More than anything else I’ve always thought the people make the stories in
books.
I love characters who walk off the page and the reader falls a little bit in
love
as they discover not only passion, but a bond as deep as time. I wrote the
Ransom
Canyon series so that everyone could see what the people of West
Texas
are like. Step with me into a small town nestled between huge ranches and
small
farms. A place where people fight and help one another. A place where love
runs
deep and forever.
I knew I had to open RANSOM CANYON with Staten Kirkland. He is a well-
respected
rancher who believes he needs to work harder than any hand he hires. He’s
strong
and honest and broken inside by the death of his only love, his wife. When
his
son is killed during a storm a few years later, Staten runs to a quiet woman
who
has been his friend since grade school and his wife’s best friend.
Readers will feel, not like they came to visit, Crossroads, Texas, on the
edge of
Ransom Canyon, but the town will start to feel like home. My goal as a
writer is
to keep you up late reading because you have to know what happens next.
RANSOM
CANYON is about the beauty of people and how they interact with one
another
as friends, families and lovers. Meet the people. The retired teachers who
all
live together in bungalows in the center of town. The high school kids who
break
into the local haunted house one night and all come out scarred and changed.
The
ex-con who lands in town with nothing and finds a home.
And, of course, the winners in life’s game are the people who love the
deepest.
So, saddle up with me and step into RANSOM CANYON.
Get the Free Prequel, WINTER'S CAMP, now through August 31st!
Want to see how Ransom Canyon began? Download the FREE prequel WINTER'S
CAMP today. This sale only lasts until August 31st!
New York Times bestselling author Jodi Thomas has
captivated readers around the world with her sweeping, heartfelt family
sagas. To
introduce her brand- new series, Jodi tells the story behind the unforgiving
Texas landscape and how one man claims Ransom Canyon—and a timid beauty—for
his
legacy…
A wanderer’s life was all James Randall Kirkland had known since he was an
orphaned boy in San Antonio. And while years of adventure had satisfied his
younger self, now he’s longing to put down roots of his own and is prepared
to go
it alone. But when he sees the Apache slave woman with the startling blue
eyes,
the course of his journey is changed forever.
Ever since the Comanche raided her village and took her for their own,
Millie
hasn’t known any kind of freedom. After years of being outcast, beaten and
traded
from tribe to tribe, she’s unprepared for James’s patient tone and gentle
ways.
Still, as her handsome savior slowly earns her trust, Millie struggles
between
desire and fear, sure it’s just a matter of time before James tires of her
and
her burgeoning feelings are nothing but another wasted memory.
From New York Times bestselling author Jodi Thomas comes the first
book
in a compelling, emotionally resonant series set in a remote west Texas town
—
where family can be made by blood or by choice
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 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.
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 her Romance Writers of America RITA's,
the
$1.5 billion romance publishing industry's equivalent of an "Oscar." Jodi
won her
second RITA for TO TAME A TEXAN’S HEART (1994). 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). In 2009, Jodi received the National
Readers'
Choice Award for two of her books: TWISTED CREEK (2008) and TALL, DARK, and
TEXAN
(2008). In 2010, THE LONE TEXAN won the Reader's Choice 2009 Best Western
Romance
from Love Western Romances.com. Jodi received a RITA for WELCOME TO HARMONY
(2010) and the Booksellers’ Best Award for SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY (2010) at
Romance Writers of America in 2011. At the 2012 Romantic Times Conference,
Jodi
won the Romance Pioneer Award and the 2011 Reviewers’ Choice Award for TEXAS
BLUE. JUST DOWN THE ROAD (2012) scored number 15 on the New York Times Best
Seller List.In 2013, Jodi won a Holt Medallion for Wild Texas Rose (2012)
and the
West Texas Books Festival’s A.C. Green Award. Then in 2014, Jodi Thomas won
the
National Readers’ Choice Award’s Contemporary Single Title for Can’t Stop
Believing (2013).
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.
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