Our guest today: Juliette Fay
Why we love her: We love to curl up by the fire with her books!
Her latest: The Shortest Way Home
The Scoop: Sean has spent twenty years in Third World war zones and natural disaster areas, fully embracing what he’d always felt was his life’s mission. But when burnout sets in, Sean is reluctantly drawn home to Belham, Massachusetts, the setting of Fay’s much-loved Shelter Me. There, he discovers that his steely aunt, overly dramatic sister, and quirky nephew are having a little natural disaster of their own. When he reconnects with a woman from his past, Sean has to wonder if the bonds of love and loyalty might just rewrite his destiny.
Our thoughts: We think you'll fall in love with this one!
Giveaway: FIVE copies! Leave a comment and you'll be entered to win. We'll choose the winners on Sunday November 4th after 3pm PST.
Fun Fact: Smarty Pants alert! Juliette has a master's degree in Public Policy from freakin' HARVARD.
Where you can read more about Juliette: Her website, Facebook and Twitter.
CHICK LIT IS NOT DEAD PRESENTS...JULIETTE FAY'S 5 BEST EVERS
First, I have to say that I have many favorites of all of these things -- I'm sure most people do -- so the following is just the first thing that jumped to mind. In that sense I guess it's my subconscious favorite, and as close as I'll ever come to the truth.
BEST SONG: Maybe I'm Amazed by Paul McCartney The most honest love song ever written. He wrote it for his wife, Linda, to whom he was utterly devoted, and it's about the panic-laced awe you feel when love truly has you in its clutches.
I remember lying on my bed in the dark, late at night as a preteen, listening to this song on the radio, and praying that someday someone would feel this way about me. (Post-script: someone eventually did, and I married him.)
Current Alternate: Beautiful Soul by Jesse McCartney
I am a complete sucker for this song, which always makes my teenage daughter crack up. Maybe a little part of me is still that preteen girl . . .
BEST MOVIE: The Family Stone My go-to Christmas movie about a quirky family celebrating together -- the love, the friction, the way they know one another so well . . . and yet there are secrets and surprises. It's hilarious and heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful. The acting is fantastic and there's a scene that involves raw eggs and brotherly brawling that always has me gasping with laughter.
BEST BOOK: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson Written from the perspective of a 76-year-old man with a much younger wife and a 6-year-old son. He knows he'll die soon, and the son, whom he loves desperately, will barely remember him, so he's compiling the family history for the boy. It's slow and beautiful and thoughtful. Reading it felt like I was witness to something verging on the miraculous.
I know it sounds weird and overly gushy to say a book is a miracle, but that's how it felt.
BEST LIFE MOMENT: On a bus in Seattle Okay, really? On a bus? Let's start with the obvious choices: the day I married a really great guy, the births of my four children, the day my first book was published. But after those highlights, what jumps to mind is . . .
I worked as an emergency shelter counselor in Seattle right out of college, and then started a daycare for homeless children. Our Place Daycare was housed in donated space right by the Space Needle. It had been a particularly exhausting day, and I stood at the bus stop, wearing a white shirt (I can still see it -- I loved that shirt!) covered in spit-up and snot and baby drool.
The bus came and I got on. Waiting for it to pull away from the curb, I looked out the window at the springtime-bright green leaves against the perfect cerulean blue of a cloudless sky. And a thought came to me: For all its heartbreak, this world is a beautiful place, and God is watching, and it's going to be okay. It was a moment of utter peace that I'll never forget.
BEST PIECE OF ADVICE: "Just keep swimming." -- Dory, from Finding Nemo It's the last best thing to do when nothing is going right. Some days it's all you can pull off, and on those days, it's enough.
Thanks Juliette! xoxo, L&L