Showing results by author "Janice Hopkins" in All Categories

Francisca Guinn learned to bake and make fruitcakes from her deceased mother, who had worked at the Collin Street Bakery. Fran had changed the recipe to suit her tastes, but she sold them during the holidays to make extra money. When she meets Trent Jones, she tries not to give him special attention because most Texans don't like her Mexican heritage on her mother's side. However, as he remains persistent, she begins to wonder if he might be different, but will his high-society parents accept her?

Lily Brandt was glad when her father decided to move the family from Duluth to a farm in Iowa. She didn’t want to keep encountering her former fiancé and his new wife. But would Iowa turn out to be any better with her sister’s flirting and the handsome new neighbor’s quiet ways? She hadn’t gotten over Calem’s rejection yet, so she wasn’t ready for a new relationship, and she had her grandmother’s quilt to remind her to be cautious.

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?

When Emily Rose Howard took in four goats, she didn’t know she was getting more than she bargained for. However, life gets even more complicated when her neighbor’s son brings his army friend home for a visit after the Civil War ends, and her former art professor shows up too. But life in the Appalachian Mountains has never been easy, and Emily Rose is determined to face her problems with faith and determination the way she always has.

Emma has high hopes when her family moves to the North Carolina mountains. Her father appears to have finally quit drinking, and he plans to settle their family, once and for all, near the Linville River. Here, Emma meets Edgar Moretz, an intelligent, passionate, and godly young man. Things are looking up for Emma, but when she is captured by a Cherokee raiding party, her problems have just begun.

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.

Love is God’s greatest gift, and sometimes what you’re looking for has been yours all along. When her Aunt Ivy invites Rachel Moretz to come to the family’s Stanly County farm, she jumps at the chance. Though Rachel loves her parents’ mountain farm, she feels isolated there. There are no other teenagers at home, and at 16 she’d like to finally have some friends her age. The trip down the mountain will bring unexpected friendships, suitors, and dangers, and Rachel will have to rely on family for support as she faces unexpected trials and prejudices.

After the death of their father, Ivy and Leah Morgan are suddenly thrust into unpleasant, arranged marriages by their mother. Ivy, however, has other plans. Having fallen in love with Luke Moretz, Ivy is insistent upon running away to Luke’s farm in the Appalachian mountains - far from her home and her mother’s disapproval.

Anna Allen grew up in the Charleston Orphan House, but at 18, she must now leave. Her best option is to wed, and when a man from the Appalachian Mountains comes looking for a wife, she hesitantly agrees to marry him. However life with Elbert Ramsey and his father turns out to be miles from her dreams. In 1851, Levi West decides to go stay with his brother in the Appalachian Mountains. His parents had died, leaving the farm in debt, and a brazen woman had caused a rift between him and his best friend.

Knowing that he's about to be taken back into the foster care system, Kevin Jackson runs away to live on the streets. He sees himself as the outcast anyway, because his brother and sister are the perfect ones while he's always struggled. Things go well to start with, but he soon learns firsthand how dangerous the streets can be. Along the way, he has to confront his own prejudices, and he comes to realize he's had a distorted view in the past. Life is full of surprises, and Kevin will face his share of them as he moves into his future.

When the court sends a black teen to live on the farm of an older, white couple, all three lives began to change. Isaac wants to stay out of trouble, but trouble seems to keep finding him anyway. As he struggles to stay true to his new-found faith, prejudice and city friends threaten to pull him back. When even his girlfriend won’t speak to him, he knows he needs to come up with a different plan than he’s been using. How can someone used to taking care of himself and his siblings learn to rely on God?

As the blacksmith in Pinyon Falls, Silas Barrett hasn’t had much luck finding a woman who’d let him court her. Since Marshall Walker and Cord Atwood found good women who suited them from a matchmaker, Silas decides to contact her too....

On her way to Wyoming as a mail-order bride, Morrow has one incident after another, and she has no idea why these things are happening to her. Even when she and her friend arrive at Bradford's ranch, the mishaps continue to occur. Is something trying to tell her she shouldn't have come, or is there someone who doesn't want her here?

Jillian Barker's father and brothers were harsh drunks, so when the older brother closest to her age decides to run away to the West, she talks him into taking her with him since he’s the most responsible brother. However, when they get to St. Louis he decides to stay there. The wagon master refuses to take an unmarried woman with him, and she doesn't want to remain with her brother who is working in a saloon. Her only option is to wed. The wagon master assures her he can find someone who will agree to an annulment in Oregon, but can she risk another man lording it over her?

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.

Mrs. Barkley talked Zoe into traveling the Santa Fe Trail to tutor her children, but Zoe had no idea it would be such an adventure, that a handsome Army officer would provide an escort, or that she would take an instant dislike to him. However, between apologies, new friends, teaching, kidnappings, Indians, and Santa Fe itself, there’s plenty of excitement.

As the sheriff of Pinyon Falls, Texas, Reece Felps has always thought lawmen should never marry because of the danger and uncertainty that comes with the job, but as he enters middle age, he begins to reconsider. A friend convinces him that he should write to the matchmaker in Chicago with whom so many others in the area have found success.

Noah Elder gets lonely in the logging camp, and now that he’s a crew boss with a cabin, he could get married, but what woman would want this rough life? Still, he writes to his sister who’s been known to do some matchmaking. He’s pleased when she finds a young woman for him, but he soon learns that Meleah Baldwin, through no fault of her own, has problems too. In addition, trouble comes from an unexpected source. Can they work together to overcome the obstacles?

Merle Warner is a real estate investor who has never had a permanent home of his own. When he decides to settle down, he contacts a matchmaker he finds in an old ad, telling her that he plans to travel to the location of his intended. Vanessa Acker isn't well-liked in Pinyon Falls because she's too aggressive for most people. She contacts the matchmaker several others in town rave about, hoping to relocate and start over.

Deadwood doctor, Beckett March, gets a letter from his aunt informing him that she’s sending him two women to choose from for his bride, and he panics. What’s he supposed to do with twins?