Last Chance Cowboys

June 15, 2017
It's 1883. When Amanda Porterfield accepts a private tutoring position with a wealthy banker in Tucson, she hopes for a little more excitement than her family ranch offers, but she never expects to become involved with a mysterious gambler or the bank robbery being plotted around her.When her siblings and friends start pairing off and finding love, Amanda feels restless and adrift. There's no one she's interested in and no good prospects in the nearby small town of Whitman Falls, save for Seth Grover, the enigmatic stranger who recently arrived, but her mother has warned her against him in no uncertain terms. Unsure what she wants to do, she moves to Tucson to prepare a condescending banker's two children for boarding school, taking up residence at Miss Dooley's boardinghouse. The children are difficult and Miss Dooley is rigidly proper, though when Seth turns out to be a fellow boarder, Amanda's spirits are slightly lifted. No one is quite sure what he's doing there, nor do they trust him since he spends a good deal of time at the saloon. For his part, Seth is intrigued by Amanda and knows the feeling is mutual, but since he's covertly investigating a gang of outlaws rumored to be active in the area, he knows he can't get involved with her, since "one thing Seth Grover had realized was that if a man needed to keep his true business a secret, he did not allow anyone to get too close." Unfortunately, the more he uncovers about criminal activity, the more he realizes Amanda may be in real danger. Schmidt sets up a complicated plot without too many contrivances and with a main couple who are interesting and sympathetic, plus a well-drawn supporting cast. Fans of the Where the Trail Ends series will enjoy visiting with familiar characters. A warm, satisfying, gently sexy Western historical romance.

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June 22, 2015
Schmidt, best known for her inspirational and Amish romances, tackles a different genre with this predictable historical western, which opens the Last Chance Cowboys series. In 19th-century Arizona, Maria Porterfield has inherited a modest ranch from her father and is desperate to make it succeed, though she already owes more to the bank than she can repay. Even worse, she’s being hounded by a shifty foreman and a conglomerate that wants to take over her land. Feeling friendless, Maria is suspicious but grateful when Chet, a handsome and mysterious cowboy, comes to town and takes temporary employment on her ranch. Chet quickly becomes the one person she can trust, but headstrong Maria is determined not to lose her heart to a man who’s unwilling to settle down, especially one with a secret in his past. Readers will be disappointed by the shapeless plot and a heroine who talks a good game about being independent but lacks decisiveness and logic, spending much of her time yearning for a strong male shoulder to lean on.

January 22, 2018
Schmidt’s enjoyable fourth Last Chance Cowboys historical (after The Outlaw) has the unusual backdrop of tensions between cattle ranchers and sheep herders in the late-19th-century Arizona Territory. Beautiful and resilient Nell Stokes is doing her best to survive after unknown assailants killed her husband and left her to take care of their young son, Joshua, and run their sheep ranch alone. When nearby cattle rancher Trey Porterfield tries to befriend the young widow, she’s wary of him, but Trey is unlike the other cattle ranchers Nell has met. Soon she is attracted to the handsome rancher, whose kindness is as seductive as his powerful physique. Unable to resist Nell’s allure and hoping to help end the feud between the ranchers and herders, Trey asks Nell to marry him. After a too-brief period of relationship development, they make mutual declarations of love, and then Schmidt dives into nonstop action as Nell and Trey try to stop the fighting and maintain a solid marriage. Strong, well-developed characters fill the pages of this novel, which highlights both sizzling romance and the trials of the Old West. Agent: Natasha Kern, Natasha Kern Literary.