Customer Reviews

Texas Rain (LARGE PRINT)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Jodi Thomas starts a new trilogy in her touching, in-depth style about the orphaned McMurray family and the McMurray Ranch. The handsome, rugged, half-breed Texas Ranger Travis McMurray returns home to the family ranch and takes his sister Sage to the local dance where he happens across who he feels is a " beautiful fairy" skulking around the edges of the dance. It is the runaway Rainey Adams, running from a harsh father and an arranged marriage in order to find a new life and identity out west. The last thing she feels she needs is to be tangled with a Texas Ranger. She steals Travis's horse and blends in with a wagon train heading west. When Travis follows, not only to retrieve his horse, but to discover the identity of the beauty he cannot seem to stop thinkig about, the wagon train is attacked and Travis is left seriously injured and unable to walk or ride properly. Rainey feels responsible for his injuries, but knows she cannot stay long enough to help. She flees once more and settles down in Austin where she continues to think about the handsome Texas Ranger and how he is recovering from his injuries. She decides to write him. Little does she know that she is also in Travis's thoughts and as he struggles with being a cripple, her letters become a source of strength to him. The pen pal relationship continues and once healed Travis decides to practice law and seeks Rainey out, only to have some past Ranger trouble follow him. The story is beautifully written with deep insight into the characters feelings and struggles. If you are a romance fan looking for a string of passionate love scenes, they are not here, although underlying passion is, but it is somewhat subdued and builds toward the end. The unspoken and unacted upon passion of the characters blend together with some mystery and murder in a story of such feeling that make this book hard to put down.

I would prefer to give this book 3.5 stars. It was O.K. but not what I have come to expect from a Jodi Thomas novel. I already know that I will never want to read this one again. Once I discovered her books I became such a fan that I went back and bought every one of the stories I can get my hands on written by her. In my notebook most of the books receive either four or five stars. This one was just O.K. and for me that is a huge disappointment. I don't want to write a negative review of one of my favorite authors, but the truth is the truth and my truth is that I did not like this book very much.

I didn't know anything about this book. I ordered it just because of the author. I put it aside for a while to read when I really wanted to savor a gold nugget of a novel. It didn't turn out that way for me. At one point I actually turned to look at the cover to see if I was reading a Jodi Thomas. Has she decided to change her writing style? It seemed to me that the rhythm was different, the flow was diffeerent, the descriptions, the female character. All seemed different. Most of the sentences seemed short and choppy. I did not like Rainey, maybe that was my major problem. I liked Travis, Teagen, Tobin, Sage and Martha but not Rainey. I was not enjoying the book. In fact, it seemed as if there were actually two books, one concerning Travis and one concerning Rainey. The amount of time the two of them were together in the first half of the book was a matter of minutes, minutes for goodness sakes! Over half of the book is written with them completely apart. For me, the letters didn't work to form a bond in which I saw them interacting as a couple. They were just two people who happened to be in the state of Texas.

I know this is the first book in the Whispering Mountain trilogy. I do not think it was a good example of Jodi Thomas at her best. I will probably buy the next book, but I'm sorry to say I'm actually not looking forward to it. Maybe the more familiar Thomas style will reassert itself by then.

In 1854, needing R&R, Texas Ranger Travis McMurray comes home to the family owned Whispering Mountain Ranch in the Hill Country. At a barn dance, a woman brazenly kisses Travis before stealing his horse.

Rainey Adams feels guilty for taking the hunk's steed, but felt she had no choice. She needed to escape her father's plans to marry her to any rogue with some money so his horse was her freedom. She writes letters to Travis apologizing for her action. When he is severely hurt in an ambush and suffering from a fever, he turns to her letters for solace as he heals. When he realizes the woman of the letters that he now loves is in danger, he goes to her rescue though not he is not fully recuperated as he needs his "angel" as his bride; but it is his past that returns with a vengeance that endangers both of them.

Jodie "Texas" Thomas writes another strong Lone Star western romance due to a wonderful Ranger and a courageous heroine who risks all for her freedom and then her beloved. The story line is driven by these two protagonists though his brothers and sister, the bad guys, and the rugged Hill country ably supplement the daring duo. No one writes nineteenth century Texas tales better than Ms. Thomas does (see the McClain saga).

Harriet Klausner

Rainey Adams is a woman who longs to be free, not married to a man that is old enough to be her dad. This will not do, this is not what her life is meant to be she steals money and hops a train to New Orleans. Her aunt lives there, or at least she did before she died. With no where to turn Rainey decides to become a new woman, moving to Texas and changing her name.


Travis McMurray feels doomed to live out his life alone. Never does he feel that the world or at least the town of Galveston understands him. Then one night while attending a dance with his sister a stranger gives him a kiss and he is smitten. Too bad she's taken off with his horse, taking playing hard to get to a new level. He will track her down after all he is a Texas Ranger.


While reading previous books by Jodi Thomas it is a bit of a surprise to find that this one lacks the luster she is known for. Texas Rain is not her best work to date, however it is part of a new series known as Whispering Mountain as such she leaves room to make improvements in the books to follow. Having enjoyed many of her previous novels in no way is this reviewer ready to jump out of the saddle just yet.


Jodi Thomas does do a great job of creating characters with charm and wit, the downfall to this particular book is that the overall flow Texas Rain seemed to drag a bit. But like a lot of great authors not all books can be perfect, it could take a book before really getting into a good pace. It would not surprise anyone that has taken an interest in Ms. Thomas's books to see that the next book in the series to be a remarkable one.


Reviewed by Joyce



Copyright © 2006 CK2S Kwips and Kritiques. All rights reserved.

Jodi Thomas never fails to draw you into her wonderful "Texas Romances". This one brings more than just a romance to the plate. There are villains as well as heroes. But we all love those Texas Rangers don't we. Rainey has good reason to want to stay single but Travis is wearing her down. Laying down your life for a friend on both their parts brings us into the story.

Texas Rain, the first book in the Whispering Mountain series, will keep you captivated scene after scene.

From her first word, Jodi promises an exciting story of romance, intrigue, and excitement set in the Texas Hill Country in 1854. She keeps her word as you meet the three McMurray brothers and their sister, Sage.

One brother lives for the ranch. Another for horses, but for Travis McMurray, the infamous Texas Ranges, it's for open land and roaming. A man who feels he belongs nowhere.

Texas Rain is Travis' story, but you'll fall in love with big brother Teagan and the baby brother, Tobin. Their kid sister, Sage McMurray, is a sassy young woman who proves she inherited the McMurray spirit. The problem, her brothers haven't noticed that she has grown up on them and is now a woman.

You will get pleasure from Martha who raised Sage from infancy and loves her to no end, while tolerating tolerates the McMurray brothers, and sometimes forgets that she's the housekeeper, not the owner of the sprawling Whispering Mountain Ranch.

After taking leave from the Rangers, Travis returns home to the ranch named after the nearby Whispering Mountain where Apache legend has it when a man sleeps on the summit, he'll dream his future. Their father had dreamed of his death and prepared his sons to take care of the ranch and their pregnant mother. The boys formed a bond never to be broken.

At the age of eleven, Travis was forced to fearlessly guide his brothers, watch his mother die after childbirth, and protect his newborn sister, Sage.

The Ranger is expecting a quite time at Whispering Mountain Ranch, but his sister has other ideas. She forces him to take her to the spring dance on a "husband-hunting" mission. Dancing isn't amongst his many talents, but Travis' need to protect the maturing Sage is greater than his concern for his social inadequacies.

At the dance, Travis runs into a fiery green-eyed woman in the darkness and they share a kiss. On a mission, she disappears before he can get her name and he dubs her his "fairy".

Rainey Adams is on the run and has come to steal a horse, but after the handsome Ranger detects her novice scheme, she decides to borrow a horse from a wagon, instead. The problem ... she picked the wrong horse to steal. A McMurray steed.

Realizing that the missing animal is the work of his "fairy", Travis goes after the thief. He promises if she runs, he'll find her; however, the only thing she wants more than the Ranger is her freedom.

After being injured saving a German wagon train from a band of bandits, Travis is taken to the ranch to recover. He dreams his "fairy" comforts him as he lies on death's door. Was she real or truly his "fairy"?

Healing comes slowly and he feels forced out as a Ranger and as a man, but Travis faces his destiny and hurdles one barrier after another, as his life takes an unexpected turn.

He is consumed with the need to find the woman of his dreams who is just as determined not to be found.

Travis must climb Whispering Mountain in hopes of dreaming his future. With the help of his brothers, he reaches the summit.

And, he dreams!

Travis will keep you spellbound as he chases his dreams and his quest to find his "fairy" ... the woman he cannot get out of his system. The woman he must have.

Once again, Jodi has delivered a heartwarming story filled with spirited characters, enough intrigue to keep you on the edge of your chair, and a family who you can't get enough of.

Ladies, get a box of Kleenex, a glass of iced tea, and settle in to enjoy Texas Rain, the first installment of the Whispering Mountain series.

I love Jodi Thomas and have read all of her books, but this one was a big disappointment. I am wondering if she used a ghost writer. I have read and reread her books many times, but this is one I would not read again. It was rather boring. I am hoping the next book of the trilogy is better. I could not stand the heroine and I really liked the sister and the brothers better than the two main characters.

I am a huge fan of Jodi's work. I just finished reading "Texas Rain" and what a disappointment. Through out the book I kept asking myself is this is the same Jodi that I came to know over the years? The beginning is interesting and charming the whole idea of a heroine on the run somehow appealed to me. However this is where it ended. I just couldn't get over the fact that she refused to marry the hero, but it was OK to fool around with him...Travis on the other hand did come through as a typical Jodi's hero- perfect! I just hope the next installment will be much better.

I am also surprised by the negative reviews. This was a great book! It kept my interest. I really liked both main characters & all of the secondary characters. The way Jodi writes about Whispering Mountain Ranch was so beautiful I wish I could actually see it. I love the Texas Hill Country! I can't wait to read about the rest of the siblings. I hope she includes the little boy Duck.

Book was terrific. I just stumbled upon Jodi Thomas and have literally devoured all of her books that I can find. She is one fabulous author.
I love the old west books.

Thanks, Jodi Thomas, and whip out more.