BotW: The Ocean at the End of the Lane

It's Sunday! Welcome to another edition of Book of the Week! First one for September!  Holy cow! We only have 4 months left in 2016...and what a year it has been.   This book is absolutely one of my favorites that I've read this week, and I will probably end up re-reading it over and over again.  

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Neil Gaiman

This is one of my favorite books and honestly I'm usually so comforted by Neil Gaiman's works...even Sandman.  I love his storytelling and the stories that he's crafted in each of his books.  They are something that I always go back to time and time again.  I've even got a re-read of American Gods in the works for either this month or next! 

What's your favorite Neil Gaiman book?

August In Review

Holy crap.  Where has this year gone? No, seriously...someone tell me where this year has gone?!! It so cannot be the first of September! So, August was a bit of an up and down month.  Nothing really happened after the 24th, and for that I blame a rather annoying bought of depression.  However, things are slowly working toward the upward swing of things and I am hoping to be able to devote quite a bit more to catching up with my reviews...because I'm behind...a lot. 

Here are the highlights of this month:

Widower's Aura Release Day Blitz!

Book of the Week: Me Before You

Book of the Week: Widower's Aura

Top 10 Tuesday: Classics

Wish List Wednesday: BuJo

Interview with A.J. Renee

A.J. Renee's Top 10

Review: Widower's Aura

Review: Once Upon a [Stolen] Time

Books Read: 

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

2. Recurve by Shannon Mayer

 3. The Angel's Share by J. R. Ward

4. The Magician's King by Lev Grossman

5. The Name of God is Mercy by Pope Francis

6. The Widower's Aura by A.J. Renee

7. The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler

8. Armada by Ernest Cline

9. The World of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin

10. In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

11. The Last Star by Rick Yancy

12. The Morning Star by Pierce Brown

13. Notorious RBG by Irin Carmon

A.J. Renee's Top 10

Okay, so I know it's Wednesday...however, I have a VERY special Top 10 List for you today! Currently going on is the Widower's Aura blog tour, in honor of A.J. Renee's debut novel, released August 18!  Welcome to my little stop on the tour.  You've read the Author interview, and now here are A.J Renee's Top 10 Books of All Time...yeah, I'm evil like that...I made her pick only 10 :D 

A.J. Renee's Top 10

Books of All Time

Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston

Harry Potter Series - J.K. Rowling

The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

Shadow Dance - Julie Garwood

Slow Burn - Julie Garwood

The Lion's Lady - Julie Garwood

The Secret - Julie Garwood

The Warrior - Margaret Mallory

Motorcycle Man - Kristen Ashley

Rising Storm - Kathleen Brooks

Thank you to A.J. Renee for allowing me to pick her brain on what her top 10 books of all time are!  No, seriously, I know her pain when it comes to books like this!  Because it always brings to mind one of my favorite Neil Gaiman quotes...

Review: Widower's Aura

Title: Widower's Aura
Author: A.J. Renee
Format: Kindle (A.R.C)
Pages: 260
Date(s) Read: August 17-19, 2016
Rating: 4

Summary:

Sofia Brazier escapes a career gone south as a juvenile probationary officer in New Orleans.  She moves from the large city to the small town of St. Fleur where she opens a photography business in an attempt to cleanse herself of the dark souls she'd tried to help.  All is going well, untill Noah enters the local pub.  Noah's wife died, and ultimately it is an act brought on by Noah's own daughter that brings their fates crashing together.

Review:

I was gifted an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.  I would like to thank A.J. Renee, Love Between the Sheets Blog Tour, and the publisher for offering me this opportunity to participate in the blog tour as well as offer a review.

All the emotion.

All of it.

This book is so very well written and it takes a trope that is quite difficult to get right and gets it so very, very write.  A.J. Renee's debut novel is filled with a little bit of mystery to add to the romance that is building between Noah and Sofia.  Everything flows so naturally through out the story, and even those scenes that are of an explicit sexual nature are so very well written.

The small paranormal aspect to the book is one that absolutely sealed my adoration to this story a bit more.  I love that Sofia can see auras, and the fact that she can't see Noah's was enough to give her pause and ultimately pique a bit of her interest because....well that's something that's never actually happened before!

After I started the book (sometime after dinner and before bedtime on the 17th) I knew it was one that I'd have to put down before I went to bed or I'd ultimately end up finishing it in one setting and getting absolutely no sleep on a night where I had one of my longest shifts that week.  My better judgement finally won out and I ended up puttin the book down and picking it back up after work and various other household errands.  Only reason it took me about 2 days to read it is because I chose to defy the pull of this fantastic novel and delve into the real world when I really, really wanted to stay with Noah, Sofia and Lexi until the very last word was read.

This is definitely one that I will recommend to anyone that loves a fantastically written story, in-depth and relate-able characters and a little small town magic.

Widower's Aura: Interview with A.J. Renee

I always love getting a chance to pick an author's brain!  No, seriously, it's so very much fun.  Apparently, I have a knack for picking questions that really, really make them think!  I loved interviewing A.J. Renee, and her answers are fantastic.  Thank you for allowing me to participate in the blog tour for Widower's Aura!




1. What was your inspiration to start writing a novel?
I’d love to say I had this A-HA moment but I didn’t. One of my best friends died way too young. I couldn’t get over the fact that she never got her own real-life love story. Writing Widower’s Aura was my own grief therapy and giving her the love story she never got. Sofia, while fictional, was inspired in many ways by my friend.

2. Do you listen to any music or anything while you write?
I do! I created a playlist on YouTube that includes John Legend, Gavin DeGraw, Christina Aguilera and A Great Big World, Christina Perri, Sam Smith, Paramore, Ed Sheeran, Jennifer Lawrence, Anna Kendrick, and a few more. I need music I’m familiar with so I don’t spend more time listening to the lyrics than writing. I also listen to my 6, 4, and 2 year olds playing around.

3. What are some of your go to writing snacks, drinks, etc?
Tea! I love this Lipton Green Tea that’s Jasmin, Orange, and Passionfruit. I’m not big into snacks because I’d eat the whole pantry if I did but I do grab about two squares of Dove’s Dark Chocolate. My friend laughs at me because she says I’m weird for only eating 1-2. I guess most people would eat a handful? Oh well, I guess that makes me weird, nothing new there.

4. What is your favorite part about becoming a published author?
Seeing something I started two years ago grow from grief into a wonderful love story that I can honor my friend’s memory with.

5. How do you keep your tasks organized? Between family tasks and writing tasks?
I’m still trying to figure out this balance. My family has to come first but there are some days that I’m reminded I’m struggling to juggle it all. There really aren’t enough hours in the day.

6. Do you have a favorite character in your books? Least favorite character?
My favorite character is always the one I’m working on. They become living and breathing people to me, even if it’s only in my crazy head. Least favorite character, wow that one’s hard. I feel like I should say Slick but I can’t and I can if that makes any sense. I want to protect him after everything he went through as a child but as a mom I want to smack him upside the head and tell him to take responsibility over his actions. The fact that he blames others for the things that were clearly in his own hands makes me CRAZY.

7. What authors do you draw inspiration from?
My love of small town stories comes from Marie Force and Kathleen Brooks. My love of the suspense mixed in with the love story comes from Julie Garwood. R.L. Mathewson’s humorous characters inspire me to create characters who can be quirky or silly.

8. If you could meet one author for 24 hours, how would you spend it?
Oh goodness. Just one? This is a really hard question. I have so many authors I love. Kathleen Brooks. So I can drink some of her special tea from Keeneston. We could talk about her lovely batch of friends who exist in my life as real beings. It would also be pretty awesome to brainstorm what characters should fall in love next.

9. If your books were ever made into a movie, who would you want as the cast?
Another hard one, HA! For the record it took me about 2 hours to figure out this list.

Sofia: Olivia Munn
Noah: Josh Duhamel
Lexi: India Eisley
Jaxson: Nick Robinson
Lindsey: Emilia Clarke
Marc: Jay Hernandez
Jaime Lynn: Nikki Reed
Jesse: Boris Kodjoe
Sheriff Randy: Robert Forster
Annabelle: Megan Fox
Slick: Logan Lerman

10. What color best describes your mood throughout the day?
Something bright like red or orange. My life is pure chaos with little kids and trying to balance all the hats I wear.