Sunday, November 3, 2013

Aloha to Jodi Thomas and PROMISE ME TEXAS


Texas is derived from the Caddo word taysha - friend.   The Spanish settlers applied the word tejas to the region where the Caddo lived.   The few Texans I know live up to the etymology, especially romance writer Jodi Thomas.   She joins me today with a special guest post to celebrate the release of PROMISE ME TEXAS ....

Jodi (center) with her RITA award in 2011.

Over the years of writing I’ve included a writer as one of the characters in a book many times. Maybe it’s because I understand them so well. In my new historical romance, PROMISE ME TEXAS, I wrote about Beth McMurray and Andrew McLaughlin. 

Beth is the spoiled, loving, very proper, youngest child of Teagan McMurray from Whispering Mountain.

Andrew is drifting through life with no direction. Like most writers, he’s interested in people of all kinds. When he comes across a gang of outlaws, he can’t resist tagging along to hear the stories they tell. Once he realizes they are about to rob a train, he can’t step away without putting his friend in danger.

These two very different people find a very unusual love amid all the friends and family who are trying to ‘save them’ from themselves. Their make-believe marriage begins to feel very real as Beth lies to her father, the great Teagan McMurray.

I loved the way the characters came together in PROMISE ME TEXAS. My hero is a watcher of people, afraid to ever get too close. Everyone he’s ever cared about in his life is gone and he’s alone.

My Beth leads with her heart and not her head. She’s a woman used to getting what she wants, no matter what stands in her way. When she sees someone who needs her, even having to interrupt a gunfight, doesn’t pose a problem. Her bravery wins over the leader of an outlaw gang who is hunting her make-believe husband.

Since this book is set in 1879, a time of great change in Texas, I included a story of young love that flows along through the plot. Not all great love stories start with passion, some start with friendship. Cody wants to take care of Madie, but he doesn’t know how. Because he is two years older, he begins to give her advice.

I had a great deal of fun writing about a writer trying to live in reality and a beautiful, spoiled woman trying to make up her life as she went along.

Everyone, even the outlaw leader, tries to give them advice, but somehow they find a crazy kind of love. In my experience it’s sometimes that crazy kind of love that is just right.

Enjoy the journey through Texas as you come along with me meeting people that are very real to me, if only in my mind.

Jodi Thomas
jodithomas.com
facebook.com/JodiThomasAuthor
twitter.com/jodithomas


Mahalo, Jodi, for sharing a glimpse into the characters from PROMISE ME TEXAS.  I am giving away a print copy of PROMISE ME TEXAS to one randomly selected commenter.  

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.

File:Six Flags over Texas.jpg
Six Flags over Texas - Image by Ann W (link)
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

To enter the giveaway,

1.  Leave a comment about Texas - what do you love about it?

2.  This giveaway is open to all readers.

3.  Comments are open through Saturday, November 9, 10 pm in Baltimore.  I'll post the winner on Sunday, November 10.  

Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore
Aloha Spirit in Charm City





23 comments:

  1. I enjoy reading about it but I'm afraid I've never been.

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  2. I Love the people of Texas! The land is so vast and everything is so big...even the hearts of the people who live there. It was a wonderful state to visit, I only wish that I could have stayed longer.

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  3. I was only in Texas once many years ago for a conference, but only saw the airport and the hotel - wished I could visit - I love to read books set there

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  4. I've never visited Texas, but I do love reading about it.

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  5. I have been to Texas many times and lived there as a child. IT is vast and varied.

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  6. I visited Texas years ago when my son was stationed there. There is s much history there. But I couldn't tolerate the heat, at all. lol It was August but it was a brutal heat tat week.
    Carol L
    Lucky4750 (at) aol (dot) com

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  7. I like cowboys too :) Thanks for sharing!

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  8. I love to live in Texas all the wide open spaces and all the farms I love reading books on cowboys too.
    Penney

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  9. I've only been to Texas once, but I loved the food.

    Marcy Shuler
    bmndshuler(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  10. I don't know a lot about Texas except that it is HUGE and takes forever to cross it in a car. :-) I lived in Killeen TX briefly when my husband was at Ft. Hood for six months. That's all I know about Texas, so I don't know what's to love or not. I know I've always loved western romances and cowboy TV shows and western movies. I was raised on a Southern Calif. ranch and grew up with cattle and horses and hard work. But it was a great life. jdh2690@gmail.com

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  11. The Texas sky and cowboys in wranglers, and there's nothing better than a Jodi Thomas historical. Love her work.

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  12. I have never been either, but love reading about those sexy cowboys with their drawls and tight jeans.

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  13. I'm a native Texan, born and raised, 62 years old. I've traveled the entire state and still haven't seen it all! Best of everything in Texas.

    slgray15@yahoo.com

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  14. I drive threw Texas in my way to Vegas on a road trip. I loved it! What's not to like, anything that has cowboys I love! Thanks for having a fabulous author like Jodi! I love her books.
    zipstersclue04 at gmail dot com

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  15. I love one of my best friends who lives in Texas! Need to get out to visit her in Austin someday soon. It sounds like an exciting city.

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  16. I've lived in Texas since December of 1997. I love the friendliness of most of the people. I love the wildflowers that grow along the highways and in the medians in the springtime. And the cowboys aren't bad either!

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  17. I have never been there but I love open space and Texas looks like it has a lot of that.

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  18. I finally got to go to Texas in July, and visited with my sister who lives there. I found it quite nice, but wouldn't like to live there.

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  19. I have never been to Texas! I have always wanted to though. I love Jodi's books and can't wait to read this one.

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