Ok, so my friend, Toko, didn’t exactly follow the ASK RALEY protocol, but his cry for books both on his blog… http://paultkost.blogspot.com/ (which is quite a good read, I wish he’d post more)... and this request on Facebook, “I request more blog posts, AbFab, (isn’t that a cool nickname? Love when they call me that. J
)...” as well as desperate requests for reading material by private message, have left me to believe I should indeed heed this cry… Aunty Raley does try to brighten the corner, see a need, fill a need, ect. ;) She would also like to thank Toko for his current readership of her publication home seeking novel…he totally rocks that way. You can begin checking him and his writing on Facebook as well.)
So without further ado, here is the current AureliaBluesDayTuesday Required Reading List:
1.) The Thorn Birds by Colleen Mc Cullough…. It’s often out of print, Young Lovers, so borrow it from somewhere, like a library, or do what I did, and steal, I mean permanently borrow it from your MomMom.
2.) Tara Road by Maeve Binchy… Forget everything you ever read before, this one will shock the crap out of you. You just never see it coming. You get a creepy feeling, but it goes right away… and then BAM!! (I’m just sayin.’) You WILL love this book if you like stories of real life crap-ish-ness and triumphing over it.
3.) A Painted House by John Grisham… Oh how I loved, loved, LOVED this one, Young Lovers. Talk about an author switching up genre’s and doing it sooooooo well.
*RaleyBlueNote: There are lovely movies of all three of these books, but please do not watch them in lieu of reading these fine books. They are NOT THE SAME. Major disappointments. Esp. the The Thorn Birds, The Missing Years… talk about digressing, try total departure, but I digress. Although I will freely admit to obsessively, repeatedly viewing the original mini-series of The Thorn Birds on DVD (and sometimes even VHS, as I’ve been having a long term love affair with this story, lol) because I like watching Father Ralph and Meggie gettin’ down in the sand…
Also, Bonus All About Aurelia Fun Fact: My mom read this book when she was preggers with me and was going to name me Meggie until my dad talked her out of it. I think that’s a cool idea though. LOL. It’s probably why Axl and I named Sonny after a character in Lonesome Dove. Well that, and he wanted to name the kid, John and I wanted to name him Ezekiel… but I, again, digress…
A word of caution though, each of these books has sexy hot stuff in them, they aren’t YA books, like Aunty Raley writes. If you are not mature enough for them yet, and there is no shame in that, or if you know your grown-ups wouldn’t want you checking them out without their permission, then please use your “Making Good Choices Discretion” and discuss them with your trusted grown-up. I’d let my kids read them, I don’t think they are worse than say, One Tree Hill, Vampire Diaries, or Gossip Girl, but you should read at your level and always have an open dialogue with someone you trust when dealing with “growing up matters.” {{{ConcernedAuntyWhoLovesYouHugs}}}
AHEM… OK… So if you know anything about me at all from my forays on Facebook and Twitter, you know that the Harry Potter's, Twilights and Hunger Games Series are my muses. But the three above listed books are my favorites that stand the test of time for me. Until now…
INTRODUCING FAVORITE BOOK OF ALL TIME # 4!! IN A FIX, BY LINDA GRIMES.
Young Lovers, this book debuted around Labor Day and it IS SO GOOD. I loves it, loves it, loves it! OMG, I LOVE IT!!
I cannot say enough wonderful things about it. I really, really can’t. It’s about a young woman named, Ciel, who is an aura adaptor, which means she can assume your looks and personality and do stuff as you. Even better, she can FIX stuff for you! Isn’t that soooo freaking cool?
She’s also fun, and a little dorky in all the best and most lovable ways. In this story, she’s on a mission to get a marriage proposal for a client, but ends up getting kidnapped by modern day Vikings who have stolen the would be fiancé. Because Ciel’s a dedicated to her job kinda girl (read: needs to pay her bills) she does what she can to help save the man of the hour… and gets some help from two other hunky men of the hour, her family friend, Billy, and her longtime crush, Mark. Both these dudes are aura adaptor’s too. And they are HOTTTTTTTT. Omigosh, I was like in literary lust with both of them. I wanted to be Ciel sooooooooo bad…. Nekkid Ciel… on a bed,… kitchen counter…whatever…with either one of them… but I digress… ;)… I have to, sorry! This is a PG 13 blog, folks! …This book however, might be more of a NC17 (Google it, people… and while you’re at it, Google Napoleon’s mistress and Champagne glasses… it will come in handy when you get to my very favorite part of this book. ;) )
I truly do adore this book. It’s a little campy like Austin Powers or D.E.B.S., and just as full of action and fun. In one scene, Ciel, dons the aura of a dude and tries peeing standing up... Lots of light hearted fun, and just a little bit naughty. ;) (And can I just say, being the granddaughter of a proud Norwegian man, I loved all the Scandinavian travel, festivals and characters in this story? I did. I did!) I’m simply kvelling that that the second book, QUICK FIX, is due out next summer!
I like Linda Grimes on Twitter too. You can read more about her on her website, Visiting Reality… http://www.lindagrimes.com/ Her blog is hilarious. I learned how turds actually are polished, for realz, from reading it. It’s full of good advice for writers too. ;)
And as it turns out, Linda is writing critique partners with another author, THE LOVELY AND TALENTED, TAWNA FENSKE, who’s book, BELIEVE IT OR NOT, must also be a part of this discussion!
You can click here to see a pic of both of them together… http://tawnafenske.blogspot.com/2012/09/pimpin-my-agency-sistah-yo-and-giving.html ...this is also Tawna’s blog, Don’t Pet Me, I’m Writing, which is loads of NC17/ borderline Rated R fun. (again, remember, Aunty Raley despises censorship in any form, but loves young people and wants you to make good decisions…)
I actually won my copy of Believe It Or Not in a contest Tawna held on her blog. It was THE MOST WICKED COOL PRIZE one could win from an author, like… EVER. It actually had cat pee from one of her own kitties on it! (IKR, stalk much, Raley! But seriously, isn’t that a cool conversation piece to have in your library, or at Thanksgiving dinner with the in-laws…I’m digressing again…) She also sent a nice clean autographed copy for my reading pleasure. (Another cool fact: She put her special book mark in it at pg.99. She does this in all her autographed books because her gentleman friend inspired the final version of that scene. Isn’t that the bees little awesome knobby knees, Young Lovers?… wishing I’d known that before I moved it…Now I have a little post-it note: Don’t touch it!! Leave it there!! Or else..)
This book, Young Lovers, is the cutest little romance you could ever read. It’s about Violet, who is a very pretty and nice gal, in spite of liking math, who loves her mother. She’s an accountant from Portland, ME who comes back home to visit her psychic mom, Moonbeam, who’s laid up in the hospital with a broken hip in their hometown of Portland, OR. Moonbeam needs rehab, but is reluctant to get it because she thinks her clients need her more. So Violet, who has no psychic ability what-so-ever, takes over for Moonbeam for a few weeks. The not-being-a-psychic thing is a little tricky, but the hunky bar owner, Drew who keeps shop in the adjacent building space to Moonbeam’s office, has an uncanny, albeit unwitting, habit of playing just the right butt metal (Google. Or check out hair bands of the 80’s) songs to help her out along the way. Drew is an awesome dude. He works hard. He loves his brother-in-law that he inherited from his first marriage, and supports him in his dream to be a male dancer. The dancing thing brings in extra cash for the bar too. What’s not to love, right? In fact the only thing not to love about Drew is his habit of dating bimbos. But maybe Violet is about to change that? ;) Read and see, Young Lovers, read and see!
This book is full of quirky fun. I love that it’s set in Portland, OR, which is where my wonderfully quirky and fun, FavoriteLateAunty lived for many years. I remember visiting it well. And Tawna, who enjoys writing about the area she lives in, has captured it and it’s citizenry well. I felt like I was at home among Believe It Or Not’s pages. It’s also tastefully lusty. I love the plot twists as Violet and Drew try to come together. I adore that when there finally is a lovemaking scene, there is “…a swirl of stars and cherry-hued light.” If you’re gonna write about it, Young Lovers, DO IT RIGHT. And Tawna does it right! (She’s also awesome on Twitter and Facebook, check her out!)
SO… I hope this post has given you lots of good stuff to read as we embark on the holiday season. I promise each of these reads will entertain and be totally worth picking up again when you have to set them down, whether for turkey, egg nog, or eight crazy nights!
Also, Toko, has reminded me to add The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown (yes, the Digital Fortress guy) and My Name Is Memory, by Ann Brashares (this is a more grown up novel from the author of those awesome traveling pants girls) to the list. I would also add ANYTHING by Ray Bradbury if you wanna see how old school gets it done. And with that, HAPPY READING YOUNG LOVERS!! And as always:
<3 From Me 2 U, Love, Raley Blue <3
