Inspy Romance

Inspy Romance—Fall in Love With a Good Book

Signed, Brokenhearted in Jewel Lake

by

Dear Valerie,
My ex-boyfriend is a super nice guy. He’s even a youth pastor! My parents really encouraged our relationship, but he broke up with me, and now he’s engaged to someone else (my best friend)! Is it weird for me to want to get married before they do?
Signed,
Brokenhearted in Jewel Lake

Dear Brokenhearted,
How long have you and your ex been split up? How long have you been dating your current boyfriend?
Sincerely,
Valerie

Dear Valerie,
He broke up with me ten months ago, saying he didn’t love me like I deserved to be loved. And, no, I haven’t met anyone else yet. But their wedding isn’t for four more months, so that gives me lots of time, right? Or does that seem too rushed?
Signed,
Desperate in Jewel Lake

Dear Desperate,
Marriage is a sacred calling, a melding of two beings into one. This is not an outcome to be pursued hastily, and certainly not for spite. Maybe you need time to get over the youth pastor, meet another great Christian man, and fall in love without a preconceived timeline? Just a thought!
Sincerely,
Valerie

Dear Valerie,
I’m sorry, but I think you misunderstand my situation. I was raised to be a good Christian girl, and I’ve never given my parents any grief. I was a model child and responsible teen. I’m active in my church and a teller at my father’s bank. Being a nice girl has not worked out well for me in the romance department, and I’m tired of waiting demurely on the sidelines.

So, yes, maybe I’m desperate to be chatting with men I don’t know online and possibly meeting one of them in person. But… he could be the one, right? How will I know if I don’t put myself out there? It’s not ONLY that I want to beat my ex to the altar, but it would be pretty sweet. It’s not like I’d gloat.
Signed,
Nice Girl in Jewel Lake

Dear Nice Girl,
You’ve clearly chosen your path, so good luck with it. I wish you all the best.
Sincerely,
Valerie

A Surprise Wedding for the Cowboy

Everything hit all at once. After his brother’s death, Tate Sullivan became the guardian of his young nephew, and now Grandfather has bought a failing guest ranch in Montana. Tate’s used to handling their hotel empire, but moving halfway across the country and learning an entirely new, rural business model is a challenge, especially with a toddler in tow.

Nice girls finish last… or that’s what it seems like to Stephanie Simpson when her ex-boyfriend, a pastor, proposes to a former bad girl. It’s not that Stephanie wants her ex to rethink his life choices, but would it be so wrong to move on as swiftly as he has? A quick wedding to that cute wannabe cowboy with the adorable toddler might get her what she wants. After all, it’s clear Tate needs a helping hand.

He’s a Christian, just like she is. What could possibly go wrong?

A Surprise Wedding for the Cowboy is coming in August! Preorder your copy today!

Clearly, Stephanie has some hangups she hasn’t faced yet, but we’re definitely working on those — I promise! What do you think about insta-love and quick weddings? Tell me!

Want something to read meanwhile? Check out Eli and Harper’s romance, in which Stephanie found herself on the outside, in Amethyst Attraction, or Tate’s introduction in Her Unlikely Hero!

Valerie Comer (341 Posts)

Valerie Comer is a USA Today bestselling author and a two-time Word Award winner who writes where food meets faith and fiction. She injects experience laced with humor into her green clean romances. Her life on a small farm in western Canada provides the seed for stories of contemporary inspirational romance. Like many of her characters, Valerie and her family grow much of their own food and are active in the local foods movement as well as their church. She only hopes her creations enjoy their happily-ever-afters as much as she does hers, shared with her husband, adult kids, and adorable granddaughters.


Comments

  1. I do believe in insta-love, because it happened to me. My husband and I went on our first date March 16, 1975, and got married ten days later. We were married 42 years when he passed away in Oct. 2017.

  2. My husband and I met at a planning meeting for VBS and when he walked through the door, I knew he would be my husband. I was still at school so it took us five years before we married, but we knew instantly!

  7. I believe in instalove in the right conditions, and in hurried weddings, depending on circumstances. Such hurried weddings were more common in the past, as an unmarried woman could not be unchaperoned with a man if they were not at least engaged, so sometimes totally innocent forced proximity lead to weddings in order to preserve the reputation of the lady…

  9. Hi, your book sounds like a great read! Your excerpt has got me hooked on it! :) Thank you so much for sharing about it. Yes I do believe on Insta love, Have a great week.

  11. This sounds a great read, Stephanie’s thinking is so wrong but so understandable! I’m looking forward to finding out how things work out for her.

    I do believe in insta love – I remember coming home from my first date with my husband and telling my housemate this was the man I was going to marry. We didn’t get married for 3 years after that though so we didn’t rush the wedding, but I do believe when it’s right you know.

  12. Stephanie’s reasoning is all wrong. She really hasn’t gotten over being dumped by Eli and is just plain desperate!! God help the poor man she latches onto! It’s going to be a rocky road…..

  13. My now husband and I new within a short period of time that we were right for each other. We still dated about a year and a half before we married. I feel that a marriage needs to be based on the Lord. You also need to know your husband as a friend. Otherwise, it would be hard if you did not have things in common to talk about. Thank you for sharing. God bless you.

  20. Well…I usually hate this trope because it’s done wrong it’s instant attraction or instant lust where both parties drool over each other’s physique from the first moment and want to convince all readers that it’s love. Now I think that there may be a kind of insta love Real, those cases of “I saw him and I knew he would be my husband” or “we met and it was magical, we fit in immediately” I think that exists but it’s not just something physical, it’s like… an instant soul connection or recognition maybe even as if God said “yes look that’s your husband” I have read cases and heard others. That can happen but ALWAYS the subsequent knowledge of the person confirms that he is indeed someone good.
    The problem is that this is rarely seen, the usual thing is that the first thing is a strong instantaneous attraction for the physical person that the person BELIEVES and above all wants to believe that it is something of souls, something destined to be and even if later the relationship goes wrong or it turns out that they are not compatible they refuses to see it because “oh, it was magical when I met him/her” the heart is deceitful and sadly this case is much more usual than the case where everything really works.
    But I think it’s important to recognize that love comes in different ways, it can come suddenly, it can come slowly, it can be at second sight, some will have a lasting insta love hit, others will discover that the love of their life is someone they’ve known for years. There is everything! That’s why I think telling someone that “it can never happen” is just as bad as telling a young woman to sit there and wait to see her true love at first sight, it doesn’t work for everyone.

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