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Montana Books: The Best Books Set in Big Sky Country
By: Angela & Melissa
Updated:
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, we may earn a referral fee from qualifying purchases.Whether you’re participating in our Read Around the USA Challenge or simply found your way to our website researching books set in Montana, we’ve curated a diverse list of highly rated titles about Big Sky Country! If you’re looking for another state, check our comprehensive list of books set in every state.
Literary Themes in Montana Books
Big Sky Country epitomizes the American West with its vast landscapes, ranching culture, and independent spirit. Montana literature often features themes of isolation, human-versus-nature, environmental conflict, and the tension between preservation and development. The state’s Native American reservations, mining history, and outdoor recreation culture provide rich narrative material. Wide-open spaces and harsh winters test characters’ resilience.
The Best Books Set in Montana
What Kind of Paradise
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Jane grew up in an isolated cabin in Montana in the mid-1990s. Her father was her whole world. She only knew him, the vegetable garden they used to sustain themselves, and the nineteenth-century philosophy books he gave her instead of school books. All she knows about her mysterious life before moving off-grid is that they once lived in the Bay Area and that her mother died in a car accident.
When Jane hits her teen years, she becomes more curious about the small boundaries of her world. She desperately wants to join her father on his rare trips away from the cabin. One day, she discovers that her devotion to her father has made her an accomplice to a horrific crime. In a search for the truth, she leaves Montana and heads to San Francisco, desperate to learn more about her mother.
What to Expect in This Book
This character-driven coming-of-age mystery also explores the impact of technology, for better and for worse, as Jane uses the early internet to connect with the outside world.
Book Summary
Lauren’s life turned upside down when she tragically became a widowed single mother. The grief has left her feeling adrift in her own life, until she meets Ben, a bisexual up-and-coming actor and People’s Sexiest Man Alive, on the set of her brother’s movie. She’s caught off guard by their instant chemistry.
However, new love isn’t simple when your potential partner is a movie star, your 13-year-old hormonal daughter’s moods are unpredictable, and your small Montana town has a world-class rumor mill. Can she overcome life’s complications to find real love again?
Reader Thoughts on This Book
This book is told in two timelines, one with Lauren’s husband, Spencer, and one with Ben, so be ready for some tears in addition to the romance. Grief, addiction, and sexuality are major themes, so this isn’t a standard light rom-com. Readers say it’s great for fans of Katherine Center.
Some readers don’t start connecting with the novel until Ben comes to Montana, so be aware that the beginning may not grab you as much as the middle and the ending.
Another Montana Novel to Consider
For another recent contemporary fiction set in Montana that includes a deeper story than a typical romance, try Famous for a Living by Melissa Ferguson. It’s not as highly rated, but some dissatisfied readers appear to have expected a romance. Romance is a much smaller part of the story than the cover might suggest
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
95% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Millie is a Works Progress Administration (WPA) editor sent to Montana in 1936 to work on the state’s American Guide Series. The travel books were designed to help provide jobs for writers struggling amid the Depression. When she arrives, the eclectic staff claims they’ve been sabotaged by the powerful Copper Kings, who don’t want the world to read about their bloody fights with union organizers.
However, Millie believes the town’s mysterious librarian, Alice Monroe, might be involved. A decade earlier, Alice created the Boxcar Library to deliver books to isolated mining towns. She hired Colette, a miner’s daughter, to staff the library. Both women departed on the Boxcar Library’s inaugural journey, but only Alice returned.
Inspiration for This Novel
This novel was inspired by the fascinating true history of Missoula’s Boxcar Library.
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
100% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Bodine is the manager of her family’s Montana ranch resort. She’s way too busy for love, even when her childhood crush, Callen, returns to work at the ranch. However, when a young woman’s body is discovered on their land, the deputy sheriff is fueled by an old grudge and treats Callen as a suspect.
Twenty-five years ago, Bodine’s Aunt Alice disappeared, so the murder of this young woman hits close to home for the Longbow family. Bodine and Callen must work together to uncover the truth behind the current murder, and in the process, they may learn more about Alice.
This story alternates between the present day, with Bodine and Callen, and Alice’s story from twenty-five years earlier until the events collide.
More Montana Romance Novels to Consider
For additional romance picks set in Montana, consider Montana Sky by Nora Roberts, Montana by Debbie Macomber, and Montana Actually by Fiona Lowe.
The Paris Library
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
96% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Based on a true story, this novel will transport you to two vastly different time periods and locations. In 1939 Paris, Odile works for the American Library. When the Nazis arrive in Paris and threaten the library, Odile and her fellow librarians resist the occupation by continuing to deliver books to readers.
Decades later, in 1983 Montana, teenager Lily becomes interested in her widowed neighbor. As they begin to form a bond, Lily tries to learn more about how her French neighbor ended up in Montana. They have no idea that a dark secret connects them.
The Lakeside Inn
Book Summary
Penny loves her job as a property development manager in Seattle, but a tragedy requires her to travel home to Sapphire Bay, Montana, to say goodbye to her grandmother. She has three sisters, and none of them expected to inherit their grandmother’s home together, especially with the strings attached.
Their grandmother’s neighbor, Wyatt, was equally surprised when the Terry sisters moved in next door. His hopes of completing a series of paintings were crushed when the women started a noisy remodel. Maybe that unwanted free time will give him a chance to help Penny solve an old family mystery.
About the Series
Each of the four books in the Return to Sapphire Bay series follows a different sister, but they can be read as standalones. All four books are highly rated, so if you enjoy the setting and the sisters, we encourage you to continue the series!
Murder at Cottonwood Creek
Book Summary
Viscount “Lyndy” Lyndhurst’s father, Lord Atherly, has a passion for paleontology, and it’s brought him to Montana. Lyndy and his American heiress wife, Stella, follow him across the pond to explore the fossil-rich horse ranch owned by Stella’s mother and her second husband.
The dig site was being guarded by a local man, but his body was found in a dry creekbed. Stella and Lyndy suspect foul play, especially after several fossil bones disappear and a second body is found. Now the pair is digging for more than just bones; they need to find the clues to expose the killer.
About the Series
The first six books in the series are set in the U.K. Murder at Cottonwood Creek is Stella and Lyndy’s first adventure across the pond in the U.S. This book can be read as a standalone, but if you enjoy it, consider circling back to book 1, Murder at Morrington Hall.
Last Bus to Wisdom
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
97% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Eleven-year-old Donal lives deep in the Montana Rockies with his grandmother. However, when she needs surgery, she decides to send Donal to her sister in Wisconsin. Sadly, Aunt Kate is a tough woman to live with, unlike Gram. And Donal isn’t the only one who finds her difficult. Aunt Kate’s husband, Herman the German, is also getting tired of her tyrannical nature.
When Kate sends Donal back to Montana on the bus, Herman the German decides to travel with him. Along the way, they meet an interesting cast of characters and find themselves in all kinds of misadventures.
About the Setting & Author
While the characters in this novel do leave Montana, approximately 75% of the book is set within the state, including travel across different locations in Montana. While Last Bus to Wisdom is the final in a series that started in 1984, the books read as standalones.
Author Ivan Doig has several highly rated books set in Montana, including The Bartender’s Tale, which our readers rated 4.0 out of 5 as part of our In Case You Missed It Challenge.
Hattie Big Sky
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
92% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
In this 2007 Newbery Honor Book, a 16-year-old orphan named Hattie receives the surprising news that she has inherited her uncle’s homesteading claim in Montana. She bravely travels from Iowa in 1917 to start a new life for herself on his land.
World War I is raging in Europe, and anti-German sentiment has reached Montana, creating complications for Hattie’s friend, Perilee Mueller. On top of the war, Hattie faces bug-infested summers and bitter winters, but her will to thrive finds a way to endure each challenge that comes her way.
Inspiration for This Book
The book was inspired by the experiences of Kirby Larson’s great-grandmother, who received a homestead from her uncle in his will. There is a follow-up book about Hattie called Hattie Ever After, which continues Hattie’s story as she idolizes Nellie Bly and works to become a female reporter.
We Begin at the End
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
88% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Thirteen-year-old Duchess Day Radley considers herself an outlaw. She’s hot-headed and believes that rules aren’t meant for her. She lives her life somewhere in the gray area between right and wrong.
Her single mom, Star, can hardly take care of herself, let alone two kids. So Duchess spends her days protecting her 5-year-old brother, Robin, and mothering her own mom.
Walk still lives in Cape Haven, the same coastal California town where he and Star grew up. He does his best to protect Duchess and Robin in all the ways that Star cannot. Although Walk is now the chief of police, he is still scarred by the memory of having to testify against his best friend, Vincent, thirty years ago.
Three decades after that testimony, Vincent is being released from prison, which spells trouble for both Walk and Duchess. This story is told from their alternating points of view. The primary narrative is set in the present day with flashbacks to past events.
Thoughts on This Book
Chris Whitaker is the author of the wildly popular All the Colors of the Dark. While We Begin at the End isn’t nearly as long as All the Colors of the Dark, readers still need to be prepared to go along for a twisty ride in a crime thriller.
The character-driven mystery is structured so that you won’t fully understand the story until everything comes together at the end.
The Moonglow Cafe
Book Summary
Paige has been sent from New York to report on Montana’s unique Yogo sapphires for the Manhattan Post. During her visit, she finds an old diary, hidden inside the wall of a historic hotel, which detours her original mission.
Each eccentric town resident seems to hold a different key to understanding more about the diary. Soon, the worlds of Western art and sapphire mining collide. Along the way, she hopes to reconnect with a handsome cowboy named Jake.
Reader Thoughts on This Book
This is the second book in the Paige MacKenzie Mystery series. The first is set in Wyoming and covers a different case.
Readers enjoy the descriptions of the scenery and characters throughout this book and appreciate what they learn about Montana’s history and sapphire mining. That said, some find it slower-paced than a typical cozy mystery and rate it as a solid 3- to 3.5-star entertaining read rather than a 5-star pick.
Book Summary
After her father’s death in 1983, Ilsa uproots her life to temporarily move into his tiny lakeside cabin in Montana so she can settle his estate. It’s also the perfect way to say goodbye and enjoy one last Montana winter.
As Ilsa cleans out the cabin, she begins to question his death. It seems he left behind a trail of strange clues about a lost legend of Montana gold. As her questions grow, she finds herself falling for the local sheriff.
Book Summary
Brothers Phil and George are joint owners of a large Montana ranch. The siblings couldn’t be more different. Phil is bright, tall, and a voracious reader and chess player. George is stocky, plodding, and slow to learn, but he is devoted to the business
While Phil has a thirst for dominance, George is a gentler soul. When George unexpectedly marries a young widow named Rose, she comes to live at the ranch. The status quo is interrupted for the first time in 40 years. Phil isn’t happy about this turn of events and torments Rose.
Consider This Before Reading
This 1967 classic contains difficult themes and scenes involving animal cruelty, homophobia, alcoholism, and suicide. Be sure to check more detailed trigger warnings if needed.
Film Adaptation
Jane Campion adapted this 1967 classic into a Netflix film starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Kirsten Dunst; Campion won the Academy Award for Best Director.
The Heart in Winter
Book Summary
In 1891, Butte, Montana, was a rowdy copper mining boomtown with a significant Irish immigrant population. The residents, including the main character Tom Rourke, enjoy many vices. He’s feeling unsure about his future when Polly arrives in town. She’s the new bride in an arranged marriage to the devout mining captain Long Anthony Harrington.
Polly quickly realizes her arranged marriage is not going to work, and, just as quickly, an affair with Tom sparks. The duo heads west on a stolen horse, embracing their wild romance. However, they are being pursued by gunmen, and the choice they make next will haunt them forever.
Consider This Before Reading
One of the Goodreads reviews we read while considering this book called it “Lewd, crude, and really rather good.” So, if you’re sensitive to adult language and topics, skip this one.
Let Him Go
Book Summary
Years ago, George and Margaret Blackledge lost their son James when he was thrown from a horse. Now, it’s September 1951, and James’s widow, Lorna, has remarried. Margaret doesn’t trust the new husband, Donnie Weboy, and is concerned for the safety of their grandson, Jimmy.
Jimmy is their last remaining connection to James, but George, a retired sheriff, doesn’t want to stir up trouble with Donnie. Unable to allay Margaret’s fears, George gives in, and the two take to the road in pursuit of Jimmy. They travel through the North Dakota badlands and on to Bentrock, Montana.
When Margaret tries to convince Lorna to return to North Dakota with Jimmy, she and George find themselves entangled with the fearsome Weboy clan, who aren’t going to give Jimmy up without a fight.
About the Book
Author Larry Watson was born and raised in North Dakota. He writes modern Westerns with simple prose and limited punctuation, similar to the style of Kent Haruf (author of Plainsong). Let Him Go is primarily a character-driven read rather than an action-packed story. The first portion of the book is set in North Dakota, and the chase, confrontation, and resolution take place in eastern Montana.
This novel was adapted into a film of the same name starring Kevin Costner and Diane Lane.
Book Girls’ Readers Rate This Book
86% Would Recommend to a Friend
Book Summary
Author Norman Maclean was an English professor who began writing fiction at age 70. His novella, A River Runs Through It, was first published in 1976. It is now considered a 20th-century classic about life, told through fly-fishing and vivid descriptions of the scenic Montana landscape.
Film Adaptation
Robert Redford adapted A River Runs Through It into a beautiful movie starring young Brad Pitt, so this would be a fun pick to read + watch.
The Miseducation of Cameron Post
Book Summary
When Cameron Post suddenly loses her parents to a tragic car accident, amid her shock and grief, she also feels relieved that they will never learn that, just hours earlier, she had been kissing a girl.
Orphaned, Cameron is forced to move in with her conservative aunt and old-fashioned grandma in rural Montana. Then, Cameron meets Coley Taylor – a beautiful cowgirl with a perfect boyfriend. The girls form a close friendship that seems to leave the door open for something more to develop in their relationship.
When Cameron’s ultra-religious Aunt Ruth tries to “fix” her niece through conversion therapy, Cameron must come to terms with her true self.
What to Expect in This Book
This is a very character-driven book, so while many rate it highly, some don’t enjoy the slow pace.
Promise Me, Cowboy
Book Summary
This 109-page novella kicks off a series of short romance reads set on the Carrigan family ranch in Montana. In this introduction, Sage has just placed first in a rodeo competition and ends up in bed with bronc rider Dawson, who also won his event. She has no idea that he’s married until his wife walks in, humiliating her, even though becoming the other woman was not intentional.
The next day, Sage has an accident during training that makes her swear off the rodeo and cowboys forever. Instead, she becomes a chocolatier in her hometown ranching community and is doing well…until Dawson comes to town five years later.
About the Author
The author and her family divide their time between their home in Calgary, Alberta, and the family cottage on Flathead Lake, Montana.
Christmas Books Set in Montana
How to Ruin the Holidays
Book Summary
Mara has a difficult family, and after a disastrous Thanksgiving, she can’t handle any more togetherness or holly and jolly this holiday season. When a last-minute business trip pops up, it’s the perfect excuse. What she didn’t expect was to wind up in the middle of a town that could give the North Pole a run for its money.
Not only is Carole Cove, Montana, a bit too merry and bright, but it also has its own Mr. Holiday – Noel Holiday. Noel runs the cafe in town, and the only thing hotter than his lattes is, well, him. And that’s the last thing Mara needs this holiday season… or is it?
What to Expect in This Book
We love a great first line, and this book opens with a winner: “I like to rage crochet.” This is a closed-door Christmas read, as long as you don’t mind a few great kisses under the mistletoe.
Long Lost Christmas
Book Summary
Interior designer Hayley’s Christmas wish is to reunite her mother with her long-lost brother. She travels to Montana and hides her true identity from her uncle in order to get closer to him and his family.
Things get further complicated when Hayley finds herself falling for her uncle’s business partner, architect and builder, Blake Dennison. Blake is attracted to Hayley as well, but he’s been burned before and worries that Hayley may be a spy for a rival builder.
Additional Christmas Books Set in Montana
This holiday romance was adapted into a Hallmark Christmas movie of the same name. If you enjoy Hallmark-y vibes, don’t miss Holiday Hearts by Barbara Ankrum and A Bramble House Christmas by C.J. Carmichael, which are both set in Montana as well.
Read Around the USA – Books Set in Other States
We hope you enjoyed this list of books about Montana and found some great titles to add to your TBR. If you’re participating in our Read Around the USA Challenge, be sure to check out our alphabetical index of books set in each state.
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