Showing results by author "Janice Hopkins" in All Categories

The ancient Chinese general, Sun Tzu, said to “know your enemy.” It’s a wise strategy, and Christians need to use it. We need to recognize Satan’s tactics, so he doesn’t lead us down the wrong path as he did Adam and Eve. The more we know about him, the easier it will be to defeat him and not be fooled by his devious, subtle wiles.

Willa Markoe had to deal with too much misfortune in her life. First, her parents die. Then she and her brother need to sell the farm. They buy a cottage in the city, but her brother dies. Willa can’t find a job, and the bank starts foreclosure proceedings on her house. Finally, she meets a matchmaker who helps, and Willa agrees to travel to the Dakota Territory to marry a stranger.

Andrea Little couldn’t hide her dismay. She looked at the woman in disbelief. “We are partnering with a pastor and his wife in Robinsville, near Grand Rapids, Michigan,” Mrs. Vaser told her.

Danielle Gregory grew up in the saloons, where her mother worked, and she has never been able to escape that lifestyle. However, she’s promised herself never to work upstairs the way her mother did. When she goes to Redbud, Arizona, to work in a saloon that doesn’t have soiled doves, the sheriff mistakes her for his mail-order bride. She would have liked to marry him and have a normal life, but she’s too honest to deceive him for long. As she expected, he has problems with her past. But when a godly pastor and his wife accept her, she has hope for the first time.

Sophie Zimmermann and her father leave Illinois after her mother dies to make the long trek on the California Trail to Genoa, near Lake Tahoe in Utah Territory, to join her aunt’s family. Sophie finds men interested in her for the first time, and she ends up taking her aunt and cousin’s advice to let Baxter Cobb court her. Baxter is a wealthy businessman that any woman should appreciate, so why can’t Sophie forget Abel Boles, the first man she meets in Genoa. Things come to a head at a baking contest.

Marshall Walker has built his successful ranch over years of hard work. He hasn’t had time to seek a wife. But when his brother dies, leaving him the custody of two nieces, he decides now is the time–after all, he’s 31 years old. So he contacts a noted matchmaking service to speed the process since the girls are on their way, and he needs a wife as soon as possible.

Faith Allen went to live with her aunt and uncle in the Kentucky mountains after her parents died. They hadn’t been cruel, but they hadn’t been loving and kind, either; and they expected her to work hard. When their son strikes it rich in the California gold rush, they pack up to head to California via the Oregon Trail.

Candace Joyner gets to her destination as a mail-order bride, only to find that her intended owns a saloon with working girls upstairs. Learning that he might eventually expect her to work for him, she hides under the tarp of a mountain man's wagon when he leaves town with his winter supplies. She's watched Jude Mason, and he appears to be kind, and most likely a Christian. She'd rather take her chances with him than with the dictatorial, unscrupulous saloon owner. But life on the mountain in the winter is tougher than she imagined.

Pennsylvania 1739 : Stanton Klein’s father had given up on life after his wife died and left Stanton orphaned to live with his grandparents. He decided he would never love like that. He and his first wife had fared well together, but she’d died in childbirth. Now he’s decided to find another woman to marry. After all, a farmer needs a wife and sons. However, with the changes come important lessons and dangers that Stanton never imagined.

Paul Martin joined the army to escape the harsh conditions at home. When orders send him to the Carolinas for training maneuvers, he doesn’t know what to expect. He didn’t expect to find strong friends or the girl of his dreams. But with trouble at home, the war raging in Europe, and the possibility of the United States being pulled into the conflict, the future looms uncertain.

After his invalid father dies in Tennessee, Inman Lowe sells the farm and heads to Montana to find his older brother. When he finally finds him, Garvis is secretly mixed up with a group of thieves. Two of the bank robbers are caught and falsely tell the sheriff that Inman is also involved. At his brother’s advice, he runs and ends up being mistaken for the expected new sheriff in a small town.

When her family situation worsens, Aileas Douglas runs away, but she’s unprepared for the Wyoming mountains. A friendly dog leads her to safety, but his master just might pose the most dangerous of all, especially to her heart. Wounded in the Civil War and deserted by his betrothed, Ian MacGregor becomes a recluse in a remote cabin in Wyoming Territory. He thinks Aileas might be an angel when she appears beside his sickbed, but even later, he’s drawn to her in ways he doesn’t understand.

Fern Russell gets caught disobeying her parents and seeing a man they don't approve of. They send her off to a boarding school in the little-known place of Big Lick. Fern is surprised to discover she likes the family she's assigned to stay with more than she expected. Their shy, older son touches her heart, but she won't be disloyal to the beau she left behind. Waiting is hard, but that's exactly what she'll have to do to find out what the future holds. She bakes both men forget-me-not cookies. Which one will end up not forgetting her?

Jocelyn Wright would prefer to be outside, with her twin brother, instead of in drawing rooms and social events. She has had to hide her true self, and pretend to be the young lady everyone expects. But, as Jonas gets ready to attend Philadelphia College, the colonies’ rebellion against the crown heats up, and her family is forced to quarter British soldiers. That's when Bennet Hart comes into the picture, and changes come much too fast, for even her.

Jackson Young brings the woman he wants to marry home to Kentucky to meet his parents, but Helen doesn’t act like the same woman away from Boston. As he reacquaints with people he hasn’t seen in five years, he notices Wylene Ward and remembers the time he rescued her from a group of bullies when they were in school. Suddenly, Jackson finds himself courting one woman, but thinking about another. How can he remedy the situation and find his place as a new lawyer? Will it be in Boston as he’d originally thought, or in Green Knoll, Kentucky, the place that still feels like home?

Boone Malone’s father and brothers were town drunks. When Boone gets drunk and does some things he would have never done sober, he thinks he has their tainted blood, and decides never to marry or have children.

When Aida Mitchell learns her intended groom plans to cheat on her after their marriage, she runs away on their wedding day. Finding an advertisement for a man wanting a wife, she travels to Great Pond Texas, only to find the man is a horrible drunk. She runs again, but not as far this time.

Ranch foreman, Wade Easton, becomes a recluse after he’s gored by a bull and his fiancée leaves him. He moves to Abilene and establishes himself as a successful dime novelist. Desperate for another housekeeper after yet another woman quits, he accepts Lillian Kirk on a trial basis, although he thinks she’s too young for the job and soon finds himself liking her too much.

Milton Cauley had tried marriage, and it didn’t work out so well. Now a widower, he has no intention of ever marrying again. He’ll devote his time to being the best barber he can be. But a misguided friend orders him a bride from the matchmaker others in Pinyon Falls have used, and Milton is furious. As far as Milton is concerned, the man can just handle the problem himself since he’s responsible for it.

Abby Carter was horrified with herself when she blurted out a marriage proposal to Preston King. A proper lady would never do such a thing, but her cousin had just jilted Preston, and she wanted to ease his hurt. She had cared for him much too long. Preston is confused, but knows he needs a wife to help him ranch in New Mexico Territory, so he asks Abby to marry him. But will he ever purge Magnolia from his heart, and will they even survive the long journey west?