M & Dee: A Wanderlust Love Story, based on True Events

by Marianne Madson

“Have I become a ghost? All I hear is whispers about me. I hear divorcee, adulteress whispered behind my back while you get high fives. Dee please tell me, you never told anyone… about Sam.”

The blurb above is from M and Dee, my groovy early seventies pop culture memoir.

The reviews describe M and Dee as an authentic sounding, groovy read, which it should because it really happened.

So, with that said, instead of me describing the book, below is what the readers have said about M and Dee.

"Ah, the 70s. This book captures well the free spirited, hitch-hiking, back-packing, train riding, grass smoking, free loving, relationship developing era of the early to mid-70’s. The story contains humor, insights, quirks, and romance, but in the end it is a tragedy of the most unusual kind. Don’t try to figure out the ending. You can’t."

"Groovy Baby, the characters developed nicely and it really had a good vibe to it and the language was very authentic."

“A modern day retelling of the classic star-crossed lovers tale,” Amazon review by a US reader.

“I loved this story and really got into the groovy 70s scene which was so poignantly depicted."

Great Read. Great Travel, Domestic Life, Friendship, Romance, Coming of Age, Biographical women's personal memoir

426 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 22, 2019

About the author

If I was a flower, I'd be called a late bloomer. While everyone I knew were absorbed with themselves. Getting married, settling down. I was absorbing life around me. I traveled, had multiple careers, met tons of people in all walks of life. I lived a bohemian life. Studying, living, working in five states, and one foreign country.

And this life of adventure can be seen in my writing.

Please give my books a read.

Reviews

[Brian Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this novel as a gift from a friend and I wanted to talk about why I enjoyed it. M & Dee is the story of a young man and woman who become friends and on a whim decide to backpack across Europe. As their adventure unfolds M & Dee find themselves falling in love and living as man and wife although they insist they are only "friends". After experiencing tragedy and unfaithfulness, M & Dee drift apart and pursue seperate lives all the while longing for one another. After some time has passed Dee attempts to reconnect with M but ultimately fails to rekindle their relationship. Then after sevceral years have passed M decides to reconnect with Dee only to learn that he has died of a terminal illness. This tragedy is compounded by a second revelation. (Not going to post a spoiler here. You really should read this book!)

Miss Madson has painted a vivid picture of life in the mid to late 70s and early 80s which fully transports the reader into the time period. Both caracters are likeable and believeable young adult characters who are still more kid that grownup. I found myself smiling and laughing along with M & Dee's happy moments and hurting for them as they experienced loss and drifted apart. While not completely sad this novel has a certain air of tragedy that makes it feel bitter sweet. While an easy read, this novel is one you will want to slow down and savor, like a box of German chocolates or a fine glass of scotch. Lastly I want to congradulate the author on writing a powerful romance without having to resort to a cliched happily after ending. The twist at the conclusion of this novel surprised me. I would not have guessed it and neither will you.

I recommend this novel to anyone looking for a good love story that is real and not saccrine.

[Anne-Marie Goyette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heart wrenching story of life and times gone by
Be sure you have tissue on hand as read this

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Complimentary copy of this book was received through Voracious Readers Only

I loved this story and really got into the groovy 70s scene which was so poignantly depicted. I felt great empathy for both M and Dee as traveling lovers and enjoyed riding alongside them through their European adventure.

My only criticism is the writing needs to be tidied up a bit as some of the grammar was poorly executed.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on true events and taking place in the early '70s, the story is written from the perspective of M (Maryanne). It follows her chance meeting and whirlwind romance with Dee as they decide to travel together in Europe. It's a straightforward, simple read with every day details of their travelling and interactions, whilst also touching upon the idea of soulmates and whether that's as ideal and as uncomplicated as expected. I probably would have given it 3 stars as in itself it's an engaging enough read but on the surface doesn't seem to have a huge amount of substance. However, there's just something about the vibe of the book that seemed to get to me - perhaps the nostalgic feel, the conflict between a life following expectation versus independence (not to mention love thrown into the mix to confuse matters further), the idea of meeting the right person at the wrong time, or lost time and opportunities. I found myself reading it all in a couple of sittings and I felt quite emotional by the end.

[Lauren B · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got a copy of this to review from Voracious Readers.
I really liked the premise of the story, but I found it hard to get through.
I think with an editor, and a bit more work, it would have been a great story. I just really struggled with all of the spelling and punctuation mistakes, and the sentence structure.

[Vivien Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book transports you back to the 70’s when back packing through Europe was a right of passage for the youth. Marianne (M) & Dee plan the trip on a whim. Having only just met, they bought a one-way ticket and a Eurail pass and figured the rest out on the way. It was a special time in life where innocence overruled common sense. The relationship between M & D is explored with Marianne having already been married and separated at a young age. Many aspects lead them to think they are soul mates but just can’t get the timing right. The story was very descriptive of life travelling as a backpacker at that time and I found this story to be authentic and carefree as those days surely were. The language used and the references were accurate to the time and brought back a lot of memories of a similar trip I did myself. I loved the nostalgia of this story and the ending certainly wasn’t what I expected.

Note - I received a complimentary copy of the book from the author via Voracious Readers Only

[Kelly Darbyshire · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had the potential to be beautiful coming of age set with the back down of 70s Europe, but I felt it lacking.

There are long repetitive conversations based in rented rooms, and key events are 1 liners, with no description or emotion.

I know this book is based on true events, but there could have been more artistic licence, where conversations happened in European places, e.g. Conversations linked to description of where they are visiting, to create mood mirroring how M and Dee are feeling.

Having the ARC version did not help, as there was so many basic spelling and grammatical errors it made it difficult to read.

The end left me equally disappointed, again it was brief and a key fact was a one liner.

Such a shame, I was looking forward to reading this!

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a defining tear jerker.

One second I was happy reading it and the next minute I either was sad or about to cry. It seemed real and their lives were progressing fast into a deep relationship that turned out magically. What a page turner this was. It all ended as sadly as it did and wasn't prepared for the ending to happen the way it did. What a very intriguing story. I would recommend this to anyone.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book in return for an honest review.


I received this book in return for an honest I like the fact this book was based on true events. However, I did find it hard to get into. For me personally it didn’t seem to flow very easily. It improved whilst they were travelling the ending was shocking for me.

[Cris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story of M & Dee, but I didn't enjoy the way the chapters went. It was more of a diary type story. And I felt it got a bit dull with all the chapters of everything they did. I was shocked how it ended.

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting book. I liked the 60s/70s vibe. I enjoyed there travels, it made up for being stuck at home. It's a very to touching story.