I’m so excited to bring you a guest post by best-selling author Jodi Thomas today for Harlequin’s Valentine’s Blog Tour. Enjoy this guest post and look out for the rafflecopter giveaway below.
Heart On His Sleeve…
A guest post by bestselling author Jodi Thomas
Whenever I think of Valentine’s Day I always think of William and Perry Price.
In the dull days of winter, Valentine’s Day must have been a perfect time to have a party.
In 1890, my grandfather was seventeen and cowboy-ing for whatever ranch needed him. He rode for 4 days to get to a party at a farm in the Texas Panhandle. All the men who came in early helped raise a new barn, and then cleaned up for the dance.
As the men walked into the party they each drew a name from a bowl. Then they pinned the small paper heart on their sleeve. The girl’s name on their sleeve would be their first dance for the evening.
My Grandfather William’s heart said Perry Zen White. She was 15 and living with her aunt and uncle. The moment he saw her he said he knew he wouldn’t be taking that heart off his sleeve for the entire dance.
The story goes that they talked and danced all night. The room where couples danced was so small everyone had to take shifts. The next morning he rode home and bought a small farm. He built a house that fall after the crop was in.
One year later, Valentine’s Day, he drove an empty buckboard back to Texas and picked her up. She brought her trunk, a hope chest her uncle made her full of things she’d made, a treadle sewing machine and all they needed to start a home.
At 16 and 18 years old William and Perry Zen homesteaded a place in the Oklahoma Territory. They were together 68 years.
When I was about eight or nine I asked my grandfather once if he bought Granny Perry candy to celebrate loving her on Valentine’s Day and he said he celebrated loving her every day.
Happy Valentine’s Day
Jodi Thomas
About Rustler’s Moon
On a dirt road marked by haunting secrets, three strangers caught at life’s crossroads must decide what to sacrifice to protect their own agendas…and what they’re each willing to risk for love.
If there’s any place that can convince Angela Harold to stop running, it’s Ransom Canyon. And if there’s any man who can reveal desires more deeply hidden than her every fear, it’s Wilkes Wagner. Beneath the rancher’s honorable exterior is something that just might keep her safe…or unwittingly put her in danger’s path.
With his dreams of leaving this small Texas town swallowed up by hard, dusty reality, all Wilkes has to show for his life is the Devil’s Fork Ranch. Though not one to let false hope seduce him, he can’t deny the quiet and cautious beauty who slips into his world and changes everything.
Lauren Brigman finally has freedom at her fingertips. All she needs is Lucas Reyes’s attention—a look, a touch, some sign that she’s more to him than a girl he rescued one dangerous night. But now it’s her turn to rescue someone, and the life-altering decision may cost her more than a chance with Lucas.
About the author:
A fifth-generation Texan, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author JODI THOMAS chooses to set the majority of her novels in her home state, where her grandmother was born in a covered wagon. A former teacher, Thomas traces the beginning of her storytelling career to the days when her twin sisters were young and impressionable.
When not working on a novel or inspiring students to pursue a writing career, Thomas enjoys traveling with her husband, renovating a historic home they bought in Amarillo and “checking up” on their two grown sons.
For more information about Jodi and her books, please visit Jodi’s website at www.JodiThomas.com.
Giveaway:
Enter the Rafflecopter widget below for your chance to win all 10 books, a notebook, and a $50 gift card.
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Thanks for featuring Jodi for the tour!
Heather J @ TLC Book Tours recently posted..Katy Simpson Smith, author of Free Men, on tour February/March 2016
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You’re very welcome, Heather!
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