Just Finished:
Synopsis: Everyone assumes Rosa Lee Altman lived a life without passion. But buried secrets are meant to be revealed. And no one is prepared for what they discover beneath Rosa Lee's overgrown roses -- or how her legacy will change their lives with love.

The once beautiful Altman home sits empty, its gardens overgrown, its windows boarded up -- an old lady, now silent, surrounded by what passes for progress in Clifton Creek, Texas. But if some of the townsfolk have their way, this lovely reminder of times past will be sold off to the highest bidder.

When a group of community members with little in common is chosen to decide the fate of "the old Altman place," they soon learn that this home is more than bricks and mortar. It's also a place that harbors a love so strong, it still has the power to change the entire town.

My Thoughts: Jodi Thomas is a great storyteller. Her stories have a way of keeping people engaged and involved in what the characters are doing. What I like most is that her stories aren’t just about the male and female relationships, they also encompass entire communities. This story is no different.

In Clifton Creek, we have Sidney Dickerson, and orphaned professor nearing her 40th birthday, Sloan McCormick, a loner who is in town on business; Ada May and Beth Ann Rogers, retired schoolteachers who have a knack for getting into trouble (and creating some great laugh out loud moments for this reader); Lora Whitman, a newly divorced young woman trying to break free of her overbearing mother; Billy Hatcher, a young man trying to break free of a reputation he didn’t earn; Micah Parker, a widowed pastor living alone with his young son, and Randi Howard, a widowed local woman who owns a neighborhood bar. This group, with the exception of Sloan and Randi, has the unenviable task of deciding the fate of the Altman home, the former residence of the founder of Clifton Creek.

The group is immediately drawn together from a catastrophe at their first meeting and it seems hardship and sabotage follows them as they continue to meet to decide the fate of this house. As they grow closer, they become a makeshift family and support each other as some of the committee members make discoveries about themselves and their pasts that they never saw coming.

Verdict: This was Good. I should also mention that this is a loose follow-up to The Widows of Wichita County, which I still haven’t read. I think Rosa Lee is probably better than I give it credit for, but I just had problems getting through it. Mostly because my mind kept straying to what I was going to read next, so I wasn’t concentrating on what I should have been. I may have to re-read this again. You know. In the perfect world where I actually finish reading everything in my TBR pile.

Labels: Fiction, Good, Jodi Thomas, Mira

Just Finished:

Synopsis: Fleeing trouble in Pittsburgh, young Kara O'Riley has no choice but to travel as far west as her meager funds will take her. And when she is hired as a bookkeeper for a sprawling Texas ranch, she quickly decides that her new employer, Jonathan Catlin, is the coldest, strangest man she's ever known. He tells her he has exactly one year to make the ranch a success - - but she has a feeling there's an awful lot more he's not telling her. For one thing, there's something odd about the Catlin Ranch. For another, she has glimpsed a hint of tenderness in Jonathan's gorgeous, haunted eyes - - and suddenly her lonely, aching heart is filled with fire . . . ..

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this story. I loved the relationship between Jonathan and Kara. I liked the friendship that they built, knowing that they were attracted to each other. I think that Kara complimented him because she was a fiery Irish girl, which I think Jonathan, a self-proclaimed savage, needed. She stood up to him and she stood up for him. Even though things seemed to progress quickly, the story was paced wonderfully and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Verdict: This was Very Good. It is the 5th in the McLain series, so I am anxious to pick up the other books in the series and read them soon.

Labels: Jodi Thomas, Jove, McLain series, Very Good, Western Historical Romance

Just Finished:
Synopsis: Bad luck's been biting at Allie Daniels's heels all her life, so when she inherits a tiny cafe in a small Texas community she's sure there's a catch. But Allie brings her grandmother along, and the cafe gives Nana a chance to do what she does best - cook. As the pair settle in to make the best of what surely must be a mistake in an old man's will, the people of the town drop by. Lonely folk discover there's always a "table for one" available, with down-home food to warm the soul. An old maid, a shy young man, and a drifter, slowly become the family Allie never had. When trouble comes, Allie finds she's not alone anymore -- and that, sometimes, the only cure for bad luck is the courage to love.

My Thoughts: I loved this story from beginning to end. Allie and Nana find themselves in a run-down cabin at Twisted Creek that doubles as a general store and a café. And though they are new to the area, they are not strangers to the people who live at Twisted Creek. Allie’s Uncle Jefferson, spoke of her often and so when he passed away, folks expected Allie and welcomed her as only a small community would do. And the small community soon engulfs Allie and Nana as one of their own, forming a make-shift family.

The cast of characters includes Willie, the fisherman who always stinks of the river; Mrs. Deats, the eccentric rich woman who lives alone at the top of the hill; Thomas, a young man living in his family’s home living inside his books and searching for direction in his life; Mary Lynn, a woman nearing middle age who is wrestling with demons from her past; Paul, a banker who is relearning how to live his life; the Landry brothers, former miners who spend their days fishing and eating; and Luke, the grandson of Jefferson’s best friend and who has more going on than what it seems.

The story was very easy to follow ~ it flowed nicely and the world-building was done slowly. The tale was told in two parts, really. Allie’s part of the story was told in 1st person; Luke’s part of the story was told in 3rd person. Yes, there was romance, but the story encompassed more than that. It was a story of friendship, of family, of community, and of just finding a place to belong.

Verdict: This was Excellent. Jodi Thomas is another new-to-me author and I’m really looking forward to reading more of her. I have a few of her westerns tucked away in my TBR stacks, so I plan on digging them out and reading them soon.

Labels: Berkley, Excellent, Fiction, Jodi Thomas