ARC Review: The Layover by Roe Horvat

From the Blurb:

Eight years ago, Ondro Smrek fled Slovakia and the bigotry that drove his first lover to take his own life. The demons proved impossible to outrun, though, and now, desperate for somewhere to belong, Ondro is returning to start over. During a layover in Basel, Switzerland, he meets Jamie, an American living in Scotland who is as brilliant as he is beautiful. 

Jaded Ondro never would have guessed he could fall in love during a brief layover—until now. When he is put in a position to offer Jamie comfort without hope of recompense, Ondro doesn’t hesitate. Soon, he catches a glimpse of the home he longs for. But with their separation looming, confessing his feelings would only lead to pain and humiliation. Life has taught Ondro not to hope, but then, he never believed in love at first sight either....

Ky's rating:

This story takes place in six days. SIX! I'm not a fan of small time frames in stories and I tend to stay away from them but in this book it didn't feel like the relationship was rushed. How did the author do that?

I have loved every story of Roe Horvat I've read (and with this one I think I've read them all so far) but I've waited so long to read The Layover because I thought it had an insta-love theme. Silly me!

Yes, the characters meet and start a relationship pretty fast - we're talking about less than a week - but the circumstances were such - and the writing of course! - that they connected and communicated in a deep level.

A short one-night layover in between flights ended up being the start of a beautiful relationship and the answer to the crossroads of Ondro's life.


Jamie and Ondro met in an airport, then again in a hotel bar and they ended up spending six days together in a foreign country were Ondro helped Jamie overcome an unexpected illness.

Almost the entire story is about Jamie and Ondro interacting alone together, no other people around except some phone calls with friends. That's another thing that came as a surprise to me: for a story were the MCs had so little interaction with the outside world, it didn't feel at all like they were living an a bubble.

It's official, I'll read anything by this author and love it!

Highly recommended!




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

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