Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: New Daddy at Forty-Seven
SERIES: Forty-Seven Duology, Book 2
AUTHOR: Nora Phoenix
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 280 pages
RELEASE DATE: February 9, 2022
BLURB:
I’ve never been a Daddy before, but now it’s all I want to be…
I’ve always thought Kinsey was hot AF, but now that I’ve come to know him, he’s so much more than a super sexy silver fox. He’s kind and caring, and so damn courageous.
He’s also vulnerable and needy, and it lights me up like nothing else. I know I’m twenty years younger, but I want to take care of him.
I want to be his protector, his strong man, his knight in shining armor.
I want to be his Daddy.
New Daddy at Forty-Seven is part two of a duology, an emotional and yummy romance with an age gap, loads of hurt/comfort, and a beautiful Daddy/boy relationship that ends with an HEA. It contains themes of addiction and religious homophobia.
REVIEW:
Nora Phoenix’s New Daddy at Forty-Seven picks up right where book one, Clean Start at Forty-Seven, left off. Her Forty-Seven Duology is, as the name indicates, a pair of related novels with a continuing storyline that you must read in order. In fact, despite the story spanning two volumes, it very much feels like just one book – as it should, because Kinsey and Benoni’s story arc truly is just one extended love story.
New Daddy at Forty-Seven proved false an assumption I made upon completing Clean Start at Forty-Seven. Kinsey, the recovering opioid addict trying to get a clean start to his life as his authentic gay self, aptly serves as the focal point for Clean Start. So with Benoni discovering his need to nurture and protect Kinsey as his “Daddy”, I assumed this second book would focus on Benoni’s journey. Interestingly, it does … but it also doesn’t.
In New Daddy, we follow Benoni as he discovers that he wants to be a Daddy for his “boy”, Kinsey, and flourishes and develops to inhabit that role. But the title’s “New Daddy” reference is really oriented towards Kinsey’s discovery that he wants and needs Benoni to be his Daddy. We see Kinsey struggle to understand his feelings, grapple with his needs and whether he’s entitled to fulfill them, and assert himself enough to put himself first and stand up for what is necessary for his happiness. What Kinsey discovers is that he needs Benoni to take his burdens in a Daddy/boy lifestyle. What Kinsey needs is a new Daddy – Benoni – and he embraces it at the age of forty-seven.
Because this is really just one story, the “look and feel” of the content of New Daddy very much mirrors that of the first book. As such, what I said in my review of Clean Start applies to New Daddy as well. Ms. Phoenix curates Kinsey and Benoni’s beautiful hurt/comfort, age gap, best friend’s father romance through extraordinary character development, poignant scenes, detailed and informative commentary on opioid addiction and religious homophobia, and a slow-burn, carefully crafted, authentic relationship. For a story built on the premise of recovery and healing from devastation, the duology is surprisingly not high angst, and New Daddy is even less angsty than Clean Start. Ms. Phoenix continues to pull the threads on Kinsey and Benoni’s complex, emotional love story and really showcases the exceptional relationship they have created in the way that best meets their needs.
That being said, New Daddy at Forty-Seven falls short for me, likely because it succumbs to the perils of “too much of a good thing”. These two books could have been combined into one volume as a standalone with a significant number of words shaved off, and it would have been more impactful. New Daddy doesn’t offer much new, opting instead to continue with more of the same. The affecting commentary about addiction and homophobia becomes increasingly diluted the more and more we hear about it until it devolves into a generalized bashing of organized religion.
Additionally, the story’s momentum, from page one of Clean Start through to the last page of New Daddy, is consistently slow, at times staggering under the weight of the detail-rich narrative. Ms. Phoenix remarks in the publisher’s note that this is her most personal story to date and she obviously has an important message to convey. Unfortunately, the story got a bit away from her I feel, because the details that are fascinating in the beginning become overwhelming by the end.
I stand by my recommendation for book one, Clean Start at Forty-Seven, and you really need to consider these two books as a unit. That means, realistically, you won’t be satisfied if you stop at the end of Clean Start, so I think you’ll find that New Daddy at Forty-Seven is a necessity. You’ll be hard-pressed to pass it up because you’ll want to get to the resolution of Kinsey and Benoni’s story, where a highly endearing couple gets their hard-earned, well-deserved HEA. In that context, New Daddy at Forty-Seven is worth the read.
RATING: 
BUY LINK: