An author who’s referred to as the Queen of Romance will be in central Iowa tonight for a free event that promises to thrill her loyal readers.
Abby Jimenez is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of romantic fiction. Aaron Gernes, at the Des Moines Public Library, says Jimenez’ novels have sold over one-and-a-half million copies and they’ve been translated into 28 languages.
“People love them. People are drawn to them immediately,” Gernes says. “I think it’s the characters and the relationships that they have, and also that they touch on subjects that are kind of tough to talk about, but important to talk about.”
Her latest book, “Say You’ll Remember Me,” which quickly became a bestseller upon its release last month, features a main character whose mother has dementia.
Gernes notes Jimenez is now in the midst of a second career that’s put her in the national spotlight.
“Originally, she was actually a Food Network star. She was the champion of Cupcake Wars on the Food Network and then founded Nadia’s Cakes Bakery out in California,” Gernes says, “and then she moved to the Minneapolis area and has a cupcake shop in the Twin Cities as well.”
Several activities are planned before the event begins, including a photo booth filled with Abby-related props.
“She has two dogs that are very popular on her social media feeds,” Gernes says. “She has these stamps that she uses that are their life-size paw prints. She’s only used them for social media giveaways before, so for the first time ever, she’s bringing those ‘paw-tograph’ stamps out to a public event, and everyone that comes can have one book stamped.”
Given the anticipated large crowd, Jimenez will not be autographing books on-site, but Gernes says a thousand autographed copies of her latest book will be for sale at the event.
The author will be appearing at the Franklin Event Center in Des Moines, where the doors will open at 5:30 PM for the 7 PM event. Jimenez is appearing as part of the library’s AViD Series, Authors Visiting in Des Moines.