Registered: Jan 2002
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Posts: 451

The Texas Water by Jodi Thomas

The first of a trilogy, a western historical romance. I haven't read many western historicals. This reminds me of the old westerns I used to watch on TV at first, when I was a child but not for long, this story got to be PG-13 at least. LOL The sexual tension builds way too much for the TV of the 50's. *G*

Pretty cover, BTW. Must be a theme, this book too has the names of the cover designer and photographer on the inside cover. Nice trend and improvement.

Bailee was abandoned by the road side with two other women. Abandoned and planning to go south to Texas, along comes a drifter. He tries to take their wagon and one of the three girls. Bailee whacks him with a board and kills him. They finally get into town by nighttime and confess to the sheriff. He tells them they must spend time in jail until he can retrieve the body. The men in town were so enamored by the three because they were desperate for wives in the area, they would never have convicted the trio. They cleaned up well.

Pondering her life Bailee mused that she had committed more murders than she'd completed quilts *G* I can understand that fact. Not the murder part the other.

The sheriff decided a lottery to pay their fines was in order and giving these men a chance at a wife was the solution to everyone's problems. Fifty men showed up for the "wife lottery."

Carter McKoy applied with the others. Townsfolk thought he was strange. His note. OMG, when he responded, it gave me chills. "Be my wife, all my life." Gee, what a poet...

The sheriff told her he had found Carter at age 4-5 in bed between his two dead parents after someone had killed and robbed them. Chills ran up her spine and mine, poor boy! But, what a sweet innocent man he'd become. Intelligence was his savior. He could read, and did. He ordered books, every month from the general store. He read those books over and over. He redid his parents room to look like a picture in a catalogue. He was smart.

When she demanded he tell her what he wanted, liked or felt, his first words to her were, "I liked..." He hesitated. "I liked it when you kissed me." Awwww. This guy is adorable.

When Carter spoke to the little deaf girl in sign it was all that I could do to stem my tears. I was at work at the time. A definite awww moment.

Of course the bad guy wasn't dead, she never killed anyone. She became a dutiful wife, he was a wonderful, loving and smart husband with a few quirks but hey don't we all? *G*

The sheriff, a surrogate father to Carter, checked up on them and was welcomed to the ranch when others weren't. He appeared to be crotchety but really, deep down was a nice man.

The gypsies that helped she and the little injured girl on the cattle car of the train were sweet and helpful. Carter at first was leery of them but came around. They were very loyal, a different portrayal of gypsies, the didn't steal anything. They were kind and insightful. I hope they return to visit with the next two stories.

When they made love after a month plus, which she told him she needed for them to get to know each other, they asked each other if they did it right, and responded, that they didn't know but maybe they should do it again. Guess they did it right. LOL

Would love to revisit when the next two books are out to see the two other lottery wives life. Make a note.

What a cute story, and adorable hero.

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This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.
— Dorothy Parker

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Registered: Jan 2002
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Posts: 451

A typo, sorry.

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-:¦:-

..· ´¨¨)) -:¦:-
¸.·´ .·´¨¨)).· ´¨¨)) -:¦:- ·´
((¸¸. ·´ .. ·´ Annie -:¦:-
:¦:- ((¸¸.·´* -:¦:- ´* -:¦:- ´*




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This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.
— Dorothy Parker

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Registered: Dec 2001
Location: Miesau, Germany
Posts: 2429

The Texan's Wager by Jodi Thomas

Here you go, Annie--a nice new thread title!

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~*~Darla~*~
Stay tuned - I could say something brilliant at any moment

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Registered: Dec 2001
Location: Miesau, Germany
Posts: 2429

Like Annie, it's been a long time since I've read a Western historical romance. Didn't they used to be more common? Seems like they've been replaced by Regencies in popularity lately. Anyway, it was a nice change of pace, and a fun story. I never watched many Westerns on TV (well, except the Wild Wild West, but somehow I don't think that's quite the same. )---if they were anything like this story, though, I missed out on quite a lot!

I wasn't sure what to expect from the beginning of the story---at first I was expecting the drifter to end up being a rough-around-the-edges cowboy who'd end up just needing the right woman to tame him. Have I mentioned I don't read the backs of books so as not to prejudice my reading of the story? Boy, was I wrong! I liked the teamwork between the 3 women---all of them taking a whack so that Bailee wouldn't be the only one guilty of murder.

I really felt for the sheriff. He had his hands full with 3 women confessing to murder, and a town full of single men. The lottery was inspired.

Once again, I wasn't sure what to expect from Carter. He took me by surprise with his silence. I was thinking macho, strong silent type. Well, he was strong & silent, but not because of being macho. Once I started understanding him better, I just wanted to . Awwwwww....
Loved the sign language parts--I'm picturing Bailee learning it & them using quite frequently. And his thoughts about wanting the first thing he said to his wife to be something special nearly made me .

Bailee really stirred up his life, and, as in the best romances, they both saved each other. The gypsies were just hilarious. I loved how he accepted their presence for her.

Another thing that surprised me was Carter's secret room---I thought he'd end up telling Bailee about it eventually, but too late, and that she'd be hurt & upset with him, etc. I'm really glad it didn't turn out that way.

I'm also glad we got the little teaser for Sarah's story at the end---I'd been worrying about her, and I'm eagerly awaiting it. Too bad there wasn't a title attached.

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Stay tuned - I could say something brilliant at any moment

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