Marrying Off Morgan McBride

Matchmaking Junebug McBride is at it again in Barry’s charming return to small-town Buck’s Creek, Mont. (after Kit McBride Gets a Wife). In 1887, Junebug is tired of being cook and housekeeper to her four older brothers and places ads on their behalf in the Matrimonial News—without their knowledge. She hopes finding a mail-order bride for the eldest, Morgan, will keep him from leaving town. The perennially unlucky-in-love Epiphany “Pip” Hopgood answers Junebug’s ad, leaving small-town Nebraska behind for Montana and an exciting new life (with her firecracker of a grandmother in tow). Morgan, a cowboy who dropped everything to raise his younger siblings after their mother’s death, is eager to hit the trail again and is none too happy to deal with a bold, beautiful woman who believes herself to be his fiancée—but he also can’t deny his attraction to Pip. Barry loads the entertaining plot with convincing twists and turns, genuine laugh-out-loud moments, and spitfire characters. Pip’s grandmother, Granny Colfax, especially steals the show. Readers will hope for a quick return to Buck’s Creek. Agent: Sarah Younger, Nancy Yost Literary. (May)