CAN'T STOP BELIEVING – Jodi Thomas
A Harmony Novel, Book 6
A Perfect 10
Berkley
ISBN: 978-0-425-25067-9
June 2013
Contemporary Fiction

Harmony, Texas – 2012

Cord McDowell has been back in Harmony since being released from prison three years ago. Six years in prison for something he knows he didn't do. Now his days are spent working hard in Tannon Parker's trucking business, hollow inside, but determined to keep his family farm, no matter what. Cord just wants to live out his life on his farm, and forget the nightmare years. He'll keep his head down, ignore the nasty looks and comments around him, and keep busy, saving every penny he can. And then along comes spoiled neighbor Nevada Britain who offers him a way out.

Nevada has lots of secrets, most of which she can't tell Cord. Her bargain with him will help both of them, but she's not about to tell him all of the details of why she's proposing a temporary marriage that will get him out of debt, and aid her in more ways than she can even admit to herself.

Ronny Logan has her own secret. Marty Winslow is back in her life, and as tragic a situation as it is, Ronny will do everything in her power to stay by his side.

Nevada is known around Harmony mostly for her marriages and her wild ways. But what most people don't know about her could fill a book. Her devotion to her horses, her determination to run her father's oil business and keep the family ranch productive have left her with few alternatives. And she is praying that Cord is the answer to everything. But when one of her ex's comes back to Harmony, can even Cord help her?

CAN'T STOP BELIEVING arrived in the mail yesterday, and, as most of Jodi Thomas's books do, I was sucked right into the story from the first page. Cord and Nevada have learned long ago not to trust anyone, and Nevada has alienated just about everyone in town. Cord isn't much better off. His heart is stone cold, and he just wants to be alone on his farm. Life doesn't offer him anything more…until Nevada.

The Harmony novels are engaging, heartwarming, exciting, and, as this one was, at times a real tearjerker. All of the characters are so well rounded, and, well, just darned human. People from previous Harmony books appear in CAN'T STOP BELIEVING, and I was thrilled that Martha Q and Ronny were so prominent in the secondary plot. This is one of the best of the series and it deserves a Perfect 10.

Jani Brooks