Jodi Thomas was so nice to include a guest post here for the blog readers.
WELCOME TO HARMONY will be on the stands in only a few days and I can’t wait. Once in a while a writer writes a book that is the kind of story they love to read and WELCOME TO HARMONY is that book for me.
Years ago I started writing hoping to make enough money to send my two sons to college. I really didn’t think it would become my career, but I dreamed it might. I’ve heard it said that writers either write the same book over and over or hone their skills with each book. This is book 29 and I think it is the best I’ve ever written.
Now, a little about WELCOME TO HARMONY.
I open my story with a sixteen year old character named Reagan. She catches a ride to the town of Harmony, not so much because she thinks there would be a place for her there, but because she wants to have a place like Harmony to say that she is from.
The fun part of the story is that she’s swept up in the town and becomes a part of it. She finds that home she’s been looking for all her life.
The characters walk through each others lives, changing, enriching and learning.
Come along with me to a town you’ll feel at home in that is loaded with characters you’ll love.
Welcome to Harmony,
Jodi Thomas
www.jodithomas.com
From the Publisher:
Sixteen-year-old runaway Reagan has always wanted a place to belong. She's never had a real home of her own, but maybe she can borrow someone else's. At least for a little while.
At the nursing home where Reagan works, Miss Beverly Truman's fond memories of Harmony, Texas, seem to fill an empty space inside the girl. After Miss Beverly passes away, Reagan travels to Harmony, pretending to be the woman's granddaughter, and is taken into the home of Beverly's surviving brother.
Still, Reagan is afraid to trust the ruff kindness shown to her by Jeremiah Truman and the warm friendship offered by another teenager named Noah, who dreams of being a rodeo star. She keeps her distance from Noah's sister, Alex McAllen, show's the town sheriff and busy with her own stormy relationship with volunteer fir chief Hank Matheson.
But when prairie fires threaten Harmony, Reagan learns the true meaning of family, friends, and home.
The second book in the Harmony trilogy, Somewhere Along the Way, is set to be released in November 2010, followed by the final book in 2011. While you are waiting for the next book, be sure and check out the book trailer for Welcome To Harmony.
http://tinyurl.com/2422sq8
About the Author:
A fifth generation Texan, Jodi Thomas chooses to set the majority of her novels in her home state.
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 RITA's, 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. FINDING MARY BLAINE, (2004) received the National Readers' Choice Award in 2005. Thomas was inducted into the RWA Hall of Fame in 2006 for winning her third RITA for THE TEXAN'S REWARD (2005). She also won the National Readers' Choice for TWISTED CREEK (2008) and TALL, DARK, AND TEXAN (2008).
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.
"My door is usually open to students all morning," explains Thomas, who talks to the classes at the University and on other campuses during her many speaking engagements when not writing in her spacious office in WTAMU's Cornette Library. "They come by to visit and ask questions about being a writer. When I was a child, being a writer wasn't an option. All the people I knew had regular jobs. I'm hoping that students will see that being a writer is a possibility. This is particularly important in these days when programs in the arts are being cut in the public schools."
Commenting on her contribution to the arts, Thomas said, "When I was teaching classes full time, I thought I was making the world a better place. Now I think of a teacher, or nurse, or mother settling back and relaxing with one of my books. I want to take her away on an adventure that will entertain her. Maybe, in a small way, I'm still making the world a better place."
While the author toured the country speaking to Desk and Derrick clubs about her 2003 novel, THE WIDOWS OF WICHITA COUNTY, the members of various chapters formed a Jodi Thomas Fan Club. The group enthusiastically promotes her novels and public appearances and even volunteers to provide drivers for her out-of-town engagements.
When not working on a novel or inspiring students to pursue a writing career, Thomas enjoys traveling with her husband, Tom, renovating a historic home they bought in Amarillo, and “checking up” on their two grown sons.
Author Appearances:
June 14-18, 2010
WTAMU Writing Academy
Canyon, TX
July 28-31, 2010
RWA
Nashville , TN
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