Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Elias
AUTHOR: Amy Aislin
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 172 pages
RELEASE DATE: May 12, 2020, 2nd edition
BLURB:
Do something new today.
Why he looks at his horoscope every day, Elias Hood doesn’t know. It’s all garbage, and no nickel fortune ever helped him climb all the way up the corporate ladder. He’s about to make Vice President. Rocking the boat with “something new” is the last thing on his mind.
But there’s this guy.
Ty Green can make friends with a tree and Elias can’t help falling for his easy-going vibe and his perfect smile. He’s a fellow Capricorn, like Elias, but that’s as far as their similarities go. Ty works to live—he doesn’t live to work. When Elias takes his horoscope’s advice and asks Ty out, both men are in for a shock. But as Elias’s walls start to come down, they might just realize that they have more in common than they think. In fact, they might even want the exact same thing.
Who knows? Maybe horoscopes aren’t just trash after all.
[Elias was originally published as Picture Winter in October 2017. This rerelease has a brand new cover and a new title, but absolutely no content changes.]
REVIEW:
Elias is a consultant with a corporation that evaluates businesses. Think George Clooney in Up in the Air. He’s been with the firm for 7 years and he’s up for a big promotion to VP. He has a work friend, but he really doesn’t connect with anyone. On the way to work one snowy morning, he has a bit of a run-in with a city worker. His horoscope for the day has told him toe “be nice to everyone” and he realizes he’s not lived up to that with this guy. So the next day he tries to make amends.
Ty likes his job working for the city. It’s his foot in the door. He’s happy being outside and making a difference. He comes from a big nosy family that has his back – twin brothers, two sisters and his parents. But he’s ready to be on his own. He yanks Elias’s chain for a couple of days before giving and giving him the time of day. They have coffee together and are working on being friends. When Ty mentions that he’s moving, Elias offers to help – not realizing how far Ty’s new house is from Toronto. He gets there late, but he ends up meeting Ty’s whole family. He also stays a big longer than just the move would require 😉
Ty and Elias have very different backgrounds. Ty doesn’t push, but he realizes that Elias is pretty closed off. Surprisingly, Elias feels more and more comfortable with Ty as they spend time together. He shares things with Ty that he hasn’t spoken about in years – about his family, his desires, his photograph hobby, etc. Ty understands that this really is a big deal for Elias. He does his best to be supportive. There are a few misunderstandings – or assumptions really – on Elias’s part that set Ty on edge, but they manage to work through them. Ty’s family is completely supportive as well.
Both Elias and Ty have things they need to work through professionally as well. Elias has a huge decision to make professionally. But he’s been all about the stability and the safety and comfort of his current job and he’s pretty risk averse. Ty has an idea about his future too, but maybe there is another route he can take as well to get where he wants to be. The important thing is that they have to communicate to get to travel that path together.
Well this was a lovely story! First, I love Toronto in the winter, so I adored the setting. The description of the city and the more rural settings were perfect. I really liked how Elias learned to trust Ty and how Ty learned to express himself – not always without difficulty. This is a sweet and solid story about two men finding their way to each other and with each other into a future together. Their relationship seemed unusual from the outside, but they have so much in common and really want to love and support each other. Recommended particularly for those who enjoy stories without a lot of angst but with growth and love and support from characters who on the surface don’t seem to belong together.
RATING: 
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