Reviewed by Vicki
TITLE: Life’s a Beach
SERIES: Coconut Cove #1
AUTHOR: Poppy Dennison
PUBLISHER: Wilde City Press
LENGTH: 24,373 words
BLURB:
Welcome to Coconut Cove where you’ll always find oiled beach bodies, palm trees, tropical drinks, and plenty of drama!
Coconut Cove is the hottest new sensation to sweep the nation — a gay teen drama filled to the brim with hot stars and even hotter action. It’s catching the public’s attention and winning their hearts. But all the drama, heartache, and life lessons aren’t just for the characters on the screen. The fledgling actors behind the scenes have more than their fair share of love and catastrophes. They may only play teens on TV but when it comes to romance, these twenty-somethings still have lessons to learn.
From the scheming ex determined to cash in on a rising star, to the hunky high school crush resurrected from ancient history—from the nice guy with a naughty past, to the snarky diva with attitude—there’s plenty of scandalous hidden affairs and seriously sexy demons hiding in just about everyone’s closet on Coconut Cove.
You just have to be ready to drink it in. Bottoms up … or should we say off?
REVIEW:
Coconut Cove is a new teen drama television show, featuring primarily gay characters. It is filmed in Key West, the gay mecca of Florida. The newest star to join the cast is 28 year old Flynn Wright, who plays 16 year old Mack. Flynn’s agent has landed him this job at the perfect time. He’s just finished his role on a show, and ended his sort of relationship with his costar Bennett, in LA and is so ready for a change. Off the Florida and a new show he goes!
What follows is a very soap opera-ish story, I found it light and fluffy, and a fun story to read, but it was lacking in depth and drama. Flynn seems like a good guy, trying to stay out of the Hollywood gossip scene, and find a show he can be at home on. Flynn meets Seth, a local bartender, and has a nice little flirt with him. We never really get to know Seth, he doesn’t spend nearly as much time on screen as Flynn. This was Flynn’s story, and he met a guy named Seth, but I didn’t find it as much of a romance story, as a story about the production of a TV show. Flynn spends way more time with his co-stars than he does with Seth, and there was an odd bit about his ex-boyfriend, the closeted Bennett that didn’t quite work for me. I couldn’t figure out Bennett’s motivation for his behavior. But the other cast members are fun, especially since Poppy used authors names as character names. There are scenes from Coconut Cove thrown in that I enjoyed, it sounds like a good show. Flynn’s costars and crew were fun, I liked the interaction between them all. There were also bits of Hollywood style gossip shows occasionally that added to the feeling of this really being a TV show.
Overall I liked it, but there wasn’t enough romance for me. Flynn and Seth don’t spend much time together and don’t have much sex. This felt like the beginning of their story, but they didn’t have much time to develop as a couple. No dating, no bonding, not even much talking. Seth comes and goes, giving off mixed messages and confusing Flynn. I see this is book one, I’m curious to see where Poppy is going with this. I don’t know if the other books will be about other cast members or not, but personally I’d like to see more of Flynn and Seth and have them actually become a couple. I liked it, just wish it had had more romance!
RATING: 
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