About the Book

Author: JoAnn Durgin

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: May 5, 2017

Valentine’s Day isn’t just for February 14th anymore! Love should be celebrated every day of the year. That’s Thornton Fielding’s philosophy. In spite of a few false starts in the arena of love, he holds out hope he’ll eventually find the woman of his dreams. The problem? He loves his job, and there’s no end in sight to his travels. But when Thornton returns to his tiny hometown of Cherish, Minnesota, he meets a beautiful and intriguing woman he believes might be God’s answer to ending his bachelor status—permanently.

Vara Alexandris is soured on love and scoffs at the notion of soul mates. But soon after meeting the handsome and unconventional Thornton, the speech and language pathologist suspects he might be the perfect ally to help jump-start her stroke patient’s recovery—if only Vara can keep Thornton grounded in Cherish long enough. This man who spouts romanticized and idealistic ideas about love seems all too eager to resume his world travels. Could it be Thornton actually prefers globetrotting in order to avoid a romantic relationship?

Is it time for Vara to call the dreamer’s bluff? And can Thornton convince Vara to put past heartache behind her and trust in God’s plan for her heart?

Join Thornton and Vara in USA Today bestselling author JoAnn Durgin’s latest release full of her trademark humor, romance, and lively, small-town characters in a story of God’s fierce passion and loving guidance for His children—if only they pay attention! The Valentine Verse is sure to warm your soul during any season of the year.

Click here to purchase your copy!

About the Author

JoAnn Author Photo (Princess Cruise) JoAnn Durgin is the USA Today bestselling author of the beloved Lewis Legacy Series as well as Prelude, the prequel to the series. Her other works include the Amazon bestselling Catching Serenity, Heart’s Design and its sequel, Gentle Like the Rain, The Wondrous Love Series, Echoes of Edinburgh, Perchance to Dream, Whisper to My Heart, Thee Will I Cherish, The Christmas Challenge, and the popular Starlight Christmas Series.

A former estate administration paralegal, JoAnn now writes contemporary Christian romance full-time and lives with her family in her native southern Indiana. Writing Christian fiction is her passion, and she loves nothing more than sharing the hope to be found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Guest Review from Mindy Houng

“Coming into the coffee shop for her new favorite morning drink was almost as addictive as the man who’d pre-paid her death.”

Who can put this book down after a sentence like that? You’ll have to read the book to find out what that sentence actually means since this is a contemporary romance novel and not a romantic suspense

. This book was my introduction to Joann Durgin’s writing and I’m extremely pleased about discovering this new-to-me author. The story is well-written and quite fun to read. The dialogue is clever and quirky and intelligent. The flirting is outrageously funny and sweet. There are lots of references to pop culture that were fun to read and reminisce about. There isn’t a lot of action in the plot and the storyline is carried by the dialogue between characters. The book concentrates on character development and focuses on Vara and Thornton getting to know each other and falling in love…and page by page, I fell in love with them, too.

“And he’s always spouting about Valentine’s Day and how it shouldn’t be reserved for just one day of the year. Thornton feels love should be celebrated every day of the year.” This is Thornton. He’s an amazing Renaissance Man – well-versed in literature, music, dance, art, history and pop culture; loyal, committed to family, compassionate, creative, intelligent, oh-so-romantic and wealthy to boot, AND faithful to Jesus. I mean, he’s perfect, right? Well….he has his past, his hurts, his shame and he still needs to learn a thing or two about love and trust. But he does sweep Vara off her feet. Completely.

Vara is still struggling to recover from her ex-boyfriend’s betrayal. She has a lot of hurts and insecurities to work through. She comes from a bustling Greek family with two older brothers and three younger sisters (who are just fantastic secondary characters, by the way). She is good at what she does as a speech and language pathologist, is compassionate and passionate, forthright in stating her opinions and feelings, and rises to any challenge Thornton puts out there.

This is a story of how two people fall in love – step by step, one conversation and one thoughtful deed at a time. They pray for each other and pray with each other – about their relationship, about others around them, about their fears and dreams. This is a story that will make the younger hearts sigh and dream for THAT relationship. This is a story that will make the not-so-young hearts remember the early days of our love and be grateful for the heady beginnings (and for the lasting love that developed from those beginnings). Oh, and, there are some plot twists to keep things lively.

I’m hoping for a sequel to this book to continue delving into Vara’s family – perhaps a book about one of her sisters?

I received a copy of this book from the author/publisher through Celebrate Lit Tours. I was not required to write a favorable review. All comments and opinions are solely my own.

Guest Post from JoAnn Durgin

A Little More about The Valentine Verse from Author JoAnn Durgin

I adore writing and reading contemporary Christian romance, but I’ve noticed very few novels in the genre have an actual Valentine’s Day theme and/or title. Perhaps authors believe it would limit the “shelf life” of their book. The way I see it, if Christmas novels (and Hallmark Christmas movies) can be popular year-round, why not Valentine’s Day books?

I’ve always been somewhat of a rebel in my writing career. Don’t tell me I can’t do something or I might just try it (within reason)! After a Christmas release last year followed closely by the eighth installment (500 pages!) of my longest-running series, I knew I couldn’t possibly release a Valentine’s Day book. That’s when one of the primary themes of The Valentine Verse “hit” me—Valentine’s Day shouldn’t be reserved only for February 14th. Expressing our love to one another should be celebrated throughout the year! This concept became the philosophy of the hero, Thornton Fielding, and the book released in early May. Let me tell you a little more about the idea for Thornton…

I dedicated The Valentine Verse to my uncle, Mr. Thornton, and named my hero after him. My uncle was instrumental in my being able to quit my full-time paralegal job in mid-August 2014. Without going into specific details, there were three things that took place (“signs,” if you will) beginning earlier that same year, which seemed to clearly indicate I should try to make writing my full-time career. My debut novel released in late 2010, and the story of my road to publication can be found on my website at www.joanndurgin.com. By early 2014, my books were beginning to find faithful readers, and I was blessed with decent sales. The third and final “sign” and blessing came from Mr. Thornton. Truly, it was as if God were saying, “JoAnn, what more will it take for you to step out in faith?” I promised the Lord and myself that I’d take a year and see how it went…and I haven’t looked back since! I took the leap of faith, but I’m also doing what I feel the Lord has called me to do. Almost three years to the day of quitting my day job, I released my 24th novel. God is so good, and it is my great honor and privilege to write for His glory.

Thank you to Celebrate Lit for the gracious opportunity for this blog tour. The Valentine Verse features fun characters (how can you miss with a small Minnesota town named Cherish?), heartwarming lessons, *sightings* of two of my most popular heroes from another series, and even a surprising twist at the end! I hope you’ll enjoy The Valentine Verse.

Blessings, friends.

JoAnn

Matthew 5:16