Heating Things Up with Texas Blue

When Jodi Thomas graciously offered to send me an advance copy of her latest book, Texas Blue, I was honored and thrilled but accepted with some slight hesitation. You see, I'm not a romance novel kind of girl and tend to head right to the gritty crime or suspense novels. I was also concerned that, since Texas Blue is the fifth Whispering Mountain novel, I'd be missing an important thread by picking up the series in the middle.

But despite my hesitation, Texas Blue was a thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable read. Set in the late 1800's Texas Blue is a love story in the typical sense, but the greater love story is the bond the inhabitants of Whispering Mountain have with their horses and their land. Lewt Paterson is a consummate gambler who's grown tired of a vagabond existence and wants to settle down. Emily is one of three daughters of the McMurrray family and uses the responsibility of overseeing the ranch like a mask to hide the scars on her heart.

When Duncan McMurray invites a selection of eligible bachelors to the ranch in an effort to find suitable husbands for his three cousins, Lewt decides to take advantage of the situation by taking the place of one of the gentleman and posing as a suitor himself. Lewt has dreams of marrying a respectable woman with whom he can finally settle down and raise a family. When he meets Em the sparks fly in unexpected ways, and they both get much more than they bargained for.

Texas Blue is a lively, compelling and sensual story that draws you into the lives of the characters and the beauty of the Texas countryside from the first page and keeps you thinking about it long after the last. Newcomers to the series will enjoy Texas Blue as a stand-alone read and Whispering Mountain fans will not be disappointed with the latest installment.

To purchase Texas Blue, click on the amazon.com link in the box to the right of this post!

Booking Time With Jodi Thomas

If the job of a book blogger is to write about books, then the book blogger must read books (say that three times fast). It's one of those time-management issues I still have problems with because reading is such sheer pleasure for me that I feel guilty taking time out of my day to sit down with a book.

But today I'm carving out some time to sit down and read New York Times' Bestselling Author Jodi Thomas' newest book, Texas Blue (fifth in the popular "Whispering Mountain" series) to be released in April 2011. It's an honor and a pleasure to have the chance to blog about Texas Blue, and I thank Jodi for the opportunity!

You can find Jodi's Author page on Facebook at: Jodi Thomas. You can find me on the sofa reading Texas Blue!

Dancing in the Rain

"It's not how you weather the storm, it's how you have fun dancing in the rain"....I'm not sure where this quote originated, but it took me aback and made me think of my own situation. It reminded me that, as I'm struggling on a daily basis to keep my own boat afloat I'm also letting valuable bits of time slip away in the process. The problem with a pity party is that you're the only one that shows up. Heaven knows, your friends love you, but enough is enough already with the moaning and complaining.

Though they are very real, my problems are not unique or unusual. I'm just another knucklehead who zigged when she should've zagged. Nothing special there. But I do recognize my mistakes, and that's a start. I don't know if I'm quite ready to dance in the rain, but it's a much better plan than laying down in it and drowning. That doesn't sound very upbeat, I know, but trust me it is miles away from where I was a few months ago.

Albert Einstein said, "Nothing happens until something moves". Yesterday I bought new sneakers. Waterproof, just in case...

Lovely Linda

I am so blessed to be a part of this beautiful little mountain town I've come to call home. But it's not all about the beautiful scenery, the incredible wildlife and 300+ days of sunshine. A town is just a place on a map. Evergreen is about the vibe. It's about the amazing energy that wells up around you. It's about the spirit of a place that is breathed into life every day by the people who inhabit it.

I've met some of the most incredible people I've ever known since moving to Colorado. There are so many faces to this wild place we call home. But right now I want to share my thoughts about one incredible woman, my good friend, Linda Morris.

Linda is a doer. She's a get-things-done woman. If Linda is resting, she's only resting to get to the next thing she needs to do. And she does it all with enormous heart and love. When I talk to Linda, she LISTENS. I mean really listens. She has been an enormous source of strength for me through recent difficult times and she ALWAYS finds a way to pull the positive out of me. I don't know if this blog would ever have been born and thrived without Linda, there on the sidelines, always cheering me on.


I've met lots of women who inspire me, and Linda Morris "walks the walk". She is indefatigable. She is funny. She is smart and she's one of my best friends. Yesterday we went to lunch and had many things to celebrate. One of them being Rocky's 1,000 page views. In my heart I know I could not have done it without Linda's enthusiastic prodding and complete belief in me.

Linda, I know grandstanding is not your style. SORRY! I had to do it anyway!

Update: The Scanning Scourge

If you read my last post, "The Scanning Scourge", you'll recall that I questioned the increased use of technology  in the book-buying world (hand-held scanners, to be precise) and its impact on the quality of used books being sold on Amazon and other resale outlets.

I've decided to give up my scanner, and I wish I could say it was wholly motivated by my unselfish desire to rid the world of these mindless little beeping monsters - but it is not. Financial fortunes require me to cut unnecessary expenses so the scanner's got to go.

But it occurred to me that, given the current economy, I may not be the only one turning in my device to "pay the rent". With a $300 rental deposit and a $45 a month service/rental fee, you need to sell a lot of books to make the device economical.

So allow me to dream for a moment and make the leap that there will be fewer "amateurs" out there pushing, shoving and beeping their way through the used book racks.Wouldn't it be interesting if, in turn, the people who once saw the device as a quick way to make a few bucks leave the "scanning" to people like me who actually love the books? And wouldn't it be sweet to go back to the good old days when I could take hours poring over books just for the sheer joy of it?

We'll see. It's an interesting thought and I'm pretty sure dreaming is still free! Beeeeeep....

The Scanning Scourge

There used to be a time, way back in March of 2010, when shopping for used books was a thrill for me. Slowly scanning rows of books, I would stop occasionally to pick one, take a good look at it, and place it in my cart. I had a little app on my iphone that would give me an idea of approximately what I might expect to receive for a particular book, and I used it but I didn't let it use me.

If I could fetch a reasonably high price for the book, I would of course purchase it. But sometimes, even if it fell into dreaded 'penny' territory, I would buy it just because I wanted to have it. It might be a classic or a book in a beautiful binding or even a book by one of my favorite authors. Whatever the reason, it made me happy to have that book. 

Then, all at once it seemed, there were a lot more shoppers in the book section. They were more aggressive, nudging me aside to get to a shelf where I happened to be spending some time happily picking through the selection. Strange beeping and buzzing and the sound of books being tossed (TOSSED!) into carts filled the air. What was going on ????

Welcome to the age of the barcode scanner. Some inventive individual figured out how to take amazon.com's massive database and upload it into one of these evil little devices.What could be bad about more technology to help with my business? It would make me faster, more efficient and more competitive, right?

The answer is yes, yes and yes, BUT...those aren't the reasons I became a bookseller. I've watched the Scanners (those who scan) as they whip through the book sections. They don't look at the title of a book. They scan, it beeps, they throw it in their cart. This seems so wrong to me. A book is like a little work of art. Mass-produced art perhaps, but art nonetheless.

I don't shop much for books right now because it's such a turn-off when I do. Eventually I'll run low on inventory. Maybe by then all the Scanners will have worn each other out and I can go back to my peaceful book shopping trips.

The Still, Small Voice

As I mentioned in my last self-congratulatory post, my intention was to hold off until New Year's Eve to pass along my good news. If you read the post, you might remember that I said it would be perfect symmetry to have one more positive feedback for Rocky's store in addition to the other accomplishments.

Well, sometime late yesterday afternoon someone left positive feedback, creating the symmetry I was wishing for when making my announcement: 90 perfect feedback ratings, 700 sales and 800 views on my blog.

This proves one thing to me yet again: Listen to the still, small voice within. But, as happens all too frequently, my ego won out and I had to go crowing my news right away, hell or high water.This little occurrence validates my one and only resolution:  

Follow your instincts. Take your time. Make your intentions known, work towards fulfilling the intention, and then just let it flow. My intention is for 2011 to be a glorious year filled with lots of changes that will open up grand and wonderful opportunities, followed by lots of love, joy and abundance.

Happy New Year All! Make it Grand and Glorious!