Reviewed by Taylin
TITLE: Gideon 
SERIES: Finding Home #3
AUTHOR: Lily Morton
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
RELEASE DATE: May 12, 2019
LENGTH: 280 pages
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?
From the bestselling author of the Mixed Messages series comes a story about a man who needs to realise that being true to yourself is really just a form of finding home.
This is the third book in the Finding Home series but it can be read as a standalone.
REVIEW:
Whether friendships or romance, Gideon has always been on the outskirts of relationships. When his brother arrived, Gideon was also pushed aside by his parents. Never believing he was worthy of being truly loved, he never even tried. A talented thespian, he became known as the Hellboy of acting. He worked hard on set and played harder offset. Through it all, he’s kept his sexuality a secret from the public. Rigorously enforced by his homophobic manager, Franky.
Ill health and a party too far, puts Gideon at death’s door. His manager hires a nice little nursey Ellie with whom he hopes he can spin more lies about Gideon’s straight male virility. The person who turns up is very manly, Eli, who throws Franky out of Gideon’s hospital room because the man is upsetting his patient. It’s the first time anyone has protected Gideon, and something changes within the wayward actor.
The story is told in the first person from Gideon and Eli’s viewpoints. While not technically perfect, this book and the series has become a guilty pleasure of mine. I’ve looked forward to every novel and have enjoyed them all. Gideon is no exception. The tale can be read as a standalone. But, as there are character links between them, more depth is added if book two (Milo), and possibly book one (Oz) have also been read. There are also many references to British icons and institutions, a couple of which I’m not sure made it past UK shores, but I found them awesome.
Of the three stories published in the series, Gideon is the person most intent on self-destruction. He’s caught up in the vices of fame, wealth, loneliness and notoriety. Though, he is in the process of improving the relationship he has with his brother, Milo (from book two), in which Gideon makes an appearance.
For health reasons and to get him back to England, Milo books Gideon on a cruise which adds some fun entertainment, especially from a naughty seventy-year-old lady.
Despite Gideon’s destructive nature and the presence in early chapters of drugs and alcohol, the addition of dry and snarky humor makes for an extremely amusing read. Re sarcasm, Eli gives as good as he gets and is more than a match for Gideon’s moods. Gideon comes to look forward to their verbal sparring matches and dares to want more.
Upon returning to the Cornwall estate, members from previous books enter the frame. They are a growing family. Given how snark and sarcasm feature heavily in the protagonists of past stories, and how they all come together in this tale, some may find the onslaught of backchat a little too much, as the similarity between all the characters humor becomes more apparent. Franky, then, stands out as the one out of place. Personally, I liked how they all stuck together to protect one of their own. It was the kind of snarkfest that I adore.
This quote from the novel epitomizes the humor on show. “I’ve also been seen walking her dog. I’ve never been accused of shagging it.”
All the characters in the series have very different obstacles to overcome, yet they all find love and family in Cornwall. There are parallels between the books, yet there is no denying that they all provide, comedy, love, drama, romance, a high heat rating, and a damned good read that had me smiling for much of the time.
RATING: 
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