Review: TEXAS GOTHIC by Rosemary Clement-Moore

This was such a fun mix of genres--part paranormal, part mystery, part Western (yeah, that scared me, too)--but with an ornery wit that I would almost call this comedy. I so didn't expect this. The cover kind of freaked me out. And with the title and font I wasn't so sure I had the stomach for such a scary book (this coming from the girl who LIKES scary, but the cover for some reason made me uneasy). But this wasn't scary at all. Suspenseful, perfect for the story. Yes, a ghost story, but more predominantly Western, and so surprisingly well written that I got to relive the glory days of falling for a cowboy. (And this cowboy was even sexier than the one I dated before Grayman. My cowboy was a liar. And a player; ooh, don't get me started).

At the beginning, I was tentative about the protagonist. She was witty, and sharp-tongued, but I wasn't so sure--almost like I was trying to fault Moore's writing--but as I kept reading I could hear her Texan twang and actually laughed out loud a couple of times. The romance was so fun--the type of banter I think many writers might try but Rosemary Clement-Moore actually accomplished. And she held the tone throughout the entire book, which made it feel so fresh compared to a lot of the other books I've been reading.

And speaking of the author. I kept looking at her name and looking at it. Why did she sound so familiar? I looked at her picture and tried to place her face. It wasn't until I Googled her that I realized she's a DFW Writers' Conference contributor and I had actually practiced my pitch on her in April. She was so sweet and honest and now I can say I actually love her book.