As part of the Ultimate Western Tour featuring 12 of Harlequin’s Western Romance writers, bestselling author Jodi Thomas shares her inspiration for Sunrise Crossing, the newest installment in her Ransom Canyon series. Be sure to check out the rest of the tours stops as well as the Ultimate Ranch Getaway below.
When I began the Ransom Canyon Series I knew Sunrise Crossing would be Yancy’s story about the old Gypsy House. So when I started, Yancy was already whispering his story in my ear.
So, where did the old Gypsy house come from in my mind?
That’s an easy one.
When I was about eight or ten, I was in a little town called Hollis, Oklahoma. About five or six of my cousins(I had 58) and I were riding back on horseback from getting a malt at the local Dairy Queen. The horses got small cones even though we swore to Uncle Leroy that we didn’t feed them.
We saw an old house sitting out by itself, like it had once been a farmhouse that had gotten eaten up by the town. Overgrown elms blocked the door and part of the roof had caved in, but we found a window in back that we could slide into.
One by one, we dropped in to the shadowy remains of what had once been a home. An old bedframe, broken chairs and an empty wallet hidden between rotting mattresses were all we found, but my imagination went wild. Part of the stairs was missing and there was a hole big enough to fall through in the kitchen.
In Sunrise Crossing my character Yancy Grey did what I’d always dreamed of doing. He restored that old memory with the help of a woman he found hiding in the barn. As the house came together so did a sweet love story of two people who’d always been alone.
Footnote: Turns out my uncle from my mother’s side of the family owed the old place in Hollis. When Uncle Leroy told Uncle Dolan about us breaking in they took turns threatening to kill us all if we ever did that again.
Oh, those summers with the cousins. I’d love to go back to that time just once to see if the reality was half as good as my memories. For a few weeks in July we were free-range kids in a small town with nothing but our imaginations for entertainment.
Also, check out my new Walk The Land video; I hope you enjoy it.
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Where family bonds are made and broken, and where young love sparks as old flames grow dim, Ransom Canyon is ready to welcome—and shelter—those who need it
With a career and a relationship in ruins, Jubilee Hamilton is left reeling from a fast fall to the bottom. The run-down Texas farm she’s inherited is a far cry from the second chance she hoped for, but it and the abrasive foreman she’s forced to hire are all she’s got.
Every time Charley Collins has let a woman get close, he’s been burned. So Lone Heart ranch and the contrary woman who owns it are merely a means to an end, until Jubilee tempts him to take another risk—to stop resisting the attraction drawing them together despite all his hard-learned logic.
Desperation is all young Thatcher Jones knows. And when he finds himself mixed up in a murder investigation, his only protection is the shelter of a man and woman who—just like him—need someone to trust.
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Thanks for featuring Jodi for the tour!