please read disclosures & policies

purchases via affiliate links offset the cost of this website. thank you!

Y’all, I am so delighted to have our author friend Brandy Bruce back to visit with us! She’s taking us on a little bookish journey to the setting of a few of her stories AND she brought along a giveaway!

Denver, Colorado

Brandy: Hi friends! Come hang out with me in Denver, Colorado!

Like my character Mandy, you might ride the light rail downtown for some shopping or entertainment. Or maybe make a reservation to eat at the infamous Romano family restaurant for some amazing Italian food.

Or take a little detour outside the city to find a rushing river in the small mountain town of Evergreen. Go on a hike and enjoy the beauty of the Aspen trees.

With a backdrop of the Colorado Rocky Mountains, Denver is one of my favorite places! Let’s explore!

 

About the Book

Brandy: The Romano Family Collection is a trio of romances, flavored with grace. Themes of food and family and faith are woven throughout. Each story stands alone, but the Romano family plays an important role in every book. This special collection includes a bonus short story and recipe.

Beth: This cover makes me hungry (for food AND a story)!

“Get ready for your mouth to water and your heart to swoon! A delicious set of stories with genuine characters, heart-tugging romance, and a close-knit family you’ll grow to love.” –Melissa Tagg, award-winning author of The Walker Family series

Table for Two

Mandy Seymour is a food critic for Denver Lifestyle magazine. She spends her evenings in the bustling city of Denver and the surrounding areas, visiting all sorts of restaurants—but always making reservations for one. She’s at a place in her life where her career is thriving and she’s doing what she loves—but it’s hard to ignore the underlying loneliness she feels.

Overworked chef Leonardo Romano isn’t sure he can take on anymore. While grappling with his father’s illness, taking over the family restaurant, and navigating the opening of a second restaurant—not to mention feeling the residual effects of a broken engagement—Leo is starting to feel as though he’s reaching a breaking point. Can both of these characters slow down long enough to learn what they’re really looking for in life?

Second Chance Café

Isabella Romano feels as though she’s not quite living the life she expected. She juggles family life and a hectic schedule as a nurse. Her faith has grown cold and she’s restless.

Ethan Carter loves his life as a firefighter. Company 51 is his family—the only family he has. But when an injury takes him to a nearby hospital, he meets feisty Isa Romano and starts to wonder if he needs to make a little room in his life for love. Unfortunately, Isa’s not cooperating. While he takes time to recover, Ethan buys a small café in downtown Denver, a dream come true for him. But having lived all her life in the chaos of restaurant life, Isa isn’t interested in more of that. These two certainly bring out the fire in each other, but can they overcome their differences?

Recipe for Love

Jeremy Mitchell needs a break from his job as a chef at Romano’s in Denver. He packs his fly rod and takes off to the mountains for a week of fly fishing and some respite.

Alison Taylor is just trying to keep her head above water. A widow with a six-year-old son named Nicholas, Alison is desperately trying to revive the B&B she and her husband opened before he passed away. It feels as though every dream of her heart is ending in disappointment. When Jeremy Mitchell comes to stay for a vacation, she’s glad for the needed income, but tries to keep her distance from the attractive chef. But despite her efforts, Jeremy starts making his way into the hearts of both Alison and Nicholas. Jeremy has to go back to his job in the city, but as Christmas draws closer, he wonders if he left his heart in the mountains.

goodreads | amazon | bookdepository | christianbook

 

Q&A

What inspired you to choose this setting for the novels in Romano Family Collection?

Brandy: I live on the outskirts of Denver and love it. The mountains are beautiful and being near the city is just so fun. I knew I wanted to create scenes that took place in this beautiful and energetic area.

Downtown Denver is always bustling, with people walking everywhere. I wanted to capture that setting for our main character Mandy. She rides the light rail into the heart of the city, where the new Romano’s restaurant has just opened.

A block away there’s the Sixteenth Street Mall, with restaurants and shops, along with street performers and vendors and shuttles carrying people up and down the street. Not far is the Theater District, where you can see ballets or plays, or you might walk over to the Tattered Cover bookstore, grab a coffee and browse the shelves.

Ethan takes Isa out to a Brazilian restaurant for dinner—and it’s a place I’ve been to myself, right near Coors Field baseball stadium. And Jeremy and Alison take Nicholas to the Denver Aquarium when they come to visit, which is a favorite of my family’s.

Beth: I’m not a fan of cities or bustling (ack!) but I would be willing to give downtown a try (without my kids and WITH the supervision of a knowledgeable adult)! 

If someone wanted to visit Denver, what advice would you give?

Brandy: Colorado, in general, has so much to offer for fun vacations. Plenty of mountain towns, ski resorts, camping/cabins, rivers, hiking.

For a Denver trip, I’d definitely recommend seeing the Red Rocks Amphitheater, Union Station downtown–oh and the Denver Zoo is wonderful! You might stop by the Pepsi Center to catch a Nuggets game. Or spend a whole day at Six Flags. Go shopping at the Outlets at Castle Rock and have dinner down in the city.

If you’re coming in the winter, be ready for snow! Of course, so many people come to Colorado to ski during the snowy months, but I really recommend a summer trip to Denver. There are places near the city where you can white water raft or kayak. The climate is comfortable (no humidity!) and the scenery is so beautiful.

Or if you can’t manage a trip just now, pick up a copy of The Romano Family Collection and visit Denver in story form!

Beth: The Denver area is definitely on our bucket list! We drove around the outskirts on our way home from the Pacific Northwest one year and the views alone are awe-inspiring!

 

About the Author

Brandy Bruce is a mom, a wife, a book editor, an author, and someone who really loves dessert.

She’s the author of Looks Like Love, The Romano Family Collection, and the award-winning novel The Last Summer. Having worked in the publishing industry for more than a decade, Brandy currently works as a freelance book editor, when she’s not writing novels!

Brandy, her husband, and their children make their home in the beautiful state of Colorado. She’s very active online and she loves to hear from readers. Sign up for Brandy’s newsletter via her blog!

website | facebook | twitter | instagram

 

Giveaway

Brandy Bruce has generously offered to send one Faithfully Bookish reader friend a Kindle ebook copy of The Romano Family Collection!

complete giveaway rules

a Rafflecopter giveaway
https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js

Where would you go first on a Denver get-away?