Maria and the Montana Rider

by Ursi Engebretsen

A family feud. A masked vigilante riding in the moonlight. A woman whose heart needs healing.

Maria Gilbert has problems. The restaurant where she works as line chef is closing. Her boyfriend just broke up with her. And her family’s in debt to her estranged grandmother in Montana.

Then Maria gets a letter from her Montana grandmother, inviting her to work in the ranch kitchen over the summer. Curious to see the ranch where her mom grew up, and hoping to solve her money problems and reconcile the two halves of her family, Maria takes the job.

Thrown into a world of handsome cowboys, daring rodeo stunts, and quarreling relatives, Maria meets everyone from her acidic grandmother and spoiled cousins to the mysterious, masked Montana Rider who rides around by moonlight claiming to protect the ranch. And when someone starts vandalizing the ranch, it becomes apparent that it needs protection. When Maria’s grandmother offers her a surprising deal—and when a romance starts to blossom where Maria least expected it—she is forced to make decisions that could completely change her home, her family, and the fate of the ranch itself.

Maria and the Montana Rider is an action-filled, character-driven story by Ursi Engebretsen. If you like clean contemporary romance with cowboys, masked vigilantes, and cute romantic moments, then you’ll love this heartwarming story of family, trust, and determination.

Paperback

Published June 24, 2026

About the author

Ursi Engebretsen has always loved a good love story with a happy ending. So she decided to write some of her own—cozy clean romances with sparks flying, strong family themes, and picturesque settings, with the light and joy of the Gospel shining through. Although her characters have their struggles and problems, she wants her readers to walk away happy and uplifted at the end of every book.

Ursi grew up in Michigan and received her BA in liberal arts from Thomas Aquinas College in California. She’s a Catholic Christian, a writer, a musician, a voracious reader, and a country girl at heart. Her day job is directing music and playing the pipe organ at her church. She likes bubble tea, a good sunrise, and using too many exclamation points. (She’s working on that last one.)

Reviews

[Cadence · Rating 4 out of 5]

- 3rd Person, Single POV
- Romance
- Kisses Only Romance

Maria and the Montana Rider was a sweet story with an intriguing mystery and some faith themes also added in. Oh, and have you seen the adorable cover?!

Maria gets invited to work at the ranch her mother grew up on by the grandmother she's never known. She loves everything western and wants to see this piece of who her mom was.

I love how it takes place on a ranch in Montana, being from that area-ish myself, it was easy to picture the ranch and way of life.

The characters were interesting and fun to get to know. Tim was great and I wanted more of him. Maria grew so much throughout the story and I loved how she wanted to reconcile the two sides of her family.

You also have characters going to church regularly and other mentions of their faith and convictions. They had normal human flaws but grew and learned from their mistakes, which I always love to see.

I received an advanced review copy of this book. This review is my honest opinion and thoughts

[Schlabach Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Firstly, thank you to the author for this ARC. The cover was so interesting, that's what intrigued me to want to pick this up. Just a heads up to those who didn't know, the religion is Catholicism, I guess I missed that part when requesting this story.
Overall. It was a sweet story of a young woman, Maria, finding her own footing after hitting a few life bumps. Definitely read as a slice of life story, visiting the every day elements that life brings us, anything from monotonous work, to more unique elements, like a mystery masked rider.
The romance was light, but cute. Favorite cutie scene? Definitely the carousel 🎠 reminds me of me and my own husband, we went on a carousel during a winter festival back when we first started dating. 🩷 Core memory unlocked.
I will not give content warnings due to spoilers and this being an ARC.
Again, thank you Ursi for the ARC.
Overall rating, 3.5/5 🌟 rounded to 4 on goodreads.

[Sarah Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5🌟
Many thanks to Ursi for the ARC (and for giving me my first cameo in a novel🥹)!!

While admittedly the story started off a bit slow for me, once it picked up, I could not put it down!! I also really appreciated the clever instances of foreshadowing peppered throughout, and they led to satisfying conclusions. I’d recommend to someone looking for a fun, lighthearted summer read, and I look forward to purchasing a hardcopy!

[Anne Holewa · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Maria and the Montana Rider" brings an abundance of themes and plots together beautifully! Well-developed characters, family dynamics, mystery, suspense, intrigue, romance, and faith are woven throughout the novel. This heartwarming novel offers readers of any age a Christian storyline that exemplifies innocence, honesty, purity, modesty, and charity.

[Bryanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maria and the Montana Rider is a fun Christian western romance with relatable characters and an easy, enjoyable story. The romance is clean and wholesome, and the characters feel real in the way they think and grow. It’s a simple, feel-good read with faith and heart at the center.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been my first ARC read (thank you Ms. Engebretsen for the chance to be part of your ARC team on this book!) and honestly has been such a fun read that I had trouble putting it down the further I got into it. I like her way of writing. On a personal note, I love how faith shines through the characters… I enjoy a good, clean romance and this was another delight to add to my summer reading list—cute and heartwarming. I am looking forward to future stories written by this author.

[Jazmin Lister · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a fun western style romance 🥰 I loved the Montana rider and the setting. 🥰 Maria was so fun, and I loved the tidbit that she’s handy around a gun. Lovely lovely read 🥰

[Rose Gifford]

A cute, easy to read, cozy book chock full of cowboys!