart series) by Lee Tobin McClain
A curvy jilted bride gets stranded in a snowstorm with a handsome restaurant cook who’s not what he seems to be.
Sow in Love (A Garden Grown Romance series) by Valerie Comer
A real estate consultant charged with repurposing two abandoned greenhouses bumps heads — and hearts — with a garden center owner.
The Scent of Romance (Legacy of the Heart series) by Danica Favorite
A high-powered lawyer must convince a woman determined to protect her family’s legacy to sell the family farm, but finds his heart softening.
A Romance Rekindled (A Homegrown Love Story series) by Annalisa Daughety
After more than a decade apart, a formerly engaged couple is thrown together again with the future of the Arcadia Valley Farmers Market at stake.
Valerie, could you please share what spurred you and the other authors to write this series?
Once upon a time, in a land far, far away… okay, maybe that’s the wrong intro! This story does start well over a year ago, though, when an author friend and I began a ‘what if’ discussion. You know that question, right? It’s the foundation of every novel ever written. ‘What if’ there was a character like this? ‘What if’ this happened to them? ‘What if…?’
Our question ran like this: ‘What if’ several authors — six, for instance — got together to write Christian contemporary romance in a shared world? ‘What if’ they shared common themes and characters? ‘What if’ they each wrote a novella AND a three-book series, and bundled those novellas together, and overlapped their characters, and marketed together? What would happen then?
We liked it! We ran with it. We invited four other authors who also are into real food in their personal lives, and spent a long time brainstorming ideas, choosing a setting, and figuring out the logistics of how the project would work.
The result? Arcadia Valley Romance! (http://arcadiavalleyromance.com)
We’ve just kicked off with Romance Grows in Arcadia Valley. http://valeriecomer.com/books/romance-grows-arcadia-valley/ It looks like a same-old box set on the outside (except for the paperback!) but on the inside, it is the gateway to Arcadia Valley, where faith, family, a foodie culture, and romance — definitely romance! — grow hand-in-hand.
The Arcadia Valley Romance authors are on schedule to release one novel every single month through July, 2018, until each author has completed a three-book series. While all are set in Arcadia Valley (a fictional town near Twin Falls, Idaho) with foodie themes, each author chose her own focus within that. You’ll find stories set around a bakery, a community garden, a farm-to-table restaurant, a farmers market, and more. The sense of community is palpable!
My own contribution is the Garden Grown Romance series set in Arcadia Valley, starting with the premise of an old pair of greenhouses donated to a local church through a living trust. How will they make use of the opportunity? In the novella ‘Sow in Love’ (part of Romance Grows in Arcadia Valley), a real estate consultant charged with repurposing two abandoned greenhouses bumps heads — and hearts — with a garden center owner. The three novels that follow all carry through with linked characters making these dreams come true.
Won’t you join us in Arcadia Valley? We invite you through the gateway and into our shared realm. Come on in, pour yourself a cup of tea, and curl up by the fireplace. Be welcome here.
Sounds wonderful! Thanks for joining us.
Valerie Comer’s life on a small farm in western Canada provides the seed for stories of contemporary inspirational romance. Like many of her characters, Valerie and her family grow much of their own food and are active in the local foods movement as well as their creation-care-centric church. She only hopes her creations enjoy their happily ever afters as much as she does hers, shared with her husband, adult kids, and adorable granddaughters.
Valerie is a USA Today bestselling author and a two-time Word Award winner. She is known for writing engaging characters, strong communities, and deep faith laced with humor into her green clean romances. Visit her at ValerieComer.com.
Valerie is giving away an ebook copy of her story to anyone anywhere in the world! How great is that. Follow the directions below to enter.
I want a green thumb. We’ve had one great garden, one that became water logged by heavy spring rains, and then this past year we raised a pig in our garden. With all of the fresh fertilizer, we are hoping for another good year.
Pig fertilizer! Yay! Plus, hopefully, the pigs cleaned out the weed roots. 🙂
I bet that pig fertilizer was great! As long as he didn’t eat all the plants 🙂
No, I can kill cactus and aloe vera.
Is this where I post a photo of my Christmas cactus, of which half is dead? So sad.
I love growing and propagating african violets and hoping to get an orchid to re-bloom. I enjoy plants and can’t wait ’til spring! Thanks for the opportunity to win!
Hi Linda! We are under a couple of feet of snow here, so spring feels a long way away! But it’s coming… 🙂
I love a variety of plants but have learned to use hardy, drought tolerant perennials and some antique roses for the best results in our zone.
The climate and microclimate play such an important role, don’t they!
Do I have a green thumb?? Well, I grow a huge garden but how well it does depends on many other factors, many of them out of my control. Some years I wonder why I bother. Other years I am reminded of how satisfying it is to grow your own veggies and freeze or preserve them to enjoy all winter long.
I can’t say I have a green thumb either. I plant lots, water and weed until things get established, then hope for the best at harvest time!
Ugh. My last comment didn’t post.
I’m not sure I’d say I have a green thumb but I do plant a large garden. It really does depend on so many other factors also. Some years I wonder why I bother. Other years I remember how satisfying it is to grow your own veggies and freeze or preserve them for the long winter.
Twice I’ve tried to post and both times the website crashes.
I do grow a large garden and can/freeze produce for the long winter.
I don’t have a green thumb, but thankfully it’s not quite as black as it used to be! Maybe there’s hope for me!