Hi Everyone…thanks for having me over today for a little chat.

With the start of 2013 comes what I think may be my best book yet.  Once in a while I find a story where the characters take off and write the book.  With a young lawyer who thinks someone is trying to kill him and another couple building love from a childhood friendship, CHANCE OF A LIFETIME isn’t going to let you put it down.

In this visit to Harmony, you’ll see people from the town that you’ve met in other books, but the plot begins with a quiet librarian, Emily and her former childhood friend, Tannon Parker.  While he’s grown cold and hard over the years, she’s become afraid of the world.  He comes to the library every Friday night because he knows she’s afraid of the dark and though they barely speak as he walks her out, he thinks his heart only beats when she’s near.  For Tannon and Emily this may be their last CHANCE OF A LIFETIME.

With Emily forming a writing club to draw people into the library and a kid named Beau Yates about to hit it big as a singer, you’ll feel like you’ve lived in Harmony forever and love all the folks.

So, come along with me to Harmony.

Jody has a gift for one lucky commenter today!                         

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Now I know all you readers out there can’t resist trying to win the free book, BUT just in case you don’t win…or if you just want to check out all her other wonderful books, click on the link to  Amazon.

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.

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You can read more bout Jodi and her books at:

 www.jodithomas.com

Or you can comment and/or follow her at:

www.facebook.com/JodiThomasAuthor

www.twitter.com/jodithomas

NY Times

Twenty-five-year-old Rose McMurray may be beautiful, smart, and capable of running her adopted family’s ranch at Whispering Mountain, but she’s backed away from marriage three times without giving any reasons. Everyone thinks Rose is a coward, afraid of any adventure, including falling in love. She’s never done a single wild or reckless thing in her life…until now.

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A note from Jodi:

I love climbing back into Historical Romance. I think from the day I saw GONE WITH THE WIND, I’ve always loved love stories set in the past. In my new book WILD TEXAS ROSE, I returned to a time period I know well, Texas in the 1870’s. Only now after twenty-five years of writing historical novels as well as contemporaries, I decided to write in a slightly different style I think all my readers will enjoy. So, come along with me on a fast-paced, laughter filled ride across Texas.

When I sat down in my study and traveled back to Texas in the 1800’s, I began with Rose McMurray. As a child she drove everyone crazy organizing her world and as an adult nothing has changed. She’s twenty-six and traveled from Whispering Mountain to Fort Worth to help a friend with her wedding plans.

From the first, Rose knows something is very wrong and of course, she sets out to correct the problem. The adopted son of her uncle, Duncan McMurray, has his hands full with a gang of killers in Dallas, but he rides over to help Rose.

As Rose builds her forces, not only the bride’s life falls in dangers but so does Rose and Duncan’s.

I had great fun mixing up the stories of people in this book. So often when people think they are all alone in the world they find they are surrounded by friends when trouble rides in. The love stories were also fun to write, for with the exception of one lady who took her clothes off for a living, most of the people were new to loving. On August 7^th when this book hits, I’ll be like a proud parent standing outside the nursery windows looking at a newborn.

Hope all of you enjoy WILD TEXAS ROSE.

Jodi Thomas
Connect with Jodi here: Website, Facebook, Twitter

April hopped right in and brought with it all kinds of new books and authors.  So many that we don’t know where to begin.  We’d love to hear your recommendations and find out what you are reading.

As an added bonus to encourage you to share, we’re giving away a $5 gift card to a book seller of your choice to one lucky commenter.  All you have to do is leave a comment and share some of your favorite new finds to be eligible.

From our March First Saturday Recommendations we had some amazing books shared by our readers.  In case you missed the post, we’ll list those books below.

1. Firelight by Kristen Callihan recommended by Jane
2. The Rake And The Recluse by Jenn LeBlanc recommended by Mary Preston
3. Celebrity in Death by J.D. Robb recommended by Marilyn Baron
4. Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult recommended by Marilyn Baron
5. Good to a Fault by Marina Endicottrecommended by Marilyn Baron
6. The Next Always …Book One in the Inn BoonsBoro Trilogy by Nora Robert recommended by Sandra Elzie
7. The Widows of Wichita County by Jodi Thomas recommended by Pam Asberry
8. A Mother’s Homecoming by Tanya Michaels recommended by Pam Asberry
9. Organize Now by Jennifer Ford Berry recommended by Tami Brothers
10. Edge of Midnight by Leslie Tentler recommended by Pamela Mason
11. Once A Good Girl by Wendy S. Marcus recommended by Annie Rayburn
12. Heart Surgeon, Hero…Husband? by Susan Carlisle recommended by Annie Rayburn

A huge thank you to all our readers.  We can’t wait to see what you guys have in store for us this month.  Be sure to stop back by in May to see who won the $5 gift card.

Oh wait! You probably stopped by to see who won last time, didn’t you?  Well, that sneaky bunny left a lot of clues and after picking the blue egg, the winner is Pamela Mason!  Congratulations Pamela!!!  Shoot us an e-mail and we will get that sent to you ASAP!!!

The Comforts of Home

By Jodi Thomas

http://www.jodithomas.com/

Publisher: Berkeley

ISBN-10: 0425244482

ISBN-13: 978-0425244487

Release Date: November 1, 2011

In her third Harmony novel, Jodi Thomas pieces together the stories of characters encountered in the earlier novels and adds the stories of new characters like a master art quilter stitching together varying shapes and colors to create a picture of this Texas town and its people.

Funeral director Tyler Wright has high hopes that Major Kate Cummings, the army arson expert who has moved in and out of his life, is finally ready for their relationship to move beyond friendship. Twenty-year-old Regan Truman is forced to accept that her Uncle Jeremiah, the man who first saw value in her and gave her a home and a family, is dying. As if that weren’t heartbreak enough, her best friend (who could be more) Noah McAllen is still risking limb and life on the rodeo circuit and seems to have lost his dreams and his resilience along the way. Noah loves Regan, but his self-doubt is a barrier between them. “She was the mirror of all he could be, held up to show him how little he’d made of himself.” Meanwhile, former bad boy Brandon Biggs is a Harmony firefighter now and still has his eye on Regan.

Liz Matheson Leary is about to give birth to twins, and her husband Gabe is terrified, feeling totally unprepared for the “alien invasion.” The career of Liz’s sister Claire is flourishing. Her paintings of men barbecued over an open fire and hanged from the Empire State Building by a rope of ugly ties are selling for $20-30 thousand. Her affair with Gabe’s friend Denver Sims is flourishing too—in hotel rooms around the country, hidden away from family and friends in Harmony.

Ronelle Logan, a lonely twenty-seven-year-old so isolated that she feels as if “in all of her life she’s never met someone of her species” delivers a package to the home of newcomer Marin Winslow, a man almost as lonely as she. He makes her feel visible, the two connect, and Ronelle’s life is changed forever. Autumn Smith, pregnant and homeless, becomes one more wanderer who finds a home and friends in Harmony.

When a tornado hits the town, it twists more than trees and homes. Crises bring changes that leave some questions answered for and others to echo long after the storm has passed.

Although there are several love stories in The Comforts of Home, even one with a most atypical hero who earns an HEA, this novel is not romance. It’s not conventional women’s fiction either. It reminds me more of a good TV dramedy series with a cast of quirky characters with whom viewers fall in love and a place that feels as familiar as the small town they know best. I see Jason Alexander as Tyler Wright.

Thomas is a superb storyteller, whatever she writes, and her Harmony books are among her best work. If you’re a fan of small-town settings, heartwarming tales, and out-of-the-ordinary characters, you don’t want to miss this book. Book 4, Just Down the Road, is scheduled to be released April 3, 2012. I can’t wait. I’m hoping to learn more about Ronelle and Marty, and, of course, I want a happy ending for Regan and Noah. In the meantime, I plan to reread Welcome to Harmony, Somewhere Along the Way, and The Comforts of Home.

~Janga

Jodi Thomas is the NY Times and USA Today best-selling author of 34 novels and 11 short story collections. In June 2011, WELCOME TO HARMONY won a RITA, the highest award for contemporary fiction.

Jodi currently serves as the Writer in Resi-dence at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas.

THE COMFORTS OF HOME will be hitting the stands on Nov. 1, 2011 and I’m very excited to see my people of Harmony, Texas come alive.  In my mind they already are and sometimes I feel like they’re so real that I could pack my bag and go down for a visit any time I liked.

With writing it’s always been that way for me.  I don’t really feel like I create characters, I feel like I just meet people and get to know them.  If I’m lucky they tell me their story.  When I meet people who read and love my books I always like to hug them.  After all, we have friends in common.

Since the idea of a small town of Harmony first began to form in my mind, I wanted to write about not only the ‘important’ people in a place who make the community run, but also about the quiet people who live their lives and get lost in their dreams.  COMFORTS is a book full of possibilities in love and life.  Read it on a cool winter day and I promise it’ll warm your heart.

I had a great time writing this book and hope you all will enjoy the journey through this story with me.  Step into Harmony and enjoy THE COMFORTS OF HOME.

Thanks for reading.

Jodi Thomas

www.jodithomas.com

www.facebook.com/JodiThomasAuthor

Publishers Weekly Review

In her third Harmony novel, Thomas takes readers back to that Texas town where a number of romances come to a head after a tornado strikes. Funeral director Tyler Wright struggles to profess his love to Maj. Kate Cummings. Aspiring rodeo star Noah MacAllen keeps returning to Harmony and his best friend (and beloved) Reagan Truman. Reagan, whose “uncle” Jeremiah (he’s her foster father) is dying, wrestles with her feelings for Noah and local firefighter Bran-don Biggs. Meanwhile, shy Ronelle Logan meets angry, lonely Martin Winslow, who helps her emerge from her shell. Despite their passion, Claire Matheson has trouble committing to Denver Sims. The tornado leaves each character wondering if loved ones have survived, and this uncertainty forces them to action. Even for readers new to the series, the intricate relationships between these affable men and eccentric women are easy to follow and even easier to love. Thomas skillfully juggles the many subplots, and the relationship between Ronelle and Marty, which inspires both to trust again, is especially touching.

The Comforts of Home is available for preorder on Jodi’s website, but she’s giving away a free copy to one lucky commenter today!   

Jodi Thomas is the NY Times and USA Today best-selling author of 31 novels and 8 short story collections. As of July 2006, she was the 11th woman to be inducted in to RWA Hall of Fame. She is also currently serving as the Writer in Residence at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas.

Thank you for inviting me in for a visit.  I’m very excited about my new book, TEXAS BLUE.  I began my writing career with historical romance and will always love them.  There is something about stepping into the past.  The history is so rich, the land so wild, but it is the people in my stories that I always fall in love with.  They are men and women molded by their surroundings.

In TEXAS BLUE, I pulled from a real legend often told by the Texas Rangers.  A small handful of rangers rode across the border into Mexico one night.  They were following a group of outlaws who were raiding ranches.  When the rangers realized the odds were not with them, they did the only thing left to do…they bluffed.

My character, Duncan ‘Duck’ McMurray rides along with the rangers in my story.  He’s just said goodbye to his best friend in Austin, a gambler who only dreams of settling down.

Duncan goes to fight for Texas, but Lewt Patterson, a gambler by trade, plans to use the time Duncan is away to court one of his rich cousins.  Lewt knows Duncan would never introduce him to his family at Whispering Mountain so he plans to pick the cousin he wants, get her to fall in love and, if possible, marry her before he has to face Duncan.

Lewt learns a great deal about life and the man he was meant to be as he falls truly in love for the first time and gambles it all on love.

I loved writing Texas Blue.  It flew.  Now and then I find a story that I catch myself working later on because I can’t wait to get to the next scene.  Most nights I tell myself I have to stop and get some sleep, but with this story I would keep going just one more hour, just a few more pages and I hope you will do the same when you read TEXAS BLUE.

Thanks again for inviting me to visit.  I wish you all many hours of pleasure in reading.  Isaac Asimov was once asked what he would do if he knew the world would end in fifteen minutes.  He said, “Write faster.”  As I’m working on my 34^th book I’m afraid I’d have to say the same.

Blessings to you all,

Jodi Thomas

www.jodithomas.com

www.facebook.com/JodiThomasAuthor

Thanks for visiting, Jodi!  I loved your book.  And to all you readers out there, Jodi has graciously offered to give away a copy of Texas Blue to one lucky commenter.  Check out her cool video trailer here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrKk-vl7ILA

Twisted Creek by Jodi Thomas

Publisher:  Berkley (April 2008)

ISBN: 978-0-425-22081-8

Genre: Romance novel

In Jodi Thomas’ Twisted Creek, bad luck magnet Allie Daniels can’t believe there isn’t some catch to her inheriting a tiny café in a small Texas lake community. She brings along her grandmother who loves to cook, and is surprised to find an odd assortment of people to fill her tables and add much-needed money to her pocketbook. But it’s the enigmatic drifter who strips naked and races the moon across the lake that makes her start to believe that her luck might have changed after all.

Twisted Creek was my first Jodi Thomas read and it was an enjoyable one. While I usually like my romance spicier than this, the characters were well-drawn and the mystery plot entertaining. If you like inspired turns of phrase and strong characters with a Texas flavor, you’ll like Jodi Thomas’ writing.

 I’m looking forward to The Lone Texan, Thomas’ 2009 offering.

 Reviewed by Carol Burnside

]]> http://www.petitfoursandhottamales.com/2010/02/20/twisted-creek-the-saturday-review/feed/ 3 http://www.petitfoursandhottamales.com/2009/10/06/petit-fours-and-hot-tamales-welcomes-nyt-and-usa-today-bestselling-author-jodi-thomas/ http://www.petitfoursandhottamales.com/2009/10/06/petit-fours-and-hot-tamales-welcomes-nyt-and-usa-today-bestselling-author-jodi-thomas/#comments Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:09:00 +0000 Guest Chef http://petitfoursandhottamales.com/?p=332 Please welcome our guest today,Jodi Thomas, a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author. A fifth generation Texan who taught family living, Jodi Thomas chooses to set the majority of her novels in her home state, where her grandmother was born in a covered wagon. A former teacher, Thomas traces the beginning of her storytelling career to the days when her twin sisters were young and impressionable.

The stories Thomas has committed to paper have earned her an impressive list of distinguished awards. Her first book, Beneath the Texas Sky (1988), won the National Press Women’s Novel of the Year in its category. Book two, Northern Star (1990), was named best novel by the (Texas) Panhandle Professional Writers and the Oklahoma Writers Federation, Inc., an organization of writers’ groups from several states. Book three, The Tender Texan (1991), was Thomas’s first national bestseller and won her the first of two Romance Writers of America RITAs, the $1.5 billion romance publishing industry’s equivalent of an “Oscar.” Book twelve, To Kiss a Texan (1999) was her first novel to score on the USA TODAY Best-selling Books list. For The Texan’s Wager(2002), sixteen was the magic number. As Thomas’s sixteenth novel, the book scored number sixteen on the NEW YORK TIMES extended bestseller list. Her second contemporary, Finding Mary Blaine (2004), won the National Readers’ Choice Award. The Texan’s Reward (2005) was awarded Thomas’s third RITA, allowing her to be inducted in the RWA Hall of Fame in 2006. In 2009, Jodi received the National Reader’s Choice Award for two of her books: Twisted Creek (2008) and Tall, Dark and Texan (2008).

By Jodi Thomas
Today is the release date of my 28th novel. THE LONE TEXAN. You’d think I’d be used to the thrill/worry/panic of it, but I’m not. I know RT gave it 41/2 stars and it’s brother, TALL DARK AND TEXAN won the National Readers Choice Award this summer, but there is still this little voice inside of me that always says, ‘Am I a real writer?’

Through the first books people always asked me when I was planning to give up my efforts at writing. One of my co-workers told me that I was killing myself staying up nights working at a job I’d never be paid much for.

I couldn’t explain to her how the story was there and I had to write it. Writing is like living with a waiting room in your brain. The more you write the more characters stand around waiting for you to put their story down. Sometimes they even bug you when you’re working on some other story by passing notes under the door saying, “Write me. Look what I’m going to do! Look what I’ll say! Look how I’ll fall in love.”

When I received the cover of my third book THE TENDER TEXAN, I called my editor crying. My name was on top!

I said, “Gail, this makes me feel like a real writer.”

And she said, “Jodi, you are a real writer.”

I cried the rest of the day. Someone thought I was a real writer. Man, did I have them fooled.

The first time I went to RWA, I remember seeing a RITA and saying, someday I’d like to have one of those. If I had one, then I’d be a real writer.

I have four RITA’s lining the top of my bookshelf. One put me into the Hall of Fame.

When do you become a real writer? After twenty years I’ve figured it out.

You become a real writer when you pick up the pen and begin to dream.

The story release today, has followed me for three years. I meet Drummond when he was 15 and tied in the McMurray barn when they caught him trying to steal a horse. He took one look at Sage, 18 and thinking she was all grown up, and fell in love. Through three books Drummond proved how much she meant to him again and again, but he was a kid alone, born in an outlaw camp, and she was the only girl of the McMurray clan who owned a powerful ranch.

At 23 she returns to Texas as a doctor and he’s matured into a gunfighter. Their love story is one of the most powerful stories I’ve ever written. Come alone with me and enjoy THE LONE TEXAN.

I’d love to hear from you at www.jodithomas.com

Twisted Creek

Author Jodi Thomas

ISBN 978-0425-22081
Bad luck has been biting at Allie Daniel’s heels all her life, so when she inherits a café in a small Texas lake community she’s sure there’s a catch. But Allie decides to move and brings her grandmother along, since the café gives Nana a chance to do what she loves best-cook. As Allie settles in, she soon discovers that she’s not alone anymore-and that sometimes, the only cure for bad luck is gaining the courage to love.
Allie is the poster-girl for bad luck. Her mother left her on the steps of her grandmother’s house and never looked back. She and Nana have always scraped by, barely, then “Uncle Jefferson”, that neither Nana nor Allie know, leaves Allie the café and store .

It is easy to love the quirky misfits that live there. No one knows for sure why Luke is there and Allie soon realizes he is wondering the same about her. Is she involved in Jefferson’s death? Allie doesn’t trust him either, but is fascinated with him and finds an attraction like none she’s known.

The two plots were intriguing and I loved the book so much, I immediately read it a second time – totally unlike me.

Reviewed by: Maxine Davis
Rating: 5 Petit Fours & 1 Hot Tamale