Showing results by author "Donna Schlachter" in All Categories

Claire Wallace flees New York in 1894--as far away from her dead father's bank robbing gang as she can. But apparently, even two thousand miles isn't far enough. Toby Gilbert, an undercover Pinkerton's operative, places an ad for a wife as part of his cover. He has no intention of falling in love for real. What happens when Claire's father's associates come looking for her, thinking she's making a deal with the government? And what happens when Toby's plans fall by the wayside? Will he love her by laying down his life? Or does God have other plans?

Kate and Tom McBride, along with their newborn, John Thomas, settle into life in Oregon City, Oregon in November 1879. And while Kate enjoys being a wife, mother, and homemaker, she still remembers her fanciful dreams of last year: become a detective to solve mysteries. Her first case is to find the missing fiancée of a local banker. Tom, however, isn’t sure this is a good idea, particularly not when somebody throws a fiery bomb through the window of their home, burning it to the ground. They learn that their pasts may not be as far behind them as they’d hoped, but when their son is ...

A spinster sister, left behind by her four younger sisters, feels unwanted and unneeded. But when three orphans and a wounded soldier turn up on her doorstep, her life takes on new meaning. A man in search of his family—has he found them at last? But something isn’t quite right. Can God weave these five lives into something beautiful for His glory, or will half-truths and missing memories create a recipe for disaster?

Elizabeth Maddock, is a widow and a chef, wants a new start. She answers an ad for a chef who wants to serve hundreds daily, and finds herself working at a TB sanitarium in Boulder, Colorado, passing her infant son off as her brother. She comes to love the patients and wants them freed from their plight, yet the town depends on the sanitorium to remain alive and to grow. Evan Hamden, childless widower, searches for a cure for TB. While drawn to Miss Maddock, he resists falling in love, because he has a lifetime of work ahead of him and doesn’t want any distractions such as marriage or ...

Morganna has a secret that she's bringing with her--but which will soon make an appearance. And when another shows up, laying claim to what is hers, she must choose. And whichever choice she makes, she could still lose all. NOTE: ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AS "MORGANA" IN THE SWITCHBOARD SISTERHOOD series, 2023 ISBN 9781943688951

She needs a man. He needs a new life. How bad could it be? A widow alone in the Wild West with children to raise and protect. Or maybe they understand more than she realizes. Escaping from a prison in Australia where he was sentenced to life for a crime he didn't commit wasn't easy. Neither was his flight for freedom to the United States. But just in time, a letter suggesting marriage. Land of his own. A new name. But who is this stranger who lands on their door, introduced by letters alone, and calling himself King? Could this offer of royalty be worth marrying for money this time? After ...

Missing horses. A missing Pony Express rider. A sheriff's daughter with a nose for mystery and a penchant for wearing trousers. And a Pony Express rider with a secret.

1882 A poor orphan trying to make the best of a bad situation. An army engineer who wants both family and future. Is there any such thing as the perfect choice? Tina’s family is so poor they live in a covered wagon outside the brand new town of Loveland, Colorado. When her widowed mother dies in an outbreak of the influenza, Tina is left to raise her two younger sisters. Paul Burton, with the US Army Corps of Engineers, is on his way west with John Wesley Powell to survey sites for potential dam sites. He meets Tina and admires her perseverance. When her mother dies, he wants to take care...

Finding a recipe for calorie-free muffins isn't as easy as it sounds. Neither is ignoring an obvious mystery in the house next door. Originally published as "Zero Calorie Muffins" in SWEET SPRINKLES CHRISTMAS MYSTERY ANTHOLOGY 2022 ISBN 979-8812903879

While a a midwife wasn’t mentioned in the Biblical version of The Christmas story—but then again, neither was morning sickness or labor pains, which Mary undoubtedly experienced. As such, because of the extreme young age of the mother (some experts figure she was between 14 and 18 years old), their harsh surroundings (A stable carved in a rock), and the lack of older female relatives available to assist, Joseph fetching the services of a midwife is not so difficult to imagine.

Calli works as a nurse with the US Army at Fort Bridger, Wyoming in 1880. When a wagon train full of discouraged emigrants passes through on its way east, a pregnant widow delivers her baby then dies. Bradley Wilson, leading this train, has few options. He asks Calli to travel with them until they find a relative to take the child in St. Joe, Missouri. Calli, drawn to both this dark and quiet man and the child, resists. But when she disappears, he wonders if she’s run away or been kidnapped. Can these two put their pasts behind them and move into a new future together? Or will Calli ...

Grace and Luke both have a problem -- they don't want the life they have and they want the life the other has. But their circumstances and their desire to honor the memory of a dead loved one keeps them bound. Can Luke show Grace the God he loves, and can Grace find the love she needs?

Juliette Hart—or J.K. Hartling as her readers know her by—leaves Colorado to strike out on her own following the accidental death of her husband two years prior, after answering an advertisement in a ladies magazine for switchboard operators in Anchorage, Alaska. She knows nothing of the territory or its largest city—simply that she must get away from the suffocating grief of her mother-in-law. Once firmly ensconced in the Lawrence Boarding House for Single Ladies, she determines to use her off-time wisely and continue writing her romance novels. Someday, she hopes to write full-time ...

Julia Brown changes her name and escapes unfounded medical malpractice claims. Josiah hides in a small town in Iowa with his daughter, trying to escape the abuse of his wife and her mother. A local commune offers them the chance to hide in plain sight as husband and wife. But will they be willing to settle for a loveless marriage? Can they fool the residents with their subterfuge? Or will their pasts catch up with them?

Lily Duncan—“Cactus Lil” to friend and foe alike—is as prickly as her name implies, and she likes it that way. Arizona in 1885 is a land as harsh as the moon, but Lil, born and raised near Cave Creek, feels at one with the sand, rocks, and giant saguaros. She loves living in the desert, and is happiest on her own on her small cattle ranch near Cave Creek, Arizona. Although she’s never been in love before, she pens romantic short stories for a magazine under her pen name of Daisy Duncan. Peter Golding has never been west of the Mississippi, but a tender young woman named Daisy who ...

In 1882 Snowflake, Colorado, can a young, female businessowner and a Pinkerton operative figure out who is trying to ruin her business? And will working together show them the warmth of love and the kindness of their Heavenly Father? After Ruby Wakefield inherits her father's touring business, she soon learns that not everybody thinks it right or proper that a woman should run a business normally operated by a man. However, she has no choice—she cannot give up on her father’s dream. But somebody in town is unhappy, and Ruby's business falls prey to mishaps such as broken traces, injured...

Fort Laramie, Wyoming, Sept 1878 Kate Benton, daughter of a saloon floozy, runs away days before her official introduction into that sordid life, straight into the arms of Tom McBride, fleeing from his outlaw brother’s past. Can these two young people, damaged and labeled by life experiences, tear down the walls of guilt and mistrust that separate them? Will they allow God to change them forever from the inside out? Or are they destined to remain alone forever? Prairie Roses Collection Book 1: SADIE by Patricia PacJac Carroll Book 2: REMI by Caryl McAdoo Book 3: HOPE by Barb Goss Book 4: ...

November 1858, Utah Territory. Edie Meredith strives to keep her temper and her tongue under control as she heads west with her brother to California. Raised in an itinerant preacher family, she promises she will never marry a man of the cloth. Tom Aiken, drover of the wagon train, longs to answer his true calling: to preach, and while he realizes not every woman would choose a preacher for a husband, he hopes to soon find his help-meet.

Lily Duncan Golding—a.k.a. Cactus Lil—heads to New York City for her honeymoon and her publishing debut. Two weeks away from her ranch and the land she loves—for the man she loves just as much. How will she be able to stand it? Before she even arrives, she’s convinced herself she’ll hate every moment. But when she finds herself enjoying all its attractions, and even imagining herself living there—well, something has to change. And it sure won’t be her. Peter Golding—a.k.a. the City Slicker—arrives triumphantly in the Big City. Mission accomplished. He’s married the woman...

Sweet stories of second chances from a God of second chances. The stories in this collection will warm your heart and encourage you to keep on going when all your circumstances say otherwise. No matter where you are or what you're struggling with, these stories will touch you where you're at. Each story stands on its own, but in total, paints a picture of a God who offers second chances, and third chances, and more. Stories include forgiveness, living out your dreams, revising your opinion of others, and finding a forever home. A sweet summer read.