Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

An unconventional reality television series contestant tells his side of the ordeal. Retired restaurateur Turner was 72 when the inaugural episodes of ABC’sGolden Bachelor aired in 2023. Widowed from his longtime wife, who had been his teenage sweetheart, he ultimately applied for the show’s senior spinoff version after realizing how much he truly needed “to move on after forty-three years of a wonderful marriage.” In amiable, conversational prose, the author retraces his bucolic early years growing up in the rural Midwest with hardworking parents. He met his late wife, Toni, in high school, and their youthful whirlwind romance resulted in a solid marriage and two daughters, despite early financial challenges that caused him to forgo law school and embrace restaurant management. His televised search for a wife and soulmate began in the bachelor mansion in Los Angeles, where he was greeted by 22 zesty, eligible women with whom he shared weeks of melodramatic confessions, adventurous compatibility test dates, romantic hometown visits, and a “gut-wrenching” succession of rose ceremonies (often recorded in long overnight sessions). “Instead of Mr. Right, I felt like the villain, or the executioner releasing the rope on a guillotine,” he admits. Turner details all the connections, mishaps, and dating dilemmas with a smoothly written mixture of honesty and emotional maturity. From his first kiss with smitten contestant Theresa Nist, to another woman’s crushingly unexpected departure, to a marriage proposal in Costa Rica, Turner writes frankly about his regrets from the show, his newly uncovered bone marrow cancer, and, to fans’ delight, the intricacies and delicacies of the show’s “illusions of grandeur.” He also includes the shockingly sharp edges of his new marriage to Theresa, which ended in divorce after only three months. Despite that, his performance was enough to secure future installations of the spinoff, but for now, Turner writes that his focus will remain on his health and on being a proud grandfather and single father. An honest, if bittersweet, reality TV confessional. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Publishers Weekly
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Turner recounts his stint on The Golden Bachelor in this affable memoir. Three years after his wife of 43 years died, Turner applied for the show at the urging of his daughters and got the gig. Here, he focuses primarily on his experiences filming the show, marrying (and then divorcing) winner Theresa Nist, and navigating the inevitable backlash that comes with the reality TV spotlight. Turner’s at his best when cataloging the emotional vertigo of having his first dates in decades be produced for millions of viewers: “As I slipped on a new crisp shirt and my Italian loafers for whatever insane mode of transportation awaited me,” he writes, “I constantly reminded myself that I was a Midwestern bumpkin living the fantasy life of someone much richer and more fabulous.” Though his aw-shucks tone mostly charms, readers may wish for a more candid approach in sections covering the contentious public reception to his and Theresa’s 2024 divorce. Still, fans of the show will be thrilled by the peeks inside the reality TV circus. It adds up to a sweet testament to the difficulties and rewards of searching for love late in life. Agent: Joe Veltre, Gersh Agency. (Nov.)