Wednesday, March 7, 2012

The Magic of Ordinary Love by Lilli Jolgren Day


          "Lunar Love
     Giveaway Blog Hop!"
 March 8th to March 13th at 11:59pm!

HUGE thanks to I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and to Bookworm Lisa!

This is a SUPER COOL GIVEAWAY!!! 
The rules of this giveaway for the participants are:  This hop begins on the day of a full moon and will feature books with paranormal, supernatural, science fiction or space travel element or books that have something to do with the moon or have a moon on their cover.

The book I am giving away, thanks to the Author, Lilli Jolgren Day, is:

Everything on this cover has meaning to it! Everything! This is such a COOL book! I loved it and MUST "HIGHLY SUGGEST READING IT"!

There are "4" AWESOME PRIZES!
(1st and 2nd prizes are ONLY US and Canada because of the shipping costs/3rd and 4th prizes are International! The Ebooks)

1st Prize: A SIGNED PAPERBACK COPY!
2nd Prize: A SIGNED PAPERBACK COPY!
3rd Prize: An Ebook
4th Prize: An Ebook 

Synopsis from Amazon:
Bobby Weaver is a young writer with an unfinished novel: a murder mystery involving two strangers hiking on the Appalachian Trail who slowly fall head over heels for each other. However, there's a caveat to Bobby's work -- Bobby's in a coma, deteriorating both physically and mentally while still painfully aware of what's going on around him. As Bobby strives to tie up loose ends in his final story, if just for himself and his characters, the reader is given a glimpse of the life he's left behind in the form of day-in-the-life vignettes of his family. A vibrant, original story steeped in symbolism and family ties, this haunting debut explores the subtle ways lives are connected, broken, and renewed by love. 

My Take:
This book is brilliantly written! It is very well thought out and very well executed! It's quite something to read a story about a man, Bobby Weaver, a successful author prior to this coma, who is completing his novel while in a coma, and then to read about this same man as a person who happens to be in a coma, and loved very much by his family.
I have to say I really enjoyed where this story took place! It took place in Detroit and the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. There were many references to Michigan that I just LOVED! Especially the reference about the weather! HOW TRUE! It had me laughing SO hard! I had to read that part out loud to my husband who could relate SO well! There were other mentions, such as The Detroit Tigers, and more! Really neat if you live in Michigan!) 
Sounds interesting, isn't it! The only way to understand how wonderful this book is is to read it! It's an amazing story! This review may seem sketchy and you may not quite understand it all, but I can't go on any further without ruining your experience of reading this poignant story and ruining the experience for you. I can't give away to much so as to ruin the story! 
Each chapter of this book is told by a different family member and how each person interacts or doesn't interact with him. It's how he relates to each of them, and the part he plays in each of their lives.  
As we are reading this book within a book, we learn a lot about Bobby and his family. When Bobby is not writing, (which no one knows he is doing so in his head, and, as a matter of fact, all the medical tests show he is brain dead), someone from his family is usually there at his bedside.  His entire family comes to visit him every day, including his very special 4 year old niece, Chloe. She is the spirit of life. So young, so innocent, yet wise beyond her years. Bobby loves Chloe. He loves this little girl more than any other character in this book. It is truly sweet to hear her talking to him. Somehow I believe she knows he hears her, especially through one very touching moment. She is, after all, his very special little niece and she happens to know this, even though she can't hear him. Other family members who come to visit him, he's not quite so fond of. Come and read this book and hear what he has to say about all of the other characters. 
There will never be another book quite like this one to be able to hear the magic of what a man in a coma thinks, or to hear his responses of what others are saying. Come read this book to find out the haunting way as to how he ends up in this coma. This is where the title really rings true: The Wonder of Ordinary Magic!
Bravo! HIGHLY recommended!
I received this book for “FREE” from the Author in exchange to read the book and write a review about it.  It is NOT required for the review to be either positive or negative, but, “of my own opinion.”  I was provided with “NO MONIES” to read and write a review for this book, except for the pure enjoyment of reading it.  I am disclosing this information in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html
Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

About the Author:
From Amazon:

Biography

LILLI JOLGREN DAY was born and raised in a state shaped like a mitten, somewhere between New York and L.A. She writes, takes way too many photos with her Canon 5D, and thinks the squirrel she feeds by hand at the back door is the reincarnation of her cat, Garfield. She doesn't have any fancy writing awards to brag about, but she does have a portrait of herself inside a big pink heart, drawn eons ago by one of her children proclaiming, "Mom I know is a good mom. I love you mom". She takes it out and reads it whenever she doubts herself and loses her way.

Lilli is the mother of two grown children, wife to Doug, a battered but grateful Celiac/CFS warrior, and like most writers, she loves to curl up with a good book and steal away on a magic carpet of words. THE WONDER OF ORDINARY MAGIC is her debut novel. She hangs out on the web at www.lilliday.com

Author Interview:
Each chapter in this book is in the voice of a different character, all of them family members of the main character, Bobby, who is in a coma. Was it difficult to write from the different age and sex perspectives of so many characters and then also change your writing style in the novel Bobby was finishing?

It wasn't really difficult, but I did find it best to work in one voice at a time. In other words, I rarely jumped from say, Chloe's 4 year old perspective to her mom to her grandpa's voice, it would have been confusing to have so many people wandering around in my head all in the same day! As the narrative of the 24 hour period of Bobby's life unfolded, having multiple points of view was inevitable and became central to the theme of connection. Writing from Bobby's viewpoint was unique since he was bedridden, in a coma, and was deteriorating both physically and mentally as the book progressed. The murder mystery he was finishing was a little tricky since that was a different genre and I was narrating it in another author's completely different style of writing...come to think of it, this was actually a very complicated book to write!

Are any of the characters based on people you know? How do you think you would get along with the main character, Bobby, if you met him? Do you think he would want to hang out with you?

More than being based on people I know, each of the characters in this book seem to be the embodiment of a small part of me. Of course, there are some moments and traits plagiarized from the lives of people in my life, but when the book was done I realized many of the characters were fleshed out pieces of my own personality, which was totally unintentional but not surprising I suppose since I created them! Bobby however, is the least like me I think, and no, he probably wouldn't be interested in hanging out with me. He's a young man in his 30s, a successful (somewhat arrogant) writer, a poker-playing-beer-drinking-cigar-smoking guys-guy, while I am a rather reserved middle-aged woman, a first time author who doesn't smoke cigars, drink beer, and who hates playing cards (although I do like solitaire). The truth is, while I like Bobby and think he made for a compelling protagonist, we are very different and I was actually relieved to get his hyper, testosterone driven persona out of my head by the time the book was finished!

You mentioned connection as being part of the book's theme, can you explain what you mean?

By "connection" I mean the idea of shared humanity. What I hope the book acknowledges is the notion that while people may be different, live in different countries, speak different languages, practice different religions, in many ways we are connected by the same universal needs and experiences. The obvious desires for adequate food and safe shelter go without saying of course, but we also long to love and be loved in return, we all hope that our story is relevant and worthy of telling, and most of us want to make a contribution that matters. These are obviously complex ideas so my goal as a writer was to simplify and narrow the focus of this theme. Bobby is the nucleus of my narrative and was the first character that came to me, I then simply sat back and watched to see how the lives of his family intersected and orbited his story.

Without spoiling the ending for those who haven't read the book yet, did you know before you started writing the book what happened to Bobby all along and why he was in the coma?

No, I write like Bobby, without an outline, and I had no idea where the characters were taking me. When the final chapters began to move in that direction, I actually tried to steer the story another way and look for different ending. I wasn't sure I was comfortable finishing in that particular place and time. But again, I like to let the story reveal itself and once it started down that road I couldn't think of a way to change it and have it all still make sense. So I let the characters lead the way and went back after I wrote the final chapters so the timeline and plot was successful.

What do you do when you're not writing?

I'm happiest when I'm doing something creative. I love photography, I sell stock photos online at iStock and Getty. I do a some jewelry beading and I like to quilt, I recently finished a quilt for my new grandson and I make children's quilts for a great organization called Quilts for Kids that donates handmade quilts to hospitals and women's shelters. I blog, tweet, Facebook, and instagram online, and I enjoy my book club meetings with friends and going out to dinner for a monthly girl's night out. For exercise, I practice a little light yoga and Pilates, mainly so I can keep up with my two grandkids when I babysit! My husband and I travel occasionally in the fall and winter, and in the summer we hang out by the pool and work in the garden.

The Author's Website: http://www.lilliday.com/


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