Hope you are having a wonderful day!
We are supposed to have a huge rainstorm tomorrow in Southern California, they are referring to it as an atmospheric river, not sure what that is, but I can let you know tomorrow! It is a perfect excuse to stay in all day and make a day of reading and blogging out of it, Californians cannot drive in the rain! alright enough about that! Excited to share with you my review for this little gem! A huge thank you to Rachel for my invitation to the tour and two Dave Holwill for his wise words!😃
Gap Years
19 year old Sean hasn’t seen his father since he was twelve. His mother has never really explained why. An argument with her leads to his moving to the other side of the country.
Martin, his father, has his life thrown into turmoil when the son he hasn’t seen in nearly eight years strolls back into his life immediately killing his dog and hospitalising his step-daughter.
The one thing they have in common is the friendship of a girl called Rhiannon.
Over the course of one summer Sean experiences sexual awakenings from all angles, discovers the fleeting nature of friendship and learns to cope with rejection.
Martin, meanwhile, struggles to reconnect with Sean while trying to delicately turn down the increasingly inappropriate advances of a girl he sees as a surrogate daughter and keep a struggling marriage alive.
Gap Years is an exploration of what it means to be a man in the 21st Century seen from two very different perspectives – neatly hidden inside a funny story about bicycles, guitars and unrequited love.
My Thoughts
An honest and entertaining look at a dysfunctional father/son relationship.
Dave Holwill’s previous book The “The Craftroom” was full of dark humor and quirky characters… I was expecting the same thing with this book, but while this book still has quite a bit of humor it is a little more serious in tone… I was surprised and I’d have to say pleasantly so….
this story is about a father and son who have been estranged for over eight years trying to find their way back to one another…Shauns mother Tonya did what she could to keep Sean away from his father… but when they have a huge disagreement about Sean going to University, Sean up and leaves and goes to live with his father… Martin has not seen his son in over eight years, he’s not quite sure how to repair this relationship… he is remarried to Allison and has a lovely daughter he adores with all his heart…. Will father and son ever find a bond between them?
The story was told from both Martin and Sean’s perspectives… I found this incredibly impactful it really let you see both sides of the story throughout the book… The book starts off with a crash quite literally… there was also a girl who almost put a permanent wedge between father and son… she really was a despicable character, super manipulative, I imagine we were meant to dislike her? I did however really like all the rest of the characters I liked Sean and I really wanted him to find his way in the world, I liked Martin and his new wife Allison, they really did have a very strong relationship…
A well-crafted story about discovering who you are and where you belong and where you’re headed to next, recommend!
Purchase Links:
UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gap-Years-Dave-Holwill-ebook/dp/B07MQFLDKX
US – https://www.amazon.com/Gap-Years-Dave-Holwill-ebook/dp/B07MQFLDKX
Author Bio –
Dave Holwill was born in Guildford in 1977 and quickly decided that he preferred the Westcountry – moving to Devon in 1983 (with some input from his parents).
After an expensive (and possibly wasted) education there, he has worked variously as a postman, a framer, and a print department manager (though if you are the only person in the department then can you really be called a manager?) all whilst continuing to play in every kind of band imaginable on most instruments you can think of.
Gap Years is his third novel – following on the heels of Weekend Rockstars and The Craft Room, and he is currently working on the fourth (a folk horror set in his native mid-Devon) and a sequel to Weekend Rockstars.
Social Media Links –
https://www.facebook.com/daveholwill100
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15584279.Dave_Holwill
https://www.instagram.com/dave_holwill/
http://davedoesntwriteanythingever.blogspot.com/
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