Reviewed by Taylin
TITLE: Oz 
SERIES: Finding Home #1
AUTHOR: Lily Morton
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 287 Pages
RELEASE DATE: November 20, 2018
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?
REVIEW:
James is a knob who can’t keep his pecker in his pants. Oz is his assistant, and when Oz returns to James’s apartment to find the man balls deep in someone else, the man is soon Oz’s ex-everything – including ex-employer.
Oz has a degree in History and Fine Arts, but as he is from humble roots, the more upper-class person tends to beat him to the jobs he’s interested in. Nevertheless, needing a new start, he applies for a job at an historical venue outside London that he believes he will never get. After the most entertaining and worst interview in history, Oz is offered the job and is soon on his way to Cornwall and a Manor House that is as far from prepared to open to the public as is possible.
I liked this novel. It is the first in a series, but it can be read as a standalone. The story is told in the first person from the viewpoints of Oz and Silas, with their names notifying the reader where the pov changes. Depending on who was talking, it wasn’t only the pov that changed but the tone. Therefore, I could always tell who was talking because both men had their individual way of speaking.
Son to a single parent in Tottenham and of Irish descent, Oz is not the regular six-feet-something story hero. He is a more regular five-six. What he lacks in height, he makes up for in attitude. He doesn’t allow anyone to step all over him. As his friend, Shaun, puts it, Ozzy is like “a piranha with fucking sharp teeth.” Through every aspect of his narrative, his up front and battling persona comes through. What comes out of Oz’s mouth is generally what’s on his mind, without a filter, often delivered in a humorous way.
Oz couldn’t have been further on the other sides of the tracks to Silas, who is upper class in every respect except with what comes out of his mouth. Silas, thankfully, has a sense of humor, too, and is as sarcastic in his replies as Oz is in his in his delivery. It made a change to read a story where both the protagonists are jolly, instead of one being good and the other silently surly or beefily brooding.
Silas’s day job is being a vet, which makes him a more down to earth Earl than some. Due to his upbringing, when he talks, he has a more poetic lilt to his musings. Lord Ashworth (Silas) is an all-around good egg. He’s the type of chap who warms the cockles of your heart.
Other than their potentially acerbic tongue, both men also have a string of bad relationships to their credit. Therefore, despite there being an immediate attraction between the two, it is their historical choice of the wrong partner that keeps them at arms-length – only for a while though. The class divide also rears its head in different ways – more so from Oz than Silas.
Some of the characters and situations are cliché – but given the amusing nature of the story, it is to be expected and embraced. ‘He laughed’, are frequently used words. Given the work that needs to be done on the Manor to get it ready for the public, and the resulting situations that arise dealing with builders etc., Oz is almost billed at the coming of the next messiah. Occasionally, the ‘you’re brilliant’, or ‘fantastic’ comments got a little overbearing. But, then them this would be offset with a change of pace dealing with some explicitly drool worthy sex or a period of reflection. Apart, there’s an underlying vulnerability to Oz and Silas, one that isn’t as susceptible to influence when they’re together.
Overall, this story was a delight to read and one that I will probably read again as there are some fantastic one-liners that I’m sure will be used in real life.
RATING: 
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