Valerie Comer – Real Life Romance – Part 1 of 3

Contemporary romance author, Valerie Comer shares her real life romance, plus a chance to win her 4 in 1 novella collection, Rainbow’s End. Every time you comment on any post dated May 7th – May 11th, your name goes in the drawing for a copy. Deadline: May 19th, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Valerie:

He sat on the far side of my high school classroom, leaning up against the wall, watching me with puppy dog eyes. I wasn’t interested, but he was patient. Very patient. 
Jim and I attended a Christian boarding school in Canada in the mid 70s. This school had strict social regulations that limited conversations between girls and guys outside of class hours. Under these circumstances, it took nearly a year for me to start eyeing him back, and there were limited avenues for growing a relationship. Certainly no smooching in the corner, holding hands, or even lengthy getting-to-know-you talks. 
At that time our home towns were half a province apart, but soon after high school graduation in 1977, our families both moved, settling in towns separated by a mere ninety miles. This provided a much more conducive setting for a romance to develop–and develop it did! We married a little more than three years out of high school and promptly leaped into parenthood with the birth of our daughter 13 months later. Two and a half years after that we welcomed our son, and we’re tremendously thankful for both our kids. 
Who knew how much we had in common back then? Not us. We’re so grateful to God for joining two people who passionately love nature, especially oceans and streams and mountain lakes. We both prefer rural living and are content on our forty-acre farm where we grow much of our own food. Both of us had parents who farmed, gardened, and preserved food for winter. We’d grown up loving homemade breads, soups, and healthy meals made from scratch, and have passed on this priority to our kids and their spouses. In these days of local food advocacy, we’re in a position to teach others some of the skills we’ve been practicing over thirty years. 
In my debut novella, “Topaz Treasure” in, a contemporary romantic collection just released from Barbour on May first, my main character loves real food as well. I’ve woven in a boldness for her talking to people about their eating habits while being shy about sharing her faith. What will it take to balance this in her life? 
About Valerie: 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 grows much of her own food and is active in the local food movement as well as her church. She only hopes her imaginary friends enjoy their happily ever afters as much as she does hers, gardening and geocaching with her husband, adult kids, and adorable granddaughters. Learn more or connect with Valerie: http://valeriecomer.com,  http://www.facebook.com/valeriecomer.author, http://twitter.com/valeriecomer, http://pinterest.com/valeriecomer, http://valeriecomer.com/blog, http://romancingamerica.com.. 
About the Book: Rainbow’s End (4-in-1 collection published by Barbour, May 1, 2012): Join a geocaching adventure in the spectacular Lake of the Ozarks wilderness, with Lyssa, the reluctant volunteer whose former nemesis is now her chief sponsor; Madison, a city girl paired with an outdoorsy guy who gets on her very last nerve; cautious Reagan, who meets an equally cautious guy; and Hadley, who doesn’t know enough about guys to realize she’s met a womanizer. Will they find the treasure they’re looking for … or something else entirely?
 About “Topaz Treasure” (first novella in Rainbow’s End) by Valerie Comer: Closet believer Lyssa Quinn steps out of her comfort zone to help coordinate the Rainbow’s End geocaching hunt her church is using as an outreach event. She’s not expecting her former humanities prof–young, handsome, anti-Christian Kirk Kennedy–to be at the Lake of the Ozarks at all, let along in a position to provide sponsorship to the treasure hunt. How can she trust someone who once shredded her best friend’s faith? 
Kirk’s treasure hunt takes him down a path he hadn’t intended as he searches for opportunities to connect with Lyssa and her intriguing sparkle. How can he convince Lyssa there is more than one kind of treasure? And can she remind him of the greatest prize of all? 
Buy the book:  http://valeriecomer.com/bookshelf/fiction/rainbows-end/ 
Come back May 9th for an interview with Valerie Comer.