When Dennis approached me to read A whisper to the Moon, I was excited; I’d enjoyed his previous two: Somewhere in the Shallow Sea and Somewhere in San Diego. Dennis is one of the best self published authors I’ve read, his writing is skilful, detailed and thorough… a publishing house should snap him up because I think he’s got real potential. One of his unique selling points is his ability to weave the Philippines into all of his stories. In this story we meet Robert, who immigrated to America with his family six years ago, he will be the first in his family to graduate from college and the pressure is getting to him.
The story follows Robert through his final year as he juggles his classes with his volunteering work and his social life. At the very start of the book, Robert holds a sheet of paper that could make or break if he graduates, it’s an attendance sheet for a history course, he needs those credits!! Except the sheet already has 40 names so the class is already full… he’s doomed… until Catherine changes his fate. Robert isn’t looking for love after the disastrous break up he had recently, but Cupid has other plans…
I have to hand it to Dennis, he really brings out the sensitivity in Robert and given that this is essentially a love story, I liked that the reader got to see the build up of a blossoming relationship from a perspective (male) often missed in other books.
Now for the difficult part of this review… I did know that this was a love story when I accepted it; which I do read sometimes, but I found this story too heavy on the cheesy romance side. Robert’s love for Catherine was incredibly intense and I felt their relationship was moving far too fast, within months Robert was thinking of proposing to her. Although his actions were linked to her student visa ending soon and wanting to fix the situation, he didn’t think of other plausible options (which Catherine did), he seemed to be infatuated with the idea of marriage.
There were lots of aspects that worked for me in this story: Robert’s volunteering, his photography skills, the college setting and, I also liked that both Robert and Catherine had interesting romantic back-stories that had the potential of resurfacing at any moment. I just struggled with the pet names and the seriousness of their relationship, at such early stages and with them being so young.
Whilst it wasn’t for me, I imagine fans of this genre will like this story and enjoy the glimpses of San Diego throughout this book, which I doubt you’ll find at this level of detail in other stories within this genre.
I look forward to reading more thrillers from Dennis and hope this story meets the right audience!
I am very grateful to Dennis for sending me a free copy of his book, in exchange for an honest review.
A Whisper to the Moon is out now in paperback and eBook versions.
Until next time, Chloé x
Reviews by Chloé 