Flash and Dazzle by Lou Aronica

Flash and Dazzle.  Lou Aronica. The Story Plant.  November 2013. 288 pp. e-book. ISBN #: 9781611880694.

Flash and Dazzle are two guys lucky enough to find each other not only as great colleagues but who also become best friends or soul mates who supposedly know each other’s thoughts before they are thought and who bring out the best in each other.  Their friendship is uniquely remarkable, but their future is about to become even more so in the most unexpected way possible.  Flash is a copywriter and Dazzle is an art director in a small but well-known ad agency.  Reading about how they bounce ideas off each other until they come up with brilliant ad campaigns is fascinating stuff and even humorous because of their antics and light style with it all.  They are no lightweights in the industry, however; and Flash is very, very surprised when another opportunity arises for him to work elsewhere, without Daz, his best buddy. 

Flash will be wined and dined, interviewed, cosseted with a perky weekend trip set to woo him but with one unexpected caveat that stuns him.  That won’t be the ultimate stunner, however, as he doesn’t realize that the recent brief illnesses of Daz are much more serious, in fact devastating.

It’s after discovering Daz’s problem that the real sharing about life and life’s changes suddenly become devastatingly real and poignant beyond words.  In the process he meets Daz’s sister and the three discuss numerous serious and hilarious memories that forged their personalities into the capable and admirable people they have become.

Secrets and fantasies fill the mix as the three friends work their way through exotic meals, movies and music while awaiting the ultimate challenge of change.  There are potent moments that are depicted in a very real way without being maudlin or exaggerated.  A deep respect for the vivaciousness of life fills every page and the prospect of change heightens each moment’s precious value.

Flash and Dazzle, like so many of Lou Aronica’s other novels, is a dynamic contemporary novel that readers will for sure find fully engaging and worthwhile reading.  Lou Aronica is a talented writer who uses subtlety rather than explicit description to depict the normalcy, quirkiness and fluctuations of honest characters.  Terrific writing and reading!

The Forever Year by Lou Aronica

The Forever Year. Lou Aronica. Fiction Std. January 2013. 366 pp. pbk. Also available as e-book. ISBN #: 9781936558360.

Jessie, the youngest sibling in his family, now in his 30s and still feeling ignored or tolerated as the “baby” of the family, shocks the family.  His Mom has passed away and his Dad, Mickey, is elderly and starting to be forgetful. The turning point happens when he leaves a pot on a turned-on stove and proceeds to sit in the living room and fall asleep.  The fire makes all of his adult children realize he is now in danger if left to live by himself.  So they have a family meeting where the toss-up is between their father living in an assisted living home or nursing home, though he’s physically fit for his age. So what a surprise when Jessie volunteers to have his Dad live with him. 

Jessie at first realizes how quickly his idea was rather “romantic” in nature, a chance to finally be seen and heard as he is and not just an extra who never really connected to his father, a chance at closeness.  But as future pages show, the glamor of the idea is quickly paling and the tension is rife with repeated misunderstandings or assumptions about each other that are far from reality.  But that’s about to change when it’s Jessie’s turn to get shocked by getting to know the man he never understood was capable of being a “lover” outside of his role of father.  This is even more interesting given Jessie’s present belief about there being a “true” love that lasts forever – no don’t assume you know how this will turn out because you can’t do the usual prediction for this story!

The reader will read about Mickey’s great love before Jessie’s mother came into the picture. It is said that everyone gets only “one” true love, and Mickey’s lesson to Jessie has to do is risking it all to make that happen, no matter what the eventual outcome. 

The Forever Year is biting and sweet story at the same time.  It’s sweet romantic fiction with a tad of the Nicholas Sparks but without the soppy quality of the latter; and thus the entire tale seems more realistic and endearing!  Nicely done, Lou Aronica!