ARC Review: Gideon by Lily Morton

From the Blurb:

Gideon Ramsay is so far in the closet he should be a talking faun. 

A talented, mercurial, and often selfish man, Gideon has everything he should want in life. Fame, money, acting awards – he has it all. Everything but honesty. At the advice of his agent, Gideon has concealed his sexuality for years. But it’s starting to get harder to hide, and his increasingly wild behaviour is threatening to destroy his career.  

Then he’s laid low by a serious illness and into his life comes Eli Jones. Eli is everything that Gideon can’t understand. He’s sunny tempered, friendly, and optimistic. Even worse, he’s unaffected by grumpiness and sarcasm, which forms ninety percent of Gideon’s body weight. And now Gideon is trapped with him without any recourse to the drugs and alcohol that have previously eased his way through awkward situations. 

However, as Gideon gets to know the other man, he finds himself wildly attracted to his lazy smiles and warm, scruffy charm that seem to fill a hole inside Gideon that’s been empty for a long time. Will he give in to this incomprehensible attraction when it could mean the end of everything that he’s worked for?

Ky's rating:

Gideon is Milo's brother from book #2 and he wasn't a very likeable character when we met him. He had some unresolved issues and handled the knowledge of Milo and Niall's relationship in a horrible way.

In this book we get his story. We get to know him pretty well and get some answers about his behavior. You see, in reality, Gideon is an extremely lonely guy, he craved attention and to be wanted. All his life he felt he was a bourden to those around him - especially his parents who sent him away for school at seven and then all but forgot about him - and like he didn't deserve love. What he wants most in the world is to feel connected to another person, to finally have a real family who wants him close by.

Eli is a nurse for wealthy people, he travels a lot with his job, he's a lot younger than Gideon and he is relaxed about most things. After a mix-up with his name, he ends up accompaning Gideon on a cruise and helping him recuperate from pneumonia.

The first half of the book was really good, their banter was hilarious, Gideon's grumpyness was evened out by Eli's possitivity and there was a hint of a slowburn. All in all, it looked like a sweet deal.


And then the actual swettness started and wouldn't stop. Once the two got together and started dating it was like the story got dipped in sugar. I don't like fluffy stories and I stay away from sweet stories if I know about them. Unfortunately, this time I wasn't prepared and I thought I was just getting the snark that this author delivers so well. I did get that, fortunately, but I also got kisses, and premature "I love yous" and insta-relationship.

I can honestly say that I enjoyed reading their emails to one another when they were apart more than I enjoyed actually seeing them together as a couple. What happened after the cruise made me think I was on the right track to have a great story in my hands. However, the thing after the cruise lasted only a few pages and then the sugar was everywhere.

A couple other things that bothered me:
- the unrealistic cruise. The distances were ridiculous. They made it from the Mediterranean side of France to Southampton in ONE day! How is that possible? Did I not understand something right in the story?

- Frankie. This character couldn't have been more one-dimensional and cartoonish even if he tried really hard. He was evil and unbelievable. He was Gideon's manager, the one who discovered him and helped him along all these years. Gideon saw him as his only family and a very close friend. One to trust, respect and value. I don't know where he based all those things though it was mentioned that Frankie was different in the past and had drastically changed over the last year. Still, his portrayal was very black and white and every bad thing he could have done he did it. I was very frustrated that there was a character like that in the story for the sake of drama - because why else would someone like him be there?

-the references. Was I supposed to know all those people they mentioned? Well, I didn't and I couldn't be bothered to search for them in order to get the joke. That's something I have noticed in previous books by this author and I always just overlooked it but I wanted to mention it this time. It didn't affect my rating but it did bother me while I was reading.

It's clear that Lily Morton has a knack for writing banter and characters that clash but are drawn together. I enjoy her writing style very much and even though this book wasn't my favorite and didn't really work for me, I'll still keep an eye out for her books and look forward to the next couple bitching their way to a HEA.



*An ARC of this book was kindly provided to me in exchange for an honest review. *

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