RELEASE DAY REVIEW: Bowling for Turkeys – Amy Lane

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Milo Tanaka was not recovering from the mother of all breakups when his best friend barged into his home and gave him a dog. While Julia the dog doesn’t like squirrels, cats, turkeys, other dogs, or most humans, at least she gets him out of bed.

When a tiny blond dog rockets out of nowhere to bark ferociously at Garth Potter’s enormous Daniff, "the Chad," Garth is annoyed, but Chad simply woofs in Julia’s face. But when Garth looks around for her irresponsible owner, he finds a fey panicky disaster desperately trying to keep his dog from getting eaten, and realizes Milo is simply new to dog ownership, not neglectful or cruel.

In fact, Milo is a truly decent guy, and he and his best friend have been struggling to find their footing in adulthood and relationships. As Garth befriends Milo and the irascible Julia, he finds himself entangled in Milo’s broken heart and fractured life. As much as Garth wants to fix it, he knows that Milo has to fix it himself. With the holidays approaching, Milo realizes that a good relationship won’t leave him isolated and afraid, but surrounded with friends, and that the key to thriving isn’t just chasing the turkeys out of his life—it’s letting a good man in.

Milo Tanaka is a sweet man, an introvert and a man who accepts he is worthless. His boyfriend Stuart has consistently verbally abused him, but Milo can’t see it the only thing he refuses to give up is his best friend since high school, Mariana (Mari). The friend that is always there for him.

When Stuart leaves Milo is inconsolable and has taken to his bed, forgetting to eat, shower, do dishes or laundry he just pines away until someone bangs on his door. Mari is there holding a dog yelling at Milo to get up and cleaning everything. It seems the dog named Julia is for him whether he likes it or not. Having the dog will be an excuse for him to get out of bed and out of the house.

It was at the park that Julia ran toward a huge dog that Milo was sure was going to eat her. Garth Potter and his dog Chad were taken aback by this little dog and Garth was upset till he saw the dog’s owner. Milo couldn’t apologize enough, and Garth was taken with the little man. That was the beginning of Garth and Milo’s story.

Milo is not a man who can deal with people and Garth is a man who is determined to change that. They keep meeting to walk their dogs together and Garth begins to have feelings for Milo, feelings he won’t proceed with since he realizes that Milo is hurting, and it is not the right time.

Little by little Milo begins to come out of his depression over his boyfriend leaving but still can’t accept the fact that Stuart was not the man he thought he was. Milo is so childlike and innocent that when Garth offers him friendship, he accepts it as a gift.

Milo’s parents kept putting him down, Stuart kept putting him down and Milo accepted it and believed he was in the wrong. Julia, Garth and Mari are they only ones that accept him for who he is and want to help him but unfortunately, nothing they do will help if Milo doesn’t begin to realize he is not worthless.

Such a beautiful story about a man who accepts abuse as if he deserves it. Although the abuse is never physical it is harmful to a person, leaving them emotionally destroyed. Reading Milo’s story was sad but watching as he tries to overcome was uplifting.