The Secret Sunshine Project by Benjamin Dean Review

Hi ForeverBookers,

I hope you're all well! 

I’ve just finished “The Secret Sunshine Project” by Benjamin Dean and I really enjoyed it. I read his first book, “Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow” last year and I loved it. This one was a little slower to get into but once I was hooked, I was hooked. The main bulk of the story takes place over one summer.

4.5 Stars! (5 on Goodreads)!

“The Secret Sunshine Project” tells the story of Bea, our main character who we experience the story through, and her struggles, at first when she and her sister, Riley are told that they need to move to their Gran’s house for the summer because their mum can’t afford for them to live in London, where they live at the beginning of the book, after they lose their dad to illness. Both Bea and Riley are upset by this move at first, as well as the death of their father. Riley more evidently so. Bea had all these summer plans with her best friend Lucas too. Can they learn to live differently? Or will they hate it and not like living with their Gran? You’ll need to read to find out!

“The Secret Sunshine Project” element of the story comes into play after half way through the book. This is where Bea suggests they have a Pride event, which was her family’s last happy memory together, before her dad’s diagnosis the year before. Also Riley is unsure of her sexuality, as are a few other characters Bea meets in St Regent’s Vale. Does this Pride event go ahead, or are there problems that arise? You’ll need to read to find out!

I read “The Secret Sunshine Project” for a few readathons:

Cardcaptor-a-thon - I only need to complete ONE more prompt for this! The Windy, which is funnily enough the first card that Sakura captures, but it’s the last prompt I need to fulfil! The Secret Sunshine Project doesn’t fulfil it, unfortunately... 

Reading Rivalry - I read this for the LGBTQ character prompt as there are a few different LGBTQ characters in the book. I wanted to read this during Pride month so it was perfect!

Whatever-a-thon - The three prompts I submitted for this were: 

The/An/Of/A/And in the title

Recently Hauled - I hauled this in April/May!

Colour on the cover - my colour was purple! 

Always Fully Booked “On The Cover” Reading Challenge - there are two people, Bea and her sister, Riley on the cover so I’ll count “The Secret Sunshine Project” toward that challenge.

Always Fully Booked “Genre Reading Challenge” - “The Secret Sunshine Project” is a middle grade contemporary so I’ll put it down for Contemporary. I might also read an adult contemporary at some point this year. 

2022 Always Fully Booked Reading Challenge - A book with an LGBTQIA+ protagonist - Riley, along with a few other big characters are from the LGBTQ community.

Spoilers below...

“The Secret Sunshine Project” starts with Bea, Riley, their mum and their dad actually at Pride. The authors other book, “Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow” finished at Pride!

“This place is called Pride. I don’t want to be biased, but Pride might just be my favourite place in the world (and I say that as someone who once went to Thorpe Park four times in a summer holiday).”

Bea loves Pride. She loves the message behind it, how it brings people together. She compares it to Thorpe Park, a theme park in the UK. Young people love theme parks, at least I did and still do, so I thought this was important to note just HOW significant Pride is to one of the main characters in the book. I also thought this line was cute and funny!

“It wasn’t like she was in a bad mood or anything; more that she just retreated into herself, like she was trying to keep something from us.”

Riley, Bea’s sister retreats into herself when she tells her family about her sexuality at the beginning of the novel. Her mum and dad suggest that they go to Pride to show their support. Riley LOVES Pride, of course! She feels herself there. However, that’s the point in the story - acceptance! We’re then informed that Bea and Riley’s dad died. It’s revealed in the first chapter so he’s not really a character we get to know apart from through the girls recollections, when the London Pride event has gone past. After we learn about their dad’s death, we’re also informed through Bea that they need to leave their house because her mum can’t afford to live there anymore. They need to go and live with their Gran in St Regent’s Vale for the summer. There, they struggle at first to accommodate themselves in this new place.

When Riley goes off somewhere, Bea follows her. That’s where and when she meets Noah. Noah introduces her to his family and friends, Emmy and Robin. Emmy immediately warms to Bea, as a best friend. This was my favourite relationship throughout I think, because I could see JUST how much Emmy meant to Bea and how much Bea meant to Emmy. Not in a romance way, but as best friends. The Secret Sunshine Project really doesn’t focus on romance, but friendships and awareness of the LGBTQ movement! This comes in more at the end of the novel!

Noah realises towards the end of the novel that HE is in fact gay!

“Please go okay, please go okay, please go okay,” I murmured under my breath. I wished it with all my might. Noah had been my first new friend, he’d taken me in and introduced me to the others, so in some way, everything that had happened since was because of his kindness.”

This is Bea’s plea that everything goes okay when he comes as gay out to his gran! Does everything go okay? You’ll need to read to find out!

There, of course, is a villainous character in the form of Rita Ruckus. Her first concern is always herself, but she’s the councillor or St Regent’s Vale, where Sylvia, the girls’ gran lives, so she SHOULD be concerned about her villagers, but she isn’t. I actually found Rita quite funny! Her reactions to the things that Bea and the others do are quite outrageous; for example, when Sylvie painted flowers on her bin just to annoy Rita! I laughed at this!

“Rita was mad because of a flower? And since when is a flower an eyesore?”

Noah’s excitement was bubbling over in earnest now, a bounce in his step. “That’s what your gran said! But Rita said it had to go or else there would be consequences, and when she says that, she means there’s going to be trouble. But the next day, when Rita went to check, there were two flowers on the bin. The day after that, there were three, and the week after that I think we counted seventeen flowers altogether.” I pictured Gran’s colourful bin, sitting like some kind of rainbow sentry outside her house and laughed.

“Rita was FURIOUS! But every time she complained or threatened Sylvie, another flower would appear. Anybody else would’ve just got rid of the flowers and complained about Rita behind closed doors, but your gran just kept painting more.

The picture of Rita I was sketching in my mind was getting clearer with every story I heard, and it wasn’t exactly a good one.”

Bea is interested to learn her mother’s view of Rita from when she was a child when she’s back at home:

“What was she like when you were younger?”

Mum paused, unearthing buried memories. She shuddered at the thought of them. “Well, if I’m being honest, she was a nightmare.”

 

Rita was a horrible woman then and she hasn’t changed now, either. This is reflected when Riley comes home crying one night because Rita told her off for wearing an t-shirt in support of LGBTQ! Rita doesn’t support the LGBTQ movement and doesn’t like to be stood up against. She thinks that whatever she says should go, no matter what! Does this change? Especially when her son, Norman, a drag queen of all people turns up? You’ll need to read to find out! 

I really enjoyed reading Norman’s parts as they were informative about Pride and LGBTQ rights, things that I didn’t know because I’m not a part of the LGBTQ community. That’s one of the things I love about Benjamin Dean’s books, how informative they are to everyone, not just children! 

Does Bea get to set up and celebrate Pride with her family and friends, that she meets in St Regent’s Vale, or does Rita stop it from happening? “Can Bea make her sister proud?” is the question on the book cover, meaning can Bea make her sister accept who she is without feeling guilty or upset that she feels she’s different, even though she’s indeed human, like everyone else?

Overall, I really enjoyed reading “The Secret Sunshine Project” because it had funny parts as well as serious parts. It was a nice mashup of both. The characters are what made this book for me. It was the same in “Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow.” I loved reading about Bea, just as much as I loved reading about Archie. I didn’t even mind that the author who’s a man was writing from a girl’s perspective. I came close to crying at the end from happiness, and I NEVER cry when I read. There was artwork in this book too by Sandhya Prabhat. I thought the artwork was entertaining and added to the story. The reason it’s not getting the full 5 stars is that it was slow to get into as I said above.

Stand by for my next review, coming soon!