Lone Star Book Blog Tour: Mornings on Main by Jodi Thomas
I’m really excited to share this just-released novel by Jodi Thomas. Mornings on Main was SUCH a good read – if you follow me on social media, you’ll know I was happy about this book mail, and Jodi did not disappoint!
I’m a fan of her writing, so I’m thrilled that I was able to take part in this particular Lone Star Book Blog Tour. It’s a lovely read with a writing that just flows and wraps around your heart and pulls you in (and leaves you rooting for Jillian). Read on to learn more about the book and why her books are on my bookshelf.
Jillian James has never had a place to call home. Desperate to make some quick cash before moving on again, she agrees to help an elderly woman close her beloved quilt shop.
Connor Larady’s grandmother has owned the shop all her life, but lately she has struggled with Alzheimer’s. Connor’s seventeen-year-old daughter has spent her whole life in Laurel Springs, Texas, and she feels restless. When Jillian moves to town, she represents travel, adventure and excitement.
Weaving together the story of three generations of women looking for a place to belong, Mornings on Main asks us to consider how we make our memories—what we remember, what we forget, what becomes part of our story—and remind us that it’s not where we live, but how we live that counts.
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AMAZON ┃ BARNES&NOBLE
Mornings on Main was an absolute treat and a lovely read! Like many of Jodi Thomas’ novels, the novel is set in a small Texas town with wonderful characters and a lot of heart.
Jillian James was a drifter who grew up moving from place to place. She and her father never stayed any place for long nor did he carry much with him, but he always kept a record of the places he stayed.
Papa’s rule: Never stay in town any longer than you need to.
She was never able to put down roots; if she had any other family, she wasn’t aware and her father disappeared when she went to college. For all the wandering, Jillian might have seen herself a free spirit, but instead, I saw her as haunted and abandoned, unable to trust anyone but herself. (Thanks, dad.)
She wasn’t the only character who was a bit untethered in the story, and I liked the parallels between them. Eugenia Larady owns the quilt shop Jillian comes to work in, and it’s soon obvious that Eugenia’s Alzheimer’s disease is progressing. She is losing her connection to the present, and at times finds herself in the past.
Eugenia’s teenage granddaughter Sunnie is the third character who is at loose ends. She is rebellious and the front she shows people is in direct contrast to her name – she dresses in black, eyes heavily lined, hair bleached pale, and is as sullen as she is not “sunny”. Three years prior she lost her mother, and while she is close to her grandmother, she’s close to losing her (at least as she knows her) too.
Lastly, there is Connor, who gave up his dreams of exploring the world and is the person that everyone in town counts on. He feels the weight of the legacy he’s been left in the form of derelict buildings that kill him in taxes; he writes books that no one sees, and a weekly paper that he’s not sure if anyone reads. He feels his mother and his daughter slipping away.
Eugenia is lost to the past, Jillian searches for her past, and Sunnie is acting out against her losses, while Connor is overwhelmed trying to hold everything together (and not think about all he is losing and has lost).
With that, I will say that this is not a sad novel, although Jodi Thomas WILL wrap her words around your heart and tug at it, in not so much an emotional roller-coaster, but more a trip down a river that ebbs and flows. Her character development is simply lovely, and I fell in love with the town and its inhabitants. Like Jillian, and Eugenia’s son Connor, even the town is a little lost and tired. And through the course of the novel, everyone (and everything) comes a bit back to life.
Woven throughout the novel were the stories behind the quilts that Jillian was photographing and cataloging for Eugenia, and the quilts themselves became characters of sorts, telling their own stories and sharing memories and secrets.
She hadn’t followed Papa’s rule: Never get involved in other people’s problems.
What I loved about this story is despite the secrets and the hopes and dreams that Connor and Jillian keep from each other, they are drawn to each other. You will root for Jillian to finally make a home and lay down roots – but will she? It’s the opposite of everything she has ever known, and her boundaries keep her safe.
This is a story about finding yourself, and finding home – in a person and a place. I think it’s about self-acceptance, too. Give Jodi Thomas’ Mornings on Main a read and escape for a bit to Laurel Springs, Texas. You’ll be glad you did.
With millions of books in print, Jodi Thomas is both a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over 45 novels and 14 short story collections. Her stories travel through the past and present days of Texas and draw readers from around the world.
In July 2006, Jodi was the 11th writer to be inducted into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame. With five RITA’s to her credit, along with National Readers’ Choice Awards and Booksellers’ Best Awards, Thomas has proven her skill as a master storyteller.
Honored in 2002 as a Distinguished Alumni by Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, Thomas enjoys interacting with students at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas, where she currently serves as Writer in Residence.
When not working on a novel, or inspiring students to pursue writing careers, Thomas enjoys traveling with her husband, renovating a historic home, and “checking up” on their grown sons and four grandchildren.
4/3/18
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Excerpt 1
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4/3/18
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Bonus Post
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4/4/18
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Review
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4/5/18
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Author Interview
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4/6/18
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Review
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4/7/18
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Excerpt 2
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4/8/18
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Guest Post
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4/9/18
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Review
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4/10/18
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Sneak Peek
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4/11/18
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Excerpt 3
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4/12/18
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Review
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2 Comments
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Kristine Hall
great review! love how you noted all the parallels in the main characters’ lives — they are all a bit untethered. And it’s nice to know that despite so much heartache, it’s not a sad book. Thanks for the post.