We are happy to welcome back the very talented Jodi Thomas! Jodi is the New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of 34 novels and 11 short story collections. In June 2011, WELCOME TO HARMONY won a RITA, the highest award for contemporary fiction. Jodi currently serves as the Writer in Residence at A&M University in Canyon, Texas. Her latest, THE COMFORTS OF HOME, was review by Janga here. Please give a warm wlecome to Jodi!
I’m very happy to announce the birth of my new book. It’s been a long labor of love, but I know you’re going to enjoy the next Harmony book, THE COMFORTS OF HOME. I want readers to feel like they are walking the streets of a small town. You’ll laugh at some of the people, worry about others and fall in love with a few as they find their way through life.
As the people of Harmony began to sit down and tell me their story (in my head) I found one quiet woman fascinating from the first. At a time in her life when she was young and should have been going out on dates and having a ball, she was silently working at the post office without one person she called friend. The story whirls around with people falling in love, breaking up and living life, but in the corner of my mind, Ronelle Logan waited for her story.
People in general frightened her. One by one they were terrifying. Chapter 2, The Comforts of Home.
In the opening of THE COMFORTS OF HOME she is about to meet a man who will petrify her at first and awaken her to life as they talk.
In a closing note, I’d like to add that you are going to love a new character I introduce. He’s just a kid (17) with long hair, and a dream to make it big in the music world. We’ll be watching him grow up and fall in love several times before he figures women out.
Come along with me to Harmony. We’ll have a grand visit with the people there.
Wishing you much love and laughter in your life,
Jodi Thomas
http://www.jodithomas.com/
www.facebook.com/JodiThomasAuthor
Do you like watching characters "grow up" during a series? Who are some of your favorites and what series are they from? We have THREE copies of The Comforts of Home to give away to three random commenters (one copy for each winner) living within the United States or Canada.
In Harmony, Texas, twenty-year-old Reagan Truman has found her place, and found her family. But with her uncle taken ill and her friend Noah lost and disheartened with his life, Reagan is afraid of ending up alone again, and she's not the only one. When a terrible storms threatens the town, the residents of Harmony are forced to think about what they really want. Because making the connections they so desperately desire means putting their hearts at risk...
One character I've loved watching grow up during a series is Hyacinth Bridgerton in JQ's Bridgerton series. She was just such a fun, headstrong, and mischievous character you can't help but fall in love with, I just couldn't wait to see who JQ paired her up with. But on the other hand, there's also-I remember when you were a little girl during the love scenes that can get a tad awkward, lol.
ReplyDeleteAnother great example would be Peregrine and Olivia in Loretta Chase's Lord Perfect who grew up and got their book in Last Night's Scandal.
Jodi Thomas's "Texas" books have been long time favorites. I'd love to read her contemporary series featuring Harmony!
ReplyDeleteCharacters I liked growing up in a series:
Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables
Laura Ingalls Wilder in Little House On the Prairie
Harry Potter
i agree with Laurie G, Little House on the Prarie was my favorite growing up -- and my granddaughter is no reading them.
ReplyDeleteWelcome, Jodi! We're so happy to have you with us today. Congrats on your newest release!
ReplyDeleteLisa, I just knew you'd mention Hyacinth!! She is the one that sticks out in my mind, too. I love her. :)
ReplyDeleteLaurie, I love Harry Potter, too! And Hermione...and Ron...and Neville...and Ginny... *g* GREAT choice!
ReplyDeleteTJ, I read the Little House series when I was a girl and instantly fell in love with the characters. I adore the TV show, too. It brings back good memories... :)
ReplyDeleteI do enjoy watching characters grow up..I really enjoyed The Little House on the Prairie books, the Anne of Green Gable Books and Jo and her sisters in Little Women and the subsequent books in the series like Little Men
ReplyDeleteI love the Harmony books!
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Anne Shirley and the kids from the Harry Potter books--and not just the main three. I thought one of the greatest joys of the series was seing Neville come into his own. I also loved following the growth of Betsy Ray and her friends in Maud Hart Lovelaces's series. From romance fiction, I'd begin my list with Seth Quinn from Nora Roberts's Chesapeake Bay quartet and Loretta Chase's Perigrine and Olivia. And I am so excited about the possibility of reading in the not-too-distant future the stories of some of the children in Eloisa James's Desperate Duchesses books!
Hi Jodi, love your books they are awesome!
ReplyDeleteWell we watched Opie grow up on the Andy Griffit show, Jake grew up on Two and Half Men. The girls on Little House on the Prarie. So over the years we have seen a lot of character grow up. I do enjoy small town stories and yours are some of the best.
Maria, I'm so glad to hear you're another Little House on the Prairie fan!
ReplyDeleteJanga, I totally agree with you about Neville. He is such a special character from the beginning of the series to the end. :)
ReplyDeleteVirginia, you mentioned one of my very favorite TV shows--The Andy Griffith Show! I've seen every episode multiple times and I never get tired of them. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Jodi! I know this is an old one but I liked Little Women growing up. Good luck with your new book ...Can't wait to get my hands on it!!
ReplyDeleteDonna
I do enjoy series where you can watch characters grow up, mature, and change. Series that I have read are the Harry Potter books, JQ's Bridgertons, and Jodi Thomas's Whispering Mountain historicals.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting with us again, Jodi. And congrats on your new release! I bet all your books are labors of love ;-)
ReplyDeleteHi, Jodi and welcome back!
ReplyDeleteI agree about the characters in the Harry Potter books. It was delightful and a little bittersweet watching them grow up.
Hello Jodi!
ReplyDeleteI do like seeing characters grow up within a series. That's why I enjoy series, re-visiting characters to see where life has taken them.
One of these characters is Daisy Bellamy from Susan Wigg's Lakeshore Chonicles. She grew from a rebellious teenager to a career-minded woman. The Wakefield Twins in Sweet Valley series. Anne from Anne of Green Gables. She was the most endearing ragamuffin and I thoroughly enjoyed her adventures.
It's great seeing characters develop and experience the different stages of life and reach milestones.
It was definitely interesting to see Harry Potter grown up and mature in the books and the movies. I haven't read many other series with those types of characters, but I do enjoy seeing that happen in a series.
ReplyDeleteBarbed1951 at aol dot com
I love Jodi Thomas's books and have been awaiting for her next release. I do enjoy watching characters grow up. I espicially like watching Rick Sudder grow up in Robyn Carr's Virgin River series.
ReplyDeleteGood luck to you in the contest, Donna! Thanks for stopping by.
ReplyDeleteGreat choices, Cheryl!
ReplyDeleteNa said: It's great seeing characters develop and experience the different stages of life and reach milestones.
ReplyDeleteIt makes them feel like family, doesn't it, Na? :)
Yay, Barbara! Another Harry Potter fan!
ReplyDeleteI hope you enjoy Jodi's newest, kmannrn!
ReplyDeleteCharacters really make the book for me. I am so looking forward to returning to Harmony and reconnecting with some characters who are like old friends. I do like watching characters grow—and grow up—during series. Julia Quinn’s Bridgertons are among my favorites.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed that in Call Me Irresistible Susan Elizabeth Phillips showed us some of the kids from her former books, all grown up.
It is a lot of fun to watch characters 'grow up'. First you see how they and others behave when they are kids, but then everyone has to alter their perceptions as young people age. Offers a lot of options for character interaction. And then the younger ones get to have their own romance & HEA.
ReplyDeleteOne of the reasons I enjoy reading series is to watch character I have grown fond of in a book grow and get on with their lives. I agree about Anne Shirley and the expanded Laura Ingalls series that include her grandmother, mother, and daughter, Rose.
ReplyDeleteAnother I liked were the books in Catherine Coulter's series that started with THE SHERBROOKE BRIDE. It covers several generations.
Yes, I remember Derek Taliferro was a kind teenager in Sarah's Child (Linda Howard), then got his own little story as a giveaway in Bluebird Winter as a doctor. It was so wonderful to see him grow into a man. Will always remember him.
ReplyDeleteWow, I am drawing a blank! Romance wise at any rate, so I will go with Harry Potter!
ReplyDeleteLove Jodi's books, all the best for the release!