Reviewed by Ro
TITLE: The Summer of Us
AUTHOR: Lily Morton
NARRATOR: Joel Leslie
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 7 hours, 26 minutes
RELEASE DATE: November 26, 2024
BLURB:
It’s going to be a long hot summer.
John is an exceptionally good lawyer. He’s driven, arrogant, and hides a warm heart beneath a façade of cool politeness. He’s used to people disliking him, but for some reason, when meeting Matt in London, the other man’s open dislike bothers him.
He’s therefore surprised to find himself offering Matt a place to stay in his villa in the South of France while he’s working nearby. He’d actually planned to spend the summer working on his book and plotting to get his ex-wife back. However, his perfect plans take a blow as the long hot summer progresses and the two men get closer, and John starts to nurse an unexpected attraction to his houseguest from hell.
Matt is John’s polar opposite. He’s warm, funny, sociable, and scruffy. He loves people, and they love him back. However, to his consternation, he hates John. His arrogance, public school voice, and the air of superiority that he carries around aggravate Matt unbearably. So the idea of staying in his home with just him for company sounds torturous and not in a good way.
However, as the summer days slip by, he’s forced to realise that maybe he’s not such a good judge of character because underneath that arrogance is a warm, vulnerable man who’s incredibly sexy. The only problem is that while Matt is gay, John is straight, and Matt now wants him more than he’s ever wanted anything in his life.
See what happens when two men who think they have nothing in common apart from a past mutual hatred find out that they might be each other’s future.
From bestselling author, Lily Morton comes a scorchingly hot romantic comedy. This is a spin-off from the Beggar’s Choice series. It features characters from the series but can be read as a complete standalone.
REVIEW:
The meet-cute here is not at all cute for John! In a case of a misunderstanding, the lead singer of Beggar’s Choice, Charlie, believes John has been sleeping with his girl, Mabe, and tries to punch him as a result. John, who is gay, goes to Charlie’s house to clear the air. He does so and meets Matt, one of the most beautiful men he’s ever seen. Of course, Matt immediately dislikes John, which starts with a misunderstanding. Unfortunately, Matt never warms up to John, and Matt is friendly to everyone! To make things more complicated, John has a habit of saying things that aren’t all that appropriate, even if they are funny. John knows it, yet can’t seem to stop. “Oh my god, I want to punch myself in the fucking throat to stop talking. I should like a total public school douchebag.” Well, yes, John, you do, but it’s not on purpose! John ends up becoming friends with the band members and is hired on as their lawyer, so he sees Matt, best friends with the band members and assistant to his BFF in the band, Bram.
It really bothers John that Matt hates him. “This man likes everyone. How awful must I really be if he doesn’t like me? I have very few friends, and perhaps that’s way. Perhaps his reaction is the true one.” I really felt bad for John. He isn’t bad, besides his abominable taste in women, namely Bella, his soon-to-be ex-wife who has served him divorce papers. John has a plan to get her back, and I wanted to beg him not to.
It is not until Matt has to do a favor for Charlie and oversee the renovations of a house Charlie bought for Mabe to surprise her while staying with John at his villa, which is near there, that the two begin to make first an uneasy truce and then get to know each other. Matt, especially, realizes he made assumptions. “I’d thought him a careless man whose way through life had been easy, greased by his looks, money and family name….More and more, I’ve seen a loneliness in him that’s soul-deep. He holds himself separately, I think, not because he thinks himself better than anyone else but because he sees no value in his own company.” Heartbreaking, that.
For his part, Matt shares parts of himself that are difficult, such as when he came out to his family. Let’s just say it didn’t go over at all well and reminded me why I have such a problem with religion. I didn’t love the way the exes (one ex-boyfriend, one not yet ex-wife) were woven into the story. I didn’t feel either of them contributed to the plot well, especially Bella.
The best parts of this book for me were when John and Matt became friends. I loved the banter, and I enjoyed seeing John become snarky and funny when he was comfortable. The descriptions and atmosphere of Cannes made me want to visit there.
As always, Joel Leslie does a fantastic job with narration. The accents are on point, and, more importantly, for me, the voices are differentiated enough that when I’m driving, I can tell who’s talking, and I don’t have to keep rewinding.
This is a sweet story, though the misunderstanding made me roll my eyes. Not a huge amount of angst, and I like that John comes to terms with being attracted to a man without freaking out or losing his mind.
RATING: 
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