tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443945244399440223.post4616134503925479068..comments2024-03-21T07:36:33.897+00:00Comments on BooksChatter: ☀ The Last Dream Girl - Shane HayesSharing Matterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13907395648147980148noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443945244399440223.post-57911884890549794292015-07-14T09:12:47.554+01:002015-07-14T09:12:47.554+01:00Really enjoyed reading the excerpt, thank you!Really enjoyed reading the excerpt, thank you!Nikolinahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18002115564239310271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443945244399440223.post-47244529846989740242015-07-13T20:03:55.868+01:002015-07-13T20:03:55.868+01:00More from the Author:
Additional insight by Shane...More from the Author:<br /><br />Additional insight by Shane Hayes into his novel The Last Dreamgirl:<br /><br />A MANY-FACETED NOVEL WITH SEVERAL MAJOR THEMES<br /><br />These are some of the themes woven tightly together into the fabric of the plot: A study of Beauty and the Beast. Of dreamgirl fixation. Of shyness, ugliness, brutal bullying. Of friendship, enmity, and love. Freedom lost and found. Faith and unbelief.<br /><br />English professor John Rybnik said: “I hated to stop reading when I had to attend to the demands of daily life. I couldn’t wait to get back to see what happened next…. A wonderful sense of place. I leave the book amazed at how casually ‘normal’ human beings can torment those who don’t fit in while feeling no guilt in doing so. I’m struck by how far minor kindnesses can go in the harsh environment of the world’s Ollies. I’m determined to be a kinder, gentler person myself.”BooksChatterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06459126853901928589noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443945244399440223.post-82248367562671660532015-07-13T20:02:45.876+01:002015-07-13T20:02:45.876+01:00From Author Shane Hayes:
One of the themes of The...From Author Shane Hayes:<br /><br />One of the themes of The Last Dreamgirl is bullying and the profound effect it can have on a child's personality development. Here's an excerpt from the Prologue that shows the kind of hostility and rejection that Ollie, the kidnapper, suffered from a very early age. He was five when this scene took place:<br /><br />"He was playing — alone as always — with toy soldiers in a little fort he had made at the back edge of the Bower property where the lawn ended and the trees and shrubs of the arboretum began. The two boys were pretending to be Indian scouts stealing invisibly through the forest. When one caught sight of Ollie, he signaled the other to be still. Bush by bush they advanced to about five feet from where Ollie knelt. They made no sound audible to him. He went on with an enthralling fistfight between a metal soldier and a plastic fireman. The imaginative fray involved muttered words and exaggerated facial expressions that changed radically every few seconds.<br /><br />"The larger boy, a handsome kid with fine features, prized looks above everything and had never seen anyone as ugly as little Ollie. Beak-nosed, almost chinless, with misplaced eyes close to the perimeter of his face and a weird gap in the middle, the child reminded him of a hideous buzzard in the cartoon illustrations of a fable his mother used to read to him. He found Ollie’s face so ugly, even in repose, as to be an affront; but when Ollie contorted that repulsive face into an expression that deliberately made it uglier, the boy felt a wave of hatred and avenging fury. He picked up a smooth stone about half the size of a golf ball, and hurled it at Ollie’s nose. It bounced off his forehead with a sickening clunk.<br /><br />"Ollie literally didn’t know what hit him. His face registered shock and grew violently red. The contact point on his forehead turned white and, as Ollie silently screamed, it swelled into a frightful lump, a little smaller than the roundish stone that caused it. In the ten seconds it took for Ollie’s breathless scream to enlist his diaphragm and become audible, the two boys had beat a terrified retreat into the woods. Though Ollie half-consciously saw them dashing through the bushes, he was too dazed, dizzied, anguished—and childish—to make the logical deduction that the vanishing boys were the cause of his suddenly inexplicably aching skull."BooksChatterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06459126853901928589noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443945244399440223.post-3951504299249644532015-07-13T02:07:50.834+01:002015-07-13T02:07:50.834+01:00Great newspaper review!Great newspaper review!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12575805572101100300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443945244399440223.post-75895564084174505852015-07-12T01:23:49.902+01:002015-07-12T01:23:49.902+01:00I love the synopsis~She may not be for him the las...I love the synopsis~She may not be for him the last wife or paramour, but she is the last dreamgirl! Thank you!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12575805572101100300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443945244399440223.post-23429463997586552082015-07-11T17:20:48.160+01:002015-07-11T17:20:48.160+01:00Thank you, Victoria, Rita, Patrick, Betty, and Ros...Thank you, Victoria, Rita, Patrick, Betty, and Roselle. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10147927297113185916noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443945244399440223.post-87228940298947836302015-07-11T17:18:50.462+01:002015-07-11T17:18:50.462+01:00I appreciate your comment, BC. Your being drawn to...I appreciate your comment, BC. Your being drawn to the book means a lot to me. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10147927297113185916noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443945244399440223.post-45670644977950018122015-07-11T07:29:06.822+01:002015-07-11T07:29:06.822+01:00Great excerpt! Interesting story :)Great excerpt! Interesting story :)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05211513867272905481noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443945244399440223.post-91724973347086086942015-07-11T04:31:04.469+01:002015-07-11T04:31:04.469+01:00Hello Shane, thank you for stopping by and sharing...Hello Shane, thank you for stopping by and sharing that review (http://goo.gl/DjDQxk) with us. I had indeed come across that review whilst preparing this post. Your book sounds very interesting and I would certainly like to read it.BooksChatterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06459126853901928589noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443945244399440223.post-89098488094979512442015-07-11T04:09:06.781+01:002015-07-11T04:09:06.781+01:00The entire post was exceptional but I especially e...The entire post was exceptional but I especially enjoyed learning more about the author! Thank you for sharing!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12575805572101100300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443945244399440223.post-77204745395810728862015-07-10T21:23:16.631+01:002015-07-10T21:23:16.631+01:00I have enjoyed learning about the book. Thanks fo...I have enjoyed learning about the book. Thanks for sharing it. Patrick Siuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06632999978162526120noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443945244399440223.post-9469666520029748662015-07-10T18:27:29.759+01:002015-07-10T18:27:29.759+01:00I liked the excerpt, thank you.I liked the excerpt, thank you.Rita Wrayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16115952708502482157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443945244399440223.post-3489475961818058282015-07-10T17:12:17.020+01:002015-07-10T17:12:17.020+01:00Really great post - thanks for sharing!Really great post - thanks for sharing!Victoria Alexanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00295305682468644975noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443945244399440223.post-17641547141210755172015-07-10T16:44:48.532+01:002015-07-10T16:44:48.532+01:00Thanks, BooksChatter, for hosting my novel. This n...Thanks, BooksChatter, for hosting my novel. This newspaper review just appeared; it will give your blog visitors a quick perspective on the book:<br /><br />‘THE LAST DREAMGIRL’ IS A GREAT SUMMERTIME READ<br /><br />Published: Wednesday, June 24, 2015 in The News of Delaware County, The Garnet Valley Press, and several other newspapers in the Delco News Network<br /><br />By Betty Lou Roselle<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />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.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10147927297113185916noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1443945244399440223.post-7254362099386120442015-07-10T11:12:11.952+01:002015-07-10T11:12:11.952+01:00Thanks for hosting!Thanks for hosting!Goddess Fish Promotionshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07952608939319684406noreply@blogger.com