This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review.

Book Evaluation:
Plot: 🎞️🎞️🎞️🎞️
World Building:🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎
Cover:📔📔📔📔
Hero: 🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻🦸🏻
Heroine:🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️🦸🏻‍♀️
Intimacy Level: 🔥🔥🔥
Relationship Building: 💒💒💒
Heart & Feels:💞💞💞💞
Witty/Banter/Reaction of Laughter: 😂😂😂😂
Page Turner Level:📖📖📖📖📖
Ending:🧧🧧🧧🧧
Overall View: ✨✨✨✨

First Impressions
The Texan's Wager is the first book in the Wife's Lottery series by Jodi Thomas. This was also my very first Jodi Thomas book and I was beyond impressed with this. I was first drawn to this book years ago when seeing it on all of the top romance booklists and I was intrigued on why that was. I finally took the initiative and buddy read this with Mina @ Mina Reads and it was a blast of a good time. I was so highly entertained by this one and I couldn't put it down. If you are looking for witty writing that is highly engaging in a historical read, than this is a book for you especially if you are drawn to the forced marriage type of situation and a beta tortured hero. I was so fascinated by the set up of the story and for the most part it was execute very well and the author really engages you very easily. This is a quick and fast read that has such heart and characters that just wrench your heart in such a relative human way.

First Line
Bailee Grace Moore watches as the last few stragglers of the Rolan wagon train disappeared into the fiery sunset.

The Main Protagonists
The Hero: Carter McKoy
Parents murdered at a young age, was abused living in different homes, until he found his place at his parents farm learning to make his place a fortress and building a life for him away from the human world and is more than content.

The Heroine: Bailee Moore
Bailee having been kicked out of her fathers home, abandoned by a previous fiancee and forced to go out west on a wagon train, is a strong go getter who is independent but has a soft caring heart.

Summary
Bailee alongside with her two friends Lucy and Sarah are abandoned by their wagon train near the Texas border, so they make the trek through Texas, hoping that they find a town before they starve to death. They are discovered by a lone man outside of the town "Cedar Point" and this is where they are attacked and in self defense they are forced to kill the man that attacked them. They then find the town Cedar Point and confess everything to the sheriff. The sheriff knows that these women aren't killers, but he also can't let it just be hidden under the rug. So he barters them off as brides to pay the fine of the crime. Bailee is bartered off to Carter McKoy who is the town's reject. He doesn't speak much and isn't used to human interaction. When he finds himself with a wife, he has no clue what to do with her. He has had only the barest interaction with very few people from town, he doesn't speak much and is haunted by the demons of his past and losing his parents at such a young age. But he knows that having a "wife" is the normal way of things even if he is at a loss how to deal with her after living alone for so long. But Bailee is determined to make this marriage work and find a common ground with her new quiet husband who is making her fall hard for him in his strong resilient ways...

What I Loved
The Texan's Wager was such a delightful book! I had so much fun with this one. Literally I was laughing all over the place. The writing style from this author is super witty just in the way its written and it just captivated me immediately and I was so drawn into these characters. I absolutely loved all of these women that become friends and very quickly. They all have very different personalities but Bailee was one I probably related with the most. She is strong and independent but also wants love in her life and a true family. Then we have Carter, who is a hero that held my heart. I am normally not drawn to the beta heroes, but Carter, he was so delicious. He is broody, quiet, and so tormented. When you see as he goes through the motions, what motivates him and how he gets treated by others in the town, my heart fell so hard for him. But if you are a fan of (Archer's Voice by Mia Sheridan I guarantee you will die for this hero).

These two couldn't be more opposites if they tried. haha And Carter doesn't talk very much so their beginning is definitely tough and it happens very slowly their connection. But once they really find their common ground with each other and start communicating with each other in some very unique ways they also click on every level and seeing this connection was so captivating. I was so drawn in emotionally on the bond that they create for each other. The sweet way that they can sense what the other needs and fill that need. The moments in which they will protect each other and fight for what the other needs and protect those in need, just melts the heart. If you are looking for a solid historical western that will steal your heart, then look no further than "The Texan's Wager".

What I Struggled With
So there were a few aspects to this story I wasn't a huge fan of. The plot in the second half of the story was truly unnecessary. It couldn't have been way shortened down the danger aspects to the story because having it drawn out so much really was a detriment to the romance as a whole. Because just when these two are clicking and connecting, is when the danger side of the plot is introduced and it really took away for their story. This couple deserved more time to flesh out their relationship more and really learn each other. Also if you are expecting high spice, don't with this one. There is like one bedroom scene although the intimacy aspects are done very well and they each have a deep connection to each other. However, I feel like their romance was ruined by the plot of the story. And there were a few plot holes on little details that might throw some readers off as well

Overall View
The Texan's Wager is a emotionally powerful story that will grab your attention and take your breath away. Its a story to tug at your heartstrings and display deep poignant emotion to captivate from beginning to end.

Favorite Quote(s)
“Oh, not that the saloon girls ain’t nice and all, but a good woman does something to a man. She makes him want to be better than he knows he is by nature.”

“I’m twenty-five, so I guess that makes me an old maid. I’ve no money and only a few things in my wagon to bring to a marriage. But if you’re willing, I’m willing to do what you wrote.” She lifted the paper sack where Carter had scribbled simply, “Be my wife, all my life.”

She kissed him as if there would be no tomorrow, and he kissed her back as if he believed they’d be together forever.

He needed her. Far down in the very core of his being, he needed her ... and her world crumbled about her when she realized he hated himself for it.

Book Details (also in my shelves)
Sub Genre: Historical Romance, American West
Character Types: Beta Hero, Tortured Hero
Themes: Small Town, Disability, Female Friendships, Wager, Western
Tropes: Arranged Marriage/Marriage of Convenience, Opposites Attract

Book Perspective
3rd POV

Relationship Conflict vs Plot Conflict
Plot Conflict is more present

Song This Book Inspires
Don't Be Afraid by Air Supply

Recommendation For Reading Order
Can be read as a standalone

Steam/Spice Explanations

Warmin' by the fire- a medium level of sexual tension, a balance of sexual and emotional intimacy, lighter on the details in the sexual moments. ( )

This was a reread for me. A very nice story of a woman totally down on her luck who makes a forced marriage of convenience with a solitary stoic man. Lovely story. ( )

I've been trying to find some good historical Westerns to read without much luck and stumbled across this series. The plot concerns three women thrown off a wagon train and then attacked by a man who they kill. When they reach a town, they turn themselves in but the sheriff decides to run a lottery and auction them off. Bailee is taken by Carter, a strong but silent rancher.
The author spends a lot of time developing their relationship and giving them both some backstory which I liked. There were a few blips and plot holes: a mention of Jack the Ripper who didn't appear IRL until about 15 years later, Bailee's backstory with her father, and I guess she murdered a banker's son, but it was never really explained which made the ending where her father wants her back somewhat baffling. So I'd give it 4 1/2 stars rounded up. ( )

First in the series, we learn exactly how the wife lottery worked. When three women turn themselves in, after thinking they killed a man who tried to rob them when they were evicted from the wagon train, the sheriff doesn't know what to do. Since they can't find the body, he decides to raffle them off in marriage, with the husband to be paying their fine. Bailey chooses taciturn loner Carter's name, and when she moves out to his ranch, she finds out how deep his emotional wounds are. ( )

What a great book! This western romance grabbed my attention from the very first page and kept me entranced as I breezed through the pages. Bailee, Lacy and Sarah are in a terrible pickle after being thrown out of their wagon train. Trouble finds them again as they search for the closest town, but the sheriff of Cedar Point offers them an alternative to prison. “The wife lottery.”

At first, I wanted to smack Sheriff Riley, but I think in the end he did right by the girls. Considering this was 1860’s Texas, women didn’t have the opportunities of modern society. The first in the series (which I will continue ASAP), this book covers Bailee’s story as she draws Carter McKoy’s name from the sheriff’s hat and suddenly becomes a married woman.

I adored these characters. Bailee was strong, chatty and stubborn. Carter was particularly well fleshed out, highly intelligent, and his interaction with Piper was very touching. I immediately thought of him as a gentle giant, with childlike innocence that gave a new angle on the “strong, silent type.”

There is action, adventure, humor and a tender romance that is deeply felt and communicated. If this is your genre, you won’t want to miss this book. (Some adult content.)
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