Gideon (Finding Home #3)

2.5 stars. No! I so wanted to love this book. I generally love Lily Morton\’s books. Gideon was such an intriguing character. I couldn\’t wait to see how LM would take him apart and put him back together. But, unfortunately, this book missed the mark for me in a lot of ways. If I didn\’t see the cover, I honestly would have thought it was written by another author. * * * So what didn\’t I like? (1) Gideon and Elis relationship didnt feel authentic to me. Gideon, with all of his issues, is incredibly quick to open up to Eli. He has no problem wearing his insecurities on his sleeve throughout their entire relationship. This seems completely out of keeping with somebody whose anti-hero character has been built on years and years of hiding and rejection. He\’s spent two decades terrified to come out of the closet lest he lose everything he\’s built. He\’s spent his whole life terrified that nobody can really love him since even his parents really didnt. But instead of showing Gideon authentically struggling with these issues, and doing the hard work of moving past them, all of his pathologies seem to magically melt away in the warm glow of his love for Eli. Sure, every once in a while one of the characters pays lip service to Gideon being incredibly damaged, but that damage never seems to stand in the way of his emotional intimacy with Eli. (2) Which brings me to Frankie. I love me a big, bad (two-dimensional) villain as much as the next girl, but I cant help but feel that Frankie is here to create the drama that should have more authentically arisen from Gideons internal pathologies. Since Gideon has a remarkably easy time shedding said pathologies for Eliand his lifetime of fears and insecurities and maladaptive behaviors are no real obstacle to their happinesswe need Frankie to keep on popping up to twirl his mustache and roll boulders into their path. (3) Eli is a major Mary Sue. He has no flaws. He always says and does the right thing. He lives his life completely authentically. Hes charming and talented and everybody likes him. He never falters in his support for Gideon, even when Gideons telling him that they might have to be in the closet together forever. He follows his bliss, and stands up to his parents and their expectations. ***MINOR SPOILER*** Hey, hes not just a nurse, but actually nursed in Afghanistan, and just happened to get shot(!) there. And ***MINOR SPOILER AGAIN*** he even randomly saves the life of some guy having a heart attack for no plot reason, but just to show us how truly cool he is. (4) There were just too many inconsistencies for me. Gideon is surprised to learn that Eli is gay a chapter after Eli has already mentioned his male \”ex.\” Conversely, Eli\’s conjecture that Gideon is gay is described as \”half-formed suspicions\” after Gideon\’s agent has already told Eli that Gideon has a lot of sex with men on the DL!! (I also find it impossible to believe that the skeezy, superficial, money-hungry guy on their cruise is only interested in . . . the nurse? Not the Hollywood star?) And why was Gideon so insecure about his age & looks in his relationship with Eli? Huh? Given that he\’s a Hollywood superstar who can generally pull anyone he wants and has fans drooling over him everywhere, you would think that this was the last thing he\’d be insecure about. (Maybe the only thing he\’d actually think he was good for?) (5) So much of what has made Lily Morton\’s series great is the relationships between the friends, not only the main characters. Silas is awesome. Milo is awesome. Niall is awesome. Oz is super-duper amazing awesome. And Cornwall is such a great setting. So I was more than a little disappointed that Gideon and Eli spend half of the book on a cruise ship with random cartoon-esque characters miles away from the other characters, and then, when they finally head to Cornwall, spend almost all of their time together there like hermits. * * * So, unfortunately, I couldn\’t get behind this book. But I still love Lily Morton. I\’ll still buy her next book as soon as it comes out, because I have faith that she\’ll fully return to form with her next outing.

Its been a while since a book amused me as much as this one did. Ive just re-read through all the passages I highlighted while reading, and they made me smile all over again. Gideon is so snarky, but all the characters are well-written. This is the third book in Lily Mortons Finding Home series, but I read it first, and it can definitely be read as a standalone, but it made me want to read all the others too. This one is still my favourite though. Gideon is an actor who has everything he could possibly want. At least, thats how it looks from the outside. But his agent convinced him early that the world wouldnt accept him as gay, and now that hes hidden that truth for so long, his agent assures him theyd never forgive him for lying to them for so long. Yet, hiding that truth means Gideon is deeply unhappy. He has to hit rock bottom before his brother hires Eli to nurse him back to health. Time away from the insanity of the acting world, and his new feelings for Eli, mean that Gideon starts to see things differently. But will it mean giving up everything hes worked so hard for? And would it be worth it even if it did? Seriously, by 26% through the book Id already snort-laughed on the train and highlighted six passages that had made me laugh. But theres also some moments that just make you awww. This book is definitely worth the read.

When I first met up with Gideon in the second book of the series he was about the most annoying, least sympathetic, and disgusting character one could expect. That was especially true because of the MCs in that book–his brother Milo and his best friend and occasional bedmate Niall (who was by the time Gideon showed up had become Milo\’s lover). Gideon was also not quite up to the standards of his and Kieran\’s other best friend Silas to say nothing of Silas\’ new husband, Oz, both of whom we got to know and love in the first book. So, I bought this one with hesitation. Wow! What a pleasant surprise! The incident which sets this book in motion is basically as unsettling, if not as disgusting, as the one which set the previous book into orbit. I won\’t describe it other than to say it\’s absolutely perfect for understanding who Gideon Ramsay is and how he has come to the point that he has a close brush with death at age 39 without even realizing what happened. (The only thing I found puzzling about the set-up is that it is not quite clear that the place in which the incident happens is probably in Italy–I could not find reference but it is a bit important if you think it happens in England). That caveat out of the way Gideon wakes up in hospital surrounded by Milo and Niall, and eventually his extremely annoying and eminently evil manager Frankie who has somehow performed a miracle without the slightest clue by hiring a private nurse to coddle and repair Gideon on a cruise back to England. The nurse turns out to be a stunning Welshman named Eli (why Frankie chose him is hilarious, read the book) who immediately takes control of Gideon\’s care and in no uncertain terms informs Frankie that he is not to communicate with Gideon at all during the cruise unless he wants to take on Eli. Nice touch. In any case, by the time the cruise makes its way to Nice in France, things between Gideon and Eli have gone from chilly to chill, in the best modern interpretation of the term. These two are seriously well met–both are exceptionally handsome, really built (even though Gideon has lost a good deal of weight), and quite snarky, especially to each other. That Eli is openly gay and (thanks to Frankie) Gideon is firmly closeted, adds a huge twist and suspense to the whole scenario that turns out to be the key to holding the narrative together. Though Eli is only 27 years old, he has an outlook, and world experience, that rivals international movie star and bad boy Gideon\’s. But they get to know, and like, each other quite famously so by the time they approach England they have the potential for a relationship–which scares the hell out of both of them because being patient and nurse on the cruise precluded anything of the sort–though they came close one night. Because of that complication, which ends when they land in England, how the first half of the book ends will almost break your heart, because it certainly came close to messing with Gideon\’s and Eli\’s. And then we have an absolutely sensational second half which you will have to read yourself because it defies summary. In addition, it incudes a wonderful Epilogue that brings this series to a lovely ending. Well done!

Lily Morton has always been a one-click author for me, and never have I been more thankful for that than with Gideon. This series has been exciting, thrilling and a lot of the times exhausting. Until Gideon. He is a guy heading for total destruction until a serious illness takes him out of, and away from his hedonistic lifestyle. Hired by the hideous Frankie, who expects a capable, forthright nurse. But more so, he expects a female nurse, Ellie Jones. What he gets is a wonderful sassy mouthed Welsh nurse, and more surprisingly, male. We watch as Eli and Gideon spar off each other for the weeks of the ill-fated OAP cruise Milo booked him on, it\’s full of the clever writing and fabulous snarky humour we expect from Ms. Morton. What happens when the cruise ends and Eli is no longer his nurse? We have to wait four months to find out and we are not disappointed. This is a love story from start to finish, with excellent references to some wonderfully eccentric British icons, that will have you laughing, smiling and remembering them. Read the others, love Oz and Milo but devour Gideon, he is the best of the bunch.

I need more stars. I also need to learn not to drink tea at the same time as I read a Lily Morton book because this one nearly killed me five times in the first 20%. Redemption stories are probably one of the highest forms of kryptonite for me (it comes in a variety not just the green one ) and with Gideon, Lily crafts one that works so well because, when we actually get to know Gideon, it\’s not really a redemption so much as a realisation. Gideon is a little boy lost, in his heart he\’s still a seven-year-old being parcelled off to boarding school by two parents who were too busy for him, but not too busy when his younger brother Milo came long just three years later. He\’s found fame as a top Hollywood actor, but it\’s come at the hands of a Machiavellian manager who I wanted to eviscerate slowly. I don\’t think I\’ve hated a character with as much venom as I did Frankie for quite a while (apart from Peter in Annabelle Jacobs\’ Wounded Soul because he was just evil! But Eli, oh he was such a gem of a character, I could hear his Welsh lit in the words he spoke, his kindness, his snark – because this wouldn\’t be a Lily book without a snappy retort and lots of sarcasm – and the unfailing way he just got Gideon. He saw inside to the hurt boy and he nurtured the love that Gideon was desperate to share but didn\’t know how. And let me tell you, when Eli takes Gideon to bed the first time that scene is everything! This book explains so much about why and how Gideon became the closed off, surface selfish man he appears, but the truth is so very different. There\’re the usual awesome contributions from the rest of the Cornish cast and the way they rally round Gideon is really special to read, especially given how he behaved like an arse the last time he was at Chi an Mor. Grumpy Gideon falling in love might just be my favourite thing I\’ve read from Lily (until she gives me that rare breeds farmer she keeps promising). As a PS, I still find it hilarious Lily hadn\’t realised that when placed side by side, the Finding Home series titles spell out OMG

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