Junebug McBride just wants her brother, Morgan to settle down and find a good wife. Since he isn't looking, she takes out an advertisement for a mail order bride to help. She was my favorite character with her scheming ways and trying to bring Epiphany and Morgan together.

I was not expecting swearing and very steamy love scenes, which are not something I wish or like to read. The story would have been good without either of these things.

I was given a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.

PREVIEW: Marrying Off Morgan McBride

SUMMARY: In this follow-up to Kit McBride Gets a Wife, the Scout Finch-esque Junebug is up to her old tricks: seeking brides for her older brothers via advertisement. But this time she’s looking for someone who can cook. Enter Epiphany Hopgood, the kitchen-savvy spinster from Nebraska who’s been dubbed “too much” by everyone in her hometown. But her big mouth, big attitude, and womanly curves are just right for this Montana homestead.

Just like the last book, this installment was so fun! It leans heavily on the historical setting, so I feel like I’m learning while waiting for the happily ever after.

I also loved Epiphany as a character. She reminded me of the heroine in The Four Winds, overlooked and placed on the shelf by her family. But in this case, Epiphany’s family underestimated how much she brought to the table and how she could flourish if placed in the right environment.

I recommend it if you’re into romance with a side of history or history with a side of romance.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.25

This book will be available May 30. A big thank you to @netgalley @berkleyromance and @amybarryauthor for an arc in exchange for an honest review!

I was SO excited for the second in this series and this did not disappoint. Kit is *the* dream man but I still loved to get to know Morgan better. He is more experienced than Kit was. I loved Pip. She has so much personality and vitality and was a great match for Junebug (she needed someone like Pip!). And, just mentioning Junebug - I just love her and her development here. She cracks me up and is so her own person.

Like the first book, this is a western romance that really focuses on its characters, even if they don't have as much "screen time" as in other romance novels. I really enjoyed this book. I read it in almost one sitting and am quite sad I have to wait so long until I can read the next in the series (whenever that will come out)!

The only gripey thing I have is that book #1 was no spice - just kissing - and here we had WAY more than that. Like, not even just steam - straight spice. I think, for me, I prefer a series to have similar spice-levels throughout (just my own personal mental preparedness?). It makes me wonder about Beau's book - will it be even spicer?!

Epiphany Hopgood, better known as Pip, has been having a hard time finding a husband in her small home town of Joshua, Nebraska. It’s 1887, and a woman’s future is pretty much limited to husband and children, yet although Pip has mastered all the skills required of a wife, one potential husband after another turns her down because she’s too homely. At the ripe age of 22, Pip is desperate enough to answer an ad in “Matrimonial News” for a mail-order bride, even though the man advertising describes himself as a “bullheaded backwoodsman with a surfeit of family.” After all, he wants a woman with a mind of her own, and Pip has that. He wants a good cook, and if there is one area where Pip excels, it’s in the kitchen. And she likes his honesty.

After some back-and-forth correspondence, Pip embarks on the train to Montana, with her maternal grandmother to act as chaperone until the wedding. The journey goes smoothly, she loves the mountains, but the person present to greet her is not her intended but a barefoot tomboy who gives her name as Junebug McBride. Only after Pip has spent a week at her destination, mostly baking cakes and pies that she funds out of pocket, does she discover that the reason she has yet to meet her bridegroom, Morgan, is that he has no idea she exists. Junebug placed the ad, without her older brother’s knowledge, and all her vaunted honesty has been lies.

Meanwhile, Morgan, a former cowhand who has cared for his younger siblings since their mother died and their father took off, can’t wait to get back to his former carefree life on the trail. He certainly has no plans to abandon that goal for a bride he neither requested nor wanted. But Pip is determined to win him over, because her only alternative is to scuttle back home and endure the humiliation of telling her mother that yet another man has turned her down. And Junebug will do whatever she can to help, because she can’t bear to give up Pip’s lovely dinners and desserts and revert to cooking (badly) for her family of five.

How this delightfully realized and complicated pair overcome their differences, in the process facing up to their past traumas and charting a new course, makes for a rich and rewarding story. We never really question what the ending will be, but as always with romance novels, the fun is how the couple gets there, and here Amy Barry excels in keeping us turning the pages to find out. The adorable, irrepressible Junebug could carry the novel all by herself, but the other characters are strong enough that she doesn’t have to.

I hope to interview this author on my blog (link below) in early June 2023.

I loved the first book in this series, and was so excited to read Marrying Off Morgan McBride.

I loved returning to Buck's Creek and getting more of Junebug and her brothers. The humor, the storyline, and the whole cast of side characters are super fun and memorable. What I didn't enjoy was how steamy things get in this book. When you're expecting closed-door/fade-to-black level romance, it's a bit of a shock to find out this book was open door. I was hoping for more chemistry between Pip and Morgan that wasn't about how physically attracted they were. I also found it annoying how often the size of her chest was mentioned. Felt a bit too objectifying.

All in all, this series a fun, fresh take on western romance, but I'm looking for books that are keeping things closed door.

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I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Junebug is back to her antics again with some help from Pip’s granny. I enjoyed reading Pip and Morgan’s story and seeing everyone in Buck’s Creek again. The pacing felt a little slow a times, but the characters’ personalities made up for it. I’m looking forward to reading Beau’s story!

RATING: 4.25/5 STARS

This was such a treat!! Loved the romance between Morgan and Pip, and Junebug was a spitfire as usual. The spice was perfect. I cannot wait for Beau's book next!

I continue to love this series. Much like the first book, Morgan and Pip's story doesn't fit a lot of the traditional tropes, though it does fit what would have happened in the time period. The writing is hilarious and sweet. Junebug continues to be a delightful hellion. (Is it too much to hope that Junebug also gets a wife at the conclusion of this series?) The book had so much good food in it since Pip's cooking abilities are a major draw for Junebug, so I'm going to have a hard time narrowing it down for Eating/Reading.

I devoured this ARC. I just love this series so much. I like how the author manages the triple perspectives of Pip, Morgan and of course Junebug. And as with book one, the minor characters are great.

Of course, as a consequence of the triple POV, scene stealing minor characters and expanding family at Bucks Creek, the main romance can feel a little bit shortchanged, especially compared to novels that lack these obstacles. Still, I thought the novel was well executed and so entertaining.

I was elated to receive this ARC! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher.

What a fun bookish romp! Junebug is just the best character and I very much hope that she eventually gets her own book too. Pip was awesome. I loved how she had a backbone and some confidence even though she was so self-conscious because of what everyone had always said about her back home. Can people really fall in love after just 2 days? Eh. (This was more in lust anyway). Do I care about the improbability? Nope. Why? Because the book was just plain FUN. Having read book 1, I was surprised that the heat/steam/sexy level got turned up so any of you who only read closed-door romances, this is your warning.

This book was absolutely lovely! I so enjoyed getting to head back to Buck’s Creek and visit the McBride family again. I truly loved Kit’s book, but I loved Morgan’s even more. The cast is delightful, and I I loved every minute of getting to see where they are a few months after the events of book one. I absolutely cannot wait to read Beau’s story!

Read if you love:
- a quirky cast
- laugh out loud moments
- small town setting
- historical romance
- great steam
- truly lovable characters

A fair follow-up to Kit McBride Gets a Wife. I think it felt a little bit too formulaic at times and the pacing was pretty slow, particularly in the beginning when Pip was meeting the McBrides for the first time. I wasn't fond of this in the first book and I can't say it worked for me here either, but the McBride family is too much to combine with a romance. I end up wishing I was reading a series about Junebug. Overall, it just didn't really hold my attention.

Just like the first book in the series, this is another delightful book with quirky characters and a surprising story. It was also surprising that it was open door romance and not a closed door romance like the first. I can imagine that some readers will be shocked and disappointed. Still, I enjoyed it!

Marrying Off Morgan McBride by Amy Barry was an enjoyable read. The interaction of the main characters, Morgan, Junebug, and Epiphany was fascinating and often unexpected. Although Junebug was a smart, spunky schemer, marrying off her brother was no small task. The plot kept taking surprising turns. The author did a good job of showing the beauty of the mountain location and the rawness of mining towns. She explores the isolation and the constant work of homesteading that was particularly hard for women. Her portrayal of Epiphany, who is too much, too tall, too strong and too outspoken for the settled area and narrow family she grew up in was excellent. And her grandmother"s portrayal of the same settled area as too flat with too much corn was funny. In fact, her grandmother is as spunky as Junebug. I would have liked some expansion of the brief hints about Morgan's early life, it would have helped clarify what motivated this complex character. All in all, an excellent and entertaining read. This book will appeal to readers of western historical romance. Strongly recommended.

I loved this book. June bug is a great character that knows her brothers well. She is trying to be a match maker to her brother and things don’t go as planned. It is full of humor and romance. I did not want it to end and hope that she writes more.

3.5 stars. This is a fun series, and readers of [book:Kit McBride Gets a Wife|60018596] will enjoy getting more family history and dynamics, plus insight into the oldest brother. This book's mail-order bride is a spit-fire lady readers will find easy to love. The story is more cohesive and direct than the first book, now that the premise and most characters have been set up.

Strong /Seven Brides for Seven Brothers/ vibes in this one, even more than the first. Recommend to general historical romance readers. Not a super stand-out but nothing wrong with it-- a very good airplane read.

eARC from NetGalley.

If you love historical romances, westerns, and cowboys, I think you’ll love this one! I personally am just not a fan of the western/cowboy lingo, but that’s a personal preference. I do like moody/grumpy/broody MMCs, and you get that in Morgan. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't think it was possible, but this second book in the The McBrides of Montana series was even better than the first. Junebug is at it again, this time to find a bride for what may be the hardest of her brothers, in the hope Morgan will stay Buck's Creek. I absolutely loved the dialogue and chemistry between the two main characters and can't wait for the next entry in this series.

✨I’d love to Buck your Creek✨

TLDR:

I really enjoyed this, but I did suffer from the overwhelming urge to compare Morgan to Kit. The last 10% of the book was absolutely adorable and my favorite part of Pip and Morgan’s love story. There was about a steamy scene and a half which was a TOTAL surprise if you’ve read book one. In book 3, I’d love to see a little bit quicker of a pace and more focus on the main couple.

I liked the overall plot, so this was fun reading in general, but the romance played second fiddle to Junebug’s growth as a character. I suppose this happened in book one too, but I was so charmed by Kit, whereas Morgan needed a little honey as a chaser to sweeten the pot. Pip was the superstar of book two. I really loved how she never fought for what she knew she deserved.

The writing style is so fun and the vocabulary is so unique to the locals of Buck’s Creek. Amy Barry has created a really compelling foundation and I can’t wait to see what she builds this series into.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.75/5 🌶️🌶️.75*/5

*One full explicit sex scene and one frisky creek expedition. I loved Kit’s book that contained ZERO sexy times and don’t need sex to love a book, but YEEHAW I love seeing the word cock.

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More thoughts:

Morgan was SO stubborn and frankly the way he left??? Multiple times??? I was rather annoyed with him for a lot of this book. I understood why he was the way he was and why he wanted to get out, but woof. His past was definitely traumatic and darker than the impression I got of it in Kit’s book.

I did love how he came through in the end and how he finally sat down with his emotions. I would’ve maybe liked Pip to give him one more verbal lashing because he deserved it and I don’t think he quite reckoned enough with how much she was dragged through the mud during this book. A lot of times by him. He talked over people a lot and, by the end, he’d only just learned to listen.

And since Morgan took forever to finally realize what he actually wanted out of life, the pace felt a lot slower than book one. In both books, it took a while for the couples to meet and even spend time together because a lot of the narrative was from Junebug’s POV. It worked for me in book one because Kit was just never opposed to getting married and his pining was so visceral. It was quite clear that they belonged together.

In book two, Morgan and Pip needed a lot more space than they were ultimately given on the page to work out their differences. They ended up in this Miles City for a good chunk of the book and it derailed the plot a bit for me. One they were both in that city, it still took forever for them to meet again.

I just wanted more moments of them in love. The epilogue was about Beau, so we didn’t even get to see them living happily there. My favorite part of the book was the last 10% and I’d have loved for that to extend for a good 10% more. That 10% Morgan was way better than the other 90% we got. And really he wasn’t a baaad character I just wasn’t emotionally attached until the end of the book.

I found this on netgalley and thought I'd give historical western romance a try. I'm so glad I did! I didn't realize this was the second book in a series but it made no difference and I was able to follow the story and characters just fine. This was a funny, steamy (maybe a 2 on the pepper scale?) read and now I need more of this genre!