Getting Lost in Texas!

Folks, I'm thrilled to announce Jodi Thomas is back to join us today! I'm super excited to be hosting her again.
Without further ado...

Who is Jodi?

Jodi Thomas is the NY Times and USA Today bestselling author of 38 novels and 11 short story col-lections. A five-tme RITA winner,. Jodi currently serves as the Writer in Residence at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas.

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Here's what others are saying about her latest work...

 

"One of my favorites." —Debbie Macomber, #1 New York TImes Bestselling author

"PROMISE ME TEXAS is one of the best western historical tales of this year!" --- Vickie@ReaderToReader.com      
 

"Bestseller Thomas strikes gold again with her seventh Whispering Mountain historical (after Wild Texas Rose), set in 1879 Texas. When 24-year-old Beth McMurray sneaks onto a train to surprise her fiancé, former Senator Lamont LaCroix, she's shocked to overhear him bragging about his plans for her and her money. Then robbers board the train and it goes off the rails. Just before the crash, one of the robbers grabs Beth and jumps off the train, taking the fall to protect her. He's hurt, but she stays with him, claiming that he's her husband. The sheriff and the doctor believe that Beth is now Mrs. Andrew McLaughlin, but LaCroix does not. Meanwhile, widower Andrew reveals his hidden depths: when he's not robbing trains, he longs to be an author. By the time Beth drives a wagon out of town, she has collected a pretend husband, two little boys, an ill teen cowboy, and a pregnant young woman, and the adventure has just begun. Complex plotting, superb character development, and touching romantic scenes make this a winner"—Publishers Weekly starred review
 

And now, here's Jodi in her own words...

When I began PROMISE ME TEXAS, I wanted to start with the notion that sometimes your whole life turns on one moment in time.  The day you say yes to something or someone.  The night you were in the wrong place at the right time.  The single heartbeat when you let love rule over reason. I wanted to show that now and then, that one choice you made with little time to think it over may have led you down a road you never dreamed you’d travel.

In my story Beth McMurray is the spoiled youngest daughter of Teagan McMurray who owns the powerful Whispering Mountain Ranch in Texas.  Since she was a baby everyone has always commented on how beautiful she is.  How Perfect.  So, of course, she wants to marry the perfect man and waits for him.  Only one man, a senator from Washington D.C., seems good enough for her wish list.  They met when she was sixteen and wrote for years. 

Now, well into her twenties, she decides to board a train and surprise him as he travels to meet her.  Though dressed in trousers, she’s packed away her wedding dress to slip into when they finally are together.  Only before she has a chance to pull off her disguise, she learns he’s not the man she’s dreamed of for years.  He is self-centered, a braggart, and dishonest.

As the train rushes toward Dallas, she cries as she hides in the last boxcar that carries her horse.  Beth knows she has to disappear before he sees her, but how?

At a midnight water stop, she watches bandits board the train like ghosts in the rain.  Before she can warn anyone, the train wrecks.  A strong arm of a man grabs her as the cars tumble.  The stranger jumps free of the cars but is hurt as he protects her. In the darkness, amid all the chaos, Beth must decide to claim the senator or the robber as her fiancé. The choice will change her destiny as well as his.

I hope everyone enjoys PROMISE ME TEXAS.  I promise I’ll take you on a great adventure that will make you smile and maybe just laugh out loud.  If might even remind you of the day you took the path less traveled and ended up in a most delightful place.

Enjoy the adventure,

Jodi Thomas