The men of Made to Last…and my very first ARC giveaway!!

Photo credit:
Teerapun at freedigitalphotos.net
I’ve had a few people ask me why I put three potential heroes in Made to Last. 

Well, it’s like this: I took the Amplified Bible approach. Which is, why say in seven words what you can say in twenty-eight?
Or in my case, why settle for one guy when you could have three?
Not exactly a good philosophy for real life. But pretty okay in the world of fiction.

(Now, look, anyone who takes the time to read the back cover copy of Made to Last will know who the main hero of the story is. But trust me, the other guys have their moments. And one of them just may be the main character in my next book, Here to Stay. He’s, um, great. If this guy was was real, I would totally contemplate proposing to him but then I wouldn’t because I know him well enough to know he’d come up with some hilariously outrageous proposal on his own…which I’d want to write a book about…but then I’d be like, wait, I already wrote a book about you and…this just got weird.)
Today I thought I’d give you a sneak peek into my three men. Why? Because it’s fun. Because I love these guys. And because August is National Romance Awareness Month. So, it’s only right, right?

And what better way to celebrate than by talking heroes…and doing a giveaway! 

See, there is a story behind each of these guys’ names. So I’ll give you the names and a brief bio…and then your challenge is to match the name to my oh-so-mature reasons for picking said names. Everybody who enters—whether you get it right or not because I’m just that nice—will be entered into a drawing for an ARC of Made to Last. (I don’t actually have the books in hand, but I will soon. YAY!!)

So here are the guys:
The Reporter: Matthew Knox
His career mistake took him from once-Pulitzer finalist to scraping the bottom of the freelance barrel. Super sweet, super witty, with a soft spot for his niece…and eventually the story’s heroine. He has a way with words and knows how to draw people out of their shell. He also loves ice cream almost as much as I do. 

The Fake Husband: Blake “Blaze” Hunziker
Potentially the funniest pretend person you will ever meet. He’s traveled the world for the past five years. He’s known for his crazy adventures…and setting accidental fires. (Hmm, wonder where I got that last part…?) Ridiculously good looking. Ridiculously impulsive. But is the craziness really just a coverup for his past?

The Former Fiance: Robbie Pontero: 
Think slightly brooding. Think “he’ll break your heart.” He’s not exactly a hero, per se. Actually pretty far from it. But that doesn’t mean he won’t do a heroic thing now and then. ‘Course, he might show up at the worst possible time, too. Also…he has an accent. 🙂
And now, the stories behind the names:

1) So, I work at a nonprofit and a few years back, we made it possible for people to create their own sort of mini webpages to raise funds for our ministry. Well, this one gentleman called me pretty much every single day for help with his page. After about a month of this, I felt like we were best friends…and decided to give a character his last name.
2) In fifth grade, we had to dissect a frog. Which totally freaked me out. Well, the day before we were supposed to start dissecting, a new kid came to school. I don’t know what possessed me because I wasn’t all that forward as a kid, but I walked up to him, asked him to be my partner and promised him I’d do all our written work if he’d do all the dissecting. He said yes. And I’ve looked back on him as a hero ever since.

3) I have always loved this first name. I’m not sure why, I just do. (Actually I kind of do know why I love it, but if I tell you, it’ll give away which name it is.) My sister came up with this last name, which is perfect. 

All right, here we go:

Match the story to the name, leave your answers in the comments and I’ll enter you into a drawing for an ARC of Made to Last. (And while you’re at it, what’s your favorite guy’s name?) I’ll announce the winner next Wednesday. You’ve got until next Tuesday at 5 p.m. CST to enter. 
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    Comments 38

    1. Wow this is actually pretty hard but here’s my guess:
      Matthew Knox-#3
      Blake “Blaze” Hunziker-#1
      Robbie Pontero-#2

      As for favorite guy’s names, Sebastian, Washington, and Benaiah are ones that I want to use for my kids someday and I also like Tobias as a middle name. For a story though, I have always liked the name Micah for some reason!

      Reply

    2. I love the writing process, how our lives intersect with our ideas. Can’t WAIT to read the book! My favorite names Josiah (my son.) My main character is Sam.

      Reply

    6. Lemme see (and I’m not entering, just having fun!)

      #1 – Blake “Blaze” Hunziker (My new hero’s name is Blake! It’s a friend’s son’s name…LOL so I’m partial to that one:) )
      #2 – Robbie Pontero
      #3 Matthew Knox (I LOVE the name Knox!!!)

      Reply

    7. I don’t think it’s fair for me to play since I know one of them for sure and am pretty sure I know the others. ;P But I don’t need to win a copy anyway, so it’s all good.

      So obviously MY favorite guy’s name is Mike, but I think what you were asking is what name I like best. 😉 I think if we ever have a son, the top names in the running would be Luke or Nolan. I like both of those a lot.

      Reply

    8. My guess would be….

      1- Blake “Blaze” Hunziker
      2- Robbie Pontero
      3- Matthew Knox

      I don’t know what my favorite guy’s name would be… But I’m partial to names that aren’t common or heard everyday. 🙂

      Reply

    10. 1) Matthew Knox
      2) Robbie Pontero
      3) Blake “Blaze” Hunziker

      This was delightful. I hope I got number three wrong, though, because Blake’s the name of my so-full-of-himself-you-have-to-sit-five-feet-away antagonist.

      I had a crush on a Robbie in 3rd grade. Great brown eyes. They saw into my little heart…when they weren’t playing basketball and ignoring me. Ah, memory lane.

      Reply

      1. Ha, I like your Robbie story. I actually have a second Robbie story, but decided not to include it for space reasons. But in college I tutored in the writing center for awhile and this freshman history major named Robbie would always come in. And I loved him…his papers were so fabulous and I could never figure out why he came in. But he was so fun to work with and forced me to dig deeper as a tutor.

        Reply

    11. I’m so excited for you, Melissa! I didn’t realize that your book had three possible heroes. A fun way to ensure everyone can identify with at least one! I don’t have guesses, just wanted to squeal with you and whoever wins your ARC. Woo Hoo!!!

      Reply

    12. #1 The Reporter: Matthew Knox
      #2 The Fake Husband: Blake “Blaze” Hunziker
      #3 The Former Fiance: Robbie Pontero

      The book sounds like a lot of fun! Can’t wait to read it.

      Reply

    17. I thought this would be easy – but in reality, not so much! Here are my guesses:

      #1 Robbie
      #2 Blake
      #3 Matthew

      As for my favorite guy name, well, if my daughter had been a son, he would have been named Weston. My husband had a friend in college by that name, and we both just liked it!

      Reply

    19. Matthew #2
      Blake #3
      Robbie #1

      What a unique contest for a book giveaway! Thanks for a chance to win a copy of Made to Last. It looks like a really fun book to read.

      I like the name Sam.

      pmk56[at]sbcglobal[dot]net

      Reply

    22. #1Blake “Blaze” Hunziker
      #2 Robbie Pontero
      #3 Matthew Knox

      Right now my favorite boys’ name is Marcus.
      may_dayzee (at) yahoo (dot) com

      Reply

    25. 1. Blaze
      2. Matthew
      3. Robbie

      I’m pretty sure about number 1 (I think I remember you telling us this story at our retreat), but I’m just guessing at the others…well, I’m kind of guessing at the first, as well. 🙂

      Reply

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