Blog Tour/ Feature Post and Book Review: Holliday by Matthew Di Paoli

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review of HOLLIDAY by Matthew Di Paoli on this AME Blog Tour.

Below you will find a book synopsis, my book review, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!

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Book Synopsis

Holliday follows the infamous 1880s gambler, dentist, and gunslinger, Doc Holliday. From the outset, Doc has been diagnosed with tuberculosis and is told to head to drier climates and imbibe to prolong his life. He has also heard of a spring located somewhere along the frontier that could cure him—what he believes to be the mythical Fountain of Youth. 

The novel portrays Holliday as a rock star, a living legend, increasingly hounded by paparazzi, enamored by death, cards, booze, and women. Doc is a mixture of Clint Eastwood and Jim Morrison, and though he is able to help his friend, Wyatt Earp, exact revenge, his condition worsens, traveling from Arizona to Denver, and finally dying in a sanatorium in Colorado with his boots off. A slow and unfitting end for such a bombastic outlaw.


Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/184163597-holliday?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=2ybY3HPYGE&rank=5

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

Holliday by Matthew Di Paoli is a dark and gritty realistic look at an often-mythologized gambler, gunslinger, and outlaw from the Old West. This book follows his life as he travels from town to town in the West looking for a mythical body of water to cure his tuberculosis, help his friend exact revenge in Tombstone, and ultimately die in Colorado.

Born in Georgia, John Henry Holliday became a dentist, but was soon diagnosed with tuberculosis which claimed his mother when he was younger. The doctor told him to head to the southwest for the drier climate which should help his breathing. He soon developed a fatalism which led him to drink continually, gamble for a living and cohabitate off and on with a barroom prostitute.

The papers build up his reputation as the number of men he kills increases. His Southern charm and education are opposite to his ruthlessness and hair-triggered temper when he is drunk, which is most of the time. When his friend, Wyatt Earp needs his help to avenge his brothers, he uses his skills to assist. The tuberculosis cannot be stopped though and he ends up spending his few remaining years in Colorado.

This is an engaging and complex look behind the myth of Doc Holliday that pulled me into the story even as parts were difficult to read. Mr. Di Paoli’s writing is atmospheric and made me feel as if I was in the dirt, grit, stink, and heat of the Old West where everything was handled with a gun. Doc’s story is complicated by his own knowledge of his inevitable death, his wish to be loved and yet his inability to live a normal life he once believed in for himself. There are graphic scenes of gunfights, knife fights, action and blood which add to the realism. This is a clear-eyed look at a complicated man from a violent time who is romanticized in other books and on screen.

I highly recommend this enthralling western historical fiction.

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About the Author

Matthew Di Paoli has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize three times including 2020. He has won the Wilbur & Niso Smith Adventure Writing Prize, the Prism Review, two Elizabeth’s, and Momaya Review Short Story Contests. Matthew earned his MFA in Fiction at Columbia University. He has been published in Boulevard, Fjords, Post Road, and Cleaver, among others. He is also the author of Killstanbul with El Balazo Press.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.matthewdipaoli.com/about

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewDiPaoli

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ruggedemu/

Blog Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Signs of Life by Chris Towndrow

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for SIGNS OF LIFE by Chris Towndrow on this Overview Media Blog Tour.

Below you will find a book blurb, my book review, the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!

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Book Blurb

What time can’t heal, love will.

Arizona, 1878. When long-time widower Earl finds an injured deaf youth on the prairie, he reluctantly decides to help the boy as compensation for not being there to save his own wife and baby from a Mojave raiding party years earlier.

He lodges the youngster – “Bill” – with a local widow, Laura, whose daughter is deaf. Soon, sign language and shared loss deepen their friendship and begin his healing. Together, they stand firm against the town’s prejudices, led by the boorish Mayor Potter.

But just when Earl believes his life has turned a corner, and he is ready to embrace love for this new woman, he learns the truth about his lost family.
As his dark past threatens to return, Earl must face his own guilt and prejudice or risk losing everything all over again.

Can Earl overcome his past failings and face down danger?
Will Laura’s kindness and faith be repaid?
Can the boy’s mistakes be fixed?
Will love prevail?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75723601-signs-of-life?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=63vqqIPZAN&rank=2

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

SIGNS OF LIFE by Chris Towndrow is an engaging western historical fiction with romantic elements, friendship, family, and prejudice set in Arizona in 1878.

This story tells the tale of widower, Earl who lost his wife and infant son in an Indian raid and becomes an embittered man. When Earl and his friend find a boy in the desert, Earl is reluctant to help him especially when they discover the boy is deaf, but they do take him into the nearby town and to a widow, Laura, who has a deaf daughter.

As Earl fights not only his own prejudice, but the prejudice he discovers in town, he discovers a shocking fact about not only the boy they saved, but about the family he lost.

This is a very character driven story that is an entertaining read, but not quite what I was expecting. I was expecting more of a Zane Grey stylized story, but this book is written in short chapters like a modern-day thriller. The scenes of town life felt realistic, and the dialogue also felt appropriate to the period. Earl’s character growth and evolving emotions felt believable and his road to forgiveness is a major theme. All the other characters are well drawn and add depth to the story. I am an avid romance reader and there are romantic elements woven into this story, but I would not consider this a romance. It is a western fiction first with the romance leading to healing in Earl’s story arc.

Overall, an appealing character driven western historical fiction.

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Chris Towndrow – Author

Author Bio

Chris Towndrow has been a writer since 1991.

He began writing science fiction, inspired by Asimov, Iain M Banks, and numerous film and TV canons. After a few years creating screenplays across several genres, in 2004 he branched out into playwriting and has had several productions professionally performed. This background is instrumental in his ability to produce realistic, compelling dialogue in his books.

His first published novel was 2012’s space opera “Sacred Ground”. He then changed focus into “hard” sci-fi books, and the Enna Dacourt pentalogy was completed in 2023.

He has always drawn inspiration from the big screen, and 2019’s quirky romantic black comedy “Tow Away Zone” owes much to the film canon of the Coen Brothers. This has been his most well-received book to date, and spawned two sequels in what became the “Sunrise trilogy”.

His first historical fiction novel, “Signs Of Life”, was published by Valericain Press in 2023.

In 2023, Chris returns to his passion for writing accessible humour and will devote his efforts to romantic comedies. The first of these scripts is currently in development.

Chris lives on the outskirts of London with his family and works as a video editor and producer. He is a member of the UK Society of Authors.

Social Media Links

Website: www.christowndrow.co.uk

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChrisTowndrowAuthor

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TowndrowBooks

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/towndrowbooks