About the Book

Title: Texas my Texas

Author: Caryl McAdoo

 
Genre: Christian Historical Romance

 
Release date: February 11, 2019

He who puts his trust in God will possess the land and inherit the blessings.

Scripture tells a husband to love his wife, but what if she loves the memory of a dead man? Lured to the Texas frontier by more free land than they could ever buy, four families struggle to carve a home and a living out of the wilderness. And though love isn’t always easy coming, like bees to sweet flowers, a neighbor and his partner swoop in hoping to steal the hearts of the clan’s two young beauties. Will their infants spoil the ointment? Wild animals, Indians on the warpath, and living hand-to-mouth never make it easy, but my oh my—Texas my Texas! What a land!

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My Review

As a former history teacher, I love history. As a novel writer, I love fiction. Put the two together, and you have historical fiction—one of the most enjoyable ways to learn about history. 

If it’s done well.

In order to be immersed into the story—to feel I’m a part of it—it’s critical that the visuals (description) and the dialogue be accurate. In Caryl McAdoo’s book Texas My Texas, she does it well. So well, I was scratching my head at times trying to figure out what the characters were saying. I didn’t have a cheat sheet or a translator. But that’s okay, because it was authentic.

Texas My Texas is Book Two of the Cross Timbers Family Saga. I recommend that you read Book One in the series (Gone to Texas) before Book Two if you don’t want to spend the first several chapters trying to figure out who’s who. The series is about a “clan” of people who move west from Tennessee to Texas. I felt as if I was dropped into the middle of a movie and didn’t have a clue who any of the characters were. This was partly my fault, as I wasn’t even aware it was part of a series. I just started reading. After a little research, I discovered that Book One actually gives the reader a quick synopsis of the characters and how they relate.

My intention is to now read Book One, not only because I now know the characters, but because I want the whole story. In fact, I’ve become partial to many of the players and would love to see where they started.

Thomas Baldwin was my favorite character. What a sweet, godly man. Maybe I loved him so much because he reminds me of my husband. Patient, gentle, kind. Did I say patient? He had to be, because he was dealing with Gabrielle. She was self-involved, more than a little whiny, and not a speck of discernment in her DNA. But as she developed throughout the story, she grew on me.

I will admit, however, that not everything about this book is perfect. 

I’m an editing snob. As well as teaching history, I also taught English. I get frustrated by question marks where periods belong, missing commas and comma splices (two full sentences being separated by a comma rather than a period or semi-colon). That may not bother you, but it is a pet peeve of mine. Self-publishing is a wonderful avenue for writers, and Caryl McAdoo is such a good writer, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend her books. My suggestion for her, though, is to find a great editor.

There was also the occasional modern vernacular used that took me out of the story for a brief moment. Nothing very obvious, but worth a mention.

If not for the editing glitches, I would have given Caryl McAdoo’s novel four out of five stars—which holds true for you if punctuation isn’t an issue. As it is, for those of us who stumble over such trivialities, I’m giving her a three out of five.

I was given a free copy of this novel for review purposes and the opinions expressed in this review are mine.

About the Author

Caryl McAdoo prays her story brings God glory which is what she lives to do. Her award-winning, best-selling novels enjoy a lion’s share of 5-Star ratings from Christian readers around the world. With thirty-eight titles, it’s obvious she loves writing almost as much as singing the new songs the Lord gives her—listen to a few at YouTube. She and high school sweetheart Ron celebrated fifty years of marriage in June 2018; they share four children and eighteen grandsugars. The McAdoos live in the woods south of Clarksville, seat of Red River County in far Northeast Texas, waiting expectantly for God to open the next door.

Guest Post from Caryl

It’s always good to give thanks. And I’m thankful for you! I appreciate you stopping by my awesome Celebrate Lit Blog Tour! I’m thankful for each of the bloggers who signed up to participate in the tour for my January release Texas My Texas, book two in my new Cross Timbers Romance Family Saga series! And I’m so thankful the Lord is blessing Celebrate Lit as Sandy Barela blesses so many Christian authors! She is deserving of all God’s best!

In Book One, Gone to Texas, I got seventeen souls to their new home in the Republic. Texas My Texas has all the same pioneers with a few new added as they establish hearth and home in the wooly, untamed Trinity River Bottoms of North Central Texas—which later in history, becomes the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. They’re settling in what now is Irving—my home for fifty-plus years.

Only a few months has passed for my characters, Book One ends in November, Book Two picks up in March, 1841. In real life, it’s been just that long since Book One launched, too! It debuted in September and Book Two launching now is also four months! Isn’t that fun? Originally, I’d planned a different January title but pushed it back a couple of months to release Texas My Texas on the heels of Gone to Texas.

In this new story, the two young women—Gabrielle and Isabel Harrell—elicit the attention of suiters who come calling even in the wild west territory. Thomas Baldwin (a neighbor introduced in Gone To Texas) has an eye for Gabrielle and uses many excuses to visit, including taking his friend Monroe Humble to the clan’s little settlement to meet the lovey, hardworking Isabel.

But Gabrielle is pining hard for her love back home and deals with pretty severe melancholy—what they called depression back in those days. In Texas My Texas, readers will spend time with the characters they came to love in Gone To Texas. As always, I pray my story gives God glory! And that readers will enjoy the new even better than the old! BLESSINGS!

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