About the Book

Book Title: Gone to Texas

Author: Caryl McAdoo

Genre: Historical Romance

Release date: September 6, 2018

Can beauty truly come from ashes?

Deception drives seventeen souls to hard choices. Either stay on the land they thought they’d bought or heed the lure of free land in the faraway wilderness of a new Republic. Rife with peril and hardship, three families knit together by blood and friendship head out with a widowed man, daughter, and his slave, gambling everything they own on the prospect of land ownership and working it together. Does friendship pave a way to marriage? Can puppy-love survive through a harrowing journey to blossom into a forever lover? With duress at every turn, can the clan stay together all the way to Texas and accomplish their goals?

About the Author

Top priority is God’s glory, and that’s exactly what Caryl McAdoo prays her stories will bring. To entertain and draw readers into a closer walk with Him is next. A quick check of stars and reviews attest to the success of this award-winning, best-selling author—all by the Father’s faithfulness. Besides writing, she loves singing praises, including the new songs He gives her! Visit her YouTube channel. Ron, her high school sweetheart husband won her heart fifty-two years ago, and they share four children and seventeen grandsugars. Ron and Caryl live on thirty-four acres ‘The Peaceable’ in the woods south of Clarksville, seat of Red River County in far Northeast Texas and wait expectantly for God to open the next door.

Guest Post from Caryl

As much as I hated leaving the Buckmeyers, Baylors, and Nightingales and the Red River Valley, I loved starting this fresh Family Saga series with all new characters! GONE TO TEXAS is Book One of the Cross Timber Romances and features three families—the O’Neals, Van Zandts, and Worleys—joined by blood and friendship through Liberty O’Neal. Laud Worley is her little brother and Mallory Van Zandt, her best friend since school days.

Together, they’d traveled south to settle in Tennessee and were about to harvest their first cotton crop that fall in 1840 when they discovered the deed to their land—the land they’d spent all their pooled savings on—was forged and no-good.

The legal owner graciously allows them to stay through harvest, taking his portion of their labor and cottonseed. At the gin, Seve Van Zandt hears rumors of Texas, a new Rebublic out west, offering free land to pioneers willing to tame its wildlands. This first story—book one—is all about their journey to the new country filled with hope and dreams.

A hired widower who with his daughter and slave helped harvest the clan’s cotton asked to join them on their journey, and so, on that faithful September morn, seventeen souls set out after they hung a hand painted sign on one of the cabins they left behind. “Gone to Texas”!

Another very special thing about this novel, one hundred twelve thousand words—about three hundred fifty pages, is that it is also book one in a brand new collection! The Thanksgiving Books and Blessings Collection that includes stories from eight other authors besides me: Lena Nelson Dooly, Heather Blanton, Kristin Holt, Kit Morgan, Suzette Williams, Pauline Creeden, George McVey, and Lynette Sowell!

All nine books will have Thanksgiving Dinner with family around the table, giving thanks to God for all his blessings. I’ve noticed many series launched in December, but Thanksgiving is my favorite. I love giving thanks to the Lord!

And as always, I pray my story gives God glory, and that its readers will be drawn closer to Him through it. He blesses and highly favors me daily. I cannot thank or praise Him enough!

Thank you, too, for reading my stories, reviewing my stories, and participating in the most AWESOME CELEBRATE LIT‘s Blog Tour!!

Book One in the Thanksgiving Books & Blessings Collection is a story so powerfully written, I felt swept back to the late 1800s and joined in the journey as if I was part of the story. I loved the story and how vivid the details were. What stuck in my mind as I read the story was how much it reminded me of my granddad.  He traveled by covered wagon in the 1800s to homestead his land in Oklahoma. Much like the people in the story, he had many obstacles  to overcome along the way.

I think in those days everyone wanted a place to call their own. I can see how easy it was for the families to trust someone only to find that they had been cheated out of land they worked hard on. Day after day they worked the cotton fields and were exhausted at night. They didn't have fancy machines to pick for them and I could feel their aches and pain as they picked the cotton by hand. It was a shock to learn that three families working side by side would soon lose all they had worked for due to a mean spirited greedy man. It made me so angry to read how he had swindled them. What I really liked was how they all came together to make decisions.  I could feel the excitement as they decided that Texas was their new destination. 

The story is well written and depicts the old west beautifully. Riding in wagons for long periods of time was hard and miserable. Can you image what it was like in a wagon with the sun beaming down on you as you trudge along on terrain that was rough? I was so impressed with the way the author told the story of these seventeen people and how much faith they had in God providing them a new place to settle. A lot of the story at the beginning features Alicia. She has her heart set on marrying Flynn. She sure does pester him a lot about becoming husband and wife. At times she got on my nerves because she almost seemed selfish. What I came to realize was this young girl so much wanted to be loved and her heart was hurting to be loved  by Flynn. There are some good talks between Flynn and Alicia's father that really showed how much Flynn respected Alicia. Will they get married before they reach Texas? 

Another character I really liked was Gabby. She was the outcast at times and seemed to have a somewhat shady past. Gabby wanted to have a best friend but Alicia didn't really trust her. I loved the theme in the story about trust and forgiveness. Several characters have secrets and feel ashamed. Gabby is one of those who has been hurt in the past, and done some things that she can't forgive herself for. Alicia has a chance to forgive Gabby for something, but will she give her mercy or turn her back on her? 

As I read the story I could see the struggles the families endured and how easy it was to become jealous of another. They experience loss that will affect everyone as they travel to Texas. It is a realistic account of how the settlers find their new home and the trials they encountered along the way. Except surprises, mistrust, doubt and a story rich in faith. There is a part in the story that had me crying as I witnessed miracles and redemption. I have always loved the authors gifted way of writing  that captures the characters deep emotions. This is one story you won't be able to put down. Be sure and grab a copy and get ready for an adventure on the open range with characters that will feel like family at the end of the story.

I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion.

Blog Stops

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D’S QUILTS & BOOKS, September 14

Locks, Hooks and Books, September 15

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, September 15

Janices book reviews, September 16

Abba’s prayer warrior princess, September 17

Carpe Diem, September 17

Creating Romance, September 18

Madeline Clark, September 18

Margaret Kazmierczak, September 19

The Mimosa Blossom, September 20

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, September 20

Back Porch Reads, September 21

Bibliophile Reviews, September 22

Texas Book-aholic, September 23

Godly Book Reviews, September 24

Bigreadersite, September 24

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Caryl is giving away

GRAND PRIZE : $50 Amazon Gift Card

1st Prize: THREE Choice-of-Caryl’s Titles (print–US only or eBook)

2nd-4th: ebook of JOHN DAVID’S CALLING

5th-7th: print copy VOW UNBROKEN

8th-10th: $5 Amazon gift cards!!