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Jodi Lea Stewart is a fiction author who centers her themes around the triumph of overcoming adversity with grit, humor, and stubborn tenacity. Her writing reflects her life beginning in Texas, relocating as a youngster to an Arizona cattle ranch next door to the Navajo and White Mountain Apache Nations, and as a young adult, resuming in her native Texas. Growing up, she climbed petroglyph-etched boulders, sang to chickens, bounced two feet in the air in the backend of pickups wrestling through washed-out terracotta roads, and rode horseback on the winds of her imagination through the arroyos and mountains of the Arizona high country.
Leaving her studies at the University of Arizona in Tucson, she moved to San Francisco, where she learned about peace, love, and exactly what she didn’t want to do with her life. Since then, Jodi graduated summa cum laude with a BS in Business Management, raised four children, worked as an electro-mechanical drafter, penned humor columns for a college periodical, wrote regional western articles, and served as managing editor of a Fortune 500 corporate newsletter. Her lifelong friendship with an eclectic mix of races, down-to-earth cowpunchers, intellectuals, foreigners, country folks, and the Southern Gentry inspires Jodi to write historical and contemporary novels featuring the piquancy of life anywhere in the world.
Reviewed by Alija Turkovic for Readers' Favorite
The Bulls of Bashan by Jodi Lea Stewart unfolds in 1953 around Savannah, a waitress working in a diner in a small Texas town. Savannah's uncomplicated life is about to take a drastic turn. She is recruited as a member of a covert team tasked with completing a crucial mission that requires global travel. The team comprises a former army major, a New York socialite, and a skilled pilot. Their objective is far from easy. They need to locate mysterious keys concealed in numerous locations worldwide. Their physical endurance isn't the only thing that is tested during their perilous quest. This journey will also test their inner resolve, solidarity, and individual identities. All the while, an enigmatic figure follows them from one location to another, raising the stakes. Can they complete this daring mission in time?
Jodi Lea Stewart's The Bulls of Bashan is a character-driven and moderately paced mystery thriller filled with charm and atmospheric intrigue. This book is dedicated to all the globe trotters out there! What starts as a typical quest to locate crucial artifacts ultimately transforms into a profound tale of found family and personal growth. The author excels in exploring the deep layers behind the characters' dynamics. I particularly enjoyed the variance between Shifrah’s alluring boldness and Savannah’s silent inner strength. Their budding friendship has a wealth of emotional depth, often becoming just as important as their mission. The historical elements and character dialogue are well-developed, adding richness to the storyline without minimizing its authentic feel. Stewart does a masterful job of breathing life into Savannah’s character growth as the overall mystery unfolds, making this novel a compelling and satisfying read.
