Guest Review: The Lone Texan by Jodi Thomas

Tracy‘s review of The Lone Texan by Jodi Thomas

Three days after arriving in Galveston, newly widowed Sage McMurray finds herself taken hostage in a robbery. She fears she may never see Whispering Mountain again when the outlaws decide to auction their pretty captive off to the highest bidder, until a tall stranger offers twice the highest bid.

Sage McMurray is anxious to be back at Whispering Mountain after having gone to med school and becoming a doctor in Boston. She’s been gone 3 long years and just wants to get home and set up her clinic. Unfortunately Sage is in the wrong place at the wrong time and gets kidnapped when the bandits who are raiding a gaming hall find out she’s a doctor.

Then there’s Drummond Roak who has been in love with Sage since he was 16. He’s been so looking forward to her return so that he can finally make her his. But Sage is putting up a fight because she believes he’s still the same old child. Drum may be only 20 but he is definitely not a child. He’s fierce with a gun and works with the Rangers when there’s something that needs to get done that’s highly dangerous. When he finds out that Sage has been taken he’s the first to volunteer to get into a place that no one has managed to breech before.

Drum and Sage spend many nights alone while traveling and they find a place with each other that’s both comfortable and alluring. When Sage returns to Whispering Mountain she’s torn as to what to do about Drum. He’s not giving up and unfortunately for her, her grandfather seems to be on Drum’s side.

While not a sweet touching romance, Drum and Sage had a relationship that was, in my opinion, realistic for the times. The trials of every day life weren’t pushed aside in the story but worked in well and I think it made for an interesting read. Drum and Sage were both stubborn characters and they were played off of each other well.

The one part of the book that I very much enjoyed was the secondary story of Bonnie and Brad. Bonnie was a tall, plain, pretty much destitute nurse that came from Boston with Sage. She wasn’t sure about living in Texas but since she felt she had nothing to keep her in Boston she decided to travel with Sage and open the clinic with her. During the raid on the gambling house where Sage was kidnapped Bonnie was taken as well. But Bonnie was taken by a cowboy who was looking out for her well being. Yes, he kidnapped her but I don’t think he had any evil intent. They pretty much had an amazing one night together that changed their lives. I truly felt the emotions that were sparking off of the two characters and found myself waiting impatiently to read more about them. While this was a small part of the story it was one that was definitely worth reading.

Overall a good read. I’ve read Jodi Thomas’ contemporary novels but not any of her westerns. I think I may have to look some of them up after reading this book.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5

This book is available from Berkley. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place