Guest Blog and Review: Can't Stop Believing by Jodi Thomas

Can't Stop Believing by Jodi Thomas

Publisher: Berkley

Publish Date: June 4, 2013

Paperback, 320 pages
Fiction, Romance, Small Town
 ISBN: 9780425250679
Harmony, Texas #6

Today I welcome author Jodi Thomas author of the wonderful Harmony series that I enjoy so much.  I have enjoyed getting to know the people of Harmony, Texas during the first five books and I enjoyed book six just as much as any of the first books.  Ms. Thomas just has a gift for writing small town life and characters that you fall in love with.  But enough rambling, I'll do some more in my review, but for now, enjoy what Jodi Thomas has to say about Can't Stop Believing.

I love stepping into Harmony, Texas.  I’ve been there enough to know the town and most of the people.  In CAN’T STOP BELIEVING, I wrote about some old friends and a few new ones who live in Harmony.  I hope all my readers will come along with me in this visit and feel like they are coming home.

Like a real town, lives flow around one another, changing, influencing, and sometimes helping.   Ronny, a quiet woman who works at the post office, is asked to open her heart and forgive the only man she’s ever loved when he returns.  Martha Q muddles her way through trying to write and accidentally stumbles into a chance for love and Tyler Wright holds to his Kate, his love that came late to his life.

Amid them all, Cord McMillan tries to hang onto his farm in a town where no one will talk to him.  He made a mistake and hurt a deputy when he was 17, and now he believes everyone hates him.  When the first car in three years drives up to his place, he doesn’t trust his neighbor, Nevada Britain, or the bargain she offers him. He has nothing to offer in return, but he knows if he agrees he’ll step all into her plan, with no holding back.  If she doesn’t hold up her end of the agreement, he also knows she’ll break him completely like six years of prison never could.

As you read CAN’T STOP BELIEVING, you’ll find love so deep it’ll melt your heart.  So, come along with me to Harmony, Texas, a place where you’ll find a home.  I promise to keep you up late reading.

Welcome, step on in and meet the folks,
Jodi Thomas

www.jodithomas.com

www.facebook.com/JodiThomasAuthor

www.twitter.com/jodithomas

 
My Review:
Another great installment in the Harmony series.  I am always eager to see who Ms. Thomas brings us next in Harmony and love the fact that while the story concentrates on one romance, there are always other plots going on as well. 

Every time I finish one of these books I always think the characters may be my favorite, and again I feel that way.  Cord and Nevada are two scarred individuals that enter a marriage of convenience, and while that is not one of my favorite tropes to read, I love it in this book.  Ms. Thomas makes it work and makes you believe these two could fall for each other.  It's not overnight either which I respect.  They get to know each other and slowly trust and fall for each other.  And trust doesn't come easy to either of them.  They've both been hurt in different ways and I liked the way Ms. Thomas let me slowly learn about the characters. Motives were unclear and suspicions are raised and this just adds to the drama and plot of the book.

The plot was very intriguing.  Not only is the romance going on, but there is also a suspense plot and several minor plots involving some old characters and some new.  I love how she is able to weave all of this in and make it very cohesive as a book.  You are just watching a span of time in the town.  And that is my favorite feeling about the novels.  I love still seeing townfolk I remember from previous books and ones that are threaded through a lot of the books.  I can't wait to see if some of them get their own romance.

Ms. Thomas has done it again, created a novel that is hard to put down and feels real-to-life while providing a happy outcome that leaves you feeling like there really are good people and love in the world.  I would say for a romance novel that she accomplishes her goals and as a romance reader I am thrilled and sad when I finish the book.  Thrilled because it was another wondrous Harmony book and sad because I have several months to wait until I get to visit Harmony again. If you've enjoyed the Harmony series so far you should enjoy Can't Stop Believing and if you haven't visited Harmony then this is your chance.

**Books do not have to be read in order, some couples are featured in following books, but their stories are never given away.  Though I have enjoyed reading the series in order.


My Rating: 5.0/5.0

Harmony Series (with links to my reviews):
Welcome to Harmony
Somewhere Along the Way
The Comforts of Home
Just Down the Road
Chance of a Lifetime

About the Book:

In New York Times bestselling author Jodi Thomas’s small town of Harmony, Texas, "there’s always something brewing" (Fallen Angel Reviews). Now, a generations-old feud is about to come to a head—and the stakes couldn’t be higher with two hearts on the line…

Cord McMillan gave up his freedom at eighteen when he went to jail for a crime he didn’t commit. Now, ten years later, he’s about to give it up again for a piece of land. Nevada Britain, his neighbor, has just made him an offer he can’t refuse: If he’ll marry her, she’ll sign over a section of property that their families have been fighting over for a hundred years. Nevada refuses to explain why, but Cord knows the bargain is in his favor. He just has one condition—she has to sleep in his bed every night for as long as their doomed marriage lasts. Nevada only wants to maintain her family’s legacy—and redeem herself for a wrong she did Cord years ago. But as she spends more time with her husband by necessity, she discovers something unexpected—a love so deep it takes her breath away.
About the Author: 
Jodi Thomas is the NY Times and USA Today bestselling author of 37 novels and 11 short story collections. In June 2011, WELCOME TO HARMONY, the first book in the Harmony series, won a RITA, the highest award for women’s fiction. Jodi currently serves as the Writer in Residence at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas.

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***I received this book from the publisher and the author for an honest review.  I was not compensated in any other way except receiving the book for free.  ***