Cloud Nine is such a good book and I love the honest way that Fearne Hill portrays Tristan, who has cerebral palsy (CP). A family member of mine had CP but I didn’t fully realize the challenges they faced until I read this book. So much of what was described in this story could have applied to them.

Tristan has pretty severe mobility issues and he’s deaf without his hearing aids. But most days he doesn’t let this get him down. He’s the youngest of triplets and he’s grateful for the support of his brother and sister. He lives with his brother, Frankie, the fiancé of Lysander, Dominic’s brother.

Dominic is pretty much a spoiled, privileged young man who made a grave error. As a result, his family shipped him off to the UK for the summer where he’s an intern in the family construction business. He’s staying in an apartment owned by the company; it’s one floor below his brother’s penthouse apartment.

Dominic and Tristan do not get off to a good start at all; that’s actually a bit of an understatement. Once again Dominic made a grave error that immediately put him on the bad side of his brother and his fiancé, Frankie.

I love a good redemption story and this one really tugged at my heart. Dominic did a truly horrible thing but he was also genuinely apologetic and regretful of what he did. He’s determined to make it up to Tristan but he never dreamed it would bring them so close together and make him feel things that he never has before. Dominic showed tremendous personal growth during this story that was very believable to me.

Tristan is very self-conscience of his physical appearance. His legs are withered and scarred from many operations and his chest is concave. He’s not comfortable with people seeing him in swimwear let alone without any clothes at all. Dominic manages to reassure Tristan that he thinks he’s beautiful anyway.

So far what I’ve described sounds pretty serious but there are many, many lighthearted moments in this book. I’m not sure I’d call it a rom-com but I laughed more than I cried while reading it. (If a book makes me cry that’s a sure sign that I love it.)

Dominic isn’t a great driver and he’s never driven on the “wrong” side of the road before. He drives Tristan to work and his driving caused Tristan to exclaim: “Eyes on the road! Any more of this and the satnav woman will beg you to drop her off at the next bus stop. I’m very close to asking if I can join her.”

Another time, Tristan is with his usual driver and, after telling her about Dominic, she asks him: “Did you take precautions? Do I need to have a talk with you about wrapping the postman up in parcel tape before he uses the letterbox?”

One of the things I love about reading Fearne Hill’s writing is how delightfully British it is. OK, that may be kind of stupid of me to say because she is British, but still, I love that she uses words and expressions that this US reader likes look up to get the full meaning of them (thank goodness for ereaders which make this so simple). This exchange between Dominic and Tristan is a good example: “The aluminum foil goes shiny side down?” (Dominic)
“Yeah. And it’s aluminium, not aluminum.” (Tristan)
“Cool beans. Where do you keep the plates? Or are we adding a pointless ‘i’ into every word now? Platies? And knivies and forkies?” (Dominic)

This is a first person, dual POV story with chapters alternating between Dominic and Tristan. I only have one tiny thing to say about Dominic’s chapters (and this didn’t affect my rating or love of the story). He’s only been in the UK for a short time, being born and raised in San Diego, California. His internal dialogue has him correcting elevator to lift, sidewalks to pavement, gas station to petrol, etc. but when he’s speaking, he sounds a bit too British, using expressions that I don’t think most Americans would use. Like I said this didn’t affect my rating or enjoyment of this author’s writing.

I’m looking forward to the next book in this series, Cloud White, coming later this year.

Reviews for Fearne Hill

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Nailed It! Series

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