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“It was always a dream of mine to write stories,” says Ursi Engebretsen (’16), ���ϲ�����’s newest alumna author. Her first novel, , is a contemporary, small-town romance released at the beginning of February.

While working as the music director and organist for her home parish, St. Mary Catholic Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Miss Engebretsen realized that she wanted to pursue her love of writing stories more seriously. Between managing choir practices and putting together music schedules, she spent hundreds of hours researching, writing, and editing her first manuscript in order to make her dream a reality. “This has been over three years in the making!” she laughs.

Summer at Fraser’s Mill follows Grace, a young woman who returns to her hometown to help her father run his small grocery store over the summer. As she learns how to manage the store, gets swept up in the town’s activities, and meets the doctor next door, she must decide what is most important to her: a career in Los Angeles or a life in Fraser’s Mill. Says Miss Engebretsen: “If you like clean contemporary romance with sparks flying and cozy small-town vibes, then I have for you a lighthearted story with family, faith, determination, and learning what home really means to you.”

Audiences need not worry about the usual issues that come with reading modern romance novels; Miss Engebretsen assures readers that her book does not include the secular worldview and inappropriate scenes for which the genre is infamous. “I wanted to bring Catholicism into this area of fiction, and do so in a natural-sounding way,” she says. “The Faith is in the book; it’s part of the life the characters are living, as part of their background and beliefs. It’s something I learned from TAC: The Catholic faith can be woven with everyday life in a perfectly natural way, without feeling tacked on or like something external.”

As for her future as an author, Miss Engebretsen already has two more books in the works, including a companion novel to Summer at Fraser’s Mill, which will be released later this year.

“For me, this whole journey has been very exciting and somehow surreal,” she says. “I’m so grateful to all the people who have helped me along the way. I’m looking forward to what the future holds!”