FICTION · LARGE TYPE
Jodi Thomas
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. With a degree in Family Studies, Thomas is a marriage and family counselor by education, a background that enables her to write about family dynamics. Honored in 2002 as a Distinguished Alumni by Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Thomas enjoys interacting with students on the West Texas A & M University campus, where she currently serves as Writer In Residence. When not working on a novel or inspiring students to pursue a writing career, Thomas enjoys traveling with her husband and renovating an historical home they bought in Amarillo. TEXAS RAIN, the first book in her latest historical "Whispering Mountain" series, was released in November 2006. TEXAS PRINCESS, the next novel in the series was published in November 2007. An anthology of short stories, GIVE ME A TEXAN, will be available in February 2008. Her newest mainstream novel, TWISTED CREEK, is garnering rave pre-release reviews and is set for release in April 2008.
THE AIR HELD THE HEAVY STILLNESS OF AUGUST, warning of a late summer storm.
— from To Kiss A Texan, 1999
Most acclaimed
The Texan's wager
2002
Jodi Thomas's new Texas trilogy follows three spunky women who get kicked off a wagon train-and agree to enter the local town's "Wife Lottery." In The Texan's Wager, Bailee Moore is "won" by a strong, silent farmer who could be the key to leaving her troubled past behind...
To Wed In Texas
2000
If any town needed guidance on the path to peace, it was Jefferson, Texas. Delivering it was the widowed Reverend Daniel McLain's calling. Unfortunately, Daniel's own serenity is disrupted when his young daughters' nanny abandons her job, leaving the widower to appeal to his late wife's family for help . . . . But instead of the elderly aunt he's expecting, he's greeted by Karlee Whitworth, the family's forlorn cousin who's desperate for a place to stay, and eager to prove her worth - - by caring for the twins and mending Daniel's grieving heart. Now two lost souls are about to discover a kindred spirit, and the courage they need to find the happiness they were destined to share . . . . (From the Author's web-site.)
To Kiss A Texan
1999
(The Second McLain Series Book.) Wes McLain returned home from the Civil War with little money - - and less hope. He had even given up on love. Until he saw her . . . Allie, the blue-eyed girl who had been called a savage, a wild soul - - and was a prisoner of what seemed to be a horrible fate. But when Wes looked into her eyes, he wanted only to free her, and to take her with him on a journey through the frontiers of Texas . . . But Allie had been brutally mistreated for years, and was now too afraid even to speak. Wes will have to heal her and it will take more than good intentions or a few moonlight kisses to win her trust. And when Allie's finally ready to speak again, she will tell Wes more than he ever imagined . . . .