Farm Lit, a Genre for Your Inner Country Girl

ABOUT THE BOOK:
Josephine Shaw: complex, yet singleminded. A tiny woman with big ideas and, some would say, a mouth to match. But what does she really know about sustainable living as it relates to the real world? After all, she and her two friends are new to farming.

Zachary Nemesek is back only until his dad recovers enough to work his own land again. When Zach discovers three helpless females have taken up residence at the old farm next door, he expects trouble. But a mouse invasion proves Jo has everything under control. Is there anything she can't handle? And surely there's something sweet beneath all that tart.


Q&A WITH VALERIE:

Q: Where did the idea for Raspberries and Vinegar come from?
A: There's a huge interest these days in food issues, and many 20-somethings dream of having a small farm and growing their own food. As a long-time farmer myself, I wondered what it would look like to have idealistic urban young people tackle a farming environment. And the whole Farm Fresh Romance series was born!

Q: They say to write what you know. What do you know about growing food?
A: My husband and I both grew up with moms who had large gardens and cooked from scratch because of financial necessity. Having the same need in our early years, we followed in their footsteps, but we soon came to understand that our food was healthier and tastier than what many families ate. Now we are beekeepers and own a small farm. We grow most of our own meat and vegetables, and source a great deal of our fruit and grain locally. This means a large garden and an intimate knowledge of processing food for winter via canning, dehydrating, and freezing.

Q: Why do you call this novel Farm Lit?
A: Farm Lit has been getting a lot of attention lately as today's answer to Chick Lit. In the current economic atmosphere, women's minds are turning from shoes and handbags to gourmet food and farm-to-table restaurants. Farm Lit http://farmlit.com is any literature that embraces the life of modern-day “new” farmers. These stories can be fiction or memoir, and most often include city-bred heroines who head for an idealized rural existence and (often) find the man of their dreams riding a tractor rather than a horse or a motorbike. As such, Raspberries and Vinegar fits the bill perfectly!

WHAT COTT VOTERS HAD TO SAY ABOUT THE BOOK:

* Raspberries and Vinegar--Wonderful title and I look forward to reading it. Bless you.
* Valerie, always a great job.
* I look for feel-good reads with wholesome challenges and real, yet admirable characters. Raspberries and Vinegar seems to have it all!
* I chose Raspberries and Vinegar by Valerie Comer because it's her debut book as well as the debut book for ChooseNow Publishing. I'm very interested to see what all the hoopla is about.
* I like Valerie Comer's originality with her genre. There's a freshness about it!

WHAT READERS ARE SAYING:
Don't pick up Raspberries and Vinegar and expect the same old blah-blah love story, because you won't get that. What you will get is a well-written, enjoyable, emotional tale that will pull you into the beginning of a series I predict you'll look forward to following as much as I do. Romance, locally sourced foods and interesting, complicated characters all make this a page turner.
~B. Nault

Valerie Comer's Raspberries & Vinegar is a sweet and sassy story that made me laugh out loud, get teary-eyed, and sigh with pleasure at the ending. There's Josephine, a spunky heroine with a heart for her friends, the earth, and the handsome vet next door. And there's Zachary, a veterinarian who cares about animals, his sweet and confused grandmother, and the spunky new neighbor, Josephine.
~Stacy M.

Until I read this book, I'd never heard of "farmlit," and didn't know what to expect. Romantic, fun, with refreshing values, and small town atmosphere, readers will enjoy this romp on the farm!
~Tara

Each December I pick my favorite reads of the year and right now Raspberries and Vinegar is a top contender. If you love strong characters, a great message, a clean romance and the country, this book is for you.
~J. Arduini

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
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 characters enjoy their happily ever afters as much as she does hers, shared with her husband, adult kids, and adorable granddaughters.

Valerie writes Farm Lit with the voice of experience laced with humor. Raspberries and Vinegar, first in her series A Farm Fresh Romance, released August 1, 2013. Visit her at http://valeriecomer.com.