Review and Giveaway: Promise Me Texas

Promise Me Texas (Whispering Mountain - Book 7) by Jodi Thomas

Publication Date: 11/05/2013
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Berkley Books
Genre: Historical Romance
Pages: 320
ISBN-10: 0425250741
ISBN-13: 978-0425250747

(Received for an honest review from Berkley Books)

Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, IndieBound

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Books in the series:

Texas Rain (2006), Texas Princess (2007), Tall, Dark, and Texan (2008), The Lone Texan (2009), Texas Blue (2011), Wild Texas Rose (2012), Promise Me Texas (2013)

Coverart: Click the image for a larger, clearer view of the covers in this series.

Excerpt from Promise Me Texas, courtesy of Amazon's Look Inside feature.

Synopsis:

New York Times bestselling author Jodi Thomas returns to Texas for an unpredictable adventure in romance that sets two unlikely hearts on fire…

Promise Me Texas 

On a midnight train, four hours away from her wedding, Beth McMurray discovers the devastating truth about the powerful senator she's about to marry. Convinced nothing could make this stormy night worse, the train wrecks, and she tumbles straight into the arms of an outlaw.

Andrew McLaughlin doesn't believe in loving except between the pages of his writings. He loved deeply once and thinks he'll never survive another loss. To save a friend, he climbs aboard a train heading toward Dallas. In the moment before the train crashes, he saves a beautiful woman and is injured in the fall. He wakes up to find she’s claimed him as her fiancé—and now they’re both on the run, and destined to do everything it takes to make an unexpected promise of love come true.

Thoughts:

When an author embarks on a writing career inevitably the first piece of advice they receive is "write what you know." Jodi Thomas knows Texas! Most of her over 30 books have been set in her home state and her latest in the Whispering Mountain series, Promise Me Texas is no exception. Thomas is a master at writing about family dynamics and relationships and readers will quickly fall in love with her heartfelt characters and situations. In this novel you will find everything from outlaws to Texas Rangers and everything in between, as two very mis-matched characters have to decide whether to make a promise real.

When is comes to historical romance writers have so many directions to choose from. It could be Regency or Colonial and as in this case, Western. Jodi Thomas is a fifth generation Texan and her western historical romances have an authenticity to them that is easy understand. Her grandmother was born in a covered wagon on the Texas plains, you can't get much more authentic than that. I love the fact that she sets her stories in the late 1800's when the wild west was just that. When robbers and rangers dominated the landscape and there really were real cowboys. This is a very enjoyable theme that I think readers identify with for lots of reasons. It was a rough and ruthless time but there was still love and I think Thomas really knows how to embrace the harshness while still showing the vulnerability of the people of the time.

Promise Me Texas is the seventh book in the Whispering Mountain series. The series follows the McMurray family as they live and love on the Whispering Mountain Ranch. Readers who are familiar with the series have watched the sons and daughters of Teagan McMurray grow up and find love while always remaining a part of a larger family group that is very close nit. Beth McMurray, the heroine in Promise Me Texas is the youngest daughter and the final McMurray to find her own happy ending, which begs the question... where does the series go from here? Regardless this is an excellent novel with some tender moments as well as struggles. There are several different storylines all working together to produce a very creative and endearing romance.

Beth is the strong willed youngest daughter of the McMurray clan and she is about to marry the man of her dreams. But when she finds out her future husband is not what she believed him to be, the race is on. I loved Beth as a character. She had a mind of own and like the other McMurray sisters you never knew quite what she was going to come up with. In this case a "fake" marriage was the order of the day. I liked the fact that Thomas doesn't make her characters trite or superficial. Beth may be a damsel in distress but she doesn't have a princess complex, nor does she seem in need of saving. She knows what shes doing and in the end it works out for the best.

Andrew has had some heartbreak in his life and doesn't think he will ever recover from it. The lose of his wife weighs heavy on him and his journal's are the one thing that he trusts in. When he saves Beth's life he never sees what's coming. I liked the fact that Andrew has known real love and when his feelings for Beth start to surface he realizes what it is even though he isn't quite sure what to do about it. Thomas gives her characters some flaws and I think that's what makes her writing so magical. She knows how to make her characters real. Andrew was a wonderful hero.

The supporting cast is another jewel in this novel. You have a set of young twins, a pregnant teenage girl and boy on the verge of manhood. A motley crew to be sure. All of these characters play a central part in how the story comes together. Each of them has their own part in the novel that makes it unique. I loved each of the story lines created by Thomas and how they fit together like the pieces of a puzzle. There is an element of mystery to this novel as well, that added a different aspect for readers to be interested in. It was a good plot point and Thomas did a fantastic job of bringing it all together in the end. 

Overall this was a really great book. It had all the qualities a good historical romance has. Great setting, strong characters and of course romance. The tender moments squeezed my heart a little, while the fast pace kept me interested. The characters were so well developed and we got to visit with some characters from the previous novels that helped to garner the whole feeling of family and ties to place and home. I loved it and you will too!

Promise Me Texas is available NOW from your favorite bookseller.

I'm giving this one 5 out of 5 apples from my book bag!

About the Author:

New York Times and USA Today's bestselling author Jodi Thomas has published over 30 books in both the historical romance and contemporary genres, the majority of which are set in her home state of Texas. Publishers Weekly calls her novels "Distinctive...Memorable," and that in her stories "[tension] rides high, mixed with humor and kisses more passionate than most full-on love scenes." In 2006, Romance Writers of America (RITA) inducted Thomas into the RWA Hall of Fame for winning her third RITA for THE TEXAN'S REWARD. She also received the National Readers' Choice Award in 2009 for TWISTED CREEK (2008) and TALL, DARK, AND TEXAN (2008). While continuing to work as a novelist, Thomas also functions as Writer in Residence at the West Texas A&M University campus, where she inspires students and alumni in their own writing pursuits.

Giveaway Details:

The publisher is sponsoring a giveaway for one copy of Promise Me Texas by Jodi Thomas.

~ You must be an email subscriber to participate.
~ US Addresses only.
~ The deadline to enter this giveaway is Midnight EST, November 25th.

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