Do you have an order in which you read books? Author Olivia Rae writes fiction, but she reads a bit of everything. When she reads, however, she’s pretty organized about it. Today she tells us a little about her favorite books, characters, and her unique reading style.
Welcome! Let’s start with this: what was your favorite picture book as a child?
The sad thing is I don’t ever remember reading books with either of my parents as a small child. My father read business journals and my mother was not reader. We had very few books growing up in our house. However, when I was in first grade, (Yes, I didn’t learn to read until first grade.) I remember reading the book, Go Dog Go by Dr. Suess. I loved that book. I begged my mother to buy it for me for Christmas and she did. After that, the world of reading was wide open.
Where’s the most unusual place you have read a book?
I don’t know if it is unusual, but I used to read books in my closet so my kids couldn’t find me. This usually happened when I was down to the last 50 pages. Now that my kids are grown, I can read anywhere. Such bliss!
That’s awesome! 😊 Have you ever had a book recommended to you that you didn’t like?
Yes, many. I am in an author’s book club and we have basic rules. We cannot recommend books that are in the genre we write. The book must be a best seller (past or present) or a book by a rising star or a book that is causing a lot of buzz. The book must be fiction. The host for the month picks the book. This is a mix group of both Christian and secular authors. I have found most of the books, and even some of the books I have picked aren’t always to my taste. I do like the fact that we try to analyze the book and try to figure out what made the book so successful.
If you could have dinner with any fictional character, who would it be?
Gosh, there are so many. I guess I would pick Jane Eyre. I know it is weird. She went through a lot of adversity and tragedy in her life and still managed to be a good, strong, and caring woman. She kept going. I know it’s a book and characters are supposed to be that way, but this book has lingered with me since my youth. In a way I think we have a few things in common.
If you could turn any of your books into a movie, which would you pick? Who would play the main character?
I guess I would pick A Life Redeemed. This book is a ‘what if’ story. What if Lady Jane Grey, who was queen for nine days in England had lived? She was beheaded at age 16 for treason. A while back I visited England, and learned her tragic story. She was a pawn used by her parents and other powerful men at the time. She never wanted to be queen. So I gave her a new life and a happy ending in my book. Isn’t that something we all want?
As far as the actress to play the part, wow, I am not sure. Some one with a lot of spunk. A survivor.
That sounds amazing. I love giving happy endings to things that aren’t (even if it just lives that way in my mind).
Finally, share five books on your to be read pile.
I had to laugh at this one. My pile is huge. Because the pile is so mammoth, I read my books a certain way and not always in the same order. I must read a religious (Christian Book), a research book, a classic book, a non-fiction book, any book I want from my book shelf, and a book my sister has given to me. (She gives me lots of books). Once I have completed this cycle, I start all over again. Right now I am reading, A Summer Place (a classic) by Sloan Wilson. Definitely was shocking back in 1958, and even so now. It is the only hardcover book I inherited from my mother (an original edition). As I said, she wasn’t a reader. That she owned this book raises a lot of questions. Unfortunately, she died five years ago, so I can’t ask why this was the only book she ever owned?
A great non-fiction book that I have read recently was Saving My Assassin by Virginia Prodan. A true story about Virginia living in Romania under it was under the brutal control of Nicolae Ceausescu’s communist regime. It’s a story of great courage and great faith in God. I think everyone should read this book.
Three other books sitting on the pile: The Winter Crown by Elizabeth Chadwick, A Cup of Dust by Susie Finkbeiner, Hailey’s Haven by Laura Scott.
Everyone has a secret, who can a queen trust?
Upon Queen Elizabeth’s order, Audrey Hayes travels to the borderlands of Scotland to learn where the fierce Laird Armstrong’s loyalties lie. Is he aligned with his mother’s English roots in support of the queen, or does he hold with the beliefs of his father, who wishes to see Mary of Scots on the English throne? The fate of Audrey’s family rests on her success in finding the answer.
After losing his lands in a wager and being betrayed by his kin, Gavin Armstrong entered a loveless marriage to obtain the funds to buy back his family home, Warring Tower. Now a widower, struggling against countless border wars, he is on the verge of losing his home and lands again. With few resources, he reluctantly makes another risky wager, one he cannot hope to win without trusting the secretive Audrey Hayes, a woman he suspects is an English spy.
As the two work together to save Warring Tower, their attraction to one another grows. But when Audrey finally gains the information she seeks for Queen Elizabeth, she realizes that the only way she can save her family is to betray the man she loves.
Olivia Rae is an award-winning author of historical and contemporary inspirational romance. She spent her school days dreaming of knights, princesses and far away kingdoms; it made those long days in the classroom go by much faster. After becoming a teacher, she decided to breathe a little more life into her childhood stories.
Olivia is the winner of the Angel Awards, Book Buyer’s Best Award, Southern Magic Award, New England Readers’ Choice Award, the Golden Quill Award, the American Fiction Award, and the Illumination Awards.
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