Seven Brides for Beau McBride

Seven Brides for Beau McBride by Amy Barry | 352 pages | 2025

Beau McBride reckons he’s ready for marriage. But his ego is bigger than his brain, and his little sister Junebug can’t trust him to find the right woman. So they make a bet, both placing ads in the Matrimonial News for mail-order brides. But when she discovers that Beau has already made his pick, Junebug decides to even the odds ... by inviting six more brides to meet her brother.

Ellie Neale doesn’t expect much from life – and life hasn’t given her much, except a head full of daydreams and her beautiful best friend Diana. And now Diana has answered an ad to be a mail-order bride – with some letter-writing help from Ellie – and she's leaving for Montana. Unwilling to lose her only friend, Ellie answers an ad of her own, which will take her to the same town Diana is headed for. But there's a when they arrive, Ellie and Diana realise they're here for the same husband. Along with five other women!

With seven brides vying for Beau’s attention, he needs to make a decision – fast. The only problem is, his heart longs for the one woman who wants nothing to do with him.

(Synopsis taken from Goodreads)

This book was sweet from start to finish! I wasn't sure about the Bachelorette vibe at first but it ended up working really well (especially since we got Beau's perspective and knew that he wasn't the playboy everyone had him down as). I wanted to give Ellie a big hug, and also my therapist's business card. Even as a side character, Diana had great development and I loved her growth.

Excited to see where this series goes next!

Marrying Off Morgan McBride

Marrying Off Morgan McBride by Amy Barry | 336 pages | 2023

As the oldest of the McBride siblings, Morgan had to be protector and shepherd since Ma died and Pa ran off. It hasn't always been easy, especially when his heart longs to roam on the trail. But now that his brother Kit is married and settled, the time is right for Morgan to leave Buck's Creek. Little does he know that his hellcat of a little sister Junebug is dead set on keeping him at home and getting more help around the house - all with one honest advertisement in The Matrimonial News.

Epiphany Hopgood has always had a gift for doing the exact wrong thing. She's too tall, too loud, too opinionated, and too contrary for her family and community. Staring down the barrel of spinsterhood, she and her grandmother answer a seemingly straightforward ad for a bride.

But when Pip shows up to Buck's Creek, she finds that Morgan McBride is not the husband she expected. In fact, he doesn't even want to be a husband. But maybe there's a way to make everyone happy out on the Montana frontier...

(Synopsis taken from Goodreads)

A decent (and way more spicy) second installment in the McBrides series.
Junebug is at it again, ordering brides for her unsuspecting brothers. This time it's for Morgan though, who has absolutely zero interest in marrying and just wants to get back to his old life of driving cattle. The woman in question, Epiphany (Pip), was a true delight. As a woman who has also been a bit "too much" for a lot of people, I loved reading Epiphany's perspective and seeing her take charge of her life and grow through her insecurities. On the other hand, I wasn't a big fan of Morgan in this book. Stubborn to a fault, he resisted any character growth until the very end, when it all happened at once and seemed too good to be true. Romance books usually do so much better than this, but it seems the only thing that brought him around was salivating over Pip's curves. The journey was fun, but in the end I wasn't very satisfied.