Rating: 4 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel
Jeffrey Gandy has figured it’s time to retire from English politics. He’s tired and disillusioned and lonely and done with the scandal that pushed him out of his career. It’s the perfect time for him to leave England for Australia to try and bond with his teenage daughter.
Hunter Ford was a competitive swimmer who is now a swim coach. He has a lot of demons swirling around in his head to fight and now he’s fighting developers that want to take over the land his home is on. This will not only make Hunter lose the last tie to his parents, but his rescue animals will also be displaced. Hunter is also still trying to outrun his last disaster of a relationship, but his loneliness sometimes leads to bad decisions.
Hunter and Jeffrey are not only new neighbors, but Hunter is Jeffrey’s daughter’s swim coach. The attraction is immediate, but the twenty-eight year age difference makes both men think twice for different reasons. Jeffrey thinks Hunter couldn’t possibly be interested in him and Hunter isn’t ready to possibly get his heart stomped on again. Besides, Jeffrey is in Australia to be with his daughter and his ex-wife has him on a short leash. But Jeffrey finally has the chance to live for himself and Hunter could be the man to show him that he deserves to have his own life, as well as his family.
Aussie Sun is part of the Flying into Love series and, as the title suggests, this installment takes us to Australia. Jeffrey is already frazzled at the airport as he is not only recognized for his political career, but for his tabloid headlines. He’s tired and exasperated and trying to get a handle on what comes next. He knows he wants to connect with his teenage daughter, but he hasn’t seen her in person in a while and he knows it will be a challenge. Jeffrey didn’t handle his coming out well when he was married and his relationship with his ex-wife is based on her terms and Jeffrey feels he has no choice but to just go along with it all.
Hunter turns heads wherever he goes. He would like Jeffrey’s head to turn in his direction, as Hunter loves an older man in a suit and Jeffrey is exactly his type. Hunter has been burned badly before, but he still holds out hope that there is someone for him that will treat him well. He has close friends, but mostly Hunter feels adrift and fills the void with homeless animals and has created sort of shelter for them as much as for himself.
The men move around each other for most of the book with each thinking the other wouldn’t be interested for a variety of reasons. This then leads to not much relationship building between the men. The book is almost all telling with little showing, as we are told about both Hunter and Jeffrey’s past. We are told most everything about them, but we don’t get to see any of it. We do see their present relationship, but the pacing didn’t work the best for me as it took a long time for them to get together and then everything happens really fast. The book then ends with the men in a great place, but again, we are told about how it happened. We also barely see the men addressing their age difference, which is significant enough to warrant at least a conversation.
I liked the story here and I would have liked to see more of it, instead of being told so much. This series will continue and I will follow along to new destinations for new stories.
