Audra Jennings

In January, when the NetGalley became available for Charles Martin's Send Down the Rain , I jumped on it. While I post about a lot of books, I don't review many because it's biased or awkward to actually review books that I work on. I've realized I'm really lousy about writing reviews. Press releases I can write. Reviews, not so much. If you know much about my reviewing habits though, you could figure this one was coming.  While I have been dreadfully behind on keeping my blog caught up these days, I at last had the "My take" section saved as a draft for a long, long while. It's finally release date today! The cover copy: From the  New York Times  bestselling author of  The Mountain Between Us  comes a new, spellbinding story of buried secrets, lost love, and the promise of second chances. Allie is still recovering from the loss of her family’s beloved waterfront restaurant on Florida’s Gulf Coast when she loses her second husband t...

On one side, the week between Christmas and New Year's is the time to catch up and get things done because a lot of people are out for the week. It's quiet, so you can get can things done. On the flip side, no one is in the office, except for the few who are. The few who are expect me to get them books by early next week, and there's not a chance of that happening because I don't actually send them out. There some people who expect me to answer at weird times of the day and night, but they won't answer me during the down time. The requests are right there in the inboxes of those returning to work on Tuesday. They have a ton of emails to process, and when everyone starts answering, it's going to be nuts. I only took Christmas Day and will take New Year's Day, but it will be torturous next week when I was in the office doing work. I didn't come down from work until late last night. I was trying to catch up on reports that are long overdue. To unwind, I...

I'm in the fall mode of getting my work done, then retreating to the craft room to catch up on projects for the next event. That's about all I'm doing. Working and craft working. I know you have heard me say it before. Reading for fun is a luxury right now, but then again, I've been in that kind of rut for awhile now. So sad. So very sad. Of course, I do some reading for work. There's not only the projects we work on, but those we don't. It's my job to screen potential projects. Sometimes, that's a chore when it comes to some self-published releases. I was going through a bad run of some of those recently when I was able to take a break to read because I wanted to read. I finally got Net Galley access to one of my favorite authors and get his book before it released. I wasn't patient either. There was a waiting/wish list for Charles Martin's Long Way Gone.  It was such a relief to dive smoothly into good writing. (Good editing for that matt...

Even though I work in the book industry, it is truly sad how little I've been able to sit down and read for pleasure over the past I don't know how many months. I won't even start on how I can't figure out where the past five months have gone. I must be getting old. I've been wrapped up in crafting or wasting too much time fiddling with my phone while watching TV. It's amazing how much time I blow on my phone (why did I get back into Words with Friends?) or just goofing around on the internet. Like how I've been sitting here with my laptop for probably an hour to type up this review while yawning so hard I have tears streaming down my cheeks as my eyes water from being so tired. That right there is back on point. I was up until 3 AM this morning reading Charles Martin's Water from My Heart (CenterStreet). Part of the reason why was because I promised a review on the blog tour today, and part of it was I really, really wanted to finish this book. It...

Outside of a blog tour for Litfuse, the company I work for, I can't tell you the last time I participated in one. You know how busy I've been lately. I'm not very good with doing much extra on a schedule. However, I immediately jumped on the invitation to join the tour for Charles Martin's A Life Intercepted when the publicist at Center Street. I was giddy in a way I normally shake my head at. (I would have ordered it pretty soon or put it on my Christmas list if I hadn't been invited for the tour. He's one of my must-read-outside-of-work authors. You know my book supply has overrun my office, so I don't have to ask for a lot.) I truly couldn't wait to start reading the book as soon as the mail arrived. I devoured this book faster than any book I have read in a long time. It was that good.  Although I do love me a good Charles Martin book, I was a little surprised at how completely sucked in I got, for two reasons. I will warn you, like a re...

As promised, here's a review of my first, finished, for-fun read of 2014. About the book:  An actress running from her past finds escape with a man hiding from his future. When someone wants to be lost, a home tucked among the Ten Thousand Islands off the Florida coast is a good place to live. A couple decent boats, and a deep knowledge of fishing and a man can get by without ever having to talk to another soul. It's a nice enough existence, until the one person who ties him to the world of the living, the reason he's still among them even if only on the fringes, asks him for help. Father Steady Capri knows quite a bit about helping others. But he is afraid Katie Quinn's problems may be beyond his abilities. Katie is a world-famous actress with an all too familiar story. Fame seems to have driven her to self-destruct. Steady knows the true cause of her desire to end her life is buried too deeply for him to reach. But there is one person who still may be able to ...

You may have seen the empty shelf challenge going around Facebook and blog circles. The challenge started with  Jon Acuff , and the idea is to clean off a shelf and every book you read during 2014 goes on that shelf. You can even share your books via a shared Pinterest board .  You can even share your pictures with each book you read and let everyone see as your shelf starts to fill with each book. Cool, fun, interactive way to share what you've read this year. However, I must admit, I'm not going to participate. Why even bring it up, you ask? Well, I'd like to, but I think I'd embarrass myself. I do have my reasons. I go through periods where I don't do a lot of reading for enjoyment. Like the entire fall when I was crocheting myself into a frenzy. I read parts of lots of books that I don't necessarily finish. It's honestly a job hazard. I have to read enough to pitch books and write PR, but there's no way that I can finish all of them. That...

Between everything going on lately, I've really not read much, but my to be read pile is growing by leaps and bounds. Now that softball and VBS are over, maybe I can get back in the groove. I've been saying I was going to read all weekend for weeks, and I haven't. Seriously, maybe this weekend. Two on my list that I have promised to review: The next two on my list... I even bought these.: Plus I have a stack more. However, I have hard copies of all these books above, and I'm not taking hard copies on my vacation because I'm not going to back them. I'm taking my Kindle and while I do have some books in paperback and e-book (thanks to work!), I don't have these. My mom took off the week that we didn't get to go on vacation because she needed to take off time anyway. In the last two weeks, she's read at least 4 books. She keeps telling me, "I finished this..." or "I finished that..." I am strangely jealous. And...

Yesterday I did my intro do the book, Thunder and Rain by Charles Martin. Today, I'll give my review along with more about the actual book. Oh, and because I forgot a disclaimer yesterday, I'll just state right now that I bought this book with my own money, and I'm posting about it because I want to. The government seems so in middle of everyone's business these days that I hope they are OK with that. As I mentioned yesterday, Charles Martin's writing can be a lot like Nicholas Sparks. They have similar male characters, usually some great tragedy mixed in, ends in the same kind of way. However, Thunder and Rain , had some differences. And differences between some of his own books as well. The charming Texas Ranger Tyler Steele draws readers in. And this is the law enforcement Texas Rangers, not the baseball team for people who don't realize the baseball team was named after the state police. All Tyler, aka Cowboy, has ever known is being a Texan and a Ra...

The latest book I've finished is Thunder and Rain by Charles Martin. You know I warned that I was going to only read "manly" books for a while. Evidently, I'm on a chain of books about about law enforcement officers who are obsessed with John Wayne. Are all men obsessed with John Wayne movies? Or just all lawmen who aspire to be John Wayne? Interesting co-incidence at least. If you've never read Charles Martin before, he's a lot like Nicholas Sparks except hallelujah it wasn't that sappy this time. And he didn't make me almost freeze to death like the last book (search my blog for that video blog - that was a good one!). Here's something different I did with this book. Taking BlackBerry pictures of some of my favorite parts as I read. It is that hot in Texas... almost. Have you ever had Blue Bell ice cream? You should. It's that good. Once you try Blue Bell, you won't want any other ice cream! I thought the par...

As I was reading The Moutain Between Us by Charles Martin, I was telling my co-workers about it. Each day, I'd give updates on how the story was going. Christi and Karen were entertained by my retelling of events, so I decided to make a video blog about it. It probably would have been funnier if I did it two weeks ago right after I read it. Here's the official book description from the author's website: On a stormy winter night, two strangers wait for a flight at the Salt Lake City airport. Ashley Knox is an attractive, successful writer, who is flying East for her much anticipated wedding. Dr. Ben Payne has just wrapped up a medical conference and is also eager to return home to Jacksonville, FL for a slate of surgeries he has scheduled for the following day. When the last outgoing flight is cancelled due to a broken de-icer and a forthcoming storm, Ben finds a charter plane that can take him around the storm and drop him in Denver to catch a connection. And when the...

Down Where My Love Lives As I have said before, one of my favorite authors that I have discovered in the past year and a half is Charles Martin. The first of his books that I read was Chasing Fireflies , and after I finished it, I tried to go back and read all of his other books that were released prior to that. Well, back around Christmas, I bought the hardcover version of Down Where My Loves Lives at a really good price on Amazon. It was just released and is actually two books in one, so it made more sense than buying two paperback editions. Delivered in early January, I just now got around to reading it. All you blog review people are shaking your heads at me, and I know it. I've had books I needed to read, books from work, books I received for blog tours that I committed to reading in a certain time, books I bought, books I got with a Christmas gift card, and books I had been given. While I really wanted to read this one, it just kept getting pushed down the list. Down Where M...