Father’s Day: A Selection from Right Next Door
By: Debbie Macomber / Narrated By: Angela Dawe
Length: 4 hrs and 43 mins
Okay, so, like, haaaaated the kid. But the dog was nifty…
You don’t have to tell me. I KNOW I’m slamming a fictional boy, a little 10-year old, no less. So suuuuue me!
It’s like this, see: Robin is a widow, is doing the best she can for her son, and all he can do is whine and show no impulse-control whatsoever. He runs away; he talks back; he keeps sneaking into his surly neighbor’s yard (tho’ he’s been told REPEATEDLY NOT TO); and he’s just generally a pain. That there are only girls in the neighborhood? Well, that’s Mom’s fault too.
Maybe it was Angela Dawe’s performance. She does a really convincing Snotty Kid. Then too, she does a really convincing Spastic and Mealy-Minded Robin.
And Robin is soooooo spastic and Mealy-of-Mind, it’s painful to listen to! She dithers, she hems and haws. She weeps, like, A LOT. NATURALLY, she can’t come to terms with her feelings for the strong, handsome (Did I mention surly?), preeeeeetty silent man next door, so her voice warbles like crazy as she tells him No, and I don’t think I can, and I’m just too confused, over and over and over throughout Father’s Day. I didn’t see that this book, or whatever it is, is a “Selection” from another work until aaaaaaafter I’d gotten it, so I dunno if this is an Abridgement of a better book, or if it stands alone.
I dunno. The thought of having to do any more than the 4 hours and 43 minutes here of li’l Jeff’s impulsive whininess, of Robin’s querulous hand-wringing and protestations of confusion, of Cole’s enigmatic gruffness (Which is IMMEDIATELY followed by the most earnest and steadfast and proFOUND love!) is too much for my poor ol’ tired brain to consider.
I s’pose this is a sweet enough story, sweeeeeeet, but there’s little in the way of charm here. I s’pose it’s a nice enough portrayal of a grieving man becoming a Dad once again. After all, Cole becomes INSTANTLY devoted to young (whiny) Jeff, and he goes to ALL of Jeff’s Little League games. Plus, there’s the whole dog thing. Blackie is a true and loyal hound.
But the dog aside, there’s not much here that some other romance wouldn’t give you more of.
Me? Okay, okay, okay! I’ll finish the rest of Audiobook Accomplice’s Father’s Day books. But this book? Well, I’ll add it, but I won’t recommend it as there are better out there for forays into pleasant romances.
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