I have to say that I was a complete virgin of their work before reading this. Now that I have popped my reading cherry I will be looking into both of their back catalogues.
Enough of my ramblings for now.
A little background on the Authors taken from Goodreads
Elisa Lorello was born and raised on Long Island, the youngest of seven children. She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth and launched a career teaching rhetoric and composition. She has been teaching first-year writing to university students since 2000, but went on sabbatical in fall 2012. Elisa spent six years in North Carolina, where she split her time between teaching and writing, and returned to the northeast in October 2012.
Elisa is the author of the Kindle best-selling novels "Faking It" and "Ordinary World", "Why I Love Singlehood" (co-authored with Sarah Girrell), and "Adulation".
Craig Lancaster was born on February 9th, 1970, in Lakewood, Washington. Adopted at birth, he grew up in suburban Fort Worth, Texas, with his mother and stepfather and siblings. His stepfather, Charles Clines, was a longtime sportswriter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, a connection that led to Craig’s career as a journalist, a profession he followed to a series of newspaper jobs across the country — Texas, Alaska, Kentucky, Ohio, Washington, California and, finally, Montana.
A couple of years after Craig’s arrival in the Big Sky State, he began chasing another long-held dream: that of writing novels. His first completed novel, 600 Hours of Edward, was born in the crucible of National Novel Writing Month, that every-November free-for-all of furious writing. He completed an entire first draft, nearly 80,000 words, in November 2008. In October 2009, it was published by Riverbend Publishing of Helena, Montana, and has since gone on to be selected as a Montana Honor Book and a High Plains Book Award winner.
His follow-up, The Summer Son, was released in January 2011 by AmazonEncore, to similar acclaim. Booklist called the new novel “a classic western tale of rough lives and gruff, dangerous men, of innocence betrayed and long, stumbling journeys to love.”
Lancaster’s work delves deeply below the surface of its characters, teasing out the desires and motivations that lead us through our lives.
They both have quite an extensive back catalogue of books that can be found on Goodreads.
1. Which novel do you wish you'd written and why?
Elisa: That's a hard question! I love when I read a book that makes me say, "I wish I'd written this," but not always for the same reasons. For example, John Marrs' "The One," which I recently read, left me with that feeling, specifically because of the concept. Nora Ephron's "Heartburn" is the total package. It's been with me for a long time, and every time I read it, I find something else that delights me.
Craig: I don't mean to dodge, because I can think of hundreds of novels that make me envious or amaze me with how good they are, but really, I look at them with more of a sense of "I'd like to figure out how they did that" than "Gee, I wish I'd written it." What I will say, in general, is that the books I most respond to are those with big hearts beating in the middle of them. A big heart crosses genres and styles.
2. Who makes the best brew? Brew = tea or coffee.
Elisa: I make a mean peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich. You bring the brew you want, and I'll make one for you, too.
Craig: We're going to disappoint you, I think, because neither of us drinks coffee or much hot tea. Being from the American South, I'm a fiend for iced tea, however. *Sweet* iced tea. I drank enough in my first 40 years or so that it's best I steer clear now.
3. Flowers or chocolates?
Elisa: CHOCOLATES. 'Nuff said.
Craig: I'm reminded of the great movie "Airplane!" where Dr. Rumack (Leslie Nielsen) asks the flight attendants what was served for dinner and is told "there was a choice: steak or fish." "Yes, yes, I remember," Dr. Rumack said. "I had the lasagna." My answer: burritos.
The Book
From Goodreads
Is love a choice, or is it fate?
Jo-Jo Middlebury is done with love. Linus Travers wants one more shot at it. Mr. Blue Sky, their 1970s-loving guardian angel, offers perspective on both when he's not busy diving into reruns of "Happy Days" and "Barney Miller."
Linus can save Jo-Jo’s business, but Jo-Jo makes it clear that she needs no one to rescue her, least of all him. Add to that an ex-fiancé with a change of heart, a single mom who wants a good time, and a married couple who’ve blurred the boundaries of their respective friendships with Linus and Jo-Jo.
All the while, Mr. Blue Sky observes, explains, and ever-so-gently interacts.
Written by wife-husband novelists Elisa Lorello and Craig Lancaster ~ You, Me & Mr. Blue Sky is a warm-hearted, humorous dive into the depths of love and the mysteries of how two people find their way to each other.
My thoughts
I really enjoyed this novel and gave it an 8/10 or 4 stars.
I found the will they, won't they relationship between Jo-Jo and Linus played out really well. With a great cast of secondary characters that added well to the mix, it kept the reader engaged and wondering all the way through whether the two main characters would end up together or not, or would the secondary characters get in the way.
At times I think we could all do with a Linus in our lives, someone who can see a solution to most things and appears to be a good friend to many.
With Mr Blue Sky trying to help steer them on the right course, will they become one or remain alone?
This was a joy to read and I can thoroughly recommend it to others. I will put a pound on it, that you too will be humming the ELO song by the end of the book. 'Sun is shinin' in the Sky …..'
My thanks to Tracy Fenton for letting me take part in the Blog Tour, that she has so successfully co-ordinated.
No comments:
Post a Comment