Janette Oke is one of the most popular historical romance authors and has been for decades. Her well-known books have even been turned into movies and television shows. The nearly-ninety-year-old Canadian author has written many books and continues to do so even as she grows older. Age has not stopped her desire to write as she co-authors books with her daughter, Laurel Oke Logan.
Janette Oke's books are pretty much all historical romance from the 1800s era, with some into the 1900s. One series of hers that I find very interesting is the Acts of Faith series set in the time of the book of Acts. It focuses on the stories of fictional characters, but also portrays the lives of some of the most influential apostles of that time. Though the series is fictional and most of the characters and events are fictional, Oke helps the reader to see bits of the everyday lives as they might have been of influential people of that time.
Her Canadian West and Love Comes Softly series are likely her most read books. The first of these has been turned into a television series by the same name, while the Love Comes Softly series has become movies.
Oke transports her readers into the time period and place she's writing about. Her characters are real-life people with real-life struggles. Many of them help us to take a glance at what history might have been.
I find that I enjoy many of her books and series because they don't just end with one couple or one person, but the continue down through the family line and through the characters' lives. It is fascinating to me how her characters grow and morph from children into adults and yet continue to be the same person. She doesn't leave off when her characters are children and come back when the are adults, but carries them through life, changing and growing them into the people they seem destined to be.
Faith is a large part of Janette's books. It plays a huge role in the lives of her characters, changing and growing them. Their personal challenges and struggles to know and understand the God of the universe make them seem as though they were real people who once lived.
Her series include these
When Calls the Heart- 6 books
Return to the Canadian West- 3 books
Love Comes Softly- 8 books
Prairie Legacy- 4 books
When Hope Calls- 3 books with Laurel Oke Logan
Seasons of the Heart- 4 books
Acts of Faith- 3 books with T. Davis Bunn
Song of Acadia- 5 books
Women of the West- 12 books
Oke also has some standalones, which I won't list here. My favorites are probably the Acts of Faith series, and several of the Women of the West series.
