Customer Reviews

The Hambledown Dream: A Novel

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What a fantastic read! I thoroughly enjoyed reading Dean Mayes' The Hambledown Dream. From the start, chapter one grabbed a hold of my emotions and forced them to hold on tight for a gripping ride right through until the very end. From Denny's tragic end to Andy's new beginning and all the believable characters in between, you will not be disappointed with this story. It has love, passion, dirt and grit ... the beauty of Australian beaches and the grime of the Chicago underground ... the deathly pull of drugs and the spiritual power of music ... the rarity of true friendship and the strength of everlasting love ... and to top it off, one amazing dog that will take your breath away. I highly recommend that you pick up a copy and further dare you to try to put it down!

I adored the story of Andy working his way from the depths of despair and self loathing to finding his inner worth with Denny's help. It was a moving, suspensefull, touching love story and I ALMOST read ahead to find out the end i was so eager to know. Great character definition and image creation both of place and senses. A book i could read and re-read and find new depths each time. Well done!!!

I wish to convey an update to potential purchasers of The Hambledown Dream. A review posted here by "Melissa" recently, highlighted some copy editing issues that might affect one's decision to purchase my novel particularly in the printed format. After a meticulous review of the manuscript both I, my publisher and editing team have addressed those copy editing issues and we are confident that The Hambledown Dream text is as meticulous and grammatically correct and represents a quality purchase that you will not be disappointed in. Both I and my publisher welcome all your reviews and they help us to make my work the best it can possibly be.

I am very proud of The Hambledown Dream and I trust that you will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Thank you.

I first read The Hambledown Dream when it was only available in digital form, and I can't wait to read it again in print! Dean Mayes has done such an excellent job with his characters, especially that of Andy. He's got a very unique voice that hooked me from the beginning and never let go. The story is romantic and gritty at the same time, which I really liked - the grittiness kept it from feeling cheesy because the characters are so real. This is a great read, and I hope to see more from this author in the future.

I took a leap of faith that a man could write a romance that I would enjoy and Dean Mayes came through in spades.

Two men are tied together it seems, only by their love of playing clssical guitar music. One lives in Australia, and has it all, it seems: a degree in architecture, a career about to blossom, a loving family and a fiancee who he's known since childhood and is deeply in love with. He also soon discovers he has cancer, and despite all efforts loses his fight with the disease. The second is a young drug addict, and sometimes dealer who lives in Chicago. His only escape it seems is his music. He has only 1 real friend and his family is estranged. One night at a rave he takes an overdose and is taken to the hospital in cardiac arrest. During and after this episode he starts to have odd "memories." As he begins to fight the addiction the "memories" become more vivid and real.

As he fights to turn his life around, we are hoping, too: Will he be able to defeat the drug system that is fighting to keep him involved? Will he be able to regain enough in his studies at the school of music to appear at the international Tournament of the Guitar? Will he be able to remember enough identify and find the woman in his memories? If he does will she accept him? Or will he return home to his new Chicago friends?

I read a lot of books. So many of them run together. This book will stand out in my mind for a long time. It is a poignant romance, vivid and satisfying.

I like everything about the book. The dialogue is as good as the description. I like the characters. I like that none of the characters are extraneous, and that they are painted so that I can SEE them. I feel as if I know them now. The way the author slowly melded two souls into one body was brilliantly done, and I believed it ALL. It was romantic without being soppy, and there was just enough of a supernatural quality to make the whole book dream-like but possible. I particularly love the scenes in the bar in the U.S. (especially when he's playing his guitar), and the scenes in Australia. The whole concert portion gave me chills - it was beautifully drawn, and I was THERE, in the audience, and on the stage simultaneously. The ending was perfection - Mayes wrapped it all up, and then went that extra mile to give us an idea of what their future would be like together - I appreciated that, because I wanted to know for certain that their lives would work out - at least in terms of being happy together. Whatever life throws at them in the future, it is nice to know that they will face things together, come what may. I am also very pleased that the author allowed the father a chance to get to know his son, and that both father and son were willing. Many authors would have stopped on the beach - I'm SO glad Mayes carried it on and gave the reader closure.
I look forward to his next book with anticipation.

The Hambledown Dream is a sexy and wonderful love story with paranormal overtones that are just right. It's the story of two men from different worlds - one dying, the other, dead already - as they come together with a common passion for classical guitar, to save each other's souls and find that love of a lifetime, even death cannot deny.

Dean Mayes has woven an intricate and emotional tale of lives drawn together by fate in his beautiful story and carries it through to the end in a fabulous crescendo that will leave you breathless. To call it a romantic thriller would do it justice, and of course, the journey's the thing as it moves through the tawdry jungle of Chicago's drug infested underbelly to the city of Melbourne, down under, for its emotionally charged climax. Hambledown is a well paced read that keeps you in it the whole way through, and a great read for anyone.

My first thought upon finishing the book was how good a story it was. I truly enjoyed reading The Hambledown Dream and found myself thinking about it even when I was doing other things. The characters are all very well-rounded and fleshed-out, and the dialogue is spot on with none of it feeling contrived. Dean's use of lyrical, descriptive phrases lends a musical quality to the book, which makes it an easy-to-follow and captivating love story. Dean does an excellent job of making the reader feel she is part of these characters' lives.

But (and you knew there had to be a but), for as good as the story is, it is tainted by its many copy-editing issues. I wish I could say there are only a few and I'm just being finicky, but a friend of mine who is reading the book on a Kindle actually contacted me to ask whether or not those errors might have something to do with displaying the story on a device, or if they are present on my downloaded file, too. First of all, there is a lot of missing punctuation. Secondly, there are several instances of missing words (namely conjunctions and prepositions). I understand Dean had another person edit his work before it was published, so I'm not sure with whom to find fault: the editor for not catching the omissions, the author for not proofing the story one more time, or the publisher with letting it go "to print" (I have the e-book version) with so many errors.

Unfortunately, the errors are not contained to missing punctuation and parts of speech. I understand from reading another review that there was a question about Dean's use of italicized text. This is a style element meant to convey memories and Denny's presence in the story, as well as Andy's own thoughts. However, there were times when the author forgot to un-italicize the text. Also, there are formatting issues with regard to proper paragraph and dialogue formation that should have been addressed before the story was ever published.

With regards to the story itself (and as great as I thought it was), there was a certain gratuitous sex scene early on in the book that might turn off some more conservative readers. While it takes a lot to surprise me, I was a little put off by the sexually graphic and extremely descriptive text. Dean and I are friends, so I have an insider's knowledge of what he was trying to accomplish with the scene. However, I believe his intention is overshadowed by the shocking, borderline pornographic, and very primal passage. I think the scene would have been better served had Dean focused on the underlying emotions of the characters involved vs who was grabbing whom and putting what where. Also, despite the book ending up the way I wanted it to end, I had a few unanswered questions that I felt could have been put to rest earlier on in the story.

OVERALL, The Hambledown Dream was an enjoyable read, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend purchasing the downloadable file. However, the many copy-editing issues prevents me from endorsing buying the printed version, which is quite unfortunate for the author and should serve as a finger-wag to the publisher. If these issues were addressed before the book went to print, then I'll gladly retract what I said and tell you to buy a copy to add to your book shelf.

I have just now finished reading The Hambledown Dream.

So, tears in my eyes, because this novel is a bit of a weepy, I'd like to offer an appraisal.

Dean Mayes has written a romantic, supernaturally infused fiction that I found compelling. Yes I cared about the characters.

There's the early death of a decent, musically gifted husband, his devastated widow, and an ocean away, a drug dealing no hoper who has a crazily lusty girlfriend. The doper somehow strangely avoids death.

The tone is soulful and I did need the consolation of a tale that rolls along like an irrepressible boulder down a gully.

Dean Mayes's writing is a little contrived sometimes, providing unnecessary, touristy background information, but The Hambledown Dream is a fine piece of romantic fiction well worth a read.

I met this author on Twitter, and liked his style. I thought I'd take a chance on his book--it's his first, and I hope it's not his last. The Hambledown Dream provided the ideal -- and complicated--International love story mixed with a gritty underworld of drugs and laced with the beauty of music. Dean's characters were real, the relationships were true to life, and the otherworldly connection was something that I truly enjoyed. The Hambledown dream is a soft touch in a world of grit, passion, and things unknown--perfect for a wide audience.

Kudos to this Indie author, who proved that writing Indie style is to be commended. I'll eagerly await Dean Mayes' next novel.