The Sunny Side

The Model Agency, Book 1

By: Lily Morton

Narrated by: Joel Leslie

Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

Jonas Durand is successful, rich, and controlled. He owns a prestigious modelling agency and has the world at his fingertips, but a turbulent childhood has taught him to be focused and never deviate from a plan.

Dean Jacobs threatens that stance. He’s one of the world’s most sought-after supermodels, but he’s also laidback, lighthearted, and free in a way that Jonas has never quite managed.

Dean has always been interested in Jonas, and has never made any secret of his admiration, but from the beginning, Jonas put him in a neat little box labelled, “Don’t touch,” turned the key, and never looked back.

However, the universe seems determined to thwart Jonas’s plans. Over the course of one hot summer, the two men come together, and Jonas’s well-ordered life becomes something a whole lot wilder.

Moving from the glamorous worlds of London and Paris Fashion Weeks to the sleepy South of France, Jonas finds himself liberating partridges, chasing his supermodel, and falling in love.

From best-selling author Lily Morton comes a romantic comedy set in the fast-paced and snarky world of modelling. This is the first book in the Model Agency series.

©2022 Lily Morton (P)2023 Lily Morton

Absolutely Lovely!

What a simply wonderful book! This was fabulous from start to finish. I absolutely loved Dean and Jonas together. Dean was such a ray of sunshine and he slowly broke through Jonas' rigid exterior as they fell in love. It was just delightful! Joel Leslie is just narrator gold here, bringing Lily Morton's amazing story to life. Loved every minute of it!

LOVED IT!

Perfection! I loved the dynamics between Dean and Jonas. They have been dancing around their attraction for way to long. When they finally lower their walls the sparks fly.
Each has feelings of being inadequate, not enough. I loved how Jonas really got to know Dean beyond what appears on the surface. It is way to easy for people to discount Dean and he has allowed and accepted that his entire life.
Of course there are growing pains along the way and mistakes are made.
I really liked how Dean held Jonas accountable in the end and Dean more than stepped up.
There is so much laughter, sparks and sweetness here.
I devoured this book in one sitting and can't wait for more in The Model Agency series!
Joel Leslie does an amazing job of narrating this story.

sweet

A perfect age gap romance ... just as you would expect from Lily Morton. Joel Leslie was fantastic as usual.

amazing

love all Lily's books ...holding a place in my heart for each love...yet another that doesn't disappoint giving me more of these lovely family's and HEAs!!!

Lovely beach read for the start of summer, or any time.

The combination of Lily Morton’s writing and Joel Leslie’s narration is perfection. This is a low angst, lovely story of growth toward joy. Dean is more than just a pretty face and slender body, he is a man on the last pathway toward true adulthood, letting go of bad habits in order to find his true self. Jonas is a man in need of simple joys. A part time dad with a modeling business to run, and a soul in need of light and love.
The characters work so well together and you can’t help but hope they will find ways to thrive, together.
Deserves a second listen, soon.

Fantastic! Loved It!

I loved this book! It was such a beautiful story! Great world building and wonderful characters. I fell in love with Dean right from the start. He's beautiful, and his magnetism draws all kinds of people in. On top of that, he has a kind, cheerful personality. He's good at reading people and cares about those around him. Dean is also dyslexic and grew up being told he was stupid because he had trouble in school and with reading- both by family and the school system. He was failed by them. But he is attractive and knows it, working as a model because he believes his good looks are all he has to offer (this broke my heart so much!). Jonas owns a modeling agency and is rich, but a workaholic. He is strongly attracted to Dean but believes someone as beautiful as him would never really be interested in him. Dean is attracted to Jonas, but believes himself too stupid compared to the intelligent people Jonas has been involved with. These two were so perfect together! Their personalities complemented each other and I loved seeing their relationship grow.

I listened to this on audiobook narrated by Joel Leslie, who did a fantastic job! His different accents are perfect, as well as voicing different characters- both male and female. I could easily distinguish between the characters by their tone of voice. You can really hear them come through. This was the first book I've listened to by this narrator, and I've only read one other book by this author. I need more of both!

Overall: 5 stars
Performance: 5 stars
Story: 5 stars

I love Dean

I adore Dean so much. As always Lily Morton does not disappoint and Joel Leslie doesn’t either.

Perfect!!

Whoosh, I adored the book when it first came out and I’ve just fallen madly in love with it again with Joel Leslie narrating it. Joel is a master at voices, it’s hard to tell it’s only one person doing both men. He seems to understand every character detail, every nuisance, every emotion. Lily and Joel are a phenomenal duo. And this story is probably in the top five for me, as is Joel’s performance.

Original Review:

How much do I need to gush over this to make you want to read it? Cuz I’ll do it!

This is one of those…I want to read it in one sitting, but if do then it’ll be over so I need to drag it out… kinda books.

I was entranced from the beginning. These two are opposites, not just in their jobs and lifestyles, but also in life philosophies. And somehow Lily manages to capture both the personality of uptight Jonas and laid-back Dean in the whole tone of the book, which is a feat to feel both calm and tense all at the same time.

They are both so wonderful. Dean is such a lovely human who was raised by some absolutely horrible people, then surrounded by equally dreadful people in the modelling world. Except for Jonas. The buttoned-up Agency owner who tries to pretend he doesn’t care but defends and protects the models constantly, but especially one. The beautiful and kind Dean.

They both have some deep insecurities that make them struggle with accepting their relationship, but they could have something absolutely beautiful.

I love them both equally, which is rare, and I knew without a doubt this would be the most perfect romance. Seriously, so much love for this book.

Great story and narration

Such a fabulous story. I love Dean so much. Narration was spot on. I’m sure I’ll be listening to this one often.

Nice listen.

Also loves Joel’s narration his British accent is very good.

I have always wondered about Dean he seemed something else apart from Asa dumb step brother really enjoyed listening to the book.