Have you ever been on a blind date? I have not. I also haven’t had a bad date, since I married the only guy I ever dated. Yes, we were high school sweethearts!
But my story is not much fun as a foundation for romance novels, although we did have our own mini-crisis or “black moment” the year before our wedding, but I digress. This is all about my characters, Juni and Zadok, in A Great and Glorious Gift.
Juni’s sister was the heroine in the previous book in the Farm Fresh Market Romance series, and we got to know Juni a bit in Arleigh’s story. Juni O’Neill is a high school arts and drama teacher. She started out in A Green and Vibrant Hope in a temp situation, but was offered a more permanent position by the end of the story.
I then discovered (to my utter shock and amazement) that she’d met the market minstrel, Zadok Shirkowski, back in college. She’d thought he was cute. Her roommate had set them up on a blind date… well, blind for her. Turns out Zadok knew whom he was meeting that night, and he was also interested.
But something had gone terribly wrong.
And this author was left wondering what on earth had happened nearly four years ago that made the two of them pretend they had never met each other before when they run into each other both at the market and at church in Galena Landing, hundreds of miles from their alma mater.
Zadok’s a musician; he’d intended to become a minister of music in a big city church, actually, but when his parents died – aren’t authors terrible at this? I can’t tell you how many parents have met an unfortunate demise in my stories because it made the backstory more interesting. Oh, wait, I’m digressing again.
Where were we? Ah, yes, Zadok’s parents died, leaving him as the guardian of two teenaged siblings. That’s about all I knew before starting into this current story.
Zadok’s sister, Quincey, was a high school senior at the time of their death, and she made it through in one piece, though now she’s taking a gap semester and interning at Green Acres Farm.
Xavier was a freshman, and he is not faring well two years later. School is dumb. Life is dumb. Everything is dumb except maybe learning to drive. He’s not particularly fond of God at the moment, either.
Thankfully(?) their parents owned a tire shop, so Zadok has a business to run (job + income stream) as well as two teens to raise. But he’s not living his dream. Leading a church worship team in a lay position is better than nothing, but it’s not his calling. Or is it?
Some of the pieces were falling together in my head, but I still didn’t know what had gone wrong on that college blind date. They were both believers back then. It hadn’t been drug or alcohol related. What had happened? My Facebook reader group did some brainstorming, and that was super helpful.
Slowly, slowly, the pieces clicked together. Good thing, too, as I was a good chunk of the way into writing the story! Now I’ve just got a handful of chapters to write before it goes off to my editor with a planned mid-March release.
Romance is great for other people, but not for Juni O’Neill. Wouldn’t anyone have trust issues if they had her father? Her current teaching job in Galena Landing is temp, and she’s dabbling in creating and selling crafts at the farmers market to fill her time. If only her shared stall wasn’t directly across from the musician’s booth – the guy she walked away from on a blind date back in college.
Zadok Shirkowski accepted custody of his younger siblings when their parents died. Now he’s operating a tire shop in northern Idaho to make ends meet. The only part of his life he loves, besides his siblings, is leading worship on Sundays and performing at the farmers market. But when his teen brother gets in trouble at school, Zadok is forced to enlist the help of one of the teachers, who just so happens to be someone he’d once hoped he’d never see again.
A blind date gone wrong. A second chance to fix things between two people afraid to commit.
So, tell me… have you ever been on a blind date? A bad date? Or a particularly interesting date? Tell us about it in comments!
I’m offering one reader an Advanced Reader Copy (e-book only, worldwide) of A Great and Glorious Gift. If you’d like to put your name in the hat, please comment before Friday, January 12. Winner will be notified and then announced in the Sunday Edition.
“Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.”
Valerie Comer is a USA Today bestselling author and a two-time Word Award winner who writes where food meets faith and fiction. She injects experience laced with humor into her green clean romances. Her 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 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.
I’ve never been on a blind date. I can’t think of a bad date since it’s been years I’ve been on one. I’ve been married for almost 42 years. My husband did stand me up on our first date. He had a lot of explaining to do! Lol
I have been on one blind date. It was my first and last!
My mother and father-in-law started out as a blind date. They’ve been married 62 years.
I’ve never been on a bind date, or even a bad date….I too married my high school sweetheart 🥰 We’ll celebrate 22 years later this year.
I haven’t been on a blind date, but I have been on a couple bad dates. I’d rather not relive those so I’ll tell you about a my first date with my husband. He took me to the state fair in Washington. It was a fun first date but lol he only had a check book with him and they didn’t take checks so I ended up paying for everything. He was from a small town and checks were the norm there at that time so he didn’t know have a clue.
I never went on a blind date. I did go on one date that I did not enjoy, because I never should have said yes to going. A friend had recommended this fellow, who was eager to find a wife. When I said I’d go out with him, I didn’t realize I’d have to come home early from a summer camp to go on the date (and I was enjoying the summer camp). I can’t remember now why I didn’t just cancel out ahead of time. Then when we got to the restaurant I’d suggested, it was closed! (This was long before cell phones, Internet, etc). So we went to another one, and there was a long wait. He wanted to hold my hand, and all I could do was hope I’d survive until he’d take me home. He was a nice guy, but there was absolutely NO chemistry or interest on my part. Thankfully, he found the girl the Lord had for him not long after, and I found the guy the Lord had for me. I did learn not to say yes to a date just to please a friend.
Good morning, I am not entering this giveaway as I am not tech savvy at all. I just wanted to tell you that your book sounds like a Very Good Read and when it comes out on paperback I will for sure look for it. Thank you so much for sharing about it. Have a Great day and a Great week. God Bless you.
Oops! Yes, that would take some explaining!
And I see you’re not telling tales about it in public!
Oh, that’s a story I’d love to hear!
Congrats! We’re coming on 22×2 this summer LOL.
Wow, that’s a blast from the past! I currently write three checks a year for our water taxes and similar. In this rural area, they are about the only things not set up on internet banking!
Aw, bummer! But it sounds like everything turned out for the best. :)
Thanks, Alicia! It should be out in paperback about a week after it releases in digital. My cover designer requires my exact page count to finalize the cover file, and of course I don’t know that number until the story is edited then formatted to the exact print size!
Only one blind date and by the end of the date he was talking about me moving in, doing the housework, raising his daughter, way too fast for me, so it was the last date too. All because I said I was interested in moving out from where I was living, but not like that, thank you, it was very awkward as turns out he wasn’t the greatest listener but he was a great talker :(
You were one of the really blessed ones!
I’ve been on a blind date, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good, either. I also never saw him again, not that I wanted to. I didn’t like it enough to try it again, either.
Wow!!! I just… can’t… even…
I think “meh” might be the most typical kind!
I’ve never been on a blind date, I went on a few dates that weren’t terrible but weren’t great before i met my husband. I do remember one nice guy who I went out with for a while bought me a huge bunch of flowers on the first date, it was a very sweet gesture but it was big and there was nowhere to put it in the restaurant so I had to lay it on the floor where it got in the way of the waitress and I nearly fell over it when I went to the bathroom.
Oh, no. A great gesture he didn’t completely think through!
I have actually never been a date yet
I have never been on a blind date. I was the girl that never was never asked out, but as I have learned since by High School years, but was one of the girls many guys had secret crushes on but never let me know. I found this out from my baby sister who ran in to a couple of my former classmates.
I met my husband on a blind date!
So it must NOT have been the baddest blind date in the history of blind dates!
Aw, what a bummer to find out that way!
Maybe one is coming your way!
I went on one blind date. I was so nervous leading up to it. It was a perfectly good date, and I dated this guy for a year before I moved to go to a different college, where I met someone else, who didn’t turn out to be “the one.” Unlike you, I dated a lot of guys before I met my hubby, but strangely enough this was all after high school. Never had one date in high school.
Isn’t life strange! But a one-year relationship from a blind date seems like it couldn’t have been too terrible, anyway. :)
I went on several blind dates. None of them amounted to anything. I don’t remember them being particularly awful but nothing special either. The book sounds really good.
You were brave, Pam! Hope you enjoy the story.
I have not had a blind date. I picked my husband up at a grocery store. He was working there. Thank you for sharing. God bless you.
That sounds funny, Debra! “I picked up groceries and a husband all in one go!” Have a great week. :)
Indeed, you were so lucky :D
Definitely blessed!
That sounds like something you need to write into a book! 😆
Who knows! The scenario might come in handy yet! :)
Congrats to you too! 44 years is impressive! I was a summer bride too! ❤️
44 years have DEFINITELY had their ups and downs, I promise you. It has been sheer stubbornness on both our parts and absolutely God’s grace that we’re still together.
I went on several blind dates. None of them amounted to anything. Just no chemistry, nothing actually bad. Maybe a bit of boredom.
I met my husband at the British Council library, queueing to return books. One of us wanted a book the other was returning.
Great “meet cute” story! Thanks for sharing, Marina!