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 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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Argh! Bo kicked his closed front door. That…that man. Every five frickin’ minutes he was up in Bo’s face about something.I’m trying to work, Bo. Can you get the dogs to stop barking? Why is the goat making weird noises?

How did your chicken get into my yard?

What’s that smell?

Fix your side of the fence.

Bo had fixed his side of the fence, damn it, so it wasn’t his fault the chicken was still getting into Sam’s yard. If anything, it was Sam’s side that needed to be fixed. But did Sam give him a chance to say his piece? Nooooo. Mr. I’m So Cool With My Muscles And Tallness And Swanky Haircut wouldn’t get off his pedestal long enough for Bo to defend himself.

Not that Bo was envious of those muscles or that tallness or that swanky haircut that was on the redder side of strawberry blond. He was perfectly fine with his own five foot seven height and his messy ‘do. Tallness was overrated anyway. And he had his own muscles. Arm muscles, anyway. The little pudge on his belly left a lot to be desired.

Stupid cookies.

But whatever. Arm muscles were all he needed to catch a guy’s attention at the clubs and bars. By the time the guy realized Bo wasn’t so muscly all over, they were already in each other’s pants and that little detail no longer mattered.

Bring on the cookies.

Shaking his head at himself, he headed out back to the shed and grabbed a thicker pair of gloves and some chicken feed. He inspected his side of the fence—just in case he was mistaken. Which he wasn’t, thank you very much. Grunting in satisfaction, he left his backyard via the gate and cut through the path in the hedges between his and Sam’s front yards. After unlatching the gate to Sam’s backyard, he followed the sounds of clucking chicken to a wildflower garden along the back fence. Along with some kind of leafy tree and a couple of shrubs, there were bursts of yellow, purple, and pink flowers in the garden that Bo couldn’t name to save his life.

Of course it was that chicken. The brown one with the lone white feather along its back. The instigator of the group. The one that riled up the other chickens and always seemed to find a way out of the chicken coop. The one who’d pecked Bo’s hands raw the first time Bo tried to pick him up. That’s where his new extra-thick gloves came in.

He slipped them on then scattered some chicken feed. Bait the chicken and then grab it from behind, the YouTube tutorial he’d watched a couple weeks ago had said. Bo had become somewhat of a chicken corralling expert in the past couple of weeks. A skill he never thought he’d need and didn’t know how to add to his resume without sounding like a smart-ass.

The chicken went after the food just like always. Bo gave it a minute to eat most of it, then quietly snuck up behind it, cupped his hands around its sides, and lifted.

The angry squawk the chicken let out pierced Bo’s eardrums and its legs worked as if trying to walk on air. Bo held on tighter as the bird struggled in his grip. He made tracks for the gate, where Sam was oh-so-helpfully holding it open. The sight of him standing there all tall and perfect jolted Bo and had him fumbling the chicken. A wing got loose and flapped in Bo’s face.

Bo thought he heard a chuckle, but when he looked at Sam around the feathers in his face, the man was as stony as ever. Was that a hint of laughter in Sam’s eyes? No. The man didn’t know how to laugh. Drawing his shoulders back, head high, Bo stalked past him and—

“Don’t forget to fix your fence,” Sam said.

Before Bo even had a chance to reply, the gate slammed at his back.

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