A Valentine's Gift from the "heart" by Amie Denman

Hello, readers!

I'm a new author joining the Gems, and I'd love to take a moment to introduce myself before I tell you about the best Valentine's Day gift I've ever received. It's Romancing Cupid month at Romance Gems, and I have a great cupid story for you.

I'm Amie Denman, and I write contemporary romances with a "beach" theme. I've been published for ten years, and I'm really thrilled to be part of the Harlequin family and also the indie-published family. For the Harlequin Heartwarming line, I've written ten books, and this graphic of my Starlight Point heartwarming series gives you a feel for my style:

Teaming up with another romance author (who also happens to be my sister and best friend) was my wisest and most creative decision. May Williams and I have a Grand Hotel series (luxury resort), a Grand Islander series (luxury cruise line), and a Kenyon Cove series (small town in Maine). We love collaborating and intertwining our stories!

And now for my Valentine's gift story. My husband is a "maker." A tool & die maker/machinist by trade, he always creates his own solutions for problems and projects. He was an early-adopter of the 3D home printers, and he uses that thing all the time. Recently (overnight last night) he printed new parts for our snowblower instead of ordering them like a (fairly) normal person would. 

Last year, I was away at a conference for three days right before Valentine's Day. When I got home, there was a gift bag with my favorite cookies (Milanos) and also this object:

It's a puzzle heart! If you just keep turning it, it becomes a beautiful heart. I treasure it and keep it on my desk to play with while I'm thinking and writing. My husband downloaded the pattern from an amazing site called Thingiverse in case you're interested in 3D printing, and the heart took a total of seventeen hours to print and then assemble. It was the most romantic, true love gift I've ever received! He even had to plan ahead and order purple filament for his printer (my favorite color). 

It's so lovely to "meet" all of the Romance Gems and the readers of this blog. I hope you have a wonderful February and Cupid is good to you!

Amie

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Canning Lids? by Lucinda Race #RomanceGems

 Hello again, 

 

With all odd things happening in our world I’ve discovered canning lids are in scarce. With the approach of fall I like to can applesauce, tomatoe sauce  and maybe make jam or relish. So off I go to the first store to purchase lids. Nowhere to be found. I asked the check-out clerk and she smiled. Sorry, we’re out of those. You can try back next week.

Not a big deal. Stopped at the hardware store, and another and the grocery stores all with the same luck. I came home empty handed. So, I go online. I will not pay those kinds of prices. It was like trying to buy other items earlier in the year. Remember toilet paper? 

I’ve concluded I’m going to have to plug in my spare freezer and spend the extra money on electricity to preserve the harvest from our garden and yes, my homemade applesauce.  I’m not complaining but it is easier to pull a jar of applesauce from the shelf for dinner than think ahead and defrost one. But for the taste of fall, it’ll be worth it. 

 

In book news – I’ve sent the first book in The Crescent Lake Series, Blush, to my editor for her review. But a funny thing happened when she received the email. She emailed me suggesting I switch the name of my town and winery. Apparently a somewhat famous horror movie franchise was based at Camp Crystal Lake. Not being a fan of anything horror I had no idea. So, I needed to think of a new town and winery name with the same roll-off-the-tongue sound. Thanks to other writers and avid readers Crescent Lake was born. I’m still on track for a projected release of January 2021.

 

If you’d like to keep up with more news join my newsletter subscribers. Each month I give away something, books in print or e-books and swag.  Coming in December I’m going to release to my newsletter people the prequel to the Crescent Lake Series, Vines. You won’t want to miss it. 

Until next month, 

Be happy and stay healthy, 

Lucinda 

 

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