Manning Sisters & Manning Men Books In Order

Publication Order of Those Manning Men Books

Publication Order of The Manning Sisters Books

The Manning Sisters & Manning Men are two romance novels series by Debbie Macomber, an American novelist. The Manning Sisters series is made up of two books; The Cowboy’s Lady’ and The Sheriff Takes a Wife’. These books were published in 1990. In 1992, the Manning Men series was started and continued until 1995 and consisted of three different novels; Stand-in Wife’, Bride on the Loose’ and Same Time, Next Year’. Here is the analysis of characters in the Manning Sisters & Manning Men book series.

Taylor Manning
Taylor Manning is a character in ‘The Cowboy’s Lady’. Taylor Manning is a young and ambitious city girl from Seattle who is recovering from a terrible breakup. She moves from Seattle to Cougar Point, Montana for a teaching position. Taylor Manning is portrayed as a woman with stubborn streak and defiant tendencies. The weather and the life in Montana are different from Seattle thus Taylor Manning will have to make some adjustments. In her stay in Montana, she comes across Russ Palmer, a handsome man living in Montana.

Russ Palmer

Montana is a cowboy’s town with so many handsome men and Russ Palmer is one of them. Russ Palmer is a rancher who is taking care of his younger sister Mandy who is a student at the school where Taylor is teaching. Russ is opinionated, domineering, stubborn and a chauvinist. Despite the fact that Russ and Taylor are attracted to each other, the two can never seem to agree on anything.

Christy Manning

Christy Manning is Taylor’s younger sister who features in The Sheriff takes a Wife’ book. Despite being Taylor’s sister, Christy has a completely different character from Taylor. Christy is the favorite child in the family. Christy is engaged to James who her parents have approved. Christy is portrayed as having a weak personality since she is pressured by her parents into accepting an engagement to James. Despite the fact that she is unsure about her feelings towards James, she accepts the engagement and soon changes her mind but it is too late to let James know.

Christy comes for a two weeks’ vacation to help her sister who is about to go into labor and also tell her about the engagement. While staying at her sister home, Christy comes across Cody who is a friend to Russ. Christy is determined to tell her sister about her engagement to James but each time she makes a move, something comes in her way. Will she ever tell anyone about the engagement? Will she ever be able to break it? Christy is more accommodating and tries to accommodate everyone.

Cody Franklin

Cody Franklin is another character in the The Sheriff takes a Wife’ book. He is the town’s Sheriff and a good friend of Russ. When Cody meets Christy, they are attracted to each other. Taylor asks Christy and Cody to be godparents to her newborn baby.

James Wilkens

James Wilkens is a lawyer who is engaged to Christy, Taylor’s younger sister. James is portrayed as a quiet and reserved man. He does not have an outgoing personality which is what Christy is attracted to. James is a family friend to Christy’s family and is loved by the parents of Christy.

Manning Men Series Characters

The first story in this series is Marriage of Inconvenience’. Other stories include; Stand-in Wife’, Bride on the Loose’ and Same Time and Next Year’.

Rich Manning

Rich Manning is a character in Marriage of Inconvenience’. He is a close friend to Jamie Warren who is slowly falling in love with his friend. Jamie is asking Rich to father her child. Rich agrees to Jamie’s request on the condition that she would marry him since he is hopeful that their marriage could become real. She agrees to marry him only if they would divorce when the child was born. The two go to the lawyer to have everything written down. The two get married on a marriage of convenience but Rich ends up falling in love with Jamie.

Jamie Warren

Jamie Warren is another character in Marriage of Inconvenience’ who is a 32 year old woman worried about not being able to have children. Her biological clock is ticking and she has not yet gotten married. She is desperate to become pregnant and asks Rick Manning her friend to father her child. Jamie is not intending to get married to Rich but since she is desperate, she grants Rich’s wish and gets into a marriage of convenience but later realizes that Rich has fallen in love with her.

Paul Manning

Paul Manning is a character in Stand-In Wife’. Paul Manning is Rich Manning’s brother who has lost his wife. He is a widower who has been left to raise three young children. He meets Leah Baker who has also suffered the heart-ache of loss. Paul is looking for someone to comfort him and help him get over the grieving period. Leah comforts Paul and he begins to fall in love with her. He realizes that he does not want a stand in wife but a wife.

Leah Baker

Leah Baker is a woman who has suffered heartbreak of loss and is trying to get over the heartbreak. She meets Paul who has just lost his wife and becomes a shoulder to lean on. Leah becomes closer to Paul and decides to quit her job and move in with Paul who is beginning to fall in love with her.

Jason Manning

Jason Manning is a character in Bride on the Loose’ and Same Time next Year’. He is a sport fan bachelor who is satisfied with his life. He is introduced to Charlotte, Carrie Weston’s mother. Charlotte is reluctant to marriage as Jason thus it is a relief to him. However, after knowing Charlotte for a while Jason’s feelings start to change.

James Wilken

James Wilken a character in The Sheriff takes a Wife’ also features in Same Time, Next Year’. After breaking up with Christy, James meets Summer Lawton during New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas. Summer Lawton is suffering from a painful betrayal and James comforts her and promises her that in a year, she’ll be over it. He makes a date to meet her in Vegas Same Time, Next Year but the date turns out to be a wedding.