Book Review: THE LAST OF THE BOWMANS BY J PAUL HENDERSON

THE LAST OF THE BOWMANS

BY

J PAUL HENDERSON

Published:  Jan 2016

After an absence of some seven years, Greg Bowman returns from America to find his father lying in a bamboo coffin, his estranged brother Billy stalking a woman with no feet and his seventy-nine-year-old Uncle Frank planning to rob a bank.  While renovating the family house he is unexpectedly visited by the presence of his dead father and charged with the task of 'fixing' the family.  In the course of his reluctant investigations, Greg discovers not only the secrets behind the strange behaviour of his brother and uncle but also an unsettling secret of his father's, and one that brings him face to face with the unintended consequences of his own past.

The Last of the Bowmans is the story of a family on the run from itself in a city with no place to go.

The story starts when 83 year old Lyle Bowman walks into the path of a bus and is run over.  Not very funny in itself but J Paul Henderson had me chuckling from the beginning with his one-liners. 

This story is about families, their ups and downs, disagreements, loyalties, dislikes and why they are like they are.  

Before Greg left for America he fell out with his brother Billy and they hadn't spoken again until their father's funeral.  Over the course of this book we discover lots of family secrets and grudges that had been long hidden, Greg finds out what sort of person he really was growing up, life always came easy to him - exams, girls, work, but not so easy for his brother.

My favourite character was elderly Uncle Frank, he was so serious but I found him quite endearing:

".... I'm a bachelor, yes; but I'm not a bachelor by choice.  My hat's always been in the ring, it's just that no woman's ever bothered to bend down and pick it up.  I don't think women find me all that attractive if you want to know the truth.  Jean's mother refers to me as a goblin - did you know that?"

I really enjoyed this story, some of it had me laughing, some of it made me sad and tearful, it was touching at times.

The scenes where Greg's deceased father appears to him and asks him to mend his family were the most memorable and touching for me.  Lyle was a dour husband and father who always tried to do his best for his family and didn't want them to fight and argue.  He wanted to pass on to another life knowing that they were okay again.

I liked the writing, the quirky storyline with quirky characters, it was definitely different to any other book I've read, but it's also a book that I'll remember for some time.

Thanks to Real Readers for giving me the opportunity to read such an unusual book.

Spotlight on DEBT BY RACHEL DUNNING (New Adult Romance / Sports Romance)

DEBT

By Rachel Dunning

Expected Release Date:

March 30, 2016

What’s it about?

The Debt Collector

I pay my debts, and I expect others to.

I was raised in the slums of London, I knew nothing of privilege. My father was murdered when I was seventeen. Morty figured my father's passing meant I would automatically take on dad's debts. I refused.

And I paid for that refusal.

So did my sister.

So now I fight. All I know how to do is fight. The best cash is in the states, so that's where I am now. A big fish called Vito came along offering me a "favor" when I arrived.

Another debt.

I paid for that one too.

I knew Kyla Hensley would be trouble when I met her. But I wanted her. I could see through the falsehood of her wannabe-slutty clothes and her sexy legs. So I chased her.

Besides, trouble is my middle name.

Kyla Hensley

I was brought up in privilege, but I lacked everything else. My father is a business tycoon who buys and sells and doesn't care who gets rolled over in the process.

I never knew my mother, and all I have of her is a photo with a note scrawled on the back in French saying "I'm sorry." The only Female Figure I had growing up is my dad's wife who is a bleach blond with seven boob jobs. We never bonded.

I drink. I party. I meet guys.

But I wasn't always like that.

I've had a string of lovers in the last few years, the worst and most recent of which was Vince Somerset. My best friend Vera was dating a guy called Rory Cansoom who is the opposite of Vince in so many ways, and yet so the same.

She and I hit the road for the summer, getting away from the two college psychos and just trying to have some fun.

But there's a funny thing about trouble, the more you run from it, the more it finds you.

Which is when I met the Debt Collector.

It was only supposed to be sex. He made that clear. I made that clear.

That's all it was supposed to be.

I never expected to fall in love. I never expected to fall so deeply, madly, uncomfortably in love with a man who is wrong, so wrong for me.

And yet...so unbelievably right.

Content Warning

Not intended for readers under the age of seventeen.

Genres:
New-Adult Romance
Sports Romance

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Excerpts

~Logan~

I have no desire to settle down.

I have no desire to make Kyla be the last woman I’m ever with.

But, damn it, I’d like to be given a chance to do those things. Does she even feel anything for me?

I know I do.

I feel something.

Not love. Something else.

Like I need her.

Like I’d stop breathing without her.

Like the sun would stop being so bright or the sounds of the world so sweet if she disappeared.

~Kyla~

“Tell me for real,” I say. “Tell me what I didn’t guess about you.”

Logan doesn’t answer, and already I’m regretting the question. I know something hurt him, but who am I to ask him about it so soon? I’m breaking my rule, I want to know him, I want to know everything about him.

He shifts his arm so that my head is no longer resting on it, leans forward.

I did overstep it, but I don’t care. Maybe this is the last time I’ll ever see him again, and I want to get everything I can out of it, not only the sex I’ll demand later.

He looks down at his feet, then at me.

He inhales a deep breath, and then he says something to me that will forever change the way I think about the world. He tells me a story that puts my own life in perspective, and makes me question what I’ve held dear, and what’s really important in life.

He tells me about how he lost his father. And his mother.

And why he fights.

And why he continues to fight. And what he really sees when he’s in that cage, the hate, the fury, the pain.

By the end of it all, my world is shattered, the floor is shaking, I have no stability.

By the end of it, I know one thing, and I know it to my core, my very fiber. And I don’t care if it’s too soon, I believe in intuition, I believe in it more now than ever.

The thing I know is this:

I love this man. I love him irrevocably. I love him more than I’ve ever loved anyone.

And I know I will lose him.

I know it. More intuition.

But I love his very soul.

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Links:

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A02LNLC

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01A02LNLC

Amazon Canada: http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01A02LNLC

Amazon Australia: http://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B01A02LNLC

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/debt/id1071559413?mt=11
Nook / B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/debt-rachel-dunning/1123196983?ean=2940152548570

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/603988

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28400056-debt

About Rachel

Rachel Dunning hit the scene in August 2013 and is the author of the highly praised Naive Mistakes Series, Truthful Lies Trilogy, Johnny Series and the paranormal romance series, Mind Games.

A prolific writer, she sticks to stories where Alpha Males aren’t pricks and where women have guts.

She’s lived on two different continents, speaks three different languages, and met the love of her life on the internet. In other words, romance is in her blood.

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