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Saving El Chico
This entertaining, character-driven debut novel is a marvelous, laugh-out-loud funny yet revealing story of a small present-day Texas town dying from drought. Inspired by real Texans, history and geography, Saving El Chico is a tale of the rugged courage, imagination, good humor and inspiration recognized as belonging to Texans since the founding of their beloved state. From Lulu Belle Swartz, owner of Be Lovely Boutique, to Ed Hawkins, proprietor of Ed's Salvage Yard and Golf Course, citizens of El Chico struggle to survive. When a devastating drought appears to be the final blow to the mainstay cattle ranching business and Bea McPherson's Circle McP Ranch, Ex-Dallas Cowboy football player Nicholas Graystone arrives offering to spearhead the building of a water pipeline. The unsuspecting residents don't realize their mayor has teamed with the fast talker to swindle them. Perhaps it is inevitable that El Chico will become another barren, forlorn Texas ghost town. As El Chico sinks deeper and deeper into oblivion a diverse cast of characters continues to celebrate their unique, fun-loving and charming lifestyle with the belief if they pull together El Chico will thrive and there will be a remarkable resolution to the hopeless situation.
236 pages, Paperback
Published January 14, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 24, 2018
Some good descriptions of small west Texas town, but the characters were trite and the story-line predictable. I do like to support local (ish) new writers, so it was worth the reading energies (time & $.)
July 4, 2018
The writing isn't very sophisticated, and many of the characters are more or less charicatures of small-town West Texas. Nevertheless, there is humor and that made it an enjoyable read.
October 15, 2016
Meta Strauss has created El Chico a Texas town full of funny, only in Texas types of characters. This modern Western is a lot like old Westerns, a battle between good and evil. Will good prevail? Will the hero get the girl? I'll let you find out.
April 30, 2017
One of those enjoyable "feel good" novels where the characters become you friends. Looking forward to the next installment.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews