Ransom Canyon by Jodi Thomas blog tour with review

RANSOM CANYON

By Jodi Thomas

HQN Books; September 2015

$7.99; 368 pages

ISBN-13: 978-0-373-78844-6

Rancher Staten Kirkland, the last descendant of Ransom Canyon's founding father, is rugged and practical to the last. No one knows that when his troubling memories threaten to overwhelm him he runs to lovely, reclusive Quinn O'Grady—or that she has her own secret that no one living knows.

Young Lucas Reyes has his eye on the prize—college, and the chance to become something more than a ranch hand's son. But one night, one wrong decision, will set his life on a course even he hadn't imagined.

Yancy Grey is running hard from his troubled past. He doesn't plan to stick around Ransom Canyon, just to stay long enough to learn the town's weaknesses and how to use them for personal gain. Only Yancy, a common criminal since he was old enough to reach a car's pedals, isn't prepared for what he encounters.

In this dramatic new series, the lives, loves and ambitions of four families will converge, set against a landscape that can be as unforgiving as it is beautiful, where passion, property and pride are worth fighting—and even dying—for.

Rating: 3.5

Cover comment: Reminds me of a painting. I like it.

Book source: I received a promotional copy.

Ransom Canyon is an ode to life in a small Texas town and the people doing the living in it. The town of Ransom Canyon is a character in this story about its people, about family life, change and love. We meet quite a few of the Texas town's inhabitants from a cowboy to a high school student and by the novel's end these characters have intersected with one another in intriguing story lines as tightly woven as the stitching on a quilt. 

Author Jodi Thomas spins a gripping tale with this first novel in her new series. Vividly described, this small town comes alive as does its characters like Staten, Quinn, Yancey and Lucas. They're of different ages, from different walks of life and the town in their common denominator. Their stories are of life and living, of change, choices and acceptance, and more. This is the first novel I've read by this author and I enjoyed her style. Her love of Texas is apparent by the way Ransom is captured and drawn for readers to admire and get lost in. I enjoyed my stay in this town and look forward to returning.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

A fifth-generation Texan, JODI THOMAS sets the majority of her novels in her home state. 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, Tom, renovating a historic home they bought in Amarillo, and "checking up" on their two grown sons.