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Ophelia Trigger, 18, is wanted for MURDER!

When Ophelia hears a voice in her head telling her, "It's time to start giving, and time to start doing what's right," she knows she must leave her corrupt father and begin to make amends for all his wrongdoing -- but when she leaves, the evil man frames her for murder!.


She goes West to make her escape, and on her way becomes Opal Farewell. For her, Come-By-Chance will be a place to hide, to start a new life -- perhaps even somewhere to marry...
Meanwhile, upstanding Billings Sheriff, Calvin Johnson, is on the trail of WANTED MURDERESS - Ophelia Trigger.



A story of cat and mouse, give and take, and the difference between Evidence and Truth.



It's 1885, and love is in the air in the town of Come-By-Chance!


In this much-loved series strong women risk everything to rise above their desperate circumstances, find true love, and wed real men who'll treat them right.



The Come-By-Chance series consists of:



Book 1 - Ruby

Book 2 - Emily

Book 3 - Violet

Book 4 - Kate

Book 5 - Rose

Book 6 - Emmy-Lou

Book 7 - Opal

Book 8 -

195 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 17, 2015

302 people are currently reading
219 people want to read

About the author

Juliet James

31 books26 followers
Juliet James is the author of the much-loved Come-By-Chance Historical Western Romance Series.

She writes feel-good Westerns that are easy reading, enjoyable, uplifting and fun. Sure, bad things happen—but in the end, the good guys always win, the bad guys get what's coming to them, and the deserving find true love. Maybe that's why her stories are loved by the old, the young, and men & women alike.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author with this name in the Goodreads database.

For the Georgian Romance author, see Juliet James.

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5 stars
160 (42%)
4 stars
123 (32%)
3 stars
65 (17%)
2 stars
18 (4%)
1 star
9 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
Profile Image for Nancy.
621 reviews2 followers
February 3, 2017
***** spoilers ahead ******




I got this book free from kindle. It could have been so much better. Ophilia on the run from her mobster father ends up in Montana. Her father has the city in his pocket and blames her for a murder. Her description is sent to Montana. There she meets people who are nice, changes her name to Opal and decides to get married to hide. Through a mail order bride service she meets gentlemen of the town. Including the sheriff. The sheriff has recently been offered a job by the President to clean up Indianapolis as the Marshal, he retires from the town but before leaving is looking for Ophilia. It is literally love at first sight. I find that utterly rediculous.

What I wish happened. The sheriff finds out she's who she's looking for. The good people of the town convince her he is honest and upholds the law. She tells him what happened. They end up going back to Indianapolis and try to bring down her father and clean up the town. They end up falling in love and help keep each other out of trouble until those in her father's pockets are all behind bars.

What does happen. The sheriff figures out who Ophilia really is, but she's just so nice, and because he loves her he allows her to go on pretending to be Opal and marries her. Blah... yuck.

Besides all of this I also found this book extremely preachy.
Profile Image for Michelle.
774 reviews4 followers
February 21, 2024
I adore mail-order bride books. I think I must have been one in a past life. But this one just wasn't great. Perhaps it was too short to really flesh out the characters? Perhaps I shouldn't have started with book 7 in the series? We may never know.

The Sheriff. Oh, the sheriff. He has hints of being amazing. But I needed more. And Opal? Yes, she was strong and could stand on her own. But why did it take her so long to do it? Plus, the silliness of their pasts was a deal breaker for me.

2 reluctant stars, but you know I'll go back and read the other ones too. Eventually.
Profile Image for Erin Lee.
479 reviews15 followers
April 13, 2019
I am so sorry to say that I was disappointed in this book. I was so disinterested that it took me ten months to finish it. The story seemed so distant from the charming nature of the earlier books in the series, and I keep reading them, hoping the next will feel fresh and sweet like they were in the series’ inception. I’ll probably do more eventually, but I confess I’m going to take a break for a while.
61 reviews
July 21, 2015
I Loved this book

I have loved all of Juliet James books. This one was no exception. She kept me entertained throughout with sadness, smiles, laugh out loud moments and a with a wonderful feel good feeling as it came to a close. I look forward to the next book.
Profile Image for Frances Saueressig.
26 reviews1 follower
July 28, 2015
Wonderful story

The series gets better with each book. They are stand alone books, but reading them in order only makes them better. Great western writer with clean romance thrown in. Love her books.
Profile Image for Susan Emashowski.
74 reviews
September 26, 2015
Loved this book. Any book that brings you through history and makes you feel like you are there is a great book!
Profile Image for Dosha (Bluestocking7) Beard.
629 reviews47 followers
March 29, 2016
it was good, but not as much fun as the previous books. I was glad to be done with it and it will be awhile before I decide to read the next one.
Profile Image for Timothy Hendricks.
477 reviews6 followers
October 4, 2017
This was a cute book. I liked reading it and there were definitely some parts that made me laugh. However it could have been a much better book. I would have preferred Sheriff Calvin Johnson taking the Marshall job and taking Ophelia who later becomes Opal with him and together cleanup Indianapolis. But it didn't go that way.

The next book Coral is interesting at least the first two chapters that are offered in this book; but I'm not sure if I really want to go there.
Profile Image for Barbara "Cookie" Serfaty Williams.
2,705 reviews5 followers
September 21, 2020
Opal - Book 7 Come By Chance Mail Order Briders

The love story of Opal and Calvin. Ophelia Trigger left left Indianapolis when a voice in her head toll het to. When she left she became Opal Farewell. Sheriff Calvin Johnson was send a wanted post for Ophelia Trigger dead or live for murder. Will he find her? Great story.
203 reviews
October 8, 2021
Not a fan

I wanted to like it but I had a hard time liking it. I adored opal and her bravery but did not much care for the Sheriff. I liked Letty and rose and the people from come by chance except for the Preacher. I really wanted to see a show down between opal ‘s father and the sheriff.

Opal
488 reviews2 followers
August 26, 2017
Very well-written!

I totally enjoyed Opal. She and all the other characters were realistic. The story was great - I could hardly put it down because I was so interested. Definitely recommend this book. I will read more by this author.
Profile Image for Willadale.
89 reviews
March 6, 2018
I enjoyed this book but found it ended rather abruptly. I assume it is the author's intent to continue the story in her next book. I certainly hope so. I don't like to be "left hanging" at the end of a book.
Profile Image for Gija.
28 reviews
May 21, 2018
This is the first book I read written by Juliet James. I really enjoyed it. I loved the description of Ophelia's eyes, those opal eyes! There are many funny things happening between Ophelia and Sheriff Calvin Johnson. Ophelia turning to Opal Farewell is quite interesting. Well written story.
Profile Image for Luane t clemmer.
35 reviews1 follower
April 19, 2024
Opal

Book seven, in series the Montana Western romance (come-by-chance mail order brides.
Opal, eyes shine in her unique love story. Which draws the sheriff's heart to her.
Have a seat and enjoy the book.
859 reviews2 followers
May 23, 2017
Opat

Entertaining. The way the author told this story kept you turning page after page. You'll laugh at the characters and their actions.
1,834 reviews3 followers
June 19, 2017
Wonderful

This is a wonderfully sweet and tender romance. I only give five stars to books I would read again and this is one of them.
Profile Image for Lorri French.
94 reviews2 followers
August 11, 2017
Enjoyable read

I highly recommend this well written story . I was happy to recognize other characters from the first series .
174 reviews
August 15, 2017
Cute story

Average MOB story with a couple of amusing twists in the plot. I read this for free on Kindle Unlimited
4,416 reviews28 followers
January 14, 2018
Opal is the seventh book in the Come-By-Chance Mail Order Brides series written by author Juliet James.
664 reviews
March 21, 2018
Worth reading.

The story flowed quickly. Interesting characters. Left me wanting to hear more about others mentioned in the story line. Recommend.
Profile Image for Debra French.
99 reviews
May 18, 2018
This book has a lot of surprising twists and turns and was a very enjoyable read.
1,363 reviews8 followers
August 29, 2018
Quite an enjoyable read even if the story is quite unrealistic. There is a HEA.
107 reviews
December 4, 2018
What a read.

I would recommend this book to anyone who believes there is no good left in the world. Take time to read
517 reviews
January 24, 2019
Enjoy

A light, fluffy bit of escapism when you want to get away from the daily routine, with outlandish problems and situations.
435 reviews6 followers
February 24, 2021
This is a well-written story with backstories on the characters. It has a well-developed plot and of course a HEA.
551 reviews
June 10, 2024
Excellent

This story was excellent great action wonderful characters absolutely one of my favorites. It had great descriptions of the area I truly loved it.
Profile Image for Cindy.
2,010 reviews39 followers
May 18, 2018
I read this series out of order by mistake but I enjoyed it.
Profile Image for Regina Kiddy.
296 reviews1 follower
January 4, 2017
I just couldn't get into this book. Rarely do I put one down before finishing but I did this one. If you like a more tame book this is for you.
Profile Image for Jeannie Turner.
52 reviews
July 20, 2015
Read

Awesome an sweet book love the characters an the easy read to follow would recommend this to anyone that wants a clean Christian read with the love of God an romance of people .
?
256 reviews1 follower
December 27, 2016
Heartwarming Western

I smiled, I laughed and by the time I finished this book I felt great. The cast of characters are some of the nicest people I have ever met. Thank you for an inspiring story, Danny Scott.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews

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