Over the Moon at the Big Lizard Diner (Texas Hill Country Series #3) [Paperback]

Lisa Wingate (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2005

Big Lizard Bottoms-where getting hitched is a local industry-is not any place Lindsey Attwood, a play-it-safe paleontologist who's sworn off romance, ever expected to find herself. She's here posing as a horse psychology student to help recover dinosaur tracks stolen from a local guest ranch. After only a day at the ranch, things start spiraling out of control. Her horse-therapy horse hates her, she's been adopted by a huge stray dog with a bad reputation, and there's this local rancher who has her all moonstruck. After years of digging around in the past, Lindsey's wondering if it's finally time to see what the present has to offer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When eight-year-old Sydney leaves Denver to spend the summer in Mexico with her estranged father, Geoff, at the start of this third novel in Wingate's Texas Hill Country series, her mother, divorced paleontologist Lindsey Attwood, doesn't quite know what to do with herself. At the behest of her twin sister, Laura, and girlfriend Collie Collins (the protagonist of the series' first novel, Texas Cooking), Lindsey finds herself in San Saline, Tex., helping solve a mystery of missing dinosaur tracks on a local ranch while posing as a member of a horse psychology class. Lindsey falls for veterinarian-turned-cowboy Zach Truitt, and as their romance blooms, she wrestles with the problems that consume her: faith, fear and doubts about her ability to love again. Of course, in the end, the horse psychology class actually teaches Lindsey a thing or two—she conquers her fear of horses, makes peace with her ex-husband, solves the dinosaur case and learns to both accept and revel in her new relationship. Wingate attempts to mesh mystery with romance, but with slapdash writing and flat characters, her latest novel comes up short of her previous books' sincerity and warmth.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Lindsey Attwood, a paleontologist, has tried to maintain a structured and safe life in Denver for herself and her eight-year-old daughter, Sydney. Now Sydney's father has suddenly decided to become involved, inviting Sydney to stay with him and his young wife in Mexico while he is on an archeological dig. Lindsey then joins her sister in Texas on an undercover mission involving dinosaur tracks. She enrolls in horse-psychology classes as a cover, and everything starts changing. A big white dog pretty much adopts her, and she and rancher Zach Truitt, who is just as shy as Lindsey, enter tentatively into a relationship. Once again, Wingate delivers the sort of tender tale filled with love, hope, and spirituality that keeps her many readers coming back for more. Patty Engelmann
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 307 pages
• Publisher: New American Library (November 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451216644
• ISBN-13: 978-0451216649
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #448,974 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lisa Wingate is a magazine columnist, inspirational speaker, and the author of a host of mainstream fiction novels, including the national bestseller, Tending Roses, which is currently in its fourteenth reprint. Her books have been featured selections for Doubleday and Literary Guild book clubs, selected for The Reader's Club of America, and have garnered LORIES Best Fiction and Reader's Choice Awards, and been nominated for the ACFW Book of the Year Award. Recently, the group Americans for More Civility, a kindness watchdog organization, selected Lisa along with Bill Ford, Camille Cosby, and six others, as recipients of the National Civies Award, which celebrates public figures who work to promote greater kindness and civility in American life. Lisa loves sharing with readers via Facebook, Youtube, and her website. More information about Lisa's novels can be found at www.Lisawingate.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding read, awesome characters--Need I say more?, November 1, 2005

By 

chelseareader "chelseareader" (Salt Lake City area) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Over the Moon at the Big Lizard Diner (Texas Hill Country Series #3) (Paperback)

This is my first Lisa Wingate book, but it won't be my last. The cover and title intrigued me, so I thought I'd give it a try, and WOW, I'm hooked. I read it in less than twenty-four hours, and my only regret was that the fun was over too soon. This is the type of book that transports you so completely, you're surprised (and a little disappointed) to wake up in your own world when you reach the end. The settings were beautiful, and the characters were real people with real problems and challenges in their lives. I not only felt that I knew them, I felt that I could BE one of them. The book also had a spiritual side that was uplifting, but at the same time made me think about life and what is important.

Overall, I laughed, I cried, I loved spending time with the residents of this crazy Texas town. Now I'm off to order the rest of her books! GREAT READ.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very funny!, March 7, 2006

By 

Jane Myers Perrine (TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Over the Moon at the Big Lizard Diner (Texas Hill Country Series #3) (Paperback)

This is my favorite of Ms. Wingate's novels and I've read them all. It is funny--very funny--and the romance is very special from the start. Lindsey is hard to like at times but she grows and changes, a control freak who falls in love and gives up control.

Best of all is Mr. Grits.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FUN FUN and FUN!, March 3, 2006

By 

Busy Mom (Ohio) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Over the Moon at the Big Lizard Diner (Texas Hill Country Series #3) (Paperback)

I am a devoted Lisa Wingate fan ~~ I have read all of her books now and cannot wait for her newest one! This one happened to be out at a bookstore I was browsing through when finished with a doctor's appointment and naturally, I grabbed it! Once again, Wingate didn't disappoint me!

This one focuses on Lindsey, one of the trio that has dominated the Texas books. Lindsey is Laura's twin and Collie's best friend. Lindsey had just sent her daughter off to Mexico to spend a summer with her dad, Lindsey's ex-husband. Lost and bereft of companionship, Lindsey traveled down to Texas to see Laura. Together, Laura and Collie hatched a plan to get Lindsey out of her rut ~~ and sent her to Collie's cousin's horse ranch undercover to find out what happened to the missing dinosaur tracks. Taking a class in horse psychology, Lindsey finds out what matters in life and falls in love with Zach, one of the locals.

It is a fun book ~~ a fast read and enjoyable. Lindsey is the more put-together of the three and more organized. Laura and Collie are featured briefly in this book but it's a focus on Lindsey and Zach. It has a bit of folklore in there and a bit of history and it's just fun reading! Perfect for those lazy summer days coming up! Once you've read Wingate's books, you're always drawn back to her characters over and over again!

3-3-06