The Little Things, Jay Northcote

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press

Genre: Gay Romance

Tags: Contemporary, Family

Length: 214 Pages

Reviewer: Cindi

Purchase At: Dreamspinner Press, amazon.com

This review is slightly spoilerish. Keep that in mind before reading.

Joel Mason is a twenty-three year old school teacher. He is also a father to three-year old Evie, conceived with his best friend Claire before Joel had come to terms with his sexuality. A devoted father, he takes his parenting – and Evie – very seriously and always puts her first in his life. His boyfriend Dan has a nice relationship with Evie and life is going along well – until it’s not.

Dan is nineteen and is not ready to settle down long-term with anyone. Don’t get me wrong, Dan is a good guy and treats Evie well but he’s young and while he may identify as Joel’s boyfriend, he still hooks up with others on the nights that Joel has Evie and makes no secret of it. Joel may not like it but he knows better than to push for more. They never discussed being exclusive and it is obvious that Dan is not ready for it anyway.

Life is going relatively well. Joel and Claire have a wonderful relationship and the custody arrangements are perfect for both. Then suddenly there is a tragedy and Joel is left as a single parent who is mourning the loss of his best friend in the world. This brings back the pain of the death of his mother years earlier and it puts Joel in a bad place emotionally. Unfortunately, it also causes a riff between he and Dan. There are no major fights or disagreements and Dan is still as devoted to Evie as before. It only pulls the two men apart when Joel is forced to go from being a part-time dad to a full-time one.

I have to say that I really liked Dan when I probably shouldn’t. He went out partying and Joel knew this. Normally this would cause me to dislike that type of character because it was obvious that he was hooking up with others while they were apart, but it didn’t in this case. Dan was extremely compassionate for a man his age even if the author did try to write him as ‘pulling away’ from the relationship when Joel needed him most. I don’t buy it. I read how kind Dan was when the tragedy happened and how good he was with the little girl. He never came across as being overly needy or jealous of the time Joel gave Evie. There is one part where he causes a little scene but I found it was justified but that’s just me. I can’t say more without giving something away.

Then there is Liam. Liam is a nurse who meets Joel literally minutes after Claire’s death. And Liam is where I had a problem with this book. Not Liam personally – I adored the guy – but the fact that he was not in the book enough in my opinion. At 45% the two men had met exactly two times and by the time he was fully introduced, the reader had already read more than half the book. The romance is supposed to be about he and Joel but I felt like I was reading page after page after page of other details before it even came close to anything happening between the two of them. When it did happen, I felt that it was not only rushed but my opinion of Joel changed drastically. Early on, I loved his devotion to his daughter, to Claire, Dan, his job, his sister… everything. I felt that he was written wonderfully as this young father who would go to the ends of the earth for those he loved. But when Liam comes into his life, his personally changes completely. He’s insecure over the fear of losing someone else and I get that. But it dragged on too long. There is almost no romance between Joel and Liam until around the 70% mark and practically the entire 30% remaining was all about Joel’s insecurities. There was nowhere near enough time for me to get a feel for them as a couple. At the end, the author fast-forwards a few months to see where the family is later. That would have been wonderful for me had I gotten more of a feel for them before that point. I got more out of Joel and Dan’s relationship than I did his and Liam’s.

I liked all of the secondary characters for the most part. Dan I mentioned, though I ended this still considering him to be one of the mains even if he did disappear after awhile. Miranda is Joel’s older sister and I really liked her a lot. Claire was the perfect friend and mother and there was no discourse between her and Joel over Evie. That’s rare and I appreciate that. I wasn’t sure how I felt about Claire’s parents but they weren’t in the book enough for me to really form an opinion. Evie was written as the perfect three-year old and I found myself smiling at her antics.

Overall, I enjoyed The Little Things. However, more time with the two actual main characters would have drastically upped my rating of this book. I also found it to be quite detail-heavy in a lot of places but when I needed the details the most (later in the book) they were pretty nonexistent. I’m a fan of this author so I will continue to read her books when they are released. Unfortunately, this one only worked slightly for me.

This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press in exchange for a fair and honest review.

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