Back to the start

I first read this five years ago and I think it's important to note this is the author's first MM (I believe) and also a spinoff from an MF series, which I don't think is available now.

As such, the author has grown as a storyteller and some of the references are out of date. Yep, there's a HP one in there.

Largely, the story holds up to nostalgia for me, though I may have loved it a little less than before.

Perfect if you want a holiday romance, bi-awakening, lots of sunshine and sweet dates, steamy times and well described locations.

There is, of course, ex drama, on both sides, the gold-digger ex boyf and cold ex wife, miscommunication and a brief separation. There's a lovely HEA and these characters pop up in later books.

Joel Leslie narrates Lily Morton books so well, I think I'd be sad if he stopped doing them. Solid narration as always.

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Another Masterpiece from the Morton/Leslie Stable

I could listen to Joel Leslie read Lily Morton all day every day. This is yet another fabulous story, impeccably performed.
Would like the earlier works in the series to be recorded now please, as I’ve listened to just about everything else this pair has gifted us with.

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Romance at its best

Loved this book, in my opinion its not too muchod emenies to lovers, more like, mcs misunderstood each other. It was so lovely to get to know them both and see how they got together.

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What a lovely story

I have read many of Lilly Morton's books, and I can honestly say they are brilliant. But every now and then, she writes a story that touches the heart, and this was one of them.
The story is lovely, and the characters are so good that you could almost put a face to them from your circle of friends and people you have met! It feels like a friend has just sat down with you in a bar and said, Oh, I know what I meant to tell you; remember my friend Matt? He's now friends with John, the lawyer, and so on...

Lilly, you did it again. The last time I felt I knew the characters was in Beautifully Unexpected with Mags and Lori.
Keep up the great work.

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Wonderful narration for a slow burn romance

I'm going to be honest and say that one of the main draws for listening to this audio was that I was in the mood for a Joel Leslie-narrated book. I've listened to one other Lily Morton book before and enjoyed it, so thought I would give this one a try!

Overall I enjoyed this book. It was like taking a blissful summer holiday in the South of France, complete with charm, humor, and sizzling chemistry. The first third or so is quite slow, and though it contains a lot of my least favorite things (miscommunication), it didn't bother me in this particular situation. The audio narration captured the tension of their early misunderstandings and the slow, delightful progression of their relationship, from a tentative truce to something much deeper. I loved the warmth and humor sprinkled throughout, which made the characters feel incredibly relatable and likable.

However, I did not like that not only did one of their exes show up and cause a huge time gap of misunderstanding but it happened TWICE! Having read a few more reviews now I can see that this was, at the time, Lily's first mm romance, but this dual level of OM/OW drama with their respective exes was too much for a seasoned romance writer.

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A fun, sweet story to pass the time

I listened to the audiobook version of this and I have to say that as much as I love Joel Leslie, here I couldn't make heads or tails between the voices of the 2 MCs. The only way to figure out whose POV it was, was by inevitably waiting for them to mention/think Bram, John ex's name (can't recall what it was), or the other MC's name. Which is something I don't expect to come across when listening to a narration by an experienced and wonderfully talented narrator like Joel.

Story wise, although when I read it the first time I didn't mind the comings and goings from every person ever, this time it was just annoying. Especially Matt's ex because their relationship came to an end in the beginning, unlike John's who was at least was aiming for a reconciliation with his. Why Bram and a chick went by John's villa is anyone's guess.

The reasons for Matt not liking John were flimsy just like his reasoning for not taking seriously what he had with John, which was worse than the "You're too good for me" trope.

All and all this takes a solid 3 stars because no matter the bumps along the road it was a fun time, but not something that I will revisit.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

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