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Shining In The Sun (2000)

by Alex Beecroft(Favorite Author)

3.75 of 5 Votes: 4

languge

English

genre

review 1: I had some trouble rating this book. On the one hand I really enjoyed it and before I knew it I had it finished. But on the other hand at times the MC's really irritated me...It is very well written "cinderfella" story; rich businessman meets and falls in love with a very poor surfer boy from the wrong side of the tracks. So, slightly cliche yes, but with a distinct British 'voice' that makes the cliches seem to disappear. The indecisiveness of both MC's was what annoyed me slightly. There were times I would have gladly reached in and given both of them a good shake and told them to grow up. But even with that I truly enjoyed the journey of these guys. I believe the ending was a little rushed, and I would have liked it to maybe have been handled slightly different. But per... morehaps that's just me not really wanting the story to end once the characters had found their backbones...
review 2: The writing elevates this (very British) Cinderella story of lonely wealthy upper class gent, Alex Goodchilde finding love with working class, poor man Darren. But these two aren't your average romantic heroes. Alex is a bit of a doormat, an emotional coward (if American he'd do his break ups via text messaging), incredibly naive and a snob while Darren unhesitatingly uses his pretty face to get what he wants, is a bit ethically challenged & is self deluded enough to take offense when he's judged on this. It was touch and go for a while to see if the author could pull off these characters and make us care about them. I'd say she just about squeaked by on this and by the end we're cheering for these two somewhat meek & mild anti heroes.With this level of writing and complexity of character and interesting storyline this could have easily been a 5 star book. Unfortunately the ending just didn't fit the story (except for the fact it did fit Alex's desperate persona). Alex & Darren definitely worked their way at the end of the book to a HFN ending, but instead AB went for the full HEA which Alex & Darren hadn't earned as yet. I recommend the story and maybe some won't mind the ending. It is a fairytale story. less

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