Books Set in Montana
Our journey through the 50 states continues with a stop in Montana!
Book Club Pick – Montana
Love In Disguise by Penny Zeller
What is Love in Disguise about?
Who knew concealing one’s true identity could be so disastrous?
Who knew asserting one’s independence would cause such embarrassment? If only Almira “Emilie” Crawford Wheeler hadn’t insisted upon carrying her own stack of parcels, she wouldn’t have landed in an unladylike heap on the boardwalk. And what about the half-truth she told the handsome stranger who came to her aid? The stranger she never expected to see again?
Thad Alexander Evanson should have been paying closer attention to the boardwalk, rather than the newfangled automobile motoring down the street. Had he been more astute, a collision with the beautiful parcel-laden stranger might never have happened. And if it never had happened, he wouldn’t have told a partial-truth he figured wouldn’t matter.
Before long, Emilie and Thad are arranging to meet for a noonday meal each weekend in Missoula under the guise of different names. But what happens when their true identities are revealed? When half-truths are exposed? Could God have a plan even in the midst of a tangled web of lies?
Penny Zeller on Literary Escapes Podcast
Want to know more about Penny and her books? Listen to this conversation on the Literary Escapes Podcast!
More Sweet Reads Set in Montana
Enjoy this additional selection of books set in Utah, featuring cozy mystery and sweet romance. Perfect for easy reading, these delightful tales promise happy, hopeful endings.
Which one will you choose for a literary escape to Montana?
The Forever Pact by Jaimie Casey
Genre: Sweet Romance
What’s that saying? What can go wrong will go wrong?
I think that should be the saying for my life.
I’m Pippa Chase. I was about to become Pippa Snothead, but then my fiancé cheated on me, and I called off the wedding… I’m heartbroken, but at least I avoided a horrible last name.
And now, I’m on my way to Paradise Valley, Montana, to lick my wounds and figure out what’s next in my life. I’m going to live with my childhood best friend, TJ Wyatt, on a ranch he bought. Ever since we were young, we had a pact that if one of us needed the other, we would be there for each other.
Granted, TJ and I haven’t seen each other since we were thirteen, and we stopped our barrage of letters and emails when we were eighteen. However, we still send Christmas cards yearly, and in one of them, he did say, “If you’re ever in this part of the country, drop in.” I don’t think he meant it as literally as I took it.
So, that’s how I ended up living on a remote ranch, in a log cabin with a man who didn’t seem quite as happy to see me as I thought he would be. But maybe it didn’t help that I showed up in my wedding dress, and everyone in town thought I was his new bride. Oops!
This may not have been my best decision, but I’m hoping that Paradise Valley can help to mend my broken heart.
Famous for a Living by Melissa Ferguson
Genre: Sweet Romance
When her business partner is accused of serious financial crimes, superstar influencer Cat Cranwell—an engineered marvel of beauty, energy, and fun—falls from her penthouse perch. Desperate to get away from the online trolls and paparazzi documenting her disgrace, Cat accepts her uncle’s offer to work with him in Kannery National Park, Montana. About as far as possible from life as she’s known it.
Cat’s world shifts from the swirling haze of likes and comments to literal blizzards of frostbite temperatures and waist-deep snow. In place of negotiating brand deals, she finds herself negotiating at the ledge of a frozen lake with her die-hard Polar Bear Plunge coworkers. Instead of padding through the marble kitchen of her Manhattan loft, she’s sharing a tent-sized cabin with a roommate eager to bond like characters in sitcoms. But something curious is also happening in this overwhelming breath of fresh air as she reacquaints with the most honest parts of herself and begins to ask the hard questions. Can Cat love herself with, and without, the world watching?
Then there’s that other tiny problem—she’s falling for Zaiah, the ruggedly handsome park ranger—and he hates anything remotely connected to social media, quite possibly her included.
Kit McBride Gets a Wife by Amy Barry
Genre: Historical Romance
The four McBride brothers have their worlds turned upside down when their precocious younger sister secretly places an advertisement for a mail-order bride.
Kit McBride knows that Buck’s Creek, Montana, is no place to find a wife. Between him and his three brothers—plus little Junebug—they manage all right on their own, thank you very much. But unbeknownst to Kit, his sister is sick to death of cleaning, cooking, and mending for her big brothers, so she places an ad in The Matrimonial News to get them hitched.
After Maddy Mooney emigrated from Ireland, she found employment with an eccentric but poor widow. When her mistress decides to answer an ad for a mail-order bride, Maddy is dragged along for the ride to Montana. But en route to the West, Maddy is suddenly abandoned and left to assume the widow’s name, position, and matrimonial prospects….
With no other recourse in the wilderness, Maddy must convince Kit she’s the wife he never knew he needed.
Eyes Like a Hurricane by Taryn Nikolic
Genre: Sweet Romance
They may not have been part of each other’s plans…
But they soon realize they are each other’s futures.
Aislinn. She’s coming home. With an ex-boyfriend who refuses to let her go and a dog who wants wide open spaces, Aislinn runs to her home state. Having the dream of opening her own veterinary clinic, she jumps feet first into small town life, in Topaz Falls, Montana. What she doesn’t plan for, is a 6’4” rancher with eyes like jade or her ex doing whatever it takes to get her back. Never one to stand down from a challenge, Aislinn takes the situation head-on. She helps make the discovery of a lifetime, but in turn almost loses her possibility of a future.
Lachlan. He’s co-owner of Ambarsan Equine Therapy Ranch for veterans in Topaz Falls, Montana. While traveling to adopt a new farm dog in the Pacific Northwest, he’s hit by a hurricane when a chance encounter with a feisty brunette puts him toe to toe with her stormy gaze. She wasn’t what he planned on bringing home, but he refuses to live in a future where she doesn’t exist.
The Christmas Letter by Kathi Daley
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Set in the small town of White Eagle, Montana, the series features Tess and her dog Tilly, who spend their days delivering the latest gossip along with the daily mail. When a close friend is murdered, Tess and Tilly join forces with the reclusive genius in town to sleuth out the truth behind the shocking murder that is rocking the community as it prepares for the annual Christmas Festival.
Paradise Hills Summer by Merri Maywether
Genre: Sweet Romance
They moved to Paradise Hills, Montana for a second chance at life. They found each other.
Faith Alexander ran away to Paradise Hills to escape her controlling mother and the ruins of a marriage that never happened with Clark Grayson.
A week before their wedding, Clark called it off, only to realize too late that he had made a grave mistake.
Faith was already gone.
Fast forward to the summer season in scenic Montana. Clark and Faith are reunited when they’re set up on a blind date and discover that they’re bridesmaid and groomsman in the same wedding. As they explore their new small town, sparks begin to fly once again, and they discover that love can be rekindled.
But new friendships in Paradise Hills and the past neither can avoid add complexity to their path forward, threatening their second chance at love.
People visit the Paradise Hills series for the adventure. They stay for the new friends and family they make along the way.
Join us in the book club!
