Kit McBride Gets a Wife

With this squeaky-clean western, Barry (End of the Night Girl, written as Amy T. Matthews) takes readers to 1886 Buck’s Creek, Mont., where Junebug McBride is fed up with her four older brothers expecting her to do all the “women’s work” at their trading post. Her solution? Find a wife for at least one of them by secretly placing a newspaper ad for a mail order bride. Meanwhile, blowsy St. Louis widow Willabelle Lascalles hires Irish maid Maddy Mooney, who decided to try her luck in America after being seduced and discarded by the lord of the manor where she worked—but Willabelle can’t pay her. When Willabelle sees Junebug’s ad, she thinks it could be just the thing to solve her money issues. Once in Buck’s Creek, however, the flighty Willabelle changes her mind, abandoning Maddy to fend for herself. A series of misunderstandings has Kit mistaking Maddy for Willabelle, and he falls in love with her under this misapprehension. When the truth comes out, their romance may be doomed. Feisty Maddy and strong, silent Kit are easy to root for, and brash Junebug steels every scene she’s in. Barry’s snappy prose and standout scene setting make Buck’s Creek a destination readers will want to return to. Agent: Sarah Younger, Nancy Yost Literary. (Aug.)