Get Lost Again in Harmony, Texas!

Folks, help me welcome back Jodi Thomas! She has another fantabulous book out and she's here to share it with us today. Take it away, Jodi!

As I start to write I always find I have to do research.  You’d think after 40 books that I’d know all about Texas, but that will never be true I’m afraid.  The research took me in a direction I never expected in BETTING THE RAINBOW.

As with all my books I like to tell more than one story at a time but those stories weave around one another making readers feel like they are moving through a town with people getting mixed up in the problems of others at the same time they try to solve their own mysteries.

The story in BETTING THE RAINBOW is set amid a few weeks of summer when the whole town becomes involved in a fund raiser to benefit the town library.  Instead of the usual things groups do to raise money, the friends of the library decide to hold a poker night with a grand prize being a buy-in to a huge game in Las Vegas.

Dusti Delaney sees the game as her one chance to change her and her sister’s lives.  Betting the rainbow is a term used in poker when a player decides to bet it all on one pot and that is what Dusti is willing to do.

Only problem for me as the writer…I didn’t know how to play poker.  Research.  I talked a friend into taking me to a weekly game out in the country.  Thirty bucks later, I had the basics of how to play.  Next I read every book I could find on Texas Hold’em and how women survive in the game.  I talked to poker players and asked endless questions.  Then, one called me to join her at the Cracker Barrel for breakfast.  In the middle of our pancakes she said, “I’m going to Vegas to play next week.  Come along with me.” I booked my plane, talked a friend into going with me, and packed before lunch.  I wasn’t there to watch the game.  I was there to watch the people.

Life’s a gamble and like Kenny Rogers says, “You got to know when to hold’em.  Know when to fold’em. And know when to walk away.”

I’m betting you’ll walk away happy when you finish BETTING THE RAINBOW.


BIO...
Jodi Thomas is the NY Times and USA Today bestselling author of 39 novels and 12 short story collections. A four-time RITA winner, Jodi currently serves as the Writer in Residence at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas.

www.jodithomas.com

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SEE WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT BETTING THE RAINBOW...

Publishers Weekly Review of Betting the Rainbow

Thomas knocks it out of the park again with her seventh contemporary set in Harmony, Tex. (after Can’t Stop Believing). Ronny Logan and Austin Hawk are looking for peace out by Rainbow Lane. They both have reasons to crave solitude—he’s recovering from injury, she from grief and a year’s travel—so they’re surprised to enjoy each other’s company. Ronny also becomes friends with neighbors Dusti and Abby Delaney, sisters who are counting on a poker tournament to make their dreams come true. As Dusti gets poker lessons from flirtatious Kieran O’Toole, tournament organizer Reagan Truman waits for rodeo rider Noah McAllen, her longtime love interest, to “grow up and man up.” Thomas is a master at creating damaged yet appealing characters, and their expressions of love—as siblings, as friends, as partners—are intense and beautiful. Their paths to happiness are interwoven in an intricate tapestry with the tournament as backdrop, combining in an epic tale of the kind of love that lasts forever. (Apr.)

Betting the Rainbow (Harmony) by Jodi Thomas 
Review by Vickie Denney at Reader To Reader

Ronny Logan has returned to Harmony after traveling the world for a year. This was one of the things that her late friend, Marty Winslow, wanted her to do with some of the money he bequeathed her. Ronny will always love Marty, but must start a new life; however, she doesn’t know what to do since she has enough money to last her for forever. Marty’s butler and friend, Mr. Carleon, has stayed in Harmony to help Ronny with any and every thing. While she was away, he leased a cottage for her on Rainbow Lane and it sits on a small lake. There are only three houses in that area. Across the lake the Delaney sisters, Abby and Dusti, have a small farm and raise chickens. Hawk House is on Ronny’s side of the lake and currently is housing Austin Hawk.

Abby had to quit nursing school with only a year to go due to finances after parent’s illnesses. Dusti has entered a local fund raising poker game that sends the winner to Las Vegas to play for a million dollar jack pot. Dusti asks Kiernan O’Toole to teach her the finer points of the game. She hopes to win locally and then win enough in Los Vegas to send Abby back to school. Kiernan will help her but warns her he is also a competitor and he will be hard to beat. The Irishman has loved Dusti forever, it seems, and she is totally unaware…but not for long.

Austin Hawk is also back in Harmony rehabbing from burns and injuries suffered during a fire. He just wants to be left alone, but Fate has other plans for him. The first night that Austin and Ronny meet had this reviewer hee-hawing. A connection is made between these two lost, wounded, and very sad souls, which evolves into a magnificent relationship.

Reagan Truman gives Noah McAllen an ultimatum – her or the rodeo. Noah can’t always run from his responsibilities.

Betting The Rainbow visits so many of the core characters and updates their status. Jodi Thomas has truly outdone herself with this fine, fine story. I know, personally, each and every character in Harmony, Texas and hope to meet many more. They are wonderful, kind, generous, real people with real problems. Be warned that having a box of tissues close by will come in handy. Beautiful stories like Betting The Rainbow don’t come around too often, and reading this tale is like finding a pot of gold.

Get Lost in Harmony, Texas!

Folks, I'm thrilled to have the chance to bring Jodi Thomas back for you!

Jodi Thomas is the NY Times and USA Today bestselling author of 37 novels and 11 short story collections. In June 2011, WELCOME TO HARMONY, the first book in the Harmony series, won a RITA, the highest award for women’s fiction. Jodi currently serves as the Writer in Residence at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas.

www.jodithomas.com
Twitter.com/jodithomas
www.facebook.com/ JodiThomasAuthor


NY Times and USA Today bestselling author Jodi Thomas takes us back to Harmony, Texas, in CAN’T STOP BELIEVING. The sixth book in her popular Harmony series presents a story where big dreams are brewing—and anything and everything is possible…

Cord McMillan gave up his freedom at eighteen when he went to jail for a crime he didn't commit. Now, ten years later, he's about to give it up again for a piece of land. Nevada Britain, his neighbor, has just made him an offer he can't refuse: If he'll marry her, she'll sign over a section of property that their families have been fighting over for a hundred years. Nevada refuses to ex-plain why, but Cord knows the bargain is in his favor.

He just has one condition--she has to sleep in his bed every night as long as their doomed marriage lasts. Nevada only wants to maintain her family's legacy--and redeem herself for a wrong she did Cord years ago. But as she spends more time with her husband by necessity, she discovers something unexpected--a love so deep it takes her breath away.

"Another winner...Fans will be delighted."   Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Compelling and beautifully written." Debbie Macomber, #1 New York TImes Bestselling author 

Amazon       Barnes & Noble

 

 

AND NOW FROM THE AUTHOR HERSELF...

I love stepping into Harmony, Texas. I’ve been there enough to know the town and most of the people. In CAN’T STOP BELIEVING, I wrote about some old friends and a few new ones who live in Harmony. I hope all my readers will come along with me in this visit and feel like they are coming home.

Like a real town, lives flow around one another, changing, influencing, and sometimes helping. Ronny, a quiet woman who works at the post office, is asked to open her heart and forgive the only man she’s ever loved when he returns. Martha Q muddles her way through trying to write and accidentally stumbles into a chance for love and Tyler Wright holds to his Kate, his love that came late to his life.

Amid them all, Cord McMillan tries to hang onto his farm in a town where no one will talk to him. He made a mistake and hurt a deputy when he was 17, and now he believes everyone hates him. When the first car in three years drives up to his place, he doesn’t trust his neighbor, Nevada Britain, or the bargain she offers him. He has nothing to offer in return, but he knows if he agrees he’ll step all into her plan, with no holding back. If she doesn’t hold up her end of the agreement, he also knows she’ll break him completely like six years of prison never could.

As you read CAN’T STOP BELIEVING, you’ll find love so deep it’ll melt your heart. So, come along with me to Harmony, Texas, a place where you’ll find a home. I promise to keep you up late reading.

 

Welcome, step on in and meet the folks,

Jodi Thomas

 

Get Lost in Harmony, Texas!

Folks, please help me welcome Jodi Thomas to our blog! I have to tell you that Jodi is a new-to-me author, and WOW! I can't believe it's taken me this long to realize how awesome she is! I love her style, her complicated characters and...just everything about the town of Harmony. So naturally I was THRILLED when she offered to join us here.

But enough about me..... 

WHO IS JODI?

 Jodi Thomas is the NY Times and USA Today bestselling author of 36 novels and 11 short story collections. In June 2011, WELCOME TO HARMONY, the first book in the Harmony series, won a RITA, the highest award for women’s fiction. Jodi currently serves as the Writer in Residence at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas.

AND JUST IN CASE YOU'RE LIKE ME, CATCHING UP, HERE'S THE HARMONY BOOK LIST IN PUBLISHING ORDER:

WELCOME TO HARMONY

SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY

THE COMFORTS OF HOME

JUST DOWN THE ROAD

CHANCE OF A LIFETIME—December 2012

CAN’T STOP BELIEVING—June 2013

 

WHERE IN THE WORLD IS JODI?

Contact: jodi@jodithomas.com 

 

Website: www.jodithomas.com 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/JodiThomasAuthor  

Twitter: www.twitter.com/jodithomas

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20273.Jodi_Thomas

THE STORY BLURB

Emily, the local librarian, has started a writing group, but as the group stumbles through both the fiction and reality of their lives, they’re learning much more than how to write. But Emily suddenly has other things on her mind when a friend from her past shows up in Hamony's library. Now she must deal with a secret she’s kept for fifteen years—a secret that changed her life and threatens to shatter her future.

 
Meanwhile, new lawyer Rick Matheson thinks he’s in charge of his world until accidents start happening all around him. Just when he realizes someone is trying to kill him, he meets a beautiful U.S. Marshal named Trace Adam. Now that the marshal has given him an even stronger reason to go on living, he must learn to take a chance on life to dream bigger—and love better—than he ever has before...


AND NOW FOR THE Q & A...

ALEXA: How often to you get lost in a story?

JODI: I’ve always gotten lost in my stories.  I usually climb the stairs to my little study about 8 pm.  I think of it as going to work.  I take a few minutes to build my nest—get diet Coke, turn on my little heater, get all my papers like time-line and character facts together, log in date and word count.  Then, I read what I wrote the day before so I can step back into the story and by the time I start writing I’m lost in another world.  It’s no longer work.  It’s pure fun and it’s midnight before I look up again.

 

ALEXA: Can you tell us about a real-life hero you've met?
JODI: I think my husband is a real-life hero.  When I had a dream to be a writer and was fighting for time to write, he said, “I’ll get the kids to bed.  I’ll do the dishes.  You go take an hour every night to write.”  In a very real way, he gave me my dream.  There were times I didn’t have anything to write, but I worked because I didn’t want to do the dishes.

Best side effect of his promise:  My sons think it’s a man’s job to do the dishes.

 ALEXA: What sound or noise do you love? 

JODI: I love to hear people giggle.  I’ve even been known to stand in the stores and push toys just to hear them giggle.

ALEXA: Is writing or story-telling easier for you?

JODI: Writing is easier, some nights I get so into the story that I keep writing just to see what will happen next.  I think of my characters as people and often I’ll be talking about them and a friend will think I’m talking about a real person.  I guess they are real to me.

 ALEXA: What’s something you'd like to tell your fans?
JODI: That sometimes I write longer because I know they are out there waiting for me to finish.  They are very special to me.  I feel like we’re friends who communicate between the pages of a book.

ALEXA: What’s your favorite kind of story to get lost in? 

JODI: A love story.  I don’t like sex stories about couples who meet and five minutes later are going wild.  I like love stories between two people growing together.  It doesn’t matter if it’s YA or hot, if it is a love story, I’m a sucker for it.

ALEXA: If you couldn't be a writer anymore, what profession would you take up?

JODI: I think I’d be a teacher. 

ALEXA: I can tell you from experience teaching is a lot like writing. In both cases, there's ALWAYS something you could be doing! What’s the first thing you do when you finish writing a book?

JODI: I usually take a few days off and watch all the movies I missed while finishing a book.  I love movies.  I also find it a great break to travel.  I can’t tell you how many times my husband has poured me on a plane all tired and brain dead and we’ve gone on an adventure.

 ALEXA: What do you do to unwind and relax? 
JODI: If it’s a cold day I’ll unwind with a movie and popcorn but if it’s nice, I like to walk in the cemetery.  We have a great old cemetery in Amarillo called Llano.  They have a pond with ducks and headstones with poems.  I found a statue there one day that said ‘Triumph comes there Perseverance.’  I had been walking around thinking I should stop writing because I could never sell.  Those words changed my life that day.

ALEXA: What's up next for you?
JODI: CAN’T STOP BELIEVING—release June 4, 2013

Thanks so much for joining us today, Jodi!

Folks, if you leave a comment you'll be in the running for a prize from Jodi! Be sure to leave your email address so I can get in touch with you. As for me, I'm going back to finish Jodi's book!

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