Romance/Memoir
Title: Feels Like the First Time
Author: Shawn Inmon
Date Published: 9/5/12
September,
1975: Shawn meets Dawn, his one true love, when she moves into the
vacant house next door. Many people spend their life searching in vain
for happiness, but he was lucky; finding it at the age of fifteen.
February 1979: Forbidden to see each other and feeling he is harming her by being in her life, he walks away from the love of his life, apparently forever.
December, 2006: After decades of sadness and mourning the girl that got away, he has a chance meeting with her that might change his life forever… again. Can the sweet bond of first love not only survive, but flourish?
Feels Like the First Time lets you share in the magic of young love in small town America in the 1970s. No matter how much the world changes, some things – timeless music, high school dances, making out in the backseat of a Chevy Vega, and of course true love – will always remain the same.
February 1979: Forbidden to see each other and feeling he is harming her by being in her life, he walks away from the love of his life, apparently forever.
December, 2006: After decades of sadness and mourning the girl that got away, he has a chance meeting with her that might change his life forever… again. Can the sweet bond of first love not only survive, but flourish?
Feels Like the First Time lets you share in the magic of young love in small town America in the 1970s. No matter how much the world changes, some things – timeless music, high school dances, making out in the backseat of a Chevy Vega, and of course true love – will always remain the same.
MY REVIEW:
I really do not understand parents who dislike a boyfriend, forbid a couple to see one another, point the finger and say he is manipulative, and then they lie to their daughter and manipulate her themselves! That is just so not right! And it is so very sad! To further complicate and confuse the issues at hand, the couple then fails to communicate and each assumes a truth that does not exist. I am sure that Shawn and Dawn are not the only couple that has gone through this; but it is such an unnecessary part of the journey to happiness.
This memoir was written in part to help Shawn sort through the events that led to their separation and then reunion thirty some odd years later. It also served as a means to communicate his continued love for his high school sweetheart. I am sure there was some divine intervention that kept his love alive and rekindled her love for him. Interestingly enough, for Shawn...his first two marriages failed, as did Dawn's first marriage...they were destined to find fulfillment with one another and the early substitutions were destined to fail.
I found this book a fast and easy read. It was such a retro trip into the seventies and it was fun to revisit the music of the decade and the mindset of the teenagers. I was so there with them. And of course I was cheering the couple on from the start. I loved that they were not embittered by what had transpired when they were young and throughout their many years apart. It was what it was and with their maturity, they were able to balance it all out with proper perspective and appreciation for one another.
I wish we could all have a love so long lasting and true. I am sincerely happy for Mr and Mrs Inmon. I hope he continues to write as the writing style was quite good and fluent. I think this book proves that truth is stranger than fiction.
Shawn Inmon
Shawn Inmon is originally from Mossyrock
Washington, where his first book Feels Like the First Time is set. He
has been a real estate broker in Enumclaw Washington for the last twenty
years. Prior to that, he worked as a short-order cook, travelling
T-shirt salesman, radio DJ, Cutco Cutlery sales rep, department store
buyer, video store manager, crab fisherman, Kirby vacuum cleaner
salesman, business consultant and public speaker. He is married to his
high school sweetheart Dawn and has five daughters, five grandchildren
and two chocolate labs named Hershey and Sadie.
CONTACT
Purchase Links
GUEST POST:
Every Life is a Story
I met Dawn, the love
of my life, when she moved into the house next door the year I turned fifteen.
She was three years behind me in school, so it took some time to realize that I
loved her. For us, friendship came first. We spent hundreds of hours, sitting
in the grass between our two houses, laughing, teasing and supporting each
other through the trials of being teenagers in small-town America in the 1970s.
By the end of my junior year in high school, I knew I loved her, but it took
until mid-way through my senior year before I let her in on the secret.
One short year
later, we had made a lifetime commitment to each other, but had also been
banned from seeing each other by her parents. I said good-bye to Dawn, I
thought forever, on Valentine’s Day 1979. Although I never stopped loving her,
I didn’t see her again until December 1st, 2006. When I did run into
her again, completely by accident, it shook my world to its foundations.
After these events
transpired, I began to realize that it was a story, and I wrote my book Feels Like the First Time. Now, after
writing and publishing my own story, I have talked to dozens of people who said
they related to our story of first love and lost love. Through these
conversations, I have realized that every life is a story. Some are romances,
some are action-adventure stories, and at least a few are comedies, but every
life has a story arc.
With the changes in
publishing over the last decade, telling that story has never been easier. When
I first started writing Feels Like the
First Time in 2006, I was intent on going to traditional publishing route –
looking for an agent and trying to “sell” my story to a publishing house. By
the time I finished it, I decided not to send out even a single query letter.
The idea of being my own publisher had become too appealing to think of turning
my own life story over to a stranger.
It was a steep
learning curve for me, but I enjoyed every step in learning about editing,
proofreading, cover design and interior book layout. It’s possible to do these
things yourself, or you can hire professionals to do it for you. Before you get to that step though, you’ve
got to write. And then write some
more, and still more. Because I was an inexperienced writer, I wrote over two
dozen drafts of Feels Like the First Time
before I was ready to hire an editor to look at it.
I also recommend a
thick skin. When I turned in the first draft of my story, it was over 100,000
words. When I hit “publish” five months later, it was 66,000 words. And that
was after I’d already done dozens of
revision on my own. Through the editing process, I kept a single mantra in the
forefront of my brain: Whatever makes the
book better. When you’re writing about your own life, it’s tough, but it’s
good to get as much ego out of the way as you can.
Until you’ve done it
the first time, the idea of sitting down and writing a book can be intimidating. That’s why I don’t recommend that. Instead,
try just recreating various memories from your life, and telling them as
stories. Write about your first kiss, or your first car, or when you lost
someone close to you. Eventually, you
may see a pattern emerging in those stories and a book might be in there,
begging to be let out. Feels Like the
First Time started as a series of emails between my oldest sister and I. It
wasn’t until we had been exchanging those emails for two years that either of
us realized it was a book.
Everyone has a story
to tell, and it’s never been easier to share your story with the rest of the
world.
Shawn Inmon is a husband and father, as well as a writer, Real Estate
Broker, and member of KISS II, The Original KISS Tribute band. If you’d like to
know what happened after he ran into Dawn in 2006, the
answers are all in Feels Like the First
Time, available in both Kindle and paperback on Amazon.
For additional Reviews & Perspectives, please follow our tour schedule below:
This Virtual Book Tour will be from October 22 - November 23
October 22 - Reading Addiction Blog Tours - PROMO
October 23 - Paulette's Papers - Guest Post/PROMO
October 24 - My Devotional Thoughts - Guest Post/PROMO
October 26 - Snifferwalker - Review/Guest Post
October 27 - Up All Night Reviews - Guest Post/PROMO
October 29 - TE Garden of Books - Review/Guest Post
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November 5 - Lov Liv Life Reviews - Guest Post/PROMO
November 8 - My Reading Addiction - Review
November 11 - My Cozie Corner - Review
November 18 - Books, Books, and More Books - Guest Post/PROMO
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November 20 - Reader Girls - Guest Post/PROMO
November 20 - The Solitary Bookworm - Guest Post/PROMO
November 21 - Beth Art From the Heart - Review/Guest Post
November 21 - Bunnies Reviews - PROMO
November 20 - Books, Books, the Magical Fruit - PROMO
November 22 - Laurie's Thoughts and Reviews - Interview/PROMO
November 22 - Kimmie's Bookshelf - PROMO
November 22 - Oh! The Books You'll Read - Review
November 22
November 23 - The Reviewing Shelf - Review/Guest Post
November 23 - Kaisy Daisy's Blog - Review
November 23 - My Bookmark Blog - Review
November 23 - Oh, Chrys! - Review
November 23
Disclosure of Material Connection: I am a member of Reading Addiction Blog Tours and a copy of this book was provided to me by the author. Although payment may have been received by Reading Addiction Blog Tours, no payment was received by me in exchange for this review. There was no obligation to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are entirely my own and may not necessarily agree with those of the author, publisher, publicist, or readers of this review. This disclosure is in accordance with the Federal Trade Commision’s 16 CFR, Part 255, Guides Concerning Use of Endorcements and Testimonials in Advertising*
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