Reviewed by Stephen K.
TITLE: A Boy Made of Sunshine
AUTHOR: Colette Davison
NARRATOR: Dan Calley
PUBLISHER: Colette Davison
LENGTH: 6 hrs and 25 mins
RELEASE DATE: Oct 20, 2020
BLURB:
A strict older man. A sassy film star. Can opposites attract?
After taking early retirement from the police force, Liam is happy avoiding people and tending to his roses. Or he was, until Felix moves in next door.
Felix is taking a break from his acting career, even though he’s on the cusp of stardom. With his cheeky, persistent, and very naughty behavior, he gets under Liam’s skin instantly.
Felix needs someone who can set him boundaries – man who can handle him firmly, but with love. Liam doesn’t think he needs anyone, until Felix brings much needed sunshine into his life.
Will Felix choose stability and love, or a life of glitz and glamour?
A Boy Made of Sunshine is a light-hearted gay romance with a grumpy ex-detective, a brash new neighbor, a cute Dalmatian puppy, and lots of brattish behavior.
REVIEW:
As a kid, did you ever get a great big foil-wrapped chocolate bunny for Easter, only to bite one of the ears off and discover it was hollow? Sure, the chocolate was still delicious, and you enjoyed it while it lasted. But remember somehow feeling disappointed because you’d expected more? This book sort of gave me that feeling. What’s here is delicious, but it left me somehow feeling let down that there wasn’t more to it. I think that my problem is that we learn almost nothing about the main characters beyond what we surmised whilst reading the blurb. The characters are superficially charming. The steps in the rom-com ritual are all here. But on some level, their lack of personal detail made it feel a bit like we were just going through the motions.
I still don’t really get the whole daddy/boy BDSM vibe, and parts still feel a bit silly to me, but this is a charming tale of irrepressible an ex child-star (13 movies by age 24) and a curmudgeonly retired ex-cop that may have once been a dom but is now quite literally gathering his rosebuds after taking early retirement.
Dan Calley does another credible role as narrator; ably voicing both Liam, the gruff retired detective, and Felix, the ever perky film star, hankering to have someone who’ll care enough to teach him to behave. Dan’s rendition of Felix’s agent Emma is a bit weird but for a British guy doing an American woman it’s not bad.
This tale is about as low-key, low angst as they come. Both main characters are likable and you’re rooting for them from chapter one. If the Hallmark channel were ever to do a BDSM Christmas movie, these are the guys they’d feature. Although how Hallmark would handle the frequent graphic scenes might be problematic.
Overall, this was a fun, care-free romp that I enjoyed, but it’s lack of depth will probably keep it out of my frequent replay list.
RATING:
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