ARC Review: Oz (Finding Home #1) by Lily Morton

Blurb:

What happens when temporary becomes forever?

Oz Gallagher does not do relationships well. Bored and jobless after another disastrous hook up, he decides to leave London for a temporary job in the wilds of Cornwall. Surely managing a stately home on a country estate will be easier than navigating the detritus of his relationships at home. Six months there will alleviate a bit of his wanderlust and then he can come back to London as footloose and fancy free as the day he left it.

However, when he gets there he finds a house in danger of crumbling to the ground and a man who is completely unlike anyone he’s ever met. An earl belonging to a family whose roots go back hundreds of years, Silas is the living embodiment of duty and sacrifice. Two things that Oz has never wanted. He's also warm and funny and he draws Oz to him like a magnet.

Oz banks on the fact that they're from two very different worlds to stop himself falling for Silas. But what will he do when he realises that these differences are actually part of the pull to one another? Will falling in love be enough to make him stop moving at last and realise that he's finally home?

From bestselling author, Lily Morton, comes a romantic comedy about two very different men and one very dilapidated house.

This is the first book in the Finding Home series but it can be read as a standalone.

Todd's rating:

This story made me laugh and laugh and laugh.

From the revenge that Oz took on his posh, cheating boyfriend, to the way that Oz squared off against the lazy builders, to facing off against Silas' arsehole of an ex, to the snark and banter between Oz and, ooooh, let me see, ummm, EVERYONE, well, all of it had me smiling from ear to ear.

Basically, after Oz kicked his pretentious ass of a boyfriend (who was also his boss, oopsie) to the curb, Oz's best friend showed him an ad in an up-scale magazine for an Estate Manager position in the English countryside.

And the job interview was *amazing* to read. Thinking he had no chance at actually landing the position working for a member of The Aristocracy, Oz said fuck it and let his freak flag fly, with hilarious results.

Then Oz actually landed the job, because the Earl's friend thought that Oz would be perfect for the position. And for the Earl himself.

I adored seeing Silas, the Earl of Ashworth, shatter every single snobby, preconceived notion that Oz had, one by one. I immediately liked Silas, but his loneliness was almost palpable.

The two were obviously a match made in some bizarre version of heaven, but they worked, and seeing their bond and trust grow was pretty damn cool to witness.

When I was little I had yearned for someone to protect me from my childhood, someone to stand for me when no one that I trusted would, when I was tired from sticking up for Henry and then later for Ivo. I’d never have guessed that my knight in armour would come to me later in life when I’d almost forgotten that I needed one. He would be small and fierce and his weapon was the sharpest tongue this side of Ireland. But he was all mine and I, in turn, belonged to him.

But Oz saw himself as a bit of low-class, common trash caught on the sole of Silas's shoe, so a lot of the drama here revolved around Silas patiently convincing Oz that was the furthest thing from the truth. Oz was Silas' "one person".

The angst was kept to moderate levels, with the bad guy turning out to be a member of Silas' family, dead set on sending Oz hoofing it out of the estate and back to wherever, as long as it wasn't by Silas' side.

The steamy bits were fairly frequent and I do have to admit that on a couple of occasions, I skimmed past some of the sexy bits, because I felt a more abbreviated steamy scene might've fit better at that point in the story, allowing the feels more time center stage.

I loved seeing Henry and Ivo pulled into this story, too; although, I have to admit that I liked this story overall more than Henry's book, not that I can specifically tell you why. I'm weird like that.

I thoroughly enjoyed the epilogue from 5 years on was super sweet, but not sappily so, which helped fully cement the HEA.

Overall, I'd rate this one at around 4.5 stars and recommend it to those who have enjoyed Morton's Mixed Messages series, of which this is a new spinoff series.

** NOTE:  Morton has a short, follow-up story about Silas' proposal-gone-wrong on her blog.


My ARC copy of the book was provided by the author in exchange for a fair, unbiased review

This book is also *FREE* with Kindle Unlimited membership.

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