1–What is the title of your latest release?
2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Without telling him, Junebug McBride decides to order up a mail order wife for her backwoodsman of an older brother. But she’s not going to sell some poor woman a false bill of goods – in her ad, she’s going to tell the TRUTH (poor Kit!)
3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
KIT MCBRIDE is set in the Elkhorn Mountains of Montana in 1886. I knew I wanted somewhere remote and somewhere starkly beautiful. Bucks Creek is a town consisting entirely of McBrides. It’s a small and extremely isolated place. When the heroine, Maddy, arrives, she’s the only woman for miles around.
4–Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
I wouldn’t just hang out with her; I’d drag her off to have some fun! She’s been a housemaid since she was twelve and hasn’t had enough fun in her life!
5–What are three words that describe your hero?
Big. Brawny. Sweet.
6–What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I learned a lot of new words – not least of them: absquatulate – because these characters are fond of reading the dictionary and their vocab is bigger than mine! (Absquatulate: Remove ourselves, absent to elsewhere, leave)
7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I do a bit of both. As I start writing for the day, I usually go back and read the previous chapter, to get into the swing of things again, and as I do that, I edit. But of course, I also end up editing after I’m done (because writing is rewriting…)
8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
How to pick!! I have an expensive habit of loving champagne. In terms of food, I love eating out in a new restaurant and trying new things. There is nothing better than good company, champagne, and a new dining experience (but, like most, my budget doesn’t allow it as often as I would like…) Given budget constraints, give me a hole in the wall, and cheap eats with amazing food (hello Laksa or a great burrito). This answer is basically: all of it. I like everything.
9–Describe your writing space/office!
At home, I have a shared office with my partner, which is hemmed in by walls of books. But my desk is usually an explosion of work from my day job, so when I’m writing I tend to move all over the house. I like writing at the kitchen table, on the couch, in bed. I’m a binge writer, so when I’m writing, I write every waking moment.
10–Who is an author you admire?
Again, how to pick!!! That’s like choosing between your parents. Can I list a million? Here’s six: Larry McMurtry, Julie Garwood, Charles Dickens, Maya Angelou, Stephen King, Tom Wolfe (I have broad taste…)
11–Is there a book that changed your life?
There are many. Of the authors listed above, Larry McMurtry’s LONESOME DOVE (historical) and TERMS OF ENDEARMENT (contemporary) were revelations for the way the unique and quirky characters infused the narrative voice.
12–Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)
I’d had the great pleasure of working with my editor and publisher, writing under the name Tess LeSue, and I’d mentioned my idea about Junebug McBride and her wild plans to order brides for her unsuspecting brothers. It’s a story that’s been hanging in my head for years and it haunted my editor too. When she offered to publish the McBrides I was absolutely thrilled. You don’t meet a character like Junebug every day and I so wanted to bring her to life.
13–What’s your favorite genre to read?
This is a refrain with me: how do I pick? It makes me sound indecisive, but I prefer to think I’m just wildly in love with everything. I love historical fiction most of all: big, epic, sweeping historical fiction. But I’m a sucker for romance – so the epic historical fiction better have one in there.
14–What’s your favorite movie?
It’s a tie between Dirty Dancing, Empire Strikes Back, and Jaws (again – I’m as eclectic as heck).
15–What is your favorite season?
Fall. But I like living somewhere that has all four seasons. I like experiencing the changes.
16–How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I’m not that fond of parties as I don’t love being the center of attention. A wine tour with my honey and a long lazy lunch would be ideal.
17–What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I just devoured Emily Henry’s BOOK LOVERS. So much fun for lovers of romance. But if you want something a little darker, Catriona Ward’s THE LAST HOUSE ON NEEDLESS STREET is one of the best books I’ve read in years.
18–What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
At the moment, Tex Mex!
19–What do you do when you have free time?
I’m a fan of reading in a bubble bath. I can spend hours topping up the hot water. Beautiful fragrance a must (I have a gorgeous bath oil at the moment that’s blood orange, jojoba, and laurel leaf).
20–What can readers expect from you next?
MARRYING OFF MORGAN MCBRIDE will be out next summer. I’ve just finished the edits on it, and I can’t wait until you can all read it. Junebug has upped her game! And Morgan is the stubbornest (and sexiest) of the McBrides. It’s a lot of fun.
KIT MCBRIDE GETS A WIFE by Amy Barry
The four McBride brothers have their worlds turned upside down when their precocious younger sister secretly places an advertisement for a mail-order bride.
Kit McBride knows that Buck’s Creek, Montana, is no place to find a wife. Between him and his three brothers—plus little Junebug—they manage all right on their own, thank you very much. But unbeknownst to Kit, his sister is sick to death of cleaning, cooking, and mending for her big brothers, so she places an ad in The Matrimonial News to get them hitched.
After Maggie Mooney emigrated from Ireland, she found employment with an eccentric but poor widow. When her mistress decides to answer an ad for a mail-order bride, Maddy is dragged along for the ride to Montana. But en route to the West, Maddy is suddenly abandoned and left to assume the widow’s name, position, and matrimonial prospects.
With no other recourse in the wilderness, Maddy must convince Kit she’s the wife he never knew he needed.
Romance Historical | Romance Western [Berkley, On Sale: August 23, 2022, Trade Size / e-Book, ISBN: 9780593335574 / eISBN: 9780593335574]
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About Amy Barry
Amy Barry writes sweeping historical stories about love. She’s fascinated with the landscapes of the American West and their complex long history, and she’s even more fascinated with people in all their weird tangled glory. Amy also writes under the names Amy T Matthews and Tess LeSue, and is Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Flinders University in Australia.
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