Reviewed by Stephen K.
TITLE: Finding Home
AUTHOR: Garret Leigh
NARRATOR: Dan Calley
PUBLISHER: Fox Love Press
LENGTH: 4 hrs and 59 mins
RELEASE DATE: October 20, 2020
BLURB:
With their mum dead and their father on remand for her murder, Leo Hendry and his little sister, Lila, have nothing in the world but each other. Broken and burned, they’re thrust into the foster-care system. Leo shields Lila from the fake families and forced affection, until the Poulton household is the only place left to go.
Charlie de Sousa is used to other kids passing through the Poulton home, but there’s never been anyone like his new foster brother. Leo’s physical injuries are plain to see, but it’s the pain in his eyes that draws Charlie in the most.
Day by day, they grow closer, but the darkness inside Leo consumes him. He rejects his foster parents, and when Charlie gets into trouble, Leo’s attempt to protect him turns violent. When Leo loses control, no one can reach him – except Charlie. He desperately needs a family – a home – and only Charlie can show him the way.
REVIEW:
Fifteen year old Leo and his deaf little sister Lila are in the foster care system following the murder of their mother by their abusive father. That he witnessed it, unable to do anything while protecting his little sister is just one source of his PTSD and his inability to trust any adult males. Added to the burns that he’s still recovering from, and his night terrors, Leo is having a tough time of it.
When he meets his new “brother,” 15 year-old Charlie, the attraction is immediate and the boys quickly become aware that they interest each other in ways that girls never interested them.
Charlie, has been with the Poulton family for a while now and seems well-adjusted, though he has the capacity to be a bratty teen at times. His confidence and feelings of being accepted, despite his unsettling feelings for Leo, are a great contrast to Leo’s panicked and “wounded animal” lashing out. The connection between these two teenagers is not insta-love but more an organic understanding that they have a mutual concern in, and for, each other.
Told from the POVs of these two 15 year-olds, this is a tale of a young lad in crisis. It’s heartbreaking and endearing from chapter 1. The wholesome goodness of the adoptive Poultons family is a balm to all the drama that Leo brings to the situation and all of the members of the Poulton household are well-drawn three dimensional, believable and distinct characters. I would have liked more of the back-stories on all of them, but this is really Leo’s and Charlie’s tale.
The upbeat ending to this tale is an affirmation that no matter how insurmountable the difficulties seem, we can get through them if we do it together.
Given that the boys are both under-age, this tale is pretty tame as to bedroom action but both boys are hormonal teen-agers and there are some very well written snogging scenes.
Narrator Dan Calley does a great job with the basic narration and with creating realistic accents and voices for the characters in this book. In some ways he “felt” the most at home in the voice of the foster father Reg. The quite competence of the man and the competence of the narrator seemed an ideal match.
I’m a sucker for “broken-winged bird” stories and this is clearly one of those, but it’s also a bit more than that as well. Seeing the journey from maudlin to mended made this a heartwarming tale to listen to. I recommend it.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS: