Reviewed by Mal
TITLE: Fool’s Gold
SERIES: Mis-shapes #2
AUTHOR: Fearne Hill
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 270 Pages
RELEASE DATE: February 26, 2026
BLURB:
When all your friends have plus-ones but you’re still figuring out step one.
From the 2025 winner of the Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Romance comes a tale of two housemates in love. If only they realised.
Alaric:Turning thirty doesn’t mean you have to grow up and be boring, right? Except if you ask all my friends, it does. They’re all busy coupling up and settling down, while I’m stuck cuddling up to strangers for a shot at a good night’s sleep. Only this state of utter desperation would lead me to move to middle-of-nowhere Sutton Common with the world’s most peculiar, boring man. He even walks an imaginary dog!
Gerald:I never thought I would want a housemate, and after meeting Alaric, I’m even more convinced. The man’s a walking disaster who sleeps on the floor and won’t stop making fun of my book club reads. I could never trust him with my secrets, like my dream to dance with my neighbour’s dog at the prestigious Crufts dog show. I should be glad when he decides to move back out as soon as possible, right?
Only it turns out Alaric might appreciate a firm hand… and I might like being the one holding the leash.
This is book 2 in the Mis-Shapes series but works perfectly as a standalone.
REVIEW:
I swooooon reading anything Fearne Hill writes (I haven’t read her grocery list but I suspect I would swoon reading that too embarrassingly enough). So it’ll come as no surprise that I oohed and aahed and awwwed and essentially swooned all over the place when I read Gerald and Alaric’s story. What I did not expect to find was my all time favourite character of all time – Alaric stole my heart! He is precious and smart as a whip and humble and kind and just everything that must be protected. And Gerald omg – first of all I see glimpses of myself in a lot of characters but Gerald delighted me with his introvertedness – I know.. that is a very strange thing to be delighted by but I felt like omg yes there it is that makes all the sense. And also with the organising and cleaning 🤣 – my eating habits would though be far closer to Alaric.. anyway I digress- this is a review not a this or that match up but that’s what happens when you read characters crafted by Hill, you belive they are real and you know them and you are fully and completely invested.
This is such a lovely fall into love. Alaric is a chaotic ball of energy living on vibes and happens to need to move into new accommodations immediately which lands him as Gerald’s housemate. Gerald is.. going through a complicated time. These two do not hit it off (that is an understatement). This is where Hills witty writing shines. I was chortling through a lot of this book. It is hilarious.
Anyway, they obviously find their footing but it happens in such an organic way the emotions just snuck up on me. They also snuck up on them – they are the definition of idiots in love towards the end. The sexing (Alaric’s nomenclature not mine) is hot even though it’s a slow burn , like hot hot, really hot.
The end is especially lovely ahhh swoon again.
The found family is lovely and the family is lovely too. All in all an addictive read – want a love story that’ll stay with you, isn’t grandiose but is grand read this.
RATING: 
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