The Texan's Wager (Wife Lottery, #1) in Settings

Mar 11, 2011 Lisa Kay rated it it was amazing

Shelves: animal-dog-in-story, character-virgin-hero, authors-t, genre-romance-western-historical, amazing-secondary-characters, genre-action-adventure, genre-romance-historical, xyzcover-hummingbird, series-w, reviewed-by-me

4½ stars ★★★★✭

I loved, loved, loved this book! But then, I’m a big fan of a vintage western or a western-romance. My father, when he was eighty-three (and still sharp as a tack), taught me to appreciate them when I used to read to him the last three months of his life. I was amazed; he was so knowledgeable about this era of American history; I loved discussing the books with him. And he would have loved this one too (sans the sex scenes, of course) - and the hero, the taciturn Carter McK 4½ stars ★★★★✭

I loved, loved, loved this book! But then, I’m a big fan of a vintage western or a western-romance. My father, when he was eighty-three (and still sharp as a tack), taught me to appreciate them when I used to read to him the last three months of his life. I was amazed; he was so knowledgeable about this era of American history; I loved discussing the books with him. And he would have loved this one too (sans the sex scenes, of course) - and the hero, the taciturn Carter McKoy. Yup. My dad wasn’t much of a talker either. One of his favorite jokes was this one:

Some cowboys on a cattle drive were around a campfire, listening to the lowing of the livestock. Nobody spoke while they ate their meal. Finally one of the animals made a bleating call.

After a while, one cowboy voiced an opinion, “Heifer.”

After about an hour, a second cowboy said, “Bull.”

In a bit, a third cowboy got up and started packing his gear and saddled up. The first man asked, “Going somewhere?”

“Leaving,” said the third cowboy.

“Why?”

“Too much arguing.”

If you’ve read the back-of-the-book-synopsis then you know that Bailee marries Carter to avoid jail or hanging. This part was just a little contrived, and kept it for being a perfect ★★★★★, as men in Texas hung other men for attempted rape and/or kidnapping; nevertheless, I bit the bullet, while shrugging my shoulders and went with the set-up.

To say Carter is not much of a talker would be an understatement. He’s downright silent at first which causes Bailee, conversely, to start to babble. I love what he thinks of the quixotic rules she makes up and changes on the spur of the moment after their kissing secretly flusters her. He has secrets too; secrets that are delicious and heart-touching to uncover in this tender, sweet, surprisingly action-packed story. Want just a hint?: (view spoiler)

There are also wonderful secondary characters in this story: the other Lottery wives, the lawmen, the soiled doves, the other train travelers. (Naturally there’s a train ; this is a western!) (view spoiler)

A big “Thank You” to everyone who encouraged me to try a Jodi Thomas book, specifically this one. I will definitely be reading the next in the Wife Lottery series When a Texan Gambles; it is already sitting on my bedside table. Hot Damn! I wish my dad were here so I could read it to him. ...more

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Sep 01, 2012 Lisa Kay rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-romance-western-historical, all-time-favorites, authors-t, animal-dog-in-story, character-virgin-hero, xyzcover-hummingbird, series-w, 2012-in-2012-group-challenge, authors-m, theme-marriage-of-convenience

★★★★½ I had to re-read this one because I love it so much. There are a couple minor issues that Ms. Thomas left unanswered or that I wished she had developed more; however, this is an earlier one of her earlier works, so I forgive her. For my original GoodReads review, see this link . ...more

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