THE ARTISAN HEART by Dean Mayes-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date September 1, 2018

Hayden Luschcombe is a brilliant paediatrician living in Adelaide with his wife Bernadette, an ambitious event planner. His life consists of soul-wrenching days at the hospital and tedious evenings attending the lavish parties organized by Bernadette.

When an act of betrayal coincides with a traumatic confrontation, Hayden flees Adelaide, his life in ruins. His destination is Walhalla, nestled in Australia’s southern mountains, where he finds his childhood home falling apart. With nothing to return to, he stays, and begins to pick up the pieces of his life by fixing up the house his parents left behind.

A chance encounter with a precocious and deaf young girl introduces Hayden to Isabelle Sampi, a struggling artisan baker. While single-handedly raising her daughter, and trying to resurrect a bakery, Isabelle has no time for matters of the heart. Yet the presence of the handsome doctor challenges her resolve. Likewise, Hayden, protective of his own fractured heart, finds something in Isabelle that awakens dormant feelings of his own.

As their attraction grows, and the past threatens their chance at happiness, both Hayden and Isabelle will have to confront long-buried truths if they are ever to embrace a future.

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REVIEW: THE ARTISAN HEART by Dean Mayes is an adult, contemporary, stand alone romance story line focusing on ER paediatrician Dr. Hayden Luschcombe, and artisan baker Isabelle Sampi.

Told from third person perspective THE ARTISAN HEART, set in the small Australian town of Walhalla, follows Dr. Hayden Luschcombe in the wake of both personal and professional disasters. On forced leave from the hospital, Hayden returns to his hometown, searching for the peace that has long eluded our story line hero. An easy-going and well-respected paediatrician, Hayden Luschcombe, is lost and struggles to make sense of where it all went wrong. A welcome home by the locals is met with disdain by artisan baker Isabelle Sampi, a woman Hayden remembers from his childhood days. What ensues is the building relationship between Hayden and Isabelle, and the potential fall-out as Isabelle’s past comes looking for revenge, and Hayden’s past comes looking for a second chance.

On the surface, Hayden Luschcombe is the perfect man with the ability to do and fix anything with exception of his personal life. Years as a doormat for his ambitious wife pushes Hayden one final time until the realization of what was, and what will never be forces our hero back home. Isabelle Sampi is a struggling, single mother to a deaf, seven-year old daughter, a precocious child who captures Hayden’s attention from the very start. Isabelle remembers Hayden from their childhood days, memories that Isabelle had hoped to forget, along with a darkened past that threatens to her present and future.

THE ARTISAN HEART is a slow building story line and thusly a slow building romance. Family secrets are revealed; the past is revisited; lies, manipulation and revenge threaten our story line couple. THE ARTISAN HEART is a predictable story of family, love, betrayal and vengeance. The colorful people of Walhalla mean well but tend to gossip and know everybody’s business. Hayden’s wife Bernadette is nothing short of bitchy and manipulative, eliciting neither sympathy nor tears for her behavior and end result. The premise is enjoyable; the romance is sweet and affectionate; the characters are broken, real and uncomplicated.

Copy supplied by Netgalley

Reviewed by Sandy 

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When he emerged in 2010, Adelaide based Intensive Care Nurse and author Dean Mayes, had almost given up on the prospect of ever being published. by then in his 30’s with several abortive writing attempts under his belt, Dean believed he had missed his opportunity. But Dean had an idea for one last story he wanted to tell and, rather than allow it to wither and die in his imagination, he decided to blog it instead.

Quite unexpectedly, Dean’s blog took off and after a chance encounter with Canadian based publisher Central Avenue in mid 2009, Dean’s dream like tale about a young man who discovers he has taken on the memories and dreams of a complete stranger, became his first novel. Dean was signed to an initial two year contract and in 2010 “The Hambledown Dream” was published. The novel has since gone on to receive global attention and critical acclaim.

Dean set about penning a follow up novel that was not merely a repeat performance and in 2012 “Gifts of the Peramangk” a powerful Australian family saga. Chronicling a dysfunctional Aboriginal family in the struggle streets of Adelaide’s suburban fringe, “Gifts of the Peramangk” has been described as significant literary achievement. In October 2013, it was nominated as a finalist in the prestigious EPIC Awards for contemporary fiction.

Dean’s third feature length novel, a psychological thriller set in Melbourne called “The Recipient”, showcased his ability to cross genres and deliver a taut and gripping tome about a heart transplant patient who discovers her organ donor was a murder victim – and that the murder remains unsolved.

Dean is currently editing his fourth novel, a return to his romantic roots, called “The Artisan Heart”, which is scheduled for a September, 2018 release.

He lives in Adelaide, Australia with his partner Emily, their two children Xavier and Lucy. An Intensive Care Nurse with over 15 years of clinical experience in adult, paediatric and neonatal medicine, he can often be found lying on a hospital gurney at 3 in the morning with a notebook in hand, madly scribbling ideas while on his break.

Dean is represented by Michelle Halket and is published by Central Avenue Publishing of Vancouver, Canada.