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Schindler's work deserves
high praises, October 27,
2009
Brian's wife is cheating on him. His
job is going no where. He's no longer
angry. He's void of his emotions. But
then something happens, something
nearly tragic. Now, thanks to the
wonderful world of technology and a
little thing called Google, Brian has
a chance at love again...a love he
thought he'd lost forever. But
everything he holds dear now is about
to be sabotaged when he seeks his love
out. Can he confront this daring
problem or will he be destined to a
life that is destroyed?? Will he get
his second chance at love and
happiness?
Steven Schindler is a talented author,
although I must say that his plot
doesn't fit what I normally read.
However, I thoroughly enjoyed this
novel of twists and mystery mixed with
a bit of love! Truly an author who
will be on the best sellers list if he
keeps writing novels like this!
I highly recommend this novel to all
those who enjoy twists and turns of a
great mysteriously romantic novel with
surprise endings! Schindler definitely
had me holding on to the story while I
got to know the characters and their
personalities, and I didn't want to
put it down! I can't wait to read more
books by Steven Schindler! Schindler's
work deserves high praises and two
thumbs up while it climbs the list for
bestselling novelist! |
Brilliant Author, September
8, 2009
This book's author was new to me, so I didn't
know what I would find or how I would like his
writing. But to my surprise, I found a gifted
writer. His story of Brian DeLouise is one
filled with romance, mystery, suspense, and
danger, with a little humor thrown in. The lead
character gets a second chance at love, but also
must confront evil.
This is a book that is superbly written,
exciting, and unforgettable. It is one that I
will read again.
"THOROUGHLY ENJOYABLE! A GOOD
READ!"- The Madera Tribune
IT WILL MAKE YOU BELIEVE IN SECOND CHANCES
By Gail
Pruszkowski Ezine Articles
Have you ever wondered what happened to a
past love, maybe you have even gone so far as to
search for them on the internet? We have all
wondered what might have been, and how different
our lives might be if our paths had not gone in
different directions. On The Bluffs by Steven
Schindler is the story of a man who finds a lost
love and risks everything to keep it. The novel
explores this question in an entertaining story
of relationships, romance and mystery, with a
dash of humor thrown in for good measure.
Brian DeLouise is a radio producer in
Washington, DC. He works double shifts while his
cheating spouse, Frances, looks for his
replacement. An image on the internet reminds
him of a lost love and brings on regrets. Twenty
years ago, he and Portia met when he worked
summer theatre at her mother's house in North
Hampton. He fell in love but at the end of the
summer Portia took a trip abroad and he never
heard from her again. A few clicks on Google and
he discovers her mother's house on the bluffs is
still there. He's stuck in a loveless marriage
and laid off from his job - what does he have to
lose? Brian finds more than he bargained for
when he takes a trip to the coast. The mansion
is falling apart, the family is dysfunctional
and their geriatric boarders have their own set
of problems but Brian finds the love of his life
and is determined not to lose her again. He
gives in to Frances' demands so he can get a
quick divorce but Portia is keeping secrets that
threaten to separate them forever.
Schindler sets his scene well. He makes you
feel like you are right there whether it's in DC
or North Hampton. The character of Brian is
fully fleshed out and I got a real sense of who
he is. I loved Portia but I had trouble
understanding why she disappeared as a young
woman and I would have liked to know more about
the villain and what made him such a creep.
Despite those minor flaws, I loved the story.
The plot was original, full of clever twists and
turns and very engrossing. It's a story that
will make you believe in second chances.
"Reading at the
Beach" Book Reviews- Brian
DeLouise is a laid off radio producer from
Wahington, DC. He's married to Frances, who
cheats and wants out of the marriage, as soon as
she can find his replacement. One day while he's
on the computer, he sees an image that reminds
him of Portia, a girl from his past who he's
lost contact with. With a little research via
Google, he finds her mother. So he heads of to
find Portia and see if they can rekindle their
lost love. I found this to be an exciting read.
I would have liked one of the characters to be
more well developed, but the rest were so well
written it was like reading about someone you
know. The way they interact with each other is
wonderful. The flow of the book is so enjoyable
to read, you won't want to put it down. It's
full of humor, romance, dysfunction and
situations that many readers will be able to
relate to. It is a definite page turner. If
you've ever thought about a lost love and wanted
to find out if you could have a second chance,
read this book. It might...or might not, change
your mind
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enjoyable, September 11,
2009
Many people go through a mid-life crisis and
wonder what might have been, and Brian DeLouise
is no different. In Steven Schlinder's novel
"On the Bluffs", Brian is in a
loveless marriage, loses his job at a radio
station and starts to think about the girl he
loved when working in summer stock over twenty
years ago. One thing leads to another and he is
off searching for her. This book is filled with
romance, dysfunction and humor. A very enjoyable
book indeed. |
AMAZON.COM'S #1 REVIEWER HARRIET KLAUSNER GIVES ON
THE BLUFFS 4 out of 5 STARS!
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entertaining character study, August
30, 2009
Middle aged Brian DeLouise knows where he went
wrong as his stomach protrudes and his hairline
recedes. His only fun is fantasy baseball as he
has not had sex with his wife Frances in over
two years; and for the most part when they did
have sex over their two decades or so marriage
it was perfunctory as neither brought any energy
to the boudoir. Frances has found pleasure in
the arms of other men.
Frances asks for divorce claiming everything as
her hers just when Brian prevents a mugger from
robbing a couple at a time he also lost his job
as Night Hawks producer. Depressed he looks back
to the most wonderful summer of his life. The
one just before he impregnated and married
Frances, who lost the child she was carrying.
That summer on Cape Cod, Brian worked summer
theater where he met and fell in love with
Portia Smart. With nothing to hold him in the DC
area, Brian decides to find the love of his
life.
This is an entertaining character study of a man
who married the wrong woman though he did it for
a noble reason. The story line starts a bit slow
as the audience ponders why Brian stays married
to a man-eater, but picks up considerably when
he meets Portia and her daughter. Although
Frances is a stereotype who ends up with
everything as Brian believes it is worth the
cost to get her totally out of his life, fans
will enjoy this fine second chance at love if
Brian and Portia take that key risk of admitting
their feelings especially with her daughter
nay-saying him.
Harriet Klausner
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Brian DeLouise is at a point in his middle-aged
life where something’s got to change. His wife is
cheating on him and he has just lost his job as a
producer for a controversial talk-radio show. His
only joy is his fantasy baseball leagues.
After a life-altering encounter with a would-be
mugger, Brian finds himself yearning for the past, a
time when he was truly happy. His fondest memory is
the summer he worked in a theatre on Cape Cod, where
he met the first love of his life, Portia Smart.
Brian gives in to his daydreams and decides to do an
internet search for Portia, discovering that the
Smart family still owned the old mansion where Brian
roomed that long-ago summer. Have nothing to lose,
Brian packs up his car and heads to the Cape where
he will discover whether life has waited for him to
return, or passed him by.
Portia has taken over running the family theatre,
and cares for her elderly mother and two ancient
boarders, as well as her teenaged daughter in the
crumbling old mansion on the bluffs overlooking the
Cape. Life has been tough for the Smart family, but
they preserve. When Brian shows up, searching for
Portia, she is alarmed at first, but then realizes
that fate has brought him back into her life at a
time when she needs a strong shoulder to lean on.,
But will the many family secrets Portia harbors be
too much for this fledgling re-connection to work?
With “On The Bluffs,” author Steven Schindler
delivers an engaging novel that will appeal to
mature readers. He captures the longings of middle
age with heart-wrenching clarity, answering the
questions of “what if?” in emotional and
realistic terms. His characters are interesting and
engaging, and the storyline is fast paced enough to
hold interest without racing through the details
that make the novel a pleasure to read.
By Reviewer/Blogger Wendy's Minding Spot
ON THE BLUFFS is a romance, mystery, and a journey
for a middle-aged man who is finally growing up to
live his life the way he wants to. Mr. Schindler spins
a yarn so rich and full of vitality, that the pages
almost turn themselves. The characters are unique,
well-developed, and the repartee' between them is
sometimes tender and witty. I fully recommend reading
ON THE BLUFFS. It's not your normal coming of age
novel, but your age of understanding novel. I look
forward to reading more of Mr. Schindler's work in the
future.
By Reviewer/Blogger Silvia Reads
This is the first book I read by this author
and I am looking forward to read more books from
Steven Schindler. It was hard for me to put this book
down for a few minutes. I just wanted to keep on
reading, finding out what happened next. ON THE BLUFFS
is very well written, I loved the characters, they are
so believable and makes you think you know them.
Definitely a must read.
By "MyBlog2.0"
On the Bluffs was a fast endearing read that once I
got into the story, I was hard pressed to put down.
There were laugh out loud moments and teary eyed
moments. It deals with the mysteries of life and a
renewal of love. I highly recommend this book to
lovers of chick-lit, I don't believe you'll be
disappointed.
Great book, not to be missed, August
26, 2009
This is the first book that I have read by Steven
Schindler and it certainly will not be the last. From
beginning to end, this was a great read. It is a book
which is very hard to put down once you get started( as
for myself, I read it in one sitting). The book is full
of great wit, clever twists and turns and totally
believable characters. I can see nothing but bigger and
better things for Mr. Schindler. If you want to read a
fantastic writer at the top of his game, this is the
book for you. Highly recommended! This is a must read.
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Can You Ever Go Back?, August 19,
2009
When you find someone to love, make sure you fight to
keep her... Or so seems to be the moral of On the Bluffs
by Steven Schindler! Once you read Brian DeLouise's
story, I think you will agree!
Portia had been Brian's lover when they had met during a
summer at Cape Cod. Even then Brian had been trying to
make his way into the entertainment field by working at
the summer theatre held there each year. His time with
her was precious and genuine, but at the end of the
season, Portia had gone overseas.
Brian went back home where Frances quickly seduced him,
got pregnant and then lost it, but continued on with him
into marriage. During most of the marriage, and
especially during the latter years, Frances had cheated
on him. Her defense was that he knew she liked to party
when he married her, so...
For whatever reasons, Brian had stayed in the marriage,
until Frances asked for a divorce...
Interestingly, about that time Brian had become a hero
for acting quickly when a mugger had attempted to rob
two couples leaving a party...a hero, except in his
wife's eyes!
And then there was the fact that he was fired from work!
It was not surprising that Brian started looking
backward to happier days... And Cape Cod... And
Portia...
With nothing holding him home, given that Frances was
already working to ensure she got to keep the house as
she scalped (and I do mean scalped...every single hair!)
Brian in the divorce he was now anxious to have
finalized!
Can you go back? Frankly the first part of the book was
tedious for me, totally personal since I, being single,
have my own opinions as to what should be allowed in a
marriage to make it worth staying. Yes! Brian should
have never married the woman!
On the other hand, I loved Portia!
As advertised, this novel is sometimes fun, sometimes
sad, but altogether a quite unique love story that
deserves attention. You just have to sympathize with
Brian and be grateful that he finally took that trip
backwards in life!
The thing that bugs me, though, is...Frances winding up
with all the loot! Would have preferred this lady maybe
met with an accident? Yes, if you love to hate
soap-opera femme fatales, then On The Bluffs by Steven
Schindler is especially for you!
G. A. Bixler
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Great read for the beach!, August 12, 2009
Steve Schindler just keeps getting better. "On the
Bluffs" is his best work yet. I took it to Hawaii and
finished it in 2 days! Great story, wry humor, and an
action-packed ending that's going to make it tough to put down.
Now I'm going to go back and read "Sewer Balls" again! |
5.0
out of 5 stars The
Thrill of a Good Read, July 29, 2009
I'm not going to summarize the novel's plot here. The book's description
and the other reviewers have already done that admirably. Here's what I
want to say...
If you miss the joy of reading a good story, of being inside a character's
journey of personal discovery, of being transported to another time and
place... all through the alchemy of good storytelling -- then you'll love
Steve Schindler's latest novel, "On the Bluffs".
Mr. Schindler has an uncanny way of drawing you into his characters and
their lives. Like all great writers he makes you feel as if you're
there... as a participant in the unfolding story. The reading is
effortless; indeed reading "On the Bluffs" is like watching a
good movie. The novel has it all -- humor, mystery, romance, good vs evil,
and grace (yes, grace... for Mr. Schindler's lead characters are so real,
so present that you experience their lives with an empathy that transcends
the written word). It's like falling into another world. You care about
the characters because they are real.
Look, I know people have stopped reading novels. Everyone is too busy with
texting and tweeting and watching stupid reality TV show and fretting
about the economy to read books anymore. But believe me... take the time
to buy and read "On the Bluffs". It's just good old-fashion
storytelling by one of America's best (and temporarily, least known)
writers.
I loved "On the Bluffs" and I'm sure you will, too. Buy it, read
it and tell your friends to do the same. The world needs to know about
this gifted American storyteller; not so much for his sake, but for ours.
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4.0
out of 5 stars ON
THE BLUFFS, July 26, 2009
"A ship passed beyond the lighthouse and as his mind raced with
possibilities, eventualities, realities, and fatalities, he knew he
wouldn't jump the next tramp steamer to somewhere far from hereÂ..."
***** Mid-life crisis is the point of departure for Steven
Schindler's latest examination of the prices paid for simply doing
the right thing. Filled with turns both comic and tragic, ON THE
BLUFFS begins as a journey along the road not taken. Washington, DC
radio producer Brian DeLouise is a middle-age guy trapped in
mid-level job and a middling marriage. When both the job and the
marriage collapse, Brian packs up his mini-van and points it north,
headed for the rocky seacoast of Cape Cod and Portia, the love that
Brian left behind twenty years earlier. Once there, locked in a
dilapidated mansion with a dysfunctional family and their odd
assortment of boarders, Brian becomes embroiled in small town
familial secrets and lies as he steps in and steps up in ways that
would send lesser men back out on the road. A rumination on remorse
and redemption, ON THE BLUFFS is one middle-aged man's journey out
of adolescence.
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5.0
out of 5 stars A
Hero Awakens, July 22, 2009
People bluff their way through life far more often than they
realize. It's a survival tactic, and ironically enough the people
we bluff most often are ourselves. Sometimes, however, a pivotal
event can force us to quit bluffing and confront painful facts
that we're more comfortable ignoring. For Brian DeLouise,
protagonist in Steven Schindler's newest novel "On the
Bluffs," such an event forces him to face up to the
unhappiness of a loveless, unfaithful wife and a dead-end job. In
so doing, he takes charge of his life, seeks out the remote
possibility of reclaiming a lost love, and confronts ruthless
adversaries, bluffing where necessary but no longer to himself. In
so doing he surmounts bluffs both literal and figurative that
prove to be far greater challenges than he realized.
Schindler has won acclaim for the uncompromising honesty and humor
of his previous works "Sewer Balls," "From the
Block," and "From Here to Reality," each of which
presents a hero seeking to thrive amid dangerous first-time
opportunities. Now, in "On the Bluffs," Schindler tells
a story that will resonate with everyone who has ever longed for a
second chance in life.
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"On the Bluffs" commanded my attention!,
July 19, 2009
From Washington D.C. to Cape Cod, the twisting roads mirror
imaged the contorted account of Brian DeLouise and those closest
to him. His search for something else, someone else, leads him
on a journey to find a lost lover from two decades before. This
brings him to The Cape.
The story mix is fantastic, the characters are so well described
and they intertwine with each other commendably.
The author interjects life to this amusingly suspense-filled
novel.
I could not put the book down for one minute.
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A NOVEL THAT WOULD MAKE O.HENRY PROUD, August
9, 2009
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RHN(Covina,
California United States) - |
Finished reading "ON THE BLUFFS" and, in the
grand tradition of "FROM HERE TO REALITY"( Mr
Schindler's 3rd novel ), "ON THE BLUFFS" is a
spell-binding, mystery anticipative reading of the
highest order. The novel is full of wit, warm
characterizations, and clever twists that would make O.
Henry proud!!!
The character of Brian DeLouise is on a quest of
self-realization, and, along the way, inadvertently
finds himself on the hero's quest much like " THE
HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES " as written by the late
Joseph Campbell. This story is told with empathy and,
more importantly, believeability relative with our own
lives. Whom amongst us has has not crossed that
threshold where we would like to take the chance at
changing the direction and paths life leads us on? Thru
Mr.Schindler's story telling, we can vicariously take
that path without doing so in reality. But becareful my
friends, lest you find yourself taking the same chances
Brian DeLouise takes, but in your life!!!
A must read!!!!! |
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