Reviewed by Ro
TITLE: Call Back
SERIES: The Model Agency #3
AUTHOR: Lily Morton
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 455 Pages
RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2026
BLURB:
Once upon a time, Reuben Langley broke Xavier Conway’s heart.
Five years later, Xavier has convinced himself that he’s over it. Now a famous supermodel, his life is filled with faraway locations, glamorous parties, even more glamorous men, and so much noise. And if his mind still drifts to the quiet and responsible war photographer he loved and lost, then no one else has to know.
Xavier’s living the dream until everything comes tumbling down around him, and when he hits absolute rock bottom, the person there to pick up the pieces is Reuben.
Reuben fell in love with Xavier the first moment he met him—a wild, sassy boy in a hotel bar. When he found out that he was his best friend’s son, it should have stopped him, but it didn’t. That passionate affair came to a disastrous and painful end, and since then, Reuben’s had to be content with the tiny glimpses he’s had of Xavier over the years. But now, Xavier needs him, and Reuben isn’t going to turn away this time.
Set in London and the Inner Hebrides, this is a story of second chances and a constant, hopeful love.
This is the third book in the Model Agency series, but it can be read as a standalone.
REVIEW:
This is the third entry in the Model Agency series and focuses on Xavier and the man who broke his heart, Reuben. Xavier Quaver, as Pip calls him. The book starts in the present, has a lengthy flashback to five years ago when Xavier met Reuben, and then back to the present. There is a connection between the Model Agency and Reuben that does not bode well for Xavier, who wants to never see Reuben again, and I don’t blame him. Broke his heart is understating it. We get to revisit people from other books. Of course, the Model Agency people, but also Max, an ex who showed up in Max’s book, After Felix. And of course, Felix. Max is also a friend of Reuben, so there is a lot of comingling.
I was devastated to see that Xavier has been struggling with drug use. That was so unexpected. “I don’t want your reputation suffering.” Unspoken are the words, any more than it already has.” He’s been losing some jobs because of his erratic nature, but he’s still sought after. He and Reuben run into each other, since Reuben is no longer a war photojournalist and has done fashion shoots. Reuben has seen Xavier with other men, but it’s his own fault. He is the photographer at the Durand shoot, a favor for Olivier, and Xavier is there. The elevator scene made me so proud of the models – Xavier, Dean, and Bowie. Standing up for someone is always going to make a character shine for me.
Unfortunately, Robbie, one of the models, but an absolute asshole, gives Xavier drugs without him realizing, and down the rabbit hole Xavier falls. There is a trigger warning about nonconsensual drug use and attempted rape, and of course, it’s Robbie’s doing. Reuben is there to save him, and take him to the hospital, and that’s how they start to reconnect. This is a wake-up call, and Jonas makes Xavier take time off. “You’re forgetting jobs,” Pip continues. “You’ve been turning up late, and it’s as if you’re careening off the tracks while I have to stand by and watch, and I can’t have that. You mean too much to me.”
The blurb talks about how Xavier is Reuben’s best friend’s son, but it is WAY more complicated than that, and I’ll say right now – Jez (the father/best friend) is one of the worst people I’ve read in a Lily Morton book. I hated him with such a passion and there was nothing he could have said or done to redeem himself for me. We have a flashback to when Reuben meets Xavier, and for the life of me, I can’t figure out why Reuben is Jez’s best friend. Maybe he has changed from the person he was, but he is so awful. Reuben knows it, and his actual friend, Grey, knows it. “He was funny, charming, impossibly loyal, and nothing seemed so bad if he was around. I could never understand what he got out of my company when he could have been friends with anyone. It’s one of the reasons I stay loyal to him despite that charming boy having largely disappeared over the last few years.” Let’s mention, I adored Grey. He is loyal, doesn’t give Jez the time of day, and is so good for Reuben. When Jez is incredibly rude to Xavier on their meeting, Reuben can’t believe it. “I don’t like you very much right now, and I’m actually ashamed of you. I never thought I’d say that.” Jez also lies right to Reuben’s face, and then is partly responsible for the devastation of Xavier that follows. And that scene of heartbreak is, honestly, heartbreaking.
Back to the present, Reuben takes Xavier back to his house to recover, and some truths come out. One of which shocked the hell out of the entire Model Agency and me! This is a little more angsty than the usual Lily Morton books, because it deals with some very heavy topics but the snark is there, the banter is there, and the love is there.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
