{"id":440,"date":"2018-12-31T12:18:18","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T12:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=440"},"modified":"2018-12-31T12:18:18","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T12:18:18","slug":"lone-star-book-reviews-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=440","title":{"rendered":"Lone Star Book Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Lone Star Book Reviews
of Texas books appear weekly
at LoneStarLiterary.com<\/a><\/span><\/h1>\n
\n
\n

New York Times<\/span> and USA Today’s<\/span> bestselling author Jodi Thomas<\/span> has published over 30 books in both the historical romance and contemporary genres, the majority of which are set in her home state of Texas. Publishers Weekly calls her novels “Distinctive… Memorable,” and that in her stories “[tension] rides high, mixed with humor and kisses more passionate than most full-on love scenes.”<\/p>\n

In 2006, Romance Writers of America (RITA) inducted Thomas into the RWA Hall of Fame for winning her third RITA for THE TEXAN’S REWARD. She also received the National Readers’ Choice Award in 2009 for TWISTED CREEK (2008) and TALL, DARK, AND TEXAN (2008). While continuing to work as a novelist, Thomas also functions as Writer in Residence at the West Texas A&M University campus, where she inspires students and alumni in their own writing pursuits.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

CONTEMPORARY WESTERN ROMANCE<\/p>\n

Jodi Thomas<\/span><\/p>\n

Rustler\u2019s Moon<\/span><\/p>\n

Ransom Canyon (Book 2)<\/p>\n

HQN Books (January 26, 2016)<\/p>\n

Mass market paperback, 978-0373788620, 368 pages, $7.99<\/p>\n

A rustler’s moon, explains tall, good-looking, and heartbroken<\/span> Wilkes Wagner of the Devil’s Fork Ranch, provides “enough light for rustlers to slip onto a ranch and steal cattle, but not so much that anyone on guard would see them clearly.”<\/p>\n

And when Ransom Canyon newcomer and museum curator saucily inquires what Wilkes himself would do under such a moon, Wilkes’s answer surprises them both. Does either of them believe it when he says he might just steal her heart? After all, she’s hardly his type. And she’s obviously hiding a secret.<\/p>\n

Wilkes and Angela’s quick-start, slow-burn relationship is one among several in the endearing ensemble cast of Crossroads, a small West Texas town that \u201clooked as if the stores must have been bought from a clearance rack. All different sizes, ages, styles. Nothing matched.\u201d Some of the denizens of Crossroads are come-heres and some are from-heres, but each one’s backstory quickly engages. With each alternating-point-of-view chapter, you’re hooked.<\/p>\n

Thomas\u2019s new Ransom Canyon series reaches far beyond the familiar territory of the romance novel. Readers of mystery, historical fiction, Westerns, and contemporary women’s fiction will all find elements to appreciate in Thomas’s masterful storytelling. The author’s characters (especially Yancy Grey and Uncle Vern) can spin a yarn\u2014but so can she.<\/p>\n

The Texas history lessons interwoven in Carter Mays’s search for cave paintings that have haunted him his entire life, or Grey\u2019s quest to learn why the old “Gypsy House” (the one that figures so prominently in Book 1, Ransom Canyon<\/span>) calls to him, enrich and delight. Add to the mix Angela\u2019s training as a museum curator and Wilkes\u2019s degree in history, and you want to not only learn about the Texas canyonlands, you want to visit<\/span> them.<\/p>\n

Not everyone\u2019s bookish, of course. Sexy Lexie Davis irks and beguiles. Tim O\u2019Grady is a loyal best friend for returning character Lauren Brigman, daughter of Crossroads’s sheriff and a Texas Tech freshman. The Franklin Sisters will make you laugh \u2014 then cry.<\/p>\n

You can easily pick up Rustler’s Moon<\/span> without reading Book 1 in the series \u2014 but you’ll certainly want to go back and enjoy what you missed. Get to know the folks who live in view of Texas\u2019s Ransom Canyon, because Jodi Thomas has plenty more tales in store where this one came from.<\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n

\n

Special Valentine\u2019s Day Guest Chat with Jodi Thomas<\/span><\/h1>\n

LONE STAR LITERARY LIFE:<\/span> Jodi, what is your take on emerging Texas\/Western romance writers?<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m excited about it because, like every romance reader, I love cowboys. I also love the western way of life and am very glad to see that in many Texas romance novels there is much more to the hero than the hat. There is a way of living, a way of thinking, that runs deep in contemporary Western romance. It is the world I live in here in the Panhandle of Texas. Interviewers sometimes ask me where my hero\u2019s values come from, and I have to say they come from the men and women I\u2019ve seen all my life. I move around these strong, stubborn men and women all the time.<\/p>\n

Last spring I was out at a ranch watching roundup. The cowboys had been working since dawn. I was simply watching and taking notes. When we stopped for lunch, I was late getting to the bunkhouse for the meal. When I walked in, thirty men, dusty and sweaty from riding all morning, were standing waiting.<\/p>\n

I said, \u201cYou guys need to eat. You must be starving.\u201d<\/p>\n

One shy cowboy stepped forward, \u201cNo, ma\u2019am, we\u2019re waiting for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was so touched. That\u2019s the cowboy way.<\/p>\n

When I began writing Rustler\u2019s Moon<\/span> I wanted to show not only the way of life on ranches but also in small towns. My hero is a strong, honest man who has lost his dream. He\u2019s drifting. When he bumps into a woman who is in real trouble, he has no choice but to help.<\/p>\n

My stories often have mystery as well as love stories running through them. The people surrounding the main characters are as important in the story as the slices of real history that always weave throughout the book.<\/p>\n

Who are the Texas romance writers whom you currently admire?<\/p>\n

I have so many favorite authors from Texas that it would be impossible for me to recommend just a few. Some writers think that we have so many great romance writers here because Houston, Texas, was the birth place of the first Romance Writers of America National Convention. I think we had to strong writers here to put it together and take the gamble that writers would come from all over the country.<\/p>\n

And because this will run on Sunday, February 14\u2014 Valentine’s Day, could you tell us one of the most romantic scenes you\u2019ve ever written in one of your books?<\/p>\n

In Tall, Dark and Texan<\/span> I wrote a scene in which my hero walks in while his wife is dressing. He stands behind her really seeing this woman he\u2019s married to in name only, and realizes how much he loves and admires her.<\/p>\n

She stares in the mirror and sees the truth about how he feels that he\u2019d never let show.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve gotten a hundred letters about how tender the scene was. A few even said it was the best sex scene they\u2019d ever read. There was no sex scene. It was just one glance at a full-out, knock-your-socks-off, forever kind of love that we all search for.<\/p>\n

In more than fifty stories, I\u2019ve always had a love story woven into each book. I love a story with a happy ending. Maybe it\u2019s just me, but when I finish the last page of a book I want to smile and remember those characters for a while.<\/p>\n

I want to know that they found that forever love just like I did one day in senior English class years ago when I looked over and saw Tommie. He was six-one, had wire-rimmed glasses, a crew cut, and braces on his teeth. I figured if lightning didn\u2019t strike him, I was going to marry that boy.<\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lone Star Book Reviews of Texas books appear weekly at LoneStarLiterary.com New York Times and USA Today’s bestselling author Jodi Thomas has published over 30 books in both the historical romance and contemporary genres, the majority of which are set in her home state of Texas. Publishers Weekly calls her novels “Distinctive… Memorable,” and that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}