Lone Star Book Blog Tour: Slanted Light by Teddy Jones (Review)

SLANTED LIGHT
Jackson’s Pond Texas Series, Book 2
by
Teddy Jones
Genre: Literary Fiction / Family Saga / Western Women / Rural Fiction 
Publication Date: August 21, 2020
Number of Pages: 275
 Scroll down for the giveaway!


Teddy Jones’s earlier novel, Jackson’s Pond, Texas, began the saga of the Jackson family. Now, Slanted Light continues their tale. 

 
Claire Havlicek’s late night call brings her brother Chris Banks from his home in New Mexico back to the town that bears their family name, Jackson’s Pond. She’s collapsed under the weight of threats to her thirteen-year marriage that have undermined her confidence and her will. Her husband, J. D., responds to seduction by a woman in need; theft and the threat of a forced buyout jeopardize Claire’s two medical clinics; drought imperils their ranch and cattle business; a teenage daughter turns to bulimia. 
 
When Claire admits her limits, her grandmother, Willa Jackson, and the other members of her family help her learn that being human, weaknesses and all, can be a source of strength and joy.

“Too many choices are as hard to deal with as having none.”

Slanted Light by Teddy Jones is a gentle look at familial relationships and navigating the challenges and complexities of careers, marriage, parenthood, adolescence, and aging. Nothing prepares a person for hardships, especially within relationships, but how those difficult times are handled defines everyone involved. Claire and J.D. Havlicek are busy with their careers as a nurse practitioner and rancher, respectively, and closing down the channels of communication is rapidly eroding their marriage and home life. Getting back on track and mending what is broken will take plenty of effort, commitment, and love.

Teddy Jones presents a fascinating microcosm of life in the Texas Panhandle in and around the small town of Jackson’s Pond. Slanted Light is book two in the Jackson’s Pond Texas series, but it can easily stand alone. The characters, however, are so well developed and interesting that you may want to reach for book one, Jackson’s Pond, Texas, to get some backstory. The problems and challenges that these characters face in Slanted Light are not extraordinary, yet they are potentially damaging and life changing if left unattended. This intriguing story is soothing in its steady stream of life, love, and provocations within Claire and J.D.’s marriage and immediate family dynamics. The author beautifully and realistically portrays their ranch as a place of solace and healing as each character seeks answers and a safe haven.

Teddy’s writing is literary yet easily accessible, and the overall plot is relaxing, with just enough antagonism and tense scenes to keep the action moving toward an ending that falls conveniently and satisfyingly into perfection. Happy endings are wonderful, even if it is for just one optimistic day in the life of a fictional family that has faced both the adversities and the blessings in lives lived with honesty, affection, acceptance, and honor.

Enter the giveaway below on or before September 4, 2020, for a chance to win some fabulous prizes.


I received a free copy of this book from Lone Star Book Blog Tours in exchange for my honest review.


Teddy Jones is the author of three other published novels, Halfwide, Jackson’s Pond, Texas, and Well Tended, as well as a collection of short stories, Nowhere Near. Her short fiction received the Gold Medal First Prize in the Faulkner-Wisdom competition in 2015. Jackson’s Pond, Texas was a finalist for the 2014 Willa Award in contemporary fiction from Women Writing the West. Her as-yet-unpublished novel, Making It Home, was a finalist in the Faulkner-Wisdom competition in 2017 and “A Good Family” was named a finalist in that contest in 2018.
 
Jones grew up in Iowas Park, a small Texas town. She has worked as a nurse, a nurse educator, a nursing-college administrator, and as a nurse practitioner in Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico. For the past twenty years, she and her husband have lived in the rural West Texas Panhandle, where he farms and she writes.
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GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!
THREE WINNERS! 
First Winner

Signed copies of both Jackson’s Pond, Texas Series books
+ $25 Amazon gift card
Second and Third Winners
Signed copy of Slanted Light 
AUGUST 25-SEPTEMBER 4, 2020 
(US ONLY)
 

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8/25/20 Sneak Peek Chapter Break Book Blog
8/25/20 Book Trailer KayBee’s Book Shelf
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8/27/20 Author Interview Max Knight
8/28/20 Review Forgotten Winds
8/29/20 Excerpt StoreyBook Reviews
8/30/20 Guest Post All the Ups and Downs
8/31/20 Review Book Fidelity
9/1/20 Top Five List Texas Book Lover
9/2/20 Review The Clueless Gent
9/3/20 Review Reading by Moonlight
 
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