Mornings on Main. Jodi Thomas

Today it is my pleasure to welcome Jodi Thomas who is here to introduce us to her new book Mornings on Main - and so straight from her pen ....

I’ve always loved wandering the main streets in small towns.  Stepping into the shops.  Talking to the people.  Sometimes all you have to say is, “How are things going?” and an hour later you’re still listening. In MORNINGS ON MAIN, I wrote about the people of Laurel Springs.

Like most people in small towns, my daily life is woven between generations.  I never remember a time when I said, “I’m not sure what to do or which way to turn.”  I’ve always had relatives around, not only giving me advice, but pushing me in what they think is the right direction. So when I began MORNINGS ON MAIN I knew I wanted to show those threads.

My main character, steps into a town and a world foreign to her.  She’s a drifter who doesn’t pack even her memories as she moved from place to place. When Jillian takes a job in Laurel Springs, she finds far more than what she planned.  Eugenia Larady, Gram to her family, has owned a quilt shop for fifty years.  The quilts lining her walls hold the history of the town and its people.  As Gram’s mind slips, Jillian rushes to log all the stories and quilts with the help of Eugenia’s great-granddaughter, Sunny,who is hell bent to make her own wild memories as fast as possible. As the stories of lives in the town come to light, so do secrets and loves that have lasted a lifetime.  Jillian is drawn in and forced to question her lifestyle.

So step into my world of Laurel Springs,

Jodi Thomas 

http://www.jodithomas.com/

www.facebook.com/jodithomasauthor

                       

In Mornings on Main there is another delightful story by Jodi Thomas, set in a small town in Texas that has perhaps seen better days. But what counts are the warm hearted characters that populate the town and with the touches of humor that Jodi Thomas does so well, this book was all I had hoped for.

But wait... there's more! I hadn't realised that one of the shops on Main is a quilting shop and that Gram, the darling old lady is a wealth of knowledge and has such a love for the many quilts that have found their way into her shop. I just loved finding out about the various quilts - their history and the way in which they told  the stories of people from the town.

Wandering into this small town is Jillian - a wanderer since birth really. She now has nobody - totally alone, her father ditched her when she started college, and she has kept up the wandering ways she learned as a child with him. Right from the beginning she has made it clear, she isn't stopping, just spending a few months and then moving on.

Connor is the mayor, and owner of a lot of property in the town. But that doesn't make him rich as a lot of it is now land with old disused factories that knew better times. He is a part time unpublished writer, father of teen Sunnie and carer of his ageing Gram. It sure keeps a man busy. When he meets Jillian though, his heart begins to pine for something he has been assured he can't have.

So the mix of the quilting, the interaction of the characters, the small mysteries, the humor and warmth of the story kept me happily reading along. Yes and some romance too of course, sweet and gentle - perfect. For more than one set of characters too!

And of course it all ended too soon, I so hate leaving these small towns where I feel like I could just fit in so well.

Published: Harlequin

Date: 10th April 2018
Pages: 384
Genre: Contemporary Fiction