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Shane Hayes will be awarding a $20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
The Last Dreamgirl
by Shane Hayes
Blurb:
For every man there’s a girl who grips his imagination and his heart as no other girl ever did or will. She may be in her teens or a mature woman. He responds to her as a boy to a girl. Whether she comes early in his life or late, there is a throne in his subconscious that she takes possession of, without trying, often without wanting to.The image he forms of her reigns there in perpetuity, even if she has left his life, or this life. Her enchantment never fades or fails, and he is never immune to it. She may not be for him the last wife or paramour, but she is the last dreamgirl.
Excerpt:
“Look, my mother’s worried sick. I need to go home.”
“Is home such a happy place?”
“Yes!” she lied.
“Then why do you walk through the streets crying every night?”
“I don’t!”
“You do! I saw you twice this week. That’s why I picked you.”
“What? Picked me? What do you mean ‘picked’ me?”
“That’s why you’re here—because you looked so unhappy.”
She squinted at him like he was mad. “Are you saying you brought me here to cheer me up?”
“No, not that exactly. I wanted your company. A girl’s company. A girl who was kind of pretty and… unhappy. You were both.”
She looked confused and angry. “What do you know about my unhappiness?”
“Not much,” he said, “but I know it’s there. And it’s a little like mine. You seem very shy. People scare you. You’re not comfortable with them. You can’t talk to them. Your nose is always in a book. You read sometimes even in the schoolyard. You hang on to the edge of a crowd, but you’re not really part of it. Like me, you don’t seem to have any friends. When I saw you walk down the street Monday night crying, I knew you were probably unhappy at home too. That clinched it. You were the one. And you were crying again last night when you passed my car.”…
Sandra’s astonishment had deepened. She hadn’t dreamed anyone would watch her like that. “What do you mean, I was ‘the one’?”
Ollie hesitated. “The one… I needed,” he ventured. “The one… to be my friend.”
She was glad he avoided terms of romance or passion. “Because I looked lonely and I cried?” she said.
“You passed the unhappiness test with flying colors…. Please, Sandra, let me get you something. Even if it’s just orange juice or coffee.”
She said coldly: “The only thing you have that I want is freedom. Offer that and I’ll accept it.”
Ollie sighed. “That’s not on the menu this morning. But it will be. I promise it will be. Not today, though.”
Sandra objected. “Not even later today? This afternoon or tonight?”
“Not till we’ve been friends for a while, Sandra. Absolutely not till we’ve been friends for a while. If you freeze me out, our time of friendship won’t begin. And I won’t let you go till we have it. This will last longer if you don’t cooperate.”
“What do you mean ‘cooperate’?”
“Talk with me, read books with me, listen to music with me, look at paintings and sketches with me, tell me about yourself and your life. Let me tell you about myself and my life. Be my friend. Let me be your friend. Share meals with me. Share breakfast now, that’ll be a start.”
Sandra cried, “I can’t be your friend if you keep me in a cage. I’m your prisoner or your pet, not your friend.”
Author Bio and Links:
A native Philadelphian, Shane Hayes earned his bachelor’s and his law degree from Villanova University, and studied for a year at Princeton Theological Seminary. He worked as a writer/editor for Prentice Hall and an attorney for the federal government. He is married, has four children, and lives in suburban Philadelphia. His nonfiction book The End of Unbelief: A New Approach to the Question of God was released by Leafwood Publishers in the fall of 2014.
Two young men meet on ship when both are recently out of college. They share a flaming ambition. Each aims to write novels that will be internationally acclaimed and win him a place in American letters. One of them, Paul Theroux, achieves the dream in all its glory: becomes world famous, writes over 40 books, and three of his novels are made into films. The other, Shane Hayes, fails completely, but keeps tenaciously writing, decade after decade, plowing on through hundreds of rejections. Then almost half a century later, Shane contacts Paul, who remembers him, reads three of his books, likes them, and praises them with endorsements.
In writing to agents and publishers Shane could now say, “Query for a novel praised by Paul Theroux.” No one offers a book deal because of an endorsement, so rejections keep coming. But more people let him send at least a sample and are predisposed to see merit in it. At his age, time is crucial. In the month he turns 75, Shane receives contracts on two of his books from different publishers. He will always be grateful to the literary giant who remembered ten days of friendship half-a-lifetime after it ended.
Links-
Author Website: http://www.shanehayes.org/
Blog: http://www.shanehayes.org/blog.html
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShaneHayes732
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shane.hayes.9256
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-last-dreamgirl-shane-hayes/1121480919?ean=9781935970248
Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-last-dreamgirl-shane-hayes/1121480919?ean=2940046639735
12 responses to “Shane Hayes on Tour: The Last Dreamgirl”
Thanks for hosting!
Thanks for competition
This book sounds so good! I have been following the blog tour.
I have enjoyed the tour and learning about your book. It sounds like a great read.
Thanks for sharing the excerpt 🙂
I have enjoyed learning about the book. Thanks for sharing it.
I enjoyed following the tour and learning about The Last Dream Girl, thanks for sharing and here’s wishing you every success with your book.
Danita, thanks for hosting “The Last Dreamgirl.” This newspaper review recently appeared; it will give your blog visitors a quick perspective on the book:
‘THE LAST DREAMGIRL’ IS A GREAT SUMMERTIME READ
Published: Wednesday, June 24, 2015 in The News of Delaware County, The Garnet Valley Press, and several other newspapers in the Delco News Network
By Betty Lou Roselle
When I was first approached to review The Last Dreamgirl by Shane Hayes, I declined, thinking “What women wants to read a book about a man’s idea of the perfect woman?” When I was again asked to review the book by a valued co-worker, I acquiesced and I’m so glad I did.
Yes, this is the story about the very handsome Ron Pavone who watches the incredibly beautiful Marisa emerge from the water at the beach in New Jersey and decides she will be his based solely on physical attraction.
But running parallel to this is the story of Ollie Bower, born horribly disfigured, whose loving parents die when he is in his late twenties. Although wealthy, he’s lonely and aware that he has no hope of meeting a woman who will love him, so he kidnaps his dreamgirl after stalking her for weeks. He chooses her because he senses a sadness in her that he feels will allow her to accept his friendship.
Sandra is a very intelligent young woman of faith, who will use her love of God to get her through the ordeal of living in a cage in Ollie’s basement. The sadness that Ollie sensed in Sandra comes from the fact that her brutal uncle has been abusing her. The reader is left to decide which situation is worse for this young girl, especially since Ollie is not demanding anything physically from her and showers her with anything she could want.
Their lives will intersect with Ron Pavone when he’s hired to investigate Sandra’s disappearance. He is now married to Marisa and constantly cheating on her. We can see he will never appreciate this dreamgirl he pursued with such passion.
Although we feel sympathy for Ollie, his capture of Sandra drags on for months instead the few weeks he promised her. She has become too important to him, he can’t let her leave.
I don’t want to give any more of this gripping story away but I finished this book in two days, I couldn’t put it down.
Excellent review, Shane! Thanks for posting. It’s an intriguing idea for romance, getting a man’s point of view. Congratulations on this exciting release. Here’s wishing you many sales. 🙂
Thank you, Danita. Your point-of-view comment is interesting. My wife opined that The Last Dreamgirl wouldn’t appeal to men. But I find it engages both genders. I love the large-print legibility of your blog. And it’s very tastefully designed.
I recently got this emailed comment from a reader:
“Hi Shane, I just finished the Last Dreamgirl! I just have to tell you that I couldn’t put it down! At the end I had to take a break 3 times in the last 20 pages because the suspense was too much! So much to learn from this book! I lent my other copy to ____, our 2nd grade teacher, who was going to England to visit her family. It was definitely a book worth waiting for! … I will be in touch after the August 31st book club! Hope I can sell some books for you! B______”
Thanks, Shane. 🙂
It’s been a great book tour! I’ve really enjoyed learning about you and your book! Happy writing!