I read and reviewed this book when it was first released back in August 2017. I predicted good things for Amy back then (yeah, like I was really someone people would pay any attention to – LOL) and I am thrilled, and relieved, that my prediction came true. I have read every book that she has published since I read As Big as the Sky and I plan to continue reading everything she writes. There have been no content changes to the re-release of this book so I’m copying my review from back then as I don’t think I could say it any better now.

My review from August 2017:
As Big as the Sky is the first book I’ve read by Amy Aislin and I liked it a lot. As far as I can tell she’s a fairly new author with only two books showing on Goodreads. Based on this story, I think she has a bright future as an author.

As Big as the Sky has a lot of interesting elements. Sam and Bo are living next door to each other because Bo is house-sitting for his sister. He’s also managing her animal rehabilitation center while she is away for two months. Sam is angry because one Bo’s chickens keeps getting loose and messing up is garden which is going to be photographed for a magazine.

Bo is lonely and thought he might find a friend in Sam based on all of the good things his sister had to say about him. He’s disappointed when the man he meets seems to dislike everything about Bo.

Sam has a lot on his mind. There’s the magazine photo shoot and he’s being sued for copyright infringement. When he over hears Bo talking to himself about how Sam has treated him and he feels like a first-class jerk.

After Sam apologizes and mends fences with Bo, the two of them realize how much they have in common and their relationship takes off. Sam is dismayed to find out how badly Bo’s sister is using him just because Bo hasn’t made up his mind what he wants to do with his life. That portion of the story made my heart ache.

Amy Aislin manages to pack a lot of different things into this story without it being too much. I was surprised at how much depth there is to the story considering that it’s only 140 pages long. I became so engrossed in the story while reading that I didn’t put it down until I’d finished all of it.

I will definitely watch for more books by this author.

Reviews for Amy Aislin

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Bo’s shoulders were hunched, his blond hair sticking to his forehead, likely from having worked up a sweat while working in the warm air this morning. His T-shirt clung to him as he took a deep breath and plucked a piece of grass out of the ground.

He looked pensive as he threaded the grass through his fingers. To Sam, he seemed alone and dejected. Sam had always seen him with his head held high and a fiery spark in his eyes. He couldn’t even reconcile this version of Bo with the one he was used to seeing.

Even though he wasn’t at all Sam’s type, Sam had to admit Bo was really cute.

Sam opened his mouth to speak, but Bo’s phone rang before he could say anything. Bo took a look at the caller ID and his shoulders slumped further before he drew them back and answered the call.

“Laura, hey!” Bo’s enthusiasm sounded a bit forced to Sam, but what did he know? “Oh yeah, everything’s great. It’s just me and your chickens right now, and PomPom. Schnee went home yesterday.” He listened for a minute, then said, “I spoke with them yesterday. They’re going to be sending me a pigeon later this week, maybe two. It’s actually pretty quiet right now. May was busier.”

Sam turned to leave, not wanting to intrude, but the sound of his name stopped him.

“Sam’s been great, yeah.” That definitely sounded forced. “Yeah, he helped me fix the lawn mower, just like you said.”

The lawn mower. The one Laura had texted him about a couple days ago, letting him know Bo was going to be coming around for help with it. But Bo never had, probably because on Bo’s first day, when he’d come over to Sam’s to introduce himself, Sam had snapped at him for stepping on his poor seedlings in his front garden.

“Jesus, watch where you’re going! These won’t grow if you trample them. Don’t you pay attention to what’s around you?” That about summed up what Sam had said to interrupt Bo’s friendly, “Hi, I’m Bo!”

Sam had watched Bo’s face fall before he drew himself up—exactly like he had before answering Laura’s call—fisted his hands on his hips and said, “Well, excuse the hell out of me. But who plants flowers right on the edge of the sidewalk? What if a kid on a bicycle accidentally ends up riding over them? You gonna yell at them too?”

It had been a fair question. One Sam hadn’t had an answer to. Not that he expected kids to be biking along on the small gravel sidewalk. Burnhamthorpe Road was a fairly busy street with an eighty-kilometre an hour speed limit. Yet instead of saying so to Bo, he’d rethought his strategy and moved his seedlings up closer to his porch. Just in case.

The question now was, why was Bo lying to Laura? The fact that he was making Sam out to be some helpful, generous neighbour only served to make him feel like a bigger heel for the way he’d treated Bo the past few weeks.

I was really looking forward to being his friend. A fist squeezed his lungs at the thought that he’d so disappointed Bo. Truth was Sam had been looking forward to meeting Bo too, ever since Laura told him Bo was coming to take over running Big Sky for the summer. But then the shit had hit the fan and he’d taken out his frustrations on poor Bo. Who’d only wanted to be his friend.

Bo finally finished his phone call. Setting his phone on the stair behind him, he let out a long breath and went back to staring at the horizon. Sam walked toward him and cleared his throat to get his attention.

When Bo spotted him, his expression went from brooding to annoyed in less than a second. He rolled those big brown eyes and stood.

“Are you kidding me? I fixed my damn fence,” he growled.

“Yeah, I—”

“You might want to check your side because I’m pretty sure that’s where the problem is.”

“I—” know, he tried to say, but Bo interrupted him again.

“Or did you come here to complain about something else? Is PomPom snorting too loudly? Did the water from his pail accidentally get onto your side of the yard? Is there some stench that’s bugging your delicate sense of smell?”

Sam knew he deserved that. He’d done nothing but harp on Bo since he arrived.

“Was my sitting here too loud for you?” Bo kept going. “Is Your Tall Perfectness bothered by the sound of almost non-existent wind in the trees?”

Your Tall—what? Thrown for a moment, it took Sam a second to respond. “I came to apologize.”

That shut Bo up.