Jodi Thomas

Author Jodi Thomas is a superb storyteller who never disappoints and often amazes. After reading "Breakfast at the Honey Creek Cafe", Book One in the "Honey Creek Series", I knew the next book would also be a wonderful read, but I have to say: Wow! "Picnic in Someday Valley" is a real reader's treat, with all the "bells and whistles"--and then some. The small-town Texas setting gives an immediate sense of place. Characterizations are so vivid that you'd swear the author is reading their show more minds instead of creating their identities. Piper Jane Mackenzie, born into politics and public service, is still the mayor of Honey Creek. Recent tumultuous events in the community had brought about much change for the residents--especially Piper. Surviving scandal, an attempt on her life, and being rescued by a handsome state trooper sent by her two Texas Ranger brothers was a lot to deal with, and there was more to come. Trooper Colby McBride was now a Texas Ranger, a dream come true, but one that kept him away from Piper more than either one of them wanted. They were both married to their careers, and matters of the heart frequently gave way to matters of business. Marcie Latimer, who lived in nearby Someday Valley, was a young woman whose heart and trust had been broken more than once. She had been an unwilling player in the sick scheme of the man who had threatened Piper. Marcie, who was trying to find her place in the world, was a talented singer and guitar player, and she had one special fan who came to her shows at the bar where she worked. Brand Rodgers, a tall, quiet man with rock-hard muscles and cowboy stoicism, saw everything in Marcie that she didn't see in herself. Brand was a patient man--a man of hidden depths--and he would wait for Marcie to come into her own as he watched out for her. Pecos Smith, a young man with a big heart, and great determination, had married Kerrie, the girl he loved who was pregnant with another man's child. Both of their families disapproved, but Pecos knew in his heart that if they kept moving forward, no matter how slow the pace, someday love would find its way. These three couples, plus a great group of supporting characters, will once again face danger and uncertainty as new threats come to light. How will they resolve the obstacles they face? Jodi Thomas fills her stories with humor, elements of surprise, poignancy, and, of course, passionate romance and true love. It's that trademark element of surprise, combined with masterful storytelling, that keeps readers coming back for more. I look forward to future Texas tales in the highly enjoyable "Honey Creek Series"..

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I started out liking this, I was interested in seeing someone gradually recover from being held captive from the ages of twelve to eighteen.

It was going along well enough, I liked that James was treating Millie with kindness and respect, but then all of a sudden this childlike young woman (ten years younger than this man and who knows how much younger emotionally based on how her experience stunted her), initiates sex with him.

And that’s right about where this novella lost me.

Not only show more did Millie’s desire for James as anything more than a protector or a friend feel out of the blue, I just tend to be uncomfortable with any scenario where someone childlike enters into a sexual relationship. I may have been okay with this had more time been taken with her overcoming her emotional scars, but happening so early on, and the pair not even having a conversation at all about this change in their relationship, it just didn’t sit very well with me.

It also didn’t help that towards the end, even though Millie is still in the picture, it kind of felt like Millie’s voice in the story was lost, you still hear about her but not really from her. show less

A three-for-one book, with mature love, new love, and second chance love. Oldest brother Griffin and his wife are away from the ranch, visiting her sick father. He's left his two brothers, Elliott and Cooper in charge.

The book opens as Cooper is preparing to leave in a hurry, killing two birds with one stone. He needs to head into the hills and check on the wild mustangs before winter sets in. The local vet is supposed to meet him up there. He is also desperate to get away before his show more sister-in-law's cousins arrive. He's encountered them before and doesn't want to deal with the giggly, party animals again. Cooper gets quite a surprise when he arrives at the cabin and finds a nine-year-old runaway boy named Tatum. Cooper is too soft-hearted to immediately turn the boy into social services, which turns out to be a good thing when Cooper is badly injured in a fall. It's Tatum who finds help in the form of Hayley, veterinarian, and granddaughter of the vet Cooper was expecting.

We also meet Elliott, the middle brother, and ranch business manager. For the most part, Elliott would prefer to work with the books than the cows, but he can do both. Elliott had left college early when his father died, returning to the ranch to help run it. He left behind his fiancée, Jessica, who refused to come with him, telling him he was a fool to give up his education. He's never forgotten her and hasn't gotten involved with anyone since then. He has a lot on his plate with both Cooper and Griffin away, the cousins visiting, and the end-of-year paperwork for the ranch. Griffin hired an accountant to come to the ranch and help with the books. To say that Elliott was surprised to find Jessica sitting at the desk in the study would be putting it mildly.

Then there's the new ranch hand, Tye. He's older, a former rodeo rider and a magician with horses. At his previous job, he was contacted by a Texas Ranger who delivered Tye's "inheritance" from his grandfather, who died in prison. Tye was puzzled by his grandfather's old journal and sketchbook, which talked about a "gift" for Tye, but never comes right out and says where or what it is. He eventually figures out that it's somewhere around Crossroads, Texas, and takes a job at the ranch while he tries to decipher the journal. There he meets the ranch cook, Danielle, a plain-speaking, big-hearted woman that he's immediately drawn to.

I loved the way that the three stories were intertwined throughout the book. Each chapter alternated among the various couples, giving a chance to see the relationship develop as the days progressed. I think Cooper changed the most, from the charming, commitment-free cowboy to a man who was looking for something more. I loved his relationship with Tatum, taking the boy home with him and giving him the kind of attention he needed. I also enjoyed watching his relationship with Hayley grow. Both of them are independent, neither one taking well to being bossed. It was fun to see a little bit of protectiveness come out, though Cooper was smart enough not to push it. There's a great scene at the end between Cooper and the ex-boyfriend who doesn't realize he's an ex. I enjoyed their interactions, as Hayley has just as fun a sense of humor as Cooper does.

Elliott had spent years remembering the way that he and Jess split, still hurt and angry over the way she refused to give even a little when he had to leave school. He remembers her as the one with all the plans, each step of the future all mapped out. When she shows up at the ranch, it's clear that she stuck to those plans and is precisely where she wanted to be. I have to say that Jessica irritated me a bit at first with the way she went on and on about her place in her father's firm and her coworker fiancé. She was cold to Elliott and barely polite to anyone else. But the longer she stayed, the more she loosened up, especially once she and Elliott cleared the air over their breakup. It also became evident that the sparks between Jessica and Elliott were still there. The question was, would Jessica see that sticking to her plan wasn't making her happy? I liked her "aha" moment and seeing her go after the future she wanted.

Tye and Danielle's story was the sweetest. Tye's life has been a transient one with no desire to settle down. He won't even commit to staying long at the ranch, never sure when the urge to leave will hit. But the moment he met Dani, something changed. Dani is the single mother of two adult sons. Her marriage hadn't been a good one and she has no desire ever to marry again. Her boys are not the brightest bulbs in the box, and she took the job as a cook at the ranch to get away from enabling their dependency on her. Dani is surprised to discover that when Tye looks at her, he actually sees her and who she is. She has been used to blending into the background most of her life. I loved watching her bloom under his attention and see herself as a desirable woman. I also liked the way that Dani's attention gave Tye the feeling he could put down roots. Some interesting moments between Tye and Dani's sons created some problems, but peace was restored thanks to a little unexpected interference. I liked the way that Dani helped Tye with his search and loved the surprise that was waiting for him at the end of it.

I loved the wrap-up of the story at Christmas. The family meeting among the three brothers produced a surprise for Tatum and an especially heartwarming moment for Cooper. I loved seeing each couple face the future in their unique styles. None of the women are slackers in making their desires known, and their men are smart enough to follow through. show less

When a Texan Gambles is the second book in Jodi Thomas's Wife Lottery series about three women who were thrown off their wagon train. They banded together, and while searching for the nearest town before running out of supplies, they were accosted by a man who tried to steal what little they had left. In the process of defending themselves, they believed they’d killed the man, so they turned themselves in to the sheriff as soon as they finally found a town. With no body, the sheriff had show more nothing he could charge them with, and with so few women in the area, he knew the men in town wouldn’t stand for keeping the women in jail. However, the women were insistent they needed to be punished, so he concocted a scheme, where he assessed a fine against them instead, then held a lottery. Any man who could pay their fine could put their name in the hat and the winners would then get a bride.

This second book is about Sarah, the weakest of the group of women, who is still recovering from a fever that took her husband and newborn baby just before she was tossed out of the wagon train for being sick herself. Her groom is Sam Gatlin, a legendary bounty hunter who has half the outlaws in Texas gunning for him. The morning after the two are married, Sam gets knifed in the back, leaving Sarah with the duty of pulling out the knife, getting her new husband safely out of town, and doctoring him until he recovers enough to tell her where to go. Afterward, they share several more adventures, including Sam getting shot after being found by another group of outlaws and them rescuing a trio of homeless waifs who claim he’s their father. Along the way, Sam tries to court his new wife, while staying one step ahead of the outlaw who knifed him, a mean, dangerous SOB named Reeves who has a history of torturing and murdering innocent young women. Even if he can take out Reeves, Sam knows that the life he leads will always present a danger to both himself and Sarah if anyone recognizes him and figures out where he lives. Not to mention, Sarah has a fear of him abandoning her, so the long days he would have to spend on the road hunting criminals wouldn’t be ideal. Sam will have his work cut out for him, keeping his new bride safe and creating a happy life for her.

After losing all his family except for a younger sister when he was still just a boy, Sam spent years doing a variety of jobs that eventually led to him becoming a bounty hunter. He’s made a good living at this solitary pursuit, but it’s left him lonely and longing for companionship. When he heard about the wife lottery, Sam impulsively threw his name in the hat and couldn’t believe his luck when he won his favorite of the bunch, a beauty who reminds him of an angel. However, she’s none too eager to share his bed on their wedding night. Then the next morning, he gets himself knifed by an outlaw he’s been hunting. With Sarah’s help, he barely makes it out of the saloon before falling unconscious. He awakens several days later in a place he’s had supplies delivered to in the past and finds that Sarah has done a respectable job of nursing him back to health. But when she starts raving about three kids who are his and nowhere to be found, he thinks he might have married a crazy woman. Eventually they find the children and share in other adventures, but along the way, Sam knows he needs to get Sarah someplace safe before his life as a bounty hunter catches up to them and brings harm to her. Despite his status as a hardened bounty hunter, Sam has a sweet, gentle side. When Sarah makes him promise not to bed her until she’s ready in exchange for saving his life, he patiently waits, while slowly warming her up with kisses and tender caresses. Overall, I loved Sam except for one brief scene where he gets tired of waiting and basically tells Sarah that she’s ready and orders her to bed. Admittedly he’d gotten pretty sexually frustrated by that time, and Sarah did stand up to him, pulling his own gun on him, but I couldn’t help wondering what might have happened if their friend Jacob hadn’t unwittingly interrupted them. It also seemed to come from out of nowhere and was out of character for the man we’d seen up to that point. But at least I can say that after things calmed down, he went right back to being the same sweet Sam.

Sarah has spent her entire life feeling abandoned by everyone who meant anything to her. When she was still quite small, her mother left her on the doorstep of a woman who had no use for kids, so when Sarah was six, she, in turn, handed her over to an elderly lady named Granny Vee, who finished raising her. Then Granny Vee died, leaving Sarah alone, so a neighboring farmer took her as his wife. Their marriage was never based in genuine love and her husband treated her more as someone to simply care for his home and warm his bed, giving little in return. After losing everything during a poor year for crops, her husband made the choice to head west in search of greener pastures, but along the way, he succumbed to a fever and the baby she’d just given birth to died as well. If not for her two friends, Bailee and Lacy, Sarah probably would have died, too. When the sheriff made his decision about the wife lottery, Sarah willingly accepted his verdict, hoping for a better husband than the one she had before. But when her new groom turns up in a saloon with a knife in his back the morning after their wedding and later she finds three children who claim to be his, she believes she’s married a drunken, womanizing lout who’s a magnet for danger. Despite that, Sarah believes it’s her duty to “love” her husband, flaws and all, but the more she gets to know him, the more she realizes that he truly is a good man and begins to genuinely fall in love with him. As they face down one danger after another, she also gradually come to view herself as a much stronger woman than she ever thought she was. Sarah is a sweet heroine with insecurities, but with Sam’s encouragement, she grows into a better version of herself, while slowly coming to trust that Sam won’t abandon her like everyone else has. She also finds the courage to stand by her man and help him win the day against the outlaw Reeves.

Overall, When a Texan Gambles is a great story. Sam is a bit rough around the edges, never having had a woman to bring any softness into his life. When the loneliness gets the best of him, he knows he wants someone to share his life with, even though he’s aware that he’s not good enough for the likes of an angel like Sarah. Sarah has been through a lot in her life and just wants someone to truly love her and treat her like she belongs to him. Together, they make a well-matched couple whose story is engaging and adventurous. I came very close to giving the book the full five stars, but that one slip-up from Sam was rather bothersome in the moment and so out of character for him that I couldn’t quite reconcile it with the man he was both before and after. One other reason I dropped the half-star is that for a book that was released by a major publishing house, it contained a surprising number typos and other errors that could be rather distracting. I was also slightly disappointed that Bailee and Lacy didn’t make any appearances. The only common character is Jacob, a Texas Ranger who appeared in the first book and who becomes the hero of the fourth and final book of the series, The Texan’s Reward. Other than my couple of minor complaints, though, I very much enjoyed the story and look forward to continuing the series. show less