I have author Donna Schlachter returning to chat with me today about two of her romance stories, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

What the World Needs More Of. . . True Love

When we hear the word love, we conjure up all different images in our minds: Valentine’s Day and boxes of chocolates; June weddings; honeymoon destinations; growing old together; family; home.

We all have a different idea of what love is.

But what about true love? Kissing behind the garden gate. Pounding hearts. We can’t stop thinking about this other person. We daydream about our lives together.

True love.

The Greek word for true love is “agape” love, and it refers to the true love we feel when we want what’s best for another person. When we’re willing to lay down our lives for them if that’s what it takes. When we’re willing to do the hard thing even when it doesn’t feel good.

For example, at the beginning of my Bouquet of Brides story, Peter wants to take Daisy back to New York with him as his wife because he’s fallen in love with Daisy through her romance stories, and because he wants to move up the corporate ladder in the publishing company his uncle owns. He thinks how he’s rescuing her from obscurity in the wilderness of the Arizona Territory and how he’ll be the talk of the town when he returns with her on his arm.

However, the Daisy Duncan he meets isn’t anything like he expected, and he soon figures out that removing Daisy/Lily from her surroundings will stifle the spirit right out of her. He must now make a decision: continue with his plans, or do what’s best for Lily.

He chooses what’s best for Lily, no matter what his uncle thinks, and no matter how heartbroken he will be to return without her.

Also at the beginning of my story, Lily, who writes under the pen name of Daisy, vows she will never leave the Arizona Territory, and especially not for any hotshot city slicker from the East. However, through a series of circumstances, she discovers she cares a great deal for Peter, and soon cannot bear the thought of him leaving. Yet to ask him to stay will starve him of the hustle and bustle of his beloved Big Apple.

She can keep him but he will surely pine away like a colicky horse. Or she can let him go.

She chooses what’s best for Peter, no matter how much it pains her to do so, and knowing that after experiencing love for the first time, she may never love again.

In my Mail Order Brides story, Mary, an orphan about to “age out” of the orphanage, longs for the kind of marriage her parents had, but with her physical and psychological scars, doesn’t believe any man would choose her if he really knew her. So she answers the ad in the newspaper, desperate for a home and a family.

John, a widower with two small daughters, lingers through his pain over losing the love of his life. When the pastor suggest he needs a wife for himself and a mother for his children, he decides to accept whatever he can get—he doesn’t need to love her if she takes care of his daughters and their home. So he places the ad, desperate for a solution to his problem.

But on a train heading west, both meet, not knowing who the other truly is. Their relationship blossoms and blooms amidst the careful constraints of their betrothal to another, stirring feelings and questions they hadn’t known they had.

God has other plans for Mary and John than to exist in a loveless relationship out of duty. And He has other plans for us than to live out our lives in a world of darkness and pain. Only in Him can we truly find love.

True love is more than flowers and chocolates, or sweaty palms and breathless kisses. True love compels us to do for another what they cannot do for themselves—see their value through the eyes of another.

About “Bouquet of Brides” and A Prickly Affair

Meet seven American women who were named for various flowers but struggle to bloom where God planted them. Can love help them grow to their full potential?

Teaser:

A rough-and-tumble cowgirl longs for true love, but is afraid to let down her prickly exterior when a city slicker from New York City, with less-than-honorable intentions, tries to win her heart and her hand.

About Mail Order Brides and A Train Ride to Heartbreak:

Mail Order Brides follows 7 brides as they meet their grooms for the first time—after they answer an ad for a wife.

Teaser:

John Stewart needs a wife. Mary Johannson needs a home. On her way west, Mary falls in love with another. Now both must choose between commitment and true love.

Donna lives in Denver with husband Patrick, her first-line editor and biggest fan. She writes historical suspense under her own name, and contemporary suspense under her alter ego of Leeann Betts. She is a hybrid author who has published a number of books under her pen name and under her own name. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Sisters In Crime; facilitates a local critique group, and teaches writing classes and courses. Donna is also a ghostwriter and editor of fiction and non-fiction, and judges in a number of writing contests. She loves history and research, and travels extensively for both. Donna is proud to be represented by Terrie Wolf of AKA Literary Management.

Thank you so much for stopping by today, Donna. I’ve enjoyed reading a little about your stories, and these covers are just gorgeous! I hope readers will check them both out on Amazon. I’ll see you all back next week with author Ginger Vaughan.

You can find Donna at:

www.HiStoryThruTheAges.wordpress.com

www.HiStoryThruTheAges.com Receive a free ebook simply for signing up for our free newsletter!

Facebook: www.Facebook.com/DonnaschlachterAuthor

Twitter: www.Twitter.com/DonnaSchlachter

Books: Amazon: http://amzn.to/2ci5Xqq and Smashwords: http://bit.ly/2gZATjm