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 […]
Cover, Cover, on the Book… and #giveaway
Cover, cover, on the book — which cover is the fairest look? Choosing a cover for a new story is always entertaining. I’m working with a pro photo manipulator for my cowboy romance covers, and with an illustrator (my daughter, Hanna Sandvig) for the Urban Farm Fresh Romance covers. These two approaches require very different […]
Confused Yet? …plus #Giveaway
Confused yet? Because, if not, I can remedy the situation! Once upon a time, I wrote a series I called the Farm Fresh Romance series. It contains six novels, all set on one farm in northern Idaho. There were a couple of sets of siblings in the mix, but the focus was on friendships on […]
How Do You Respond to Adversity?… plus #giveaway
Ever have a day (week? month? year?) when Murphy’s law kicks in? Everything that could possibly go wrong… just did. Sure, there might’ve been a pleasant moment or two in there as well, but it seems those were only in there to get your hopes up so they could be crushed again! As much as […]
How Fat is Too Fat?
Women come in all shapes and sizes, right? Right. And women say they prefer to read about real women, not heroines who are movie-star glamorous with slender (but perfect) curves, and long, shapely legs the hero can’t keep his eyes off of. Those legs were a recurring theme in a romance I read recently! Women […]
Hello — My name is Kassidy #giveaway
Hi, everyone! I’m Kassidy North, and I’m blogging here today for my author, Valerie Comer. She figures I owe her the favor because she’s been working on my happily-ever-after for over four years. I didn’t know I needed one. A happily-ever-after, I mean. Also, she says she’s too busy to blog. Like I have all […]
What does Flavors of Forever even mean?
Does eternity have a taste, let alone multiple ones? Is infinity the same thing as forever? Are everlasting and eternal synonyms? These are the questions that wake me up at five in the morning — trust me, it’s not my alarm clock. I prefer to not even know that there is such a thing as […]
A Fan Visits Bridgeview
Today I’m handing the mic… er, the keyboard!… over to the woman who is probably my Number 1 fan, Paula Marie. So I have been a huge fan of Valerie Comer’s books for a long time, and I fell in love with Green Acres, but now that the Urban Farm Fresh series has grown so […]