Kindle Edition Amazon jodi@jodithomas.com Category:  Women Publisher: HQN ISBN-10:  1335062955 Type: Fiction Pages: 320 Copyright: April 10, 2018 ISBN-13: 9781335062956 Price: $10.99 (eBook) My latest mainstream women's fiction is about how people store their memories. And I thought the perfect setting would be a quilt shop since quilts hold the memories of families.  I began Mornings on Main with Jillian. She is a traveler who moves from town to town, job to job and never makes any roots. She grew up with a father who traveled with the oil business, so she has no roots. Jillian has a ledger book of places her father lived. One of his towns is called Laurel Springs, Texas. When she arrives in town, she sees a help wanted sign in a quilt shop window. And the mayor and grandson of the quilt owner asks her to catalogue all the quilts in the shop because they are moving them to the museum. As Jillian goes through quilt after quilt, she learns not only the story of the town but also the story of her parents. Excerpt Every inch of the twenty-foot-high walls was covered in colorful quilts; a collage of fabric rainbows. Deep shelves lined the wall behind the wide front coun¬ter. Folded quilts were stacked five deep for a dozen rows. “This may take longer than three months,” she whispered. “I’ll help,” he offered. “But I should tell you, Gram is in charge here. This is her world, so whatever she wants goes. I don’t want the cataloging to cause her any stress.” “I understand.” “I’m not sure you do.” He looked at her closely, wondering how much to tell a stranger. “We’re working against a ticking clock and it’s in Gram’s head. The cataloging, the inven¬tory, may not always be her priority. You may have to gently guide her back to the task.” Her intelligent eyes looked straight at him, and he guessed she was one of those rare people who listened, really listened. “I can put in overtime and will work Saturdays, but I can’t promise you I’ll stay in town more than three months. If you think I can complete the job by then, I’ll give it my best shot.” “I understand,” he said, even though he didn’t. Why couldn’t she stay longer? Who moves to a town for three months? Someone just killing time, he reasoned. A mix of conversation and laughter came from the back of the shop where the ceiling lowered to eight feet, allowing room for a storage room above and a meeting room below. Connor took the lead. Unlike the stranger, he knew exactly what he was walking into. The twice-a-week quilting bee. An old frame hung from the beams, allowing just enough room for chairs to circle the quilt being hand-stitched together. It might be a lost art in most places, but here, the women seemed to love not only the project, but the company. The moment the ladies saw him their voices rose in greeting. All eight of them seemed to be talking to him at once. As soon as he greeted each one, he introduced Jillian James to them. “I’ve hired Jillian to help catalog my grandmother’s collection. Gram’s got a great treasure here in her shop.” The ladies agreed with his plan, but two reminded him that it would be a long time before his gram retired. His grandmother, Eugenia Ann Freeman Larady, slowly stood and offered her hand to Jillian. Where Connor had been told his eyes were Mississippi River brown, his gram’s had faded to the pale blue of shallow water. Every year she’d aged he’d grown more protective of her, but today he needed to take a step backward and see how she got along with a stranger brought in to work with her. Gram winked at Jillian as if she already counted her as a friend. “Call me Gram if you like. All Connor’s friends do.” “Gram,” Jillian said with a genuine smile.

By Tonya Lucas
Mornings on Main by Jodi Thomas is so eloquently written. A journey that transforms us back in time to a near forgotten ritual that tells so many stories.

A Stitch In Time not only embraces the quilting circle women have sat around for decades enjoying, while solving all life’s dilemmas, but a place where bonds are created, one stitch at a time.

It’s often been said that you can read a person’s soul by the mark they leave behind. Some are created through adventure, some through their daily lives, but some are left forever in a memory to be explored through blocks.

Lost, nomadic, and roaming, Jillian is searching for her past with no direction to actually follow. “Maybe all she was looking for was some link to the past. One place to say she came from. Not a person at all.”
As if time forgot him, Conner is just surviving, not even living for the past or the present.. just living, as a never ending day of order.

Mornings On Main truly is an exceptional book of lost souls trying to find their way, without being noticed or remembered, but just found and loved. Truly an inspiring book, as only Jodi Thomas can pen.
Tonya Lucas 12/26/2017