The Manhattan Stories Series by Donna Mabry

Jessica McCarthy’s only Christmas wish is for a home of her own and children. All her friends are already married and have families. Believing that true love will never come her way, she settles for the man she sees as her last chance to realize her dream, handsome, charming, ne'er-do-well, Zachary Belk. Jessica’s father, one of the most successful businessmen in 1860’s Manhattan, warns her that he isn't a good prospect for a husband... moreJessica McCarthy’s only Christmas wish is for a home of her own and children. All her friends are already married and have families. Believing that true love will never come her way, she settles for the man she sees as her last chance to realize her dream, handsome, charming, ne'er-do-well, Zachary Belk. Jessica’s father, one of the most successful businessmen in 1860’s Manhattan, warns her that he isn't a good prospect for a husband. Jessica seldom goes against his advice, but Zachary is the only man in New York who has courted her. His own firm is on the edge of bankruptcy, and he desperately needs a financial lifeline. Jessica believes she is only being realistic when she agrees to be Zachary’s wife, but she soon finds out her carousing husband doesn’t share her hopes for domestic life. The stock market crash of 1869 changes all their lives. Born into wealth, Jessica never had to ask the price of anything. Now the cost of simply putting food on the table is the first thing on her mind when she awakes every morning. Jessica must adapt drastically to being penniless. She calls upon her faith in God, her friends, both old and new, and her own determination, not only to survive, but to find peace, happiness, security, and a real love. This is the first of three novels in the 'Manhattan Stories' saga. It takes the reader from the opulent drawing rooms of Manhattan, New York, where fortunes are made and financial empires can collapse without warning, to the frontier cabins of Manhattan, Kansas, where everything, including true love, is possible. The second in the series is Pillsbury Crossing. less

In the second of The Manhattan Stories, Emma is nine on the day they meet, hot-headed and wild-haired. Akecheta is twelve, already the man of his house. He saves her life and tells her she belongs to him. As they grow together up on the frontier surrounding Manhattan, Kansas, he teaches her how to fish at Pillsbury Crossing, how to hunt deer in the woods at Deep Creek, and how to survive in a land where bears, snakes, accidents, and even nature itself can steal away your life in an instant... moreIn the second of The Manhattan Stories, Emma is nine on the day they meet, hot-headed and wild-haired. Akecheta is twelve, already the man of his house. He saves her life and tells her she belongs to him. As they grow together up on the frontier surrounding Manhattan, Kansas, he teaches her how to fish at Pillsbury Crossing, how to hunt deer in the woods at Deep Creek, and how to survive in a land where bears, snakes, accidents, and even nature itself can steal away your life in an instant. She slowly teaches him how to trust and how to share the burdens of his shameful past. When he graduates from high school an aunt sends him to a university in the other Manhattan, in New York. Emma continues her education at home, graduating from high school and then becoming one of the first women to study animal husbandry at Kansas State University. While she waits for Akecheta in Kansas, he delights in Manhattan, New York. He is dazzled by the theatres, the museums, and the grand library. He explores low places like the Bowery, where a winning hand at poker can mean losing your life, and ventures into high society in the elegant drawing rooms of the powerful and wealthy, where he discovers that the most dangerous thing of all may be a beautiful, well-born blonde. less

Kansas, 1852 Half-breed Everett Snipes discovers a newborn baby crying by the body of her mother. He recognizes the mother as the second wife of his cousin Wakiza, chief of the village of scouts located a few miles from the Army base. Everett rescues the infant and takes her to her family. The child’s people are being pushed out of their ancestral lands... moreKansas, 1852 Half-breed Everett Snipes discovers a newborn baby crying by the body of her mother. He recognizes the mother as the second wife of his cousin Wakiza, chief of the village of scouts located a few miles from the Army base. Everett rescues the infant and takes her to her family. The child’s people are being pushed out of their ancestral lands. In the east, rumblings of the coming war over slavery are already spreading across the nation, and Kansas, Bloody Kansas, will not escape the carnage. The Kansa Indians once controlled the entire territory. Now, white settlers are flooding in and, in spite of treaties, stealing reservation lands while the white government takes no action against the invasion. As she grows, Kimimela and her family fight marauding Pawnees, the white man’s diseases, and changing times. Under the protection of her cousin Everett, a man who belongs nowhere, yet manages to fit in everywhere, she survives. Kimimela must adapt and make her way in life by learning to blend in with the very people who have stolen everything rightfully hers. Throughout her struggle, Kimimela, the daughter and granddaughter of chiefs, clings to the traditions of her people. She is Kansa… and will never forget it. less