One Last Love

By: Derek Haines

Narrated by: Harry Roger Williams III

When it comes to love, it's never too late....

Life has the habit of delivering its twists at the most unexpected times.

For Bonnie, his life had been lived, and the bittersweet memories of his wife, along with the neverending sorrow of losing his son so young remain with him, but they are now ebbing away slowly with the passing of the years. His days of love, warmth, and tenderness well past and all that is left is his last few quiet years to grow old. Alone, yet content.

What he had done, he had done and what had happened, had. All that remained was to live out the rest of his life in a new place, far away from his checkered past. His days passing with the regularity that an old man desires and deserves. Until the dark day arrives that signals an impending end to his new found life, and with it, all sense of hope.

In facing mortality, Bonnie resorts to using his crusty exterior and bravado to hide the frailty and fear he feels within himself - until he is presented with stark realities beyond his understanding and is forced to come face to face with his own prejudices and beliefs.

In meeting Danny and Angeline, Bonnie begins to reshape his thoughts about his acceptance of those he had habitually admonished, and of the bigoted life he has lived. While Charlie and his daughter Beatrice realign his set concepts of how he had habitually rushed to judge people too quickly.

However, it is only when Bonnie meets Madeleine that the most unexpected eventuality turns his hard held beliefs, and his very set views about life, people, and love, on their head.

©2012 Derek Haines (P)2018 Derek Haines

Story of Last Days

I got this ARC via audiobook boom and this is my voluntary review. This is a story about a man who has been given weeks to live and he revisits his past as well as makes up for some of the mistakes he has made by actually learning tolerance. He begins this journey as a bigot, racist, and all around dumb dude. As he travels through his days in hospice care and actually gets to meet many types of the people that he has hated most of his adult life he realizes how wrong he was to not get to know the people before bashing them. This book took me on a tour of Bonnie's life, failures, and success as well as his decisions made throughout his seventy plus years. This was an interesting journey of discovery. The narration was spot on.

Heartfelt

This is a heartwarming story of old people in the later days in life. It was so true that it was a fun one. The narrator did a good job.

This was just ok for me.

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

This is a heartwarming story about the end of life and the clarity that comes with age and perspective. The narrator has a nice sounding voice but there wasn't much variation in the voices he gave to the different characters. All in all, this was an alright listening experience.

Sweet story of end-of-life love.

I received this audiobook from AudioBoom in exchange for an honest review. The story was a gentle tale of a newcomer to a hospice interacting and coming to appreciate and love his fellow patients. I'm not familiar with either the author or the narrator, but I sensed from the vocabulary and names used that the author is not American. That is completely fine, but the narrator's voice for this book, at least, delivered an American accent, and I always find a disconnect between the language used and the accent a bit disconcerting. Otherwise I have no complaints. I don't regret the time I spent listening to One Last Love, but I'm unlikely to ever return for a re-listen or look for it in print.

Heartwarming

A story about people nearing the end of their lives. It was a heartwarming, fun story. Narration was good. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher and/or author and/or narrator in exchange for an honest review.

Kleenex please

I have a lot of mixed emotions about this one. Sad, but heartwarming. Coming to terms with death is the ultimate final joke on us all. The ending was bittersweet. I voluntarily listened to a free copy of this and am giving an honest review. The narrator did a great job.

Surprisingly poor narration from seasoned veteran

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Nice, "salty" story of old curmudgeon dying of cancer, finding love (or sex) again in his final days.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Sing-song quality to the entire narration. No differentiation between narrative and dialogue. Also, transitions, such as "he said" or "she asked" were spoken with the same intensity as the dialogue itself - very irritating. Narrator also tried to assume voices, as in mimicking women's voices or a judge's voice to very poor effect. Overall, surprisingly poor. I wanted to shake the narrator to stop him in midsentence and have him repeat it "more naturally." People don't talk that way!! Far too deliberate. I understand enunciation is critical - unless it's NOT. It's a judgment call. I would give the narrator 5 stars for enunciation - but many passages require less than stellar enunciation.

Was One Last Love worth the listening time?

I could not continue. The sing-song quality, and the lack of vocal variety and nuance aggravated me no end.

Love of a lifetime

Bonnie has been sent to hospice to live out his life. He discovers that he has lived a prejudice lifestyle and now has different views because of the people that he meet and begins to care about. He meets and falls for someone in his last days. Nice and sad but life changing. Good Narration

Good!

Heartwarming and unique - this is unlike any other story I've listened to and I really enjoyed it!

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. The fact that I was gifted this book had no influence over my opinion of it.

Touching Love Story.

Would you listen to One Last Love again? Why?

Yes........ but would wait for awhile to think about the many issues this wonderful short
book introduces to the reader.

What did you like best about this story?

It is very honest in presenting people who must face their mortality and the ultimate reality
of who they were in their life.

Have you listened to any of Harry Roger Williams III’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

He is a great performer ........... sensitive to whatever material he is presented with and giving a performance that translates the intentions of the Author.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

There is always time for love.

Any additional comments?

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.