Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
A different sort of story from Jay Northcote than I am used to, the early parts of this book deal with the relationship between Joel and his three-year-old daughter, Evie, and her mother Clare. Clare and Joel were friends when younger, and when one drunken experiment too many led to pregnancy, Joel agreed to joint custody. There was no need to discuss marriage because Joel is gay and not interested in more with Clare. In fact, as the story opens, he and his young boyfriend Dan are the primary focus when Evie is not around. It’s evident that Dan is not the love of Joel’s life, as Joel is undisturbed by Dan’s side sexual encounters, but quite a bit of page time is devoted to the period in which they are together. Eventually, Joel and Dan lose interest in each other and the relationship fades.
I really thought we’d never get to a point where Joel gets involved with the second MC of the story—Liam, a nurse at the hospital where Clare is taken after a tragic accident leaves Joel with permanent custody of his daughter. Though they met the night of the accident, it’s ages before the two start dating, and well past the time Joel breaks up with Dan. The latter segment of the story involves not only dealing with Joel’s grief but also being with Liam, flirting, dating, breaking up, and then finally finding something more lasting. It may have been because I listened via audio, but I never really got invested in Joel, never mind in both of the men he dates in the story. This felt like more of a family drama with his parental relationship with Evie as the primary focus and much less about romance.
This is an audio review so a word about the narration: I generally enjoy this narrator, Matthew Lloyd Davies, but this time his reading was a bit stilted and made the story sound like he was reading from a children’s book. Granted, it’s possible it was the way the book was written, but in either event, it was not an exciting audio so I don’t recommend the story in audio format.
The cover by Garrett Leigh @Black Jazz Design is a black, white, and gray photo of a young man in a thinking pose, his head in his hand. It’s okay, but the dull tone is not something that would attract viewers.
Sales Links: Amazon Audible
Audio Book Details:
Length: 7 hours and 30 minutes
Narrator: Matthew Lloyd Davies
Audible Audio
Published April 17th 2015 by Dreamspinner Press (first published November 21st 2013)
Original TitleThe Little Things
ASINB00WA8Q55E
Edition Language English
