**Taps microphone Hello? Is there anyone else like me out there? Probably not. Aren’t we all unique? One of a kind? Yes… but with many traits in common. My Urban Farm Fresh Romance series was visualized as a twelve-book series (gulp) from the start. The first story, Secrets of Sunbeams, released in a multi-author box […]
Do Opposites Really Attract?
We believe that opposites attract, right? How many romance novels can you name that prove it to be true? Don’t mind me. I’m just sitting over here sorting my writings… Because ‘opposites attract’ is a time-honored trope right up there with ‘second chances’ and ‘friends to more,’ and I’ve written my share of them, with […]
Living the Dream with Ava Santoro
Every little girl has dreams. Some of them can see their futures clearly. What they will choose for a career. Where they will travel. Whom they will marry. The names of their [insert number here] children. They can see the white picket fence or the New York City skyline or the mountaintop where they will […]
Love After Fifty
All you twenty- and thirty-somethings, let me assure you that life and love aren’t over at forty. Or fifty. Or, ahem, sixty… A while back, it occurred to me that possibly readers might think I believed romance is only for the young, since all my stories featured heroes and heroines in their 20s with a […]
Mmm… ’Tis Cranberry Season! #recipe #giveaway
Are you a fan of cooking with cranberries? I wasn’t, until the last few years. Oh, I’d make cranberry sauce for the family with Thanksgiving and Christmas’s turkey dinner because they thought it should be on the table, but then I’d usually scrape most of in the trash. We know that cranberries are superfoods, right? […]
Do You Belong?
Belonging is a recurring theme in my 35+ stories. I could point to one after the other and explain to you why the hero or heroine feels like an outsider in their own life. In some cases, that theme is fairly hidden. In others, it’s super obvious. Take Kenna Johnson in Lavished with Lavender, which […]
Interview with Chef Tony Santoro… and #giveaway
Ladies and gentlemen, please help me welcome Tony Santoro to Inspy Romance! I’ve known Tony for a long time, since about 2011 in Real World Time™, which is about twelve years ago in Story World Time ™. He was a gangly, mouthy teenager back then, but he’s turned into a fine man. Valerie: Hi, Tony. […]
The Heart of Community
Ask my readers what makes my novels special, and many of them will say, “community.” The term comes up in reviews often enough that I’ve added it to my tagline: Engaging characters. Strong communities. Deep faith. Sweet romance. I’m currently writing within my fifth and sixth series, and I can definitely see the underpinnings of […]
Artist, Meet Accountant! and #giveaway
Come on, admit it. You read the title of this post and immediately thought, “oh, that’s opposites attract.” Am I right? Tropes form the backbone of many a romance novel. They form a kind of shorthand as we talk about stories with our friends. Like this… You to friend: “Hey, I know you love marriage-of-convenience […]
Shades of Grace
When I was a child growing up in a staunch Mennonite home, life was quite clear. There were wrongs — we called them ‘sins’ — and there were rights. The goal was to avoid the sins and do the right thing. Black versus white. I attended a Christian high school (boarding school) with very conservative […]