Reviewed By Donna
TITLE: Dandy’s Little Girl
AUTHOR: Ari McKay
PUBLISHER: Torquere Press
LENGTH:103 Pages
BLURB: Five years after losing his partner, Noah Coleman lets Andy Lane into his life and the life of his daughter, Emily. Emily and Andy obviously adore one another, but can Noah handle it when his feelings of friendship for Andy become something more?
REVIEW:
It was the title of this story that first caught my attention. I have asoft spot for stories with little kids. The down side to that is fictional children can be damn annoying when not written well. It’s pretty hit and miss. Nothing is worse than a six year old who still speaks like a baby or a three year old who sounds like they could address parliament. Thankfully Ari McKay gets it just right and I really enjoyed this story about two old highschool acquaintances reconnecting after so many years.
Andy was a great character. He could have been a little too perfect but we’re given a very plausible backstory to explain why he has such a positive outlook on life. He’s definitely one of those “appreciate what you have” type people.
Noah was harder to get a feel for but I loved the scenes between him and his daughter.
The chemistry between Andy and Noah was perhaps a little lacking but I didn’t find that to be too detrimental to the story. The story was more about the two men and the little girl coming together as a family rather than Andy and Noah getting their sexy groove on. To be honest, I prefer less sex in my reading these days anyway.
The men first start getting together as friends and I liked the way they slowly built towards more, though that was always Andy’s goal.
The conflict felt a little contrived and maybe even unnecessary. I’m a firm believer that short stories don’t usually need some major conflict that breaks up the characters relationship. Actually, breakup scenes are a hard sell for me in any length book but especially the shorter ones.
This book has one of those- however many years later, happily ever after epilogues, that I always hear people complain are not needed. Well, maybe they’re not needed but I’m a sucker for them. I loved the epilogue and the closure it gave the story.
Kudos to the author for an awesome name for Alex’s band and a great big tick for the cover. That picture would have caught my attention even if I hadn’t been reviewing this book.
Overall I’d definitely say I enjoyed my first Ari McKay experience.
RATING: 