A MATCH MADE IN MONTANA – Release Day Blog Post Featuring Elsa Winckler

If you’re a die hard romantic like me, you probably also love romantic comedies – whether it’s a book, a play or a movie. The laugh-out-loud ones but also the laugh-with-a-tear ones. I haven’t set out to write Annie’s and Craig’s story as a comedy, it just ended up that way. The basic plot for a romantic comedy, Google tells me is 1. Meet 2. Lose and 3. Get.

I love writing the meet-cute moment but because A Match Made in Montana is the second story in the Millers of Marietta series, Annie and Craig have already met so I had to find a way to have them “meet” in a cute way again – hence the first scene in the book where Annie is lying in a hammock and reading a very vivid description of a heroine’s bodily reaction to the hero in the story! 

Maybe it’s also because they have both been hurt before and are struggling to leave the past behind that I instinctively added more funny moments than what I usually do. The chances that they can have their happily ever after are slim, there are so many obstacles, but as we’ve come to realize by now, the magic of Marietta and Copper Mountain has a way of bringing lost souls together.

I’ve been writing romance since 2008 and I’ve discovered some characters are harder to forget than others. Annie Miller, the heroine in A Match Made in Montana is one of those characters that seems to be stuck in my mind. Maybe because she’s so different from most of the other feisty and more forceful heroines I’ve written. In contrast to most of her friends and her sister, Viv, Annie is a homebody. She’s a natural caretaker and nurturer. Nothing gives her more pleasure than to feed people and to see them enjoy the food she’s made – the reason why her fiancé dumped her weeks before their wedding. According to him, she’s not enough of a go-getter. 

The Irishman, as her brother Mitch calls Craig, has been in her mind since he’s hugged her goodbye during his first visit to Marietta. Now he’s back for his cousin Aiden’s and sister Vivian’s wedding and it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to ignore the obvious spark between them. 

The more time she spends with the big red head, the more she likes him, but Annie is still bruised and unsure of herself. Why would a hot-shot marketing guru from Portland be interested in her?

Finding a happy-ever-after for Annie and Craig has been a challenge, there are so many obstacles in their way, but as we romance lovers know by now, never underestimate the magic of love. It will find a way.

To win an e-book copy of Book 1, My Montana Valentine, in the The Millers of Marietta series, tell us about your favorite Marietta couple! Or perhaps tell us what your favorite romantic comedy movie is?

I hope you enjoy Annie’s and Craig’s story! Thanks for stopping by.

About the author

I have been reading love stories for as long as I can remember and when I ‘met’ the classic authors like Jane Austen, Elizabeth Gaskell, Henry James The Brontë sisters, etc. during my Honours studies, I was hooked for life. 

I married my college boyfriend and soul mate and after 43 years, 3 interesting and wonderful children and 3 beautiful grandchildren, he still makes me weak in the knees. We are fortunate to live in the picturesque little seaside village of Betty’s Bay, South Africa with the ocean a block away and a beautiful mountain right behind us. And although life so far has not always been an easy ride, it has always been an exciting and interesting one! 

I like the heroines in my stories to be beautiful, feisty, independent and headstrong.  And the heroes must be strong but possess a generous amount of sensitivity. They are of course, also gorgeous!  My stories typically incorporate the family background of the characters to better understand where they come from and who they are when we meet them in the story.